Disrespectful youths are product of parents

It does not surprise me to see teenagers smash car windshields with baseball bats. Or a 13-year-old starting a fire in Nanakuli that destroyed 3,000 acres of land.

I see young people today having no respect for authority, people and property. I believe the young people today do not care about many things. This is a result of parents who don't care what their children do.

It is the parents' responsibility to teach their children how to respect authority, people and property. Parents have to set a good example. Parents have to discipline their children when they don't show respect.

Otherwise, we will have children who will be out of control. And by that time, it will too late to teach young people about respect.

There's lots of fixes to try before rail transit

Until other cheaper options are tried, let's not raise taxes and commit to a light-rail transit system (especially when they don't even have a detailed plan). The estimated $3.5 billion will surely become $10 billion and then there will be multibillions of dollars to maintain it since it will never be self-supporting.

Let us do the following before we talk about rail again:

• Increase the number of express buses during rush hour. The express buses currently are full, and you surely cannot attract any new riders if they have to stand up in the bus for an hour-plus ride.

• Make the diamond and zipper lanes a speedy route. Raise the fines (minimum $500) and enforce the law regarding high-occupancy-vehicles in the diamond and zipper lanes. There are far too many illegal single-occupancy vehicles in the diamond and zipper lanes. Maybe even make the zipper lane a bus-only lane. When car drivers see how fast the zipper lane moves, many will be enticed to try the bus.

• Provide a zipper lane in the late afternoon ('ewa-bound). Currently the traffic leaving downtown is worse than the ride in.

• Provide some financial incentives for regular commuters who ride the bus to work. Give them bus passes at half the cost or even free. That would attract more commuters to ride the bus.

If these don't alleviate the traffic congestion:

• Charge a toll to all cars using the H-1.

• Increase gas taxes to make single-occupancy vehicles too costly.

Ethics committee is step in right direction

I was very happy to hear that Sen. Robert Bunda is calling for the creation of an ethics committee in the Senate. I have always thought that Bunda does a good job as Senate president but was disappointed with how he handled the unethical behavior committed by his colleague, Sen. Brian Kanno.

Sen. Bunda waited too long to initiate an investigation into whether Kanno had used the power of his office to try to get Leon Rouse's job back at Norwegian Cruise Line.

Now, with the possible creation of this new bipartisan committee, I am hopeful that justice will be served and that the public will find out why Kanno risked his once-promising political career to come to the aid of a convicted child molester.

CPS doing a great job with foster children

Because Child Protective Services has been under a dark cloud over the "Peter Boy" Kema tragedy, I felt compelled to commend CPS for its services to our foster child.

He came to us at 8 months old as a medically fragile infant with a tracheotomy tube for breathing, no voice, and was able to turn over to one side only. Our social workers — Margaretta Lum, Walter Oshiro and Kelly Baird — were tremendous in providing us with all the support we needed. Our home was a revolving door of social workers, respite nurses and therapists.

We are now under Kristine Shimogawa of the Leeward Permanency Unit. She has been outstanding in helping us with approvals for surgeries, home-study reports and in getting our documents in order, not to mention much-needed support at court hearings. Without her help, we wouldn't have been able to keep him.

Our boy is now in preschool and learning to speak. Kristine Shimogawa is our friend for life, making a difficult experience one worth fighting for. She really cares.

We in Hawai'i can honor Peter Boy's memory by becoming foster parents and providing loving homes for so many children needing someone to take care of them.

Forget Click It drive, focus on the speeders

So the police are busy giving $92 tickets for not wearing a seat belt. How about ticketing the speeders who pass me at 70-plus on the freeway? In some cases, they could be drunk and speeding; no wonder we have so many accidents.

I suggest that the police impound the cars of excessive speeders for a mandatory 30 days with impound storage fees of $92 a day, plus mandatory jail time for second offenses.