SUPERFERRY

PUBLIC IS THE CLIENT, THEREFORE NO PRIVILEGE

Regarding Hawaii Superferry legal advice/attorney-client privilege: I agree that attorney-client privilege is one of the bedrocks of the legal system and ought to be preserved from any attacks, particularly in today's acrimonious environment.

However, in the case of the advice the state attorney general gave to other state officials regarding their work, I assume that we, the general public, paid for the attorney general's time rather than the other officials.

Doesn't that make us the client?

If they had all paid their own way, I can see them being allowed to claim privilege, but not when we are picking up the tab.

EXPECT WORSE FROM SUPERFERRY'S SPEED

A month of testimony by experts in Judge Joseph Cardoza's court produced evidence that whales would be in great danger if the Superferry was allowed to go any faster than 12-13 knots when traveling in waters less than 100 fathoms.

The governor has issued a "condition" that allows the ferry to go 25 knots, double the safe speed, inside the whale sanctuary.

That's like allowing a huge truck to go 60 miles per hour in a residential zone where the speed limit is 30.

Any doubts about what will happen?

DRIVER'S LICENSE

VISION TEST DOESN'T MATCH STATE LAW

When we visit the Division of Motor Vehicles and Licensing to renew our driver's license, some of us may encounter an obstacle: There may be difficulty reading the display used to test our vision.

Although state law mandates that an individual applying for a license must have a 20/40 quality of vision, the visual test display used for testing vision can not be read by anyone with a lesser vision than 20/25. The display for 20/25 vision, as displayed on a Standard Eye Test Chart, is very close in size to that for a good, normal 20/20. The 20/40 display, on the other hand, is of such size that few individuals would have the need for a visual aid to read it.

Yes, a person with 20/40 vision can obtain a driver's license, but to successfully pass the eye test, he must upgrade his level of vision to the 20/25 level with glasses or some other visual aid. An alternative approach done by many is to visit an optometrist and obtain a certification of his vision.

This scheme for eye evaluation has been in practice since the early 1980s, and one can imagine the vast number of individuals who have suffered with this gross inconvenience. Inconvenience is a mild term that understates the trauma many may have experienced.

At the very least, the Division of Motor Vehicles and Licensing should compensate those who have at least 20/40 vision but have failed the DMV eye test.

NEW LANES

BEEF UP OUR FREEWAYS WITH TOLLING SYSTEM

Department of Transportation Deputy Director Brennon Morioka illustrated roadway projects about to come to fruition on the 'Ewa Plain (Advertiser, Nov. 5). However, he left out the most important piece of the transportation puzzle plaguing West O'ahu commuters: What do we do once on the H-1 Freeway?

After the rail is fully built out and in operation, experts have exclaimed that traffic on the H-1 Freeway will be worse by the time the year 2030 rolls in, and that is with Kapolei offering everything under the sun it can. So what is being done to address the motoring public's plight?

The answer rests in the House of Representatives' passage of House Bill 70 HD 3 last session that would permit the construction of more lanes utilizing the tolling concept and do so without raising taxes. Honolulu needs reversible express lanes, and the passage of this bill is the first step toward achieving that end.

Thirty other states have enabling legislation that permits them to create new roads using the tolling method as a financial means to fund roadway construction.

In Hawai'i, the state Senate refuses to schedule HB 70 for a hearing. While other states employ tolling operations that allow them to garner hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies for such operations, our state Senate wants to make certain we don't get a penny of that, least of which more roads to solve the problem.

CITY SYMPOSIUM

CHANGE TIME, COST OF TRANSIT MEETING

A Honolulu Advertiser article of Nov. 5, "Hawai'i hosts transit symposium Nov. 13," announced "a chance for people of Honolulu to come and hear how well transit works in some cities, the challenges that other cities faced in building theirs and lessons learned from those cities," said city spokesman Bill Brennan.

The League of Women Voters of Honolulu supports such an educational opportunity for the community.

