Punchbowl Street needs adjustments

When are our rocket scientists going to change the flow of traffic back to one way on Punchbowl Street between Beretania and King streets? The traffic is terrible going makai on Punchbowl. There is hardly any traffic going mauka.

If changing Punchbowl Street back to one way is not possible or unpopular for some, try eliminating the pedestrian crosswalk on the King Street diamondhead corners. This would let vehicles flow freely in making a left turn from Punchbowl makai-bound onto King.

Help children get involved in reading

The new school year is right around the corner, and I want to remind readers of one very important back-to-school issue: literacy. In addition to classroom instruction in reading, we must not lose sight of how important it is to encourage children to become good, strong readers outside the classroom as well.

Becoming a proficient reader requires both an exposure to many types of books and an environment that supports and encourages reading. Sadly, numerous children don't have access to quality reading material in their own homes. Even more frightening, many adults simply aren't modeling good reading habits: A recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts shows that fewer of us are turning to books, a behavior children are sure to internalize.

Fortunately, we do have a program in our community that can help get our children excited about reading again. Through the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) programs in Hawai'i, more than 10,000 children statewide receive 33,725 new, free books each year and participate in activities that demonstrate the fun and joy of reading.

RIF, however, is only one piece of the puzzle, since supporting children's reading habits is a community responsibility. So as the school bells begin to ring again, I challenge everyone to think about the ways we can all get kids interested in reading, and to continue to support all of the wonderful literacy programs in Hawai'i that make it happen.

Accountability needed to put UH back in order

It is baffling that UH can spend $100,000 on this defunct logo project and come away empty-handed. This debacle is upsetting because these are our tax dollars, and it's an example of inmates running the asylum.

The lack of accountability by the Board of Regents, ex-president Evan Dobelle and the so-called logo committee negates all that is good about UH. Although the intent was there, the logo project was ludicrous in its execution, and the university will sweep this under the rug as if it never happened.

Until there is more accountability, negative headlines such as the housing fiasco, the Dobelle firing, athletics' inability to balance its checkbook and this logo mess will be typical headline fodder. UH must surely be the laughingstock of the educational community.

The "leaders" of our largest educational institution are hiding behind committees, and it is time for UH and even Gov. Lingle to take accountability in its operational policies. The education of Hawai'i's youth is at stake, and we should not settle for less.

Maybe it's time to take a page from the Bishop Estate-Kamehameha Schools and clean house.

Cataluna got it right

I'm thousands of miles away in Seoul, South Korea, and just read your Aug. 10 online edition and in particular Lee Cataluna's column regarding the UH logo. This column is an excellent example of the use of "malamalama," or "clarity in thinking," in practice. She says about the current seal: "It's a fine image. Leave it alone and fix the institution for which it stands." This is clear, purposeful thinking. Lee Cataluna for the next UH president!

Don't balance budget on backs of farmers

For Duke Bainum to say that most farmers' tax bills would go down under Bill 10 is ludicrous. I have been at farm meetings and talked to farmers all over the island and I have not heard one of them say his tax bill has dropped; just the opposite, he is stunned by the increase in his tax bills.

To go after a few big landowners without getting all of the facts on how this bill would affect the small farmer is criminal. The small farmers, mostly on leased land from the big landowners, are the ones who carry the brunt of this bill, and if they don't get the tax relief they deserve under Bill 35, a large number of them will lose their farms. Then not only will they be the losers, but so will we, the consumers.

If Bill 35 is going to cause the budget to be unbalanced by $9.6 million, then find the money somewhere else, cut something else, but don't balance the budget on the backs of those who can least afford it — our farmers.

Bill 10 was a mistake. Bainum should just admit it and quit talking about "tweaking" it. If he would push a bill like this through without proper study and analysis, what would he do as mayor? I shudder to think. Mr. Hannemann, you have my vote for sure.

Waimea's peacocks being given a bum rap

Your Aug. 6 article unfairly compares the peacocks in Waimea Park that were hunted and killed by Audubon employees to the annoying peacocks in neighborhoods. Surely there's a difference between peacocks that were loved and fed for 15 years and admired by visitors and those feral peacocks, which I understand run in marauding groups at night.

