Gas taxes should have paid for better roads

As you dodge the potholes all over Hawai'i, consider that we buy over 400 million gallons of gasoline every year here, and that the state and county taxes (fuel and sales) included in the price of gas we pay at the pump are roughly 30 cents per gallon.

That's $120 million every year in tax collections, which, as I understand it, is all supposed to go to the "Highway Fund" (whatever that is). In 10 years, that would be about $1.2 billion, which should have gone into our roads. And that doesn't include the taxes from diesel fuel for trucks, which has to be another huge amount.

One would expect Hawai'i to have the finest roads in the world. It sure would be interesting to see a study of where all this money is going every year.

Dearth of parking condemns renovation

Your Aug. 16 editorial on the Natatorium was right on! Tear it down and restore the beach. Preserve the facade for a memorial.

Others would have us believe that the only group standing in the way of complete restoration is the group that uses the beach. Nonsense.

If we spent $50 million restoring the whole thing and building an Olympic-sized freshwater pool for competitions, no one would use it. Why? There is no parking available.

Front license plate crackdown is needed

The Honolulu Police Department has summoned citizens of our city to provide information in cases of robbery, carjacking, stolen cars, etc., but it hasn't gone all out to cite cars lacking front license plates.

I believe it is the law that drivers should have both license plates visible and attached in the right places ... right? Then why do I see (am I the only one?) more and more vehicles without them?

Obviously, these drivers want to avoid any detection should they commit a crime of speeding or going through red lights. I urge the HPD to step up its program and aggressively cite these drivers.

Hawai'i Statehood Day was all but ignored

We found it very disappointing that The Advertiser failed to report or editorialize on any historical or current events pertaining to Statehood Day in last Friday's edition.

Buried in the middle of the paper was an inset box providing basic information on various offices being either closed or open — hardly a moving news piece.

This begs the following questions: Is Hawai'i proud of its U.S. statehood? Are the reporters and editors of The Advertiser ashamed of U.S. statehood? Or are they just incompetent?

Even more disconcerting was the contrast found the next day — with so much coverage of Duke Kahanamoku. While we fully understand the newsworthiness of Duke and his place in history (and any Hawaiian's sense of pride in regard to Duke and his accomplishments), we find it shameful that Statehood Day was blatantly overlooked.

Candidates' signs are becoming a blight

When I first came to Hawai'i in 1978 and made Kailua home for myself and family, I found that the simple differences about Hawai'i made living here special.

One thing in particular was at election time — the sign wavers and small signs on neighbors' lawns, fences, etc. I was happy to learn that Hawai'i was protected from billboards of any kind and that there were groups organized to keep a watch, that anything unsightly was removed.

What's happened lately? The signs are enormous and are everywhere. It's just like having billboards advertising for all these politicians. It's vulgar and defaces the beauty of our neighborhoods. Is there no restriction or limit to be upheld anymore?

Leave adequate room stopping on an incline

Often people do not stop at a reasonable distance from the vehicle in front when at a signal, but I am concerned with those who pull too close to the rear of the vehicle when on an incline. Many vehicles with standard transmissions often roll back when taking off from a stop on an incline. Be sure to leave room for this when on an incline.

Also, on O'ahu there are some poorly timed traffic signals. For instance, those turning left on Valkenburgh from Nimitz are immediately stopped due to a red light. During busy traffic, three cars actually get to make the left turn since the cars already traveling on Valkenburgh have nearly filled the small strip. Someone should study the timing of these signals.

Kerry is trying to have it both ways again

Why is John Kerry so concerned about a veteran group's $500,000 ad in three states? Similar Democratic special-interest groups spent over $60 million advertising nationwide.

As Sen. Bob Dole mentions, if John Kerry repeatedly talks about his three Purple Hearts, none of which was given for a serious injury, and their award helps him leave Vietnam after less than six months, he needs to expect some scrutiny. Especially after coming home and calling his fellow veterans "war criminals."

John Kerry displayed a similar "having it both ways" after voting for the war in Iraq and voting against proper funding for our troops there. Try telling that to Hawai'i's soldiers and their families.

Junior soccer games in Japan were success

Thank you to Kenji Hasegawa and Masami Otani for providing the Boys U12 Hawaii Select Soccer Team the opportunity to be ambassadors of Hawai'i at the 2004 Saitama International Junior Soccer Tournament these past two weeks.

