Posted on: Friday, July 23, 2004
Letters to the Editor
You can drive with aloha by moving to the right lane
Mr. Michael Nomura (Letters, July 18) argued that a driver in the left lane cannot be going "slower" if traveling at the posted speed limit, so his logic determines no need for him to move to the right as "slower traffic keep right" traffic signs dictate.
One must assume his logic is telling him, then, that the cars piled up behind him simply enjoy being part of a parade on the way to work. He does say, though, that he might move to the right as a gesture of "courtesy" if he felt like it, the implication being that courtesy need not be shown on our roads more than occasionally — if at all.
Mr. John Shupe, in a July 16 letter, bluntly declared that the left lane "is not, and never has been, designated as a passing lane," which seems rather odd. A basic tenet of driving has always been that a driver should — whenever possible — pass vehicles on the left, rather than the right. That is because it used to be that most cars didn't have a passenger side mirror, and even with one, there's a greater blind spot on the right side, and so there is more danger when cars pass on the right. Thus, the far-left lane on any road is "the passing lane" (designated or not).
Additionally, most states, including ours, designate the left lane as the "express" lane, and offer the incentive of its use to those with two or more people in the vehicle.
Also, Mr. Shupe asserts that it's illegal to have less than a car length for every 10 mph, meaning any less is his definition of tailgating, and that such might warrant a demonstration of (his) road rage. In fact, this distancing is cautionary rather than absolute. The car in front of you cannot stop much faster, generally, than you can, so if you have visibility for at least one car length for every 10 mph you're traveling, a couple car lengths (for reaction time) for even 55 mph is quite safe — providing you're paying full attention to the road.
The bottom line is that freeways were designed and built to provide the most rapid movement of traffic with the greatest amount of safety. Safe speeds are dictated by traffic flow and road conditions. Just as it's sometimes not possible to maintain even the minimum speed posted, other times traveling above the speed posted is quite safe.
Unless, of course, you have people who feel nervous about driving even moderately fast, or who feel it's their right to do whatever they have worked out justification for in their mind, plugging all the lanes up.
That's why the law implies, and courtesy dictates, moving out of the left lane unless there are cars on your right that you're passing. Period.
The greatest solution to road rage and frustration is the frequent checking of your rear-view mirror and a little courtesy. That is driving with aloha.
Jim Wolarey | Hawai'i Kai
Navigation revival not quite that
Professor Ben Finney conceived the Hokule'a canoe experiment in order to prove the feasibility of accurate long-range two-way canoe voyages, using the ancient Polynesian navigation system.
In his book "Hokule'a: The Way to Tahiti," he states that the 1976 first successful voyage from Hawai'i to Tahiti with the Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug has proven the star navigation researcher Andrew Sharp wrong. The latter is the most vocal proponent of the belief that two-way Polynesian navigation could not be used in such a voyage due to lack of the means for fixing position (latitude/longitude).
This conclusion concurs with the extensive survey about the above subject by Kjell Akerblom of the Ethnographical Museum of Stockholm.
The questions Professor Finney did not answer are: (1) Why, after discovery of Hawai'i by the Tahitians and/or Marquesans in the fifth or eighth century, was the next contact with Hawai'i in the 12th century (possibly a rediscovery)? And (2) why, after European contact in the 18th century, did the Tahitians not know the remote islands of Hawai'i, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Rapa Nui (Easter Island) — the three most remote Polynesian islands?
The answer is that Mau Piailug's voyage to Tahiti did not prove the ability of the ancient Polynesians to successfully complete two-way long-range voyages because he used techniques not known in the Pacific.
First, he estimated latitude by the height of Polaris above the horizon, used by ancient Arabs and Chinese.
Second, he used Polaris and the Southern Cross to take north/south bearings, although the ancient Polynesians could not do that because a thousand years ago, the Polaris was five degrees off the true north (precession).
Third, he used detailed data, collected by the navigator/researcher David Lewis, about ocean currents and winds. Lewis used the data to calculate displacement of the canoe and told Piailug that the displacement would amount to 600 to 800 miles westward.
Those data are crucial, and lack of them on long voyages would turn into a voyage of no return. Displacement of a vessel by ocean currents can only be calculated in relation to visible nearby land.
Piailug's successors, Nainoa Thompson and others, went a few steps further: They used "latitude sailing," which increases the chances to hit the target, but needs mathematics beyond the ability of the ancient Polynesians. It was used by ancient Arabs and Europeans.
Thompson also converted the 5,000-year-old tried-and-true irregularly spaced Micronesian star compass to regularly spaced magnetic star compass configuration less the needle. He also discarded the important Micronesian "Etak" or reference island principle, and he invented the principle of double stars to replace the zenith-stars, which are not a Polynesian principle anyway. Of course, as K. Akerblom states, "there are considerable differences between Polynesian and Micronesian navigation."
And then there is the Hokule'a canoe/catamaran with the graceful European sails!
So, then, this is the "revival of the Polynesian navigation," according to the Polynesians.
George Avlonitis | Honolulu
Gate is a fine bungle of taxpayers' money
I'm glad to see city money being spent on a locked gate at one of two entrances to Koko Head District Park to discourage the practice of taxi drivers shuttling visitors to the nature preserve and to discourage the number of people going to the bay. I commend the city planners for this fabulous idea; it shows them at their best.
Obviously, taxi drivers can't use that road anymore, so they'll just have to drive another mile around the block to get to the bay to drop off the visitors. Visitors can also park at Koko Marina and have a taxi shuttle them to the bay, too. Does this discourage visitors to the bay?
