Letters to the Editor

Losing small pleasures on the Likelike Highway

Well, the construction of the new lighting and barrier combo on Likelike Highway is winding down, and while I "get" the need for the concrete, I'll miss the fern and impatiens that peeked through the old divider. Just another small way my Hawai'i is disappearing.

Driving to town the other morning, I saw several feral pigs trying to cross the new, improved barrier. Of course, they couldn't. Luckily, three out of four were able to make it safely back to the forested side.

Why did the three little pua'a cross the road? They didn't.

City Council members don't deserve raise

Giving City Council members a 21 percent pay raise to over $50,000 annually is obscene, especially for a part-time job.

This amount of pay compensation is more than what an average police officer or teacher makes working full time with many more responsibilities.

These City Council members are in their positions to serve the taxpayers. Voters should have a direct say in whether these council members deserve such a pay raise.

I would vote "no" to such a ridiculous pay raise for part-time work.

The city has failed us with all those spills

We've sent a man to the moon. We've cloned sheep. But the city can't seem to prevent sewage spills (Advertiser, May 5).

The city has failed to prevent hundreds of spills over the past five years, failed to protect residents and visitors from polluted water, and failed to comply with laws meant to protect our environment. Millions of gallons of sewage — either raw or partially treated — seep into our ocean and streams and sometimes back up right onto our streets.

By July 2002, the city was supposed to begin disinfecting sewage at Sand Island. Nearly two years later, this has not been done, and the treatment plant continues to discharge 60 million to 80 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the ocean.

The ocean is not only our playground but also serves as part of the allure for our tourism-based economy. How can we continue to ignore the mismanagement of our city's sewage system?

I applaud the Sierra Club and others for stepping forward to put an end to the city's chronic polluting of our waters. The city has failed me, and if legal action is the only means of getting response to citizen concerns, then so be it.

Letter writer wrong about ethanol benefits

The author of the May 4 letter "Gas-price cap, ethanol bills just plain dumb" was completely wrong about ethanol.

The production of ethanol from sugarcane produces nine to 11 times the energy input from planting, harvesting and processing the sugarcane into ethanol. Corn yields only about 1.34.

Ethanol does yield fewer Btu's than gasoline. There may be a slight reduction (2 percent) in fuel economy in new fuel-injected vehicles, but, in older vehicles, ethanol use often leads to an increase in fuel economy. Other factors such as the state of tune of the vehicle and tire pressure have a greater impact on fuel economy. Ethanol also costs much less than gasoline and helps to reduce gasoline prices.

Today, and since the late '70s/early '80s, all vehicle manufacturers approve the use of up to 10 percent ethanol blended fuels, and several even recommend ethanol use for its positive environmental impacts.ÊÊ

Studies examining ethanol production in Hawai'i concluded that the result would be the creation of hundreds of jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars of increased economic activity and increased tax revenues — all while helping preserve our agricultural sector, reducing our state's dependence on expensive imported petroleum, introducing competition into the gasoline market and reducing air pollution.

Not dumb at all; in fact, a pretty smart move for Hawai'i.

In midst of emergency, many showed us aloha

On March 16, the third day of our vacation in the Hawaiian Islands, my wife and I were in a severe accident when a wild pig ran into our car on the Big Island.

Because of a burst fracture of a vertebra, my wife had to be flown by emergency flight to The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, where she underwent surgery by an outstanding surgeon, Dr. K. Kaan, assisted by an amiable and encouraging team of doctors and nurses.

We want to thank all of them for the wonderful care.

And there are more Hawai'i residents to whom we would like to express our gratitude but whose addresses we missed to write down in our shock: the four young people who rescued us out of the car, laid my wife on a surfboard and alerted the police and ambulance; the male nurse at the little hospital who gave me one of his T-shirts so I would no longer have to look at the blood on my own; and the two ambulance drivers who bought flower lei and hung them around our necks before they discharged us at the airport.

We would like them to contact us so we can thank them personally.

In the midst of our miserable situation, we really experienced the true aloha spirit!

Police aren't monitoring late-night Pali speeders

Regarding the speeding and traffic enforcement on the Windward side, from the Pali Tunnels Kailua-bound onto Kalaniana'ole Highway toward Waimanalo: I have been driving this way home from work for almost a year between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m., and I have not seen one patrol officer patrolling the area or giving citations for speeding and racing — God help anyone who gets stalled.

Cars fly past me as if I were standing still going toward Kailua and Waimanalo from the Pali Tunnels. Why is this? We don't need van cams or fixed cams; we need more visible patrols (blue light on) and enforcement from the officers we have, especially whoever's area it is.

I hear it being said by HPD officials at the community meetings that officers will be more visible. Is it that busy? Or do the officers have more important things to do like sleep or hide and socialize with each other?

Ten years ago, I would see cops cruising all over Kailua; now zero! I am 100 percent behind our officers, but if it's the officers or the lack of immediate supervision, replace them with the kind of officers we had 10 years ago. After all, it is our tax money; let's spend it on officers who really care about controlling this problem.

Secrecy isn't justified at Convention Center

The extended effort by Rex Johnson (Letters, April 29) to justify the secrecy of Convention Center users sounds just like history's long justification for protecting prostitution.

You don't need to know anything; just think of the money it brings in. Corruption comes in many disguises. Money is its central goal, and people continue to prostitute themselves for it. But for the use of a tax-built and -operated facility? Please!