From the moment we landed in Narita, I knew this would be a special trip for the coaches, boys and parents. People were running near the gate to get a glimpse of the team from Hawai'i. Everywhere we went, there was excitement when the Japanese people found out we were from Hawai'i.

Kenji and Masami had organized such a fabulous trip. We even had government representatives at a cultural exchange celebration before our boys went to their home-stay families. Even though our team won three of seven games, it was truly an experience we will never forget.

Thanks so much for the experience and the opportunity to further grow the relationships between Hawai'i and Japan.

Everyone will agree that traffic is bad in many places. Traffic lights that are not properly timed add to the problem.

The Kapi'olani Boulevard/McCully Street left-turn traffic lights should have independent sensors. Many more cars turn left toward Waikiki, yet the lights on Kapi'olani in both directions turn green at the same time. A good 10 to 12 seconds are wasted on each light sequence going 'ewa toward Ala Moana Center.

A hotline should be set up so people can call in suggestions to improve traffic flow. A few simple adjustments here and there could add up to saving time and reducing frustration for many drivers.

Modified dune buggy should be made legal

When will our lawmakers leave cars alone? Everyone knows safety is the issue, so how can the electric car with no doors and no roll bar and the three-wheeled rental vehicle be legal and the buggies not?

Simple, the mere mention of two words: dune buggy and modified.

Let's give the lawmakers each a ride in the above-mentioned vehicles and let them see which one they feel safer in.

Hokule'a discussion off course

Professor Ben Finney veers from the subject of my July 23 letter when, in his letter of Aug. 13, he states that the canoe Hokule'a is "making contributions ... to understanding ancient voyaging."

As stated in his books, the purpose for the Hokule'a canoe's first voyage from Hawai'i to Tahiti in 1976 was to settle the question of the ability of the ancient Polynesians to navigate thousands of miles of open ocean and return to the point of origin. The return trip would prove the ability of the ancient Polynesians to accurately fix position and thus ensure repeated trips between the two islands.

Finney and the Hawaiians maintained that the question had been settled by the success of the voyage to Tahiti.

I stated that the question had not been settled because the navigator, Mau Piailug, was not a Polynesian but a Micronesian who used the Micronesian navigational system, which differs from the Polynesian one, and he used Arabic and Chinese navigational techniques not known in the Pacific at the time that the Polynesians discovered Hawai'i.

Besides, the archaeological and glotto-chronological (degree of similarity of the Hawaiian-Polynesian and the Tahitian-Polynesian languages) records are clear: There had been no contact between Hawai'i and Tahiti for at least 500 years before or 600 years after the 12th century, as Kjell Akerblom's survey, based on a bibliography of 116 authors, among others, found.

But, the most important non-ancient Polynesian system he used was the detailed data about ocean currents and winds collected by the non-Polynesian, New Zealander navigator/researcher David Lewis, who calculated the displacement of the canoe and informed Piailug that it would amount to 600 to 800 miles westward from the direct route to Tahiti. Empirical calculation of the displacement of a vessel due to ocean currents can only be calculated near land.

Next, in his commentary, Finney states that neither the navigator Mau Piailug nor the Hawaiian captain of Hokule'a, Kawika Kapahulehua, had learned their professions from the Chinese, the Arabs or from David Lewis.

That's true, though Piailug did use the above-mentioned important non-Pacific techniques and, if not he, then his ancestors had ample time to learn them after the contact with the Europeans.

Moreover, without Lewis' calculation of the displacement of the canoe, which near Tahiti was already 200 miles off course westward, the canoe could have been 1,000 miles west of Tahiti and never make it there.

Meanwhile, in Tahiti, a holiday had been declared to celebrate the greatness of the Polynesian navigational system.

Despite the aforementioned facts, Finney and the Hawaiians never stated that it was not the Polynesian star navigation that brought them to Tahiti ... until Aug. 13, 2004, in the commentary of Ben Finney.

Even that was done in a grudging way, by denying the decisive contribution of non-Polynesians to that feat and by Finney's statement that the Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug and the Hawaiian captain Kapahulehua "took us smartly to Tahiti without instruments."

Actually, the Hawaiian captain is an American-educated captain who uses modern instruments, and his role on the canoe was to steer, as a helmsman, taking his bearings from Piailug, only.