TRANSIT

OUR TRAFFIC CONGESTION SHOWS NEED FOR RAIL

I disagree with the letter "Occasional traffic jam better than $3B for rail" (Sept. 20).

We sit in traffic daily for hours with the hot sun staring in our face. If you read The Advertiser daily, you'll note that 60,000 new homes are going to be built.

Even the students who attend the University of Hawai'i want rail to be extended to their campus. They are the leaders of tomorrow and fully understand the importance of the rail system.

I strongly urge everyone to support the system.

NEW-HOMES GROWTH SHOWS NEED FOR RAIL

If anyone thinks that "Black Tuesday," the Sept. 5 gridlock on H-1, does not justify the cost of a rail project because it was an unusual event, let me say this: There are 60,000 new homes planned for O'ahu in the next 20 years. Sixty thousand times two cars each house means 120,000 new cars on the road.

Without rail as another way to get around separate from our highway system, we're going to have Black Tuesday every day of the week. Gridlock will be a part of our everyday lives and we will pay dearly for it in more ways than one.

Black Monday, Black Tuesday, Black Wednesday — no thanks, I'll take rail. I can think of a lot of better ways to spend my free time than stuck in my car.

POPE'S REMARKS

RELIGION ROOT CAUSE OF MOST WARS AND STRIFE

Pope Benedict XVI stirred up a hornet's nest when he made a passing remark about Muslim militarism in the past.

Christians have crushed more "infidel" cultures in their path to world domination than any other faith.

The inconvenient truth is that all religions (as well as money) are the root cause of most wars and strife in the world!

Is it a coincidence that the least religious people in the world, the Nordic nations of Europe, are also the most peaceful, tolerant and harmonious?

WAI'ANAE

UNSANITARY CONDITIONS ON COAST WORRISOME

I have resided on the Wai'anae Coast for 65 years. I was raised here and I raised my children here. My father picked limu, 'a'ama crab, ha 'uki'uki, pipipi, and Hawaiian salt from the rocks and reefs and fished from the ocean to feed his family of five.

The coast from Nanakuli to Makua was immaculate and respected. I used to take my children to swim in the ocean and they took theirs. I worry about my great-grandchildren having that same opportunity.

I am deeply concerned about the possible unsanitary conditions of our beautiful beaches and reefs on the Leeward Coast. With the plight of the homeless living along the coastal areas, I wonder how the beaches and reefs will suffer.

My wife and I were grocery shopping recently and overheard a distressing conversation between two women. One asked the other where she and others in their circumstance did their "business." To which she replied, "in the water and the waves take it away." Auwe! Imagine, if you will, several hundred homeless people doing their "business" in the ocean and in the sand!

So, I humbly invite someone from the Board of Health to pack up your family and bentos one beautiful Saturday morning, have a picnic on the beach and frolic in the sand and water at Ma'ili Beach Park. Only, don't forget your rubber boots!

EXTRADITION

'DOG' CHAPMAN DID WORLD'S WOMEN A FAVOR

Duane "Dog" Chapman should be praised and not persecuted.

As a rape survivor, I call on other women who have suffered this same humiliation to stand up for the "Dog." He did the women of the world a favor when he brought to justice a rapist.

The motivations of officials in Mexico are obvious. If Duane Chapman was not successful and famous, this would be a nonissue.

So women, let's support Duane in any way we can. He's our hero.

ELECTIONS

FOLLOW OREGON

Is there something wrong with this picture? The state cannot find enough paid workers to staff the polling places (a perennial problem).

The taxpayer has to foot the bill to rent polling places.

One-third of the electorate voted absentee in 2004, an 8 percent increase from 2002. That figure is expected to grow.

Oregon votes exclusively by mail, and has done so for years, saving money in the process. Wake up, Hawai'i. It is time to follow Oregon's lead.