But the symposium is scheduled on a workday during working hours at a cost of $45 per person. Public response to this issue has been heated and intense. The time and cost of this gathering will tend to limit attendees to a select audience.

Holding such an activity on a weekend at a lesser cost would open up opportunities for a wider range of participants.

The enormous cost of the proposed public works project, the area and population of impact and your expressed desire to offer "a chance for people of Ho-nolulu to come and hear" demands that access to this event be at a time convenient for most and at a cost that is affordable to all.

BASEBALL

LET SCHOOLS USE CITY SITES FOR 'HOME' GAMES

I was informed that state schools using city facilities are not allowed to host home games. I am upset that all our games (JV and varsity) will be played away.

Kalani does not have a baseball field, so we use Kahala Park for practice and games. I cannot speak for every school that uses a city park, but I know that our baseball team members pull weeds, rake, water, drag and take care of the field themselves. The maintenance not only occurs during baseball season, but off-season, too.

With all away games, gas costs will increase since I will be driving farther in afternoon traffic just to see my two sons play. Kalani charters buses for away games, so costs for buses will also go up. Not only is there a bigger travel and financial burden, but also the loss of pride by taking away their home field.

We should be taking care of our children, not taking things away from them. It will be hard to explain to my sons why the mayor is forcing them to play all their baseball games "away."

TEACHERS

RANDOM DRUG TESTING NEEDED IN OUR SCHOOLS

Day after day I see more and more public school educators stating they are against random drug testing because it "violates" their constitutional rights. Does this mean that any employer in the state of Hawai'i who imposes drug tests is violating my rights? Get real!

Drug tests will help "weed" out, pun intended, the substance-abusing teachers and make room for teachers who practice what they preach — drug abuse resistance education.

FILL THE STADIUM

WHERE'S THE LOVE, MAN, FOR UH FOOTBALL TEAM?

Auwe! How can this be? Why are the seats at Aloha Stadium not filled to capacity for University of Hawai'i football games?

Where is the support for our guys out there?

I would give anything to be back home cheering for a team that is worthy of our support. We should be turning away fans from the stadium because of home-game sellouts. Where are the "fans"?

Here I sit in Carlisle, Pa., 1:30 in the morning, watching Warrior football via streaming video live on the Internet, yet wishing I was home at Aloha Stadium cheering among the loyal ones. I am at a loss as to why we speak so much about the aloha spirit yet in so many ways we fail to represent it.

We may not be Penn State or some big-name college town, but we are Hawai'i, and our guys deserve so much more than this.

For this Island boy, born and raised on O'ahu and having to leave home after 37 years, my support and loyalty will always remain with Hawai'i. Go 'Bows!

TV ENTERTAINMENT

SCREENWRITERS CAN STAY ON STRIKE FOREVER

After taking a cursory look at what passes for entertainment on television, I think all those screenwriters should be fired.

President Reagan fired the air traffic controllers for insubordination; the controllers were important, and the United States survived.

Let the screenwriters strike forever.

KAILUA FLOODING

CREDIT FOR UNBLOCKING STREAM GOES ELSEWHERE

When it rains hard, the Ka'elepulu Stream in Kailua is prone to overflow and flood nearby property. This occurs because the city bulldozes a berm across the mouth of the stream so that beachcombers can walk Kailua Beach unimpeded by the stream.

At 4 a.m. last Sunday, my Marine Corps husband, Paul, awoke, fearful that the stream would overflow into our home and our friends' homes along the stream. He hustled down to the blockage and, for the next two hours, by himself, shoveled a trench that enabled the rising water to flow freely to the ocean. After he departed, an Advertiser reporter appeared and interviewed a bystander who claimed he had done the work with the help of three homeless people. This is untrue.

It's one thing to do a good deed anonymously. It's another thing to perform a good deed and have someone else claim credit for it. My husband did all the work — possibly preventing millions of dollars of damage to nearby homes. I want everyone to know what a great guy he is and a terrific husband! Semper Fi.