Roger Morton, senior vice president of O'ahu Transit Services, which operates TheBus, is someone whose analytical abilities I have found reliable in the past but whose recent critique (Island Voices, June 29) of my June 7 column on Portland's light rail has me puzzled because of its gross inaccuracies.

For example, he says that Portland's traffic congestion is better than Honolulu's. He is dead wrong. According to the nation's authority on congestion, the Texas Transportation Institute (http://mobility.tamu.edu), which is partially funded by the American Public Transportation Association, both Honolulu and Portland had the same traffic congestion levels in 1982 — but then Portland started building light rail, much of it on then-existing roads. Now, Portland has the ninth worst Roadway Congestion Index in the nation while Honolulu is 41st. Roger is not even close.

Then he says that light rail is so popular that "almost 90 percent of Portland residents approve." He is dead wrong. Portland's voters turned down light-rail funding at their last opportunity in 1998. The voters are not dumb; they know that even though Portland has spent nearly $2 billion building light rail since 1982, the percentage of commuters using transit of any kind has declined. These voters simply do not want to waste more of their hard-earned money on light rail.

And he calls "grossly misleading" — but does not dispute — that "light rail only carries

1.9 percent of Portland's commuters." Wake up, Roger! It means that 98 percent of Portland's commuters have found better ways to get to work.

Fishing will have to be regulated now

Regarding the July 5 letter by Connie M. Florez about keeping fishing "beautiful" and "free" for its cultural value alone: Don't we all wish we could turn back the clock to a time when our island marine life was more healthy and plentiful? But we no longer live in a small village where people are able to fish for sustenance. Those days are long gone for Hawai'i. There are over a million people in these Islands now.

If there is to be fishing for the generations to come, we will have to regulate the activity now. The natural shoreline fishing stocks were depleted many years ago. Asking for a license fee is only common sense in trying to re-establish a balance in the already endangered ecosystem.

Aloha to Deputy Attorney General Rick Damerville. The state of Hawai'i has surely been a beneficiary of his hard work, and we owe him our gratitude and appreciation. Damerville has resigned, effective Wednesday.

Rick was a champion for the state with his hard work and dedication to right the wrong by persons obtaining fraudulent welfare benefits and a "hero" for bringing to justice the many tax cheats the state has uncovered during his tenure. The Tax Department and the Office of the Attorney General have been successful in obtaining over 150 tax convictions in nine years that resulted in judicial fines in excess of $1 million and tax assessments of over $15 million. Rick has been instrumental in prosecuting these tax crimes, and I will surely miss him.

It was an honor and privilege to have worked with him.

Charity cruise was indeed charity cruise

Larry Whitson's July 5 letter about Norwegian Cruise Line's canceled cruise prompted me to write. I am sorry his cruise was canceled, but I wish to say that the charity cruise was indeed a charity cruise.

We were informed Saturday night that the $400,000 collected was all for the Bishop Museum, Child & Family Service, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Ready to Learn and the USS Missouri Memorial Association. Each charity had rooms to "sell," and Norwegian Cruise Line donated food, crew salaries and the ship for a day.

The folks who bought rooms from their charity were all "little guys" like my husband and me, and everyone was having a great time. I did not see any VIPs, much less Linda Lingle.

The crew, many of them local folks, worked so hard for the passengers' comfort and entertainment. They truly needed that one day to rest.

Please get over your disappointment, Larry, and support one of these wonderful charities so you can participate in next year's one-day charity cruise. You'll enjoy your cruise twice as much knowing that your money is supporting a worthy organization here in Hawai'i.

Slow drivers worse

In response to Joe and Ann Moguin's letter regarding Russel Noguchi's June 23 letter "Don't like tailgating? Then get out of the way": I, too, hate tailgaters. But, there is only one thing I hate worse, and that is when someone two feet in front of you drives real slow!