Before your writers lump all peacocks into one big, hated group, they should visit the different areas and see for themselves how dangerous and annoying the peacocks really are.

Hawai'i's highways are shamefully ugly

Yes, I agree that our highways and freeways are horrible to look at. What a shame! Can't more people be hired to clean up? I don't think there's enough help out there cleaning our freeways and highways. So many weeds and so much rubbish. I think our population is getting too big.

We just came back from a wonderful trip. North Carolina's highways and freeways are clean, so beautiful with flowers of all different colors; they look lovely. Now why not in Hawai'i? We really should have flowers on our highways — after all, Hawai'i is supposed to be beautiful — not just on our beaches and mountains.

Let the free market decide on ethanol use

I am opposed to a state requirement of using ethanol as a gasoline additive.

Those companies that are in the position to make money by this mandate would have us focus on the benefits of ethanol use in our gasoline while hoping that the public does not see political favoritism rear its ugly head.

If it is good for the consumer and the environment, then let the free market decide. Put the product out and let us decide if it's worth buying. Or does the state think we are all a bunch of dimwits who need to be told what is good for us? I honestly hope not.

Gov. Lingle should give this mandate proposal the boot.

'Safe distance' rule obsolete on freeways

That Aug. 12 letter by Greg Talboys from Hale'iwa hit the nail right on the head ("Keep aloha driving in the right lane, please"). Amen. Also, Pablo Maligro, who quoted the law about "safe distances" of one car length per l0 mph.

Well, that law was applied when we had only two lanes of traffic. With the traffic on the freeways today, it will never happen. How many times I have tried to stay what I consider a safe distance from the car in front when someone just slides right in front of me, even though he has a slight opening. I think that law is obsolete on our freeways.

Pardon the homeless for being homeless

Concerning Bryan Wittekind's comments on the homeless ("Building homeless center a bad idea," Aug. 12): Pardon the homeless for being homeless. I am sure that they're not all drug-addled and criminal-minded. Perhaps having a site for the homeless is what's needed to get them on their feet.

Some of the homeless are embarrassed about their situation, but things are out of their hands at the moment. I understand that some people just don't want help. One can't help those who don't want it. However, I think it's unfair to associate all homeless people with "unsavory" types.

Shapiro's attack on Lingle over her style unwarranted

Everyone has the right to their opinions in this country — and that certainly includes newspaper columnists. But I wish David Shapiro would have been far less antagonistic and much more reasoned in his Aug. 4 Volcanic Ash column ("Dobelle fiasco reflects on Lingle").

I'm in no position to second-guess the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents for voting to terminate UH President Evan Dobelle, and I suspect Shapiro is on shaky ground as well. Facts are still emerging from this complicated situation, and I hope one day we'll know the full story.

But what disturbs me about Shapiro's column is his criticism of Gov. Lingle's much-admired management ability. The governor does not manage the Board of Regents, as Shapiro suggests. She appointed some of the current regents, as did former governor Ben Cayetano, but the board is an independent governing body.

The regents are given a large measure of responsibility, and with that comes great accountability. So if you don't like how the regents handled the Dobelle dismissal, blame them but leave the governor out of it.

On one final point, Shapiro referred to a Forbes magazine article about Gov. Lingle and said the reporter "couldn't credit her with much more than improving animal quarantine laws."

I happened to have read that article — perhaps Shapiro only scanned it. Forbes gave the governor credit for "laboring to make the Islands more business friendly," and noted that Hawai'i has moved up in the magazine's rankings of Best Places for Business and Careers.

Standing in the way of even greater progress, according to the article, are Gov. Lingle's Democratic opponents who have "blocked efforts to create local school boards, curtail the Islands' growing methamphetamine trade and lower a battery of taxes."

So let's give credit where credit is due, Mr. Shapiro, and place blame where it should be placed. Your readers deserve fair, well-reasoned columns — not ones filled with wild leaps of logic.