The money for the gate should have been used to fill a pothole in the road or provide a roll of toilet paper at the many park restrooms that do not provide them.
Lance Yamasaki | Hawai'i Kai
It's a mess out there and it will get worse
For a moment, let's consider how the following proposal might be received: I have a plan to improve Honolulu International Airport. I'm going to tear up most of the runways while the work is going on. And when I'm done, there will be less ramp space to park aircraft and we won't be able to accommodate as many flights as we do now.
Do you think I'd get tossed out on my 'okole?
But that is what's going on in Waikiki. For those who haven't visited Waikiki lately, Kuhio Avenue has all the ambience of a minefield. Construction has reduced four lanes of traffic to two (occasionally, one). Buses are forced to stop in the middle of the street, cross-street traffic is a mess, and pedestrians are trekking across mounds of dirt or sharing the street with buses and cars. Emergency and police vehicles often have great difficulty responding to calls.
Those of us who have started using Ala Wai Boulevard (the only alternative 'ewa-bound route in Waikiki) are in for a rude surprise. In a couple of weeks, the city plans to start a construction project on Ala Wai Boulevard that will permanently remove one lane of traffic and about 25 percent of the existing curbside parking. And the disruptions associated with the construction will start while Kuhio Avenue still is practically impassable. I guess the emergency services folks will have to start using helicopters to get around.
And what about parking? Ask the folks in Mililani or Waipahu why they don't come to Waikiki more often. The answer is always "parking."
The city claims to have alternatives to Ala Wai parking that actually will increase the net number of parking stalls. Unfortunately, those alternatives don't exist and may never exist. But the cars do.
Mr. Mayor, what is the rush? Why can't you clean up one mess before you start another? And what have you got against cars?
Robert Kessler | Waikiki
Fragile Iraq must not be abandoned
A principled statesman is rare in this age of political spin and poll-driven campaigns. When our media can no longer be trusted because of their patently liberal and Democratic filters, our president stands remarkably tall in his efforts in Iraq.
The latest media spin is likening Iraq to another Vietnam quagmire, despite the fact that we did stop the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive cold, and regardless of the truth that we abandoned a country that became victim of a North Vietnamese cold-blooded breach of a peace accord. South Vietnam could have been another prosperous South Korea; instead, we left millions to become boat people fleeing the communist killing fields.
Surely Iraq's fragile democracy could become another abandoned South Vietnam, only if we let the surly partisan politics and ideologically blind left persuade us with their patent lies, as exhibited in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
More than ever, this brave president and our gallant troops need our support in the noble cause to nurture and protect the only fledgling democracy taking root in a region fraught with autocracy and oligarchic economies.
Not surprisingly, the deplorable efforts to undermine this cause stem from an entertainment industry showcasing decadence and amorality in our living rooms, and its champion candidates are a chameleon and a malpractice lawyer.
Gene J. Dumaran | 'Ewa Beach
Campaign-sign theft a violation of rights
I found Mufi Hannemann's comment that stolen campaign signs are minor enlightening. Maybe it's minor to him, but not to us. We've had Duke Bainum signs stolen right off our property, while Mufi's signs across the street were left untouched.
I understand that Duke has lost thousands of dollars in signs. While that might be true, the real loss shouldn't be measured in terms of dollars. Yes, thieves stole my signs, but more than that, they stole my constitutional right to show my support for the candidate of my choosing. Now that's a real crime.
Bruce H. Kinoshita | Hawai'i Kai
Article shouldn't have mentioned divisiveness
I was pleased to see that the lead article by Peter Boylan in Monday's Advertiser was about Kawaiaha'o Church's selection of Curt Kekuna to become the next kahu. I enjoyed the article, except for the last four paragraphs about Kaleo Patterson.
Celebrating the end of Kawaiaha'o's long search for a kahu is laudable. But why bring into that celebration the past divisiveness? We live in a time in which we need to celebrate unity wherever it is found. Raking up the divisiveness serves no useful purpose, especially in an article that celebrates unity.
The Rev. Dan Hatch | Honolulu
State should reopen unit for mentally ill
I am writing as the father of a Felix-class child. My son recently graduated from high school and is transitioning from Maui Youth and Family Services to an adult program.
During his youth and adolescent years, he had periods of crisis and required hospitalization at the Molokini Unit. Closing this unit is a reduction in the limited number of services that are available on Maui. Such service reductions may violate federal law regarding the availability of services for mentally ill children and adolescents.
The state of Hawai'i has an obligation to provide a unit on the Neighbor Islands so children do not need to be separated from their families at a time when such contact is important to their recovery.
The community of Maui has lost a resource that allowed the system to respond to emergent needs of eligible children and youth.
The Maui Memorial Medical Center should reopen the unit and the family guidance center, and the state of Hawai'i should pay for appropriate and needed services for our children and youth. If the unit is not reopened, the failure to continue needed services should be reported to Judge Ezra and the Felix monitor or a new class-action lawsuit may need to be initiated to assure that Hawai'i is meeting the spirit of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Tom Jones | Ha'iku, Maui
A special ending to Islanders games
My husband and I have attended nearly every Islanders arena football game this season. Each game is exciting down to the last play. Congratulations to Coach Cal Lee and his staff, the players and their intensity, and all the entertainment that goes on before and during the game.
A few times we left the game a little early, listened to the end on the radio, and wished we hadn't left so early.
One of the most fulfilling scenes of the night is at the end of the game. Whether our team wins or not, a group of players and coaches gathers in the center of the playing field to hold hands and pray. Sometimes members from the opposing team join them. I wish all teams showed that type of faithful example.
Jo Ann Moe | Honolulu
