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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Letters to the Editor

TRANSIT

RAIL DESTINED TO FAIL; HOT LANES WILL WORK

Honolulu city engineers admit that rail will not relieve traffic congestion when it is completed. So why are they wasting $4 billion to build it? Why not do HOT lanes instead?

Can't we learn from other cities, such as Tampa, which solved its traffic congestion by building its elevated HOT lane expressway without using any taxpayer money? Tampa did it in four years for just $420 million.

Besides cost, HOT lanes are better than rail for other reasons. HOT lanes will get you door to door quicker in the comfort of your car or on a bus, and you won't have to transfer. HOT lanes can be used by everyone: small businesses, tour buses, ambulances, fire trucks, Handi-Vans, the military and folks who need to drop off their kids at school.

HOT lanes could still be used during a blackout, worker strike or terrorist threat.

HOT lanes would keep construction jobs in Hawai'i, without having to import technology to build and maintain a train.

It's common sense. Rail will fail, so use your brains, get HOT lanes.

Steve Adams
Honolulu

SPUTNIK

SATELLITES IN ORBIT DUE TO GRAVITY'S GRASP

A space expert's assertion that Sputnik "overcame Earth's gravity" as it went into orbit 50 years ago was somewhat misleading (Focus, Oct. 7).

Satellites remain in orbit because they're in gravity's grasp, not because they've overcome it. A satellite's speed in combination with Earth's gravity produces its constant "fall" around the planet. Gravity nearly always wins out over speed, and most artificial satellites eventually disintegrate in the atmosphere.

Take it from someone whose high school physics class intensified after Sputnik's spectacular debut in October 1957.

Doug Carlson
Honolulu

TRIBUTE

JOHN KELLY HAD AN IMPACT ON MANY LIVES

My father is almost 65, and yesterday he went for his weekly mile-long swim.

Every week he goes, he sees how far he can swim underwater. On Saturday after his swim, he thought with tremendous fondness of John Kelly, who taught him not only how to do that but taught him much more while he was growing up in Palama and trying to stay out of trouble at Palama Settlement.

My dad's brothers and sister probably have similarly fond memories. And I remember going with my father to a mini-Palama reunion at the Kelly house a few years back.

I looked around the room and hoped that one day I would impact a child in such a way that he/she would similarly fondly remember childhood years and being positively affected by the John Kellys of the world.

Jan Harada
Honolulu

SCHOOLS

PROTECT OUR KEIKI FROM DRUG-USING TEACHERS

To those of you who do not support drug testing for teachers, shame on you.

I do not want my keiki around drug abusers, let alone teachers who use drugs.

Our keiki spend most of their daytime hours with teachers. Is this what you would want for your keiki?

Who are you protecting? I know it is not our keiki.

Georgette Stevens
Kapolei

EDUCATION

MIDDLE SCHOOL REFORM NEEDED ON N. SHORE

The children of the North Shore deserve the full benefits of education reform.

Please support the formation of and access to middle schools for all of our children. North Shore students deserve middle schools just like every other school complex area on O'ahu.

Reform also means structural change. The structural changes have been mostly completed in urban Honolulu and outlying areas of O'ahu.

Middle schools best support the emotional and educational growth of this unique age group, 10-15.

Only three high schools remain with the Grade 7-12 structure: Kahuku, Waialua and Nanakuli.

These communities need to understand that resources are available through the Department of Education and the Legislature to facilitate removal of seventh and eighth grades from these schools.

Northern O'ahu communities and students have the right to demand modern, up-to-date, fully funded and staffed middle schools for our children.

Jim Frisbie
Waialua

SUPERFERRY

PROTESTERS JUST WANT TO ENSURE AGAINST DAMAGE

So many people still do not get it. The protesters on Kaua'i are not saying that the Superferry should not operate.

If the Superferry has to go to one of its numerous other franchises for a few months, they will certainly be back.

Superferry will make money here, and it's absurd to believe the CEO when he says they might not be back if they have to wait a few months to see what they can do to operate safely.

We want to make sure that our new fast-moving mode of transportation will not cause irreparable damage to each island.

Dennis Chaquette
Kapa'a, Kaua'i

MISSING CHILDREN

OCEANIC CANNOT ADD ANALOG PROGRAMMING

I read Lawrence Barr's recent letter (Oct. 2) regarding Oceanic Time Warner Cable's "Missing Child Posters on Demand" interactive channel.

We are sympathetic with Mr. Barr's desire to see "Missing Child Posters on Demand" distributed as widely as possible.

We agree that we should do everything we can to recover missing children and reunite them with their families. However, Oceanic does not own the analog channels Mr. Barr references.

Channels 52 through 55 are not our property, so we are unable to add content.

In fact, Oceanic doesn't own any of the analog channels, with the exception of OC16, which offers its own local programming 24 hours a day.

Oceanic is pleased to be able to offer the digital space "on demand" to the Missing Child Center Hawai'i as a public service.

We hope the new channel will lead to the safe recovery of missing children and help prevent future abductions.

Alan Pollock
Vice president- marketing, Oceanic Time Warner Cable

LAGOON PARK

DOESN'T ANYONE CARE ABOUT HOMELESS CAMP?

Last week one of our local TV stations reported on a self-sufficient village of about 40 "homeless" people who have found a secluded spot out near Lagoon Park in which to survive. They are raising food. They are drug free. HPD knows of them and has wisely concluded that they are not a nuisance or threat to anyone.

The somewhat naive reporter showed their food crops and the city water being used. Of course, the very next day officials came and tore out the water pipe.

They might have compassionately looked the other way, as there is much else in need of their attention. They might have put a valve there to prevent perceived "wasting" of water. I see poorly aimed and timed sprinklers all over O'ahu, and none of those is feeding the hungry — just running precious water into the street.

I can't get the abandoned vehicle on my little street removed or even ticketed despite repeated calls to 911 and the city, but they were right there to punish industrious poor folks.

Calls to the mayor's office, Bill Brennan and to the TV station have yielded only respectful indifference.

My heart has been aching for those humble farmers. Does anyone care, or are we all too busy? Remember the Law of the Splintered Paddle? Remember caring for others? Somebody, please follow up on this story.

Rev. Cloudia Charters
Honolulu

FOOTBALL

NO UH OPPONENT SO FAR HAS WINNING RECORD

Here we are at mid-season, and the University of Hawai'i Warriors are 6-0.

This makes them top 10 material in anybody's book. Not.

Let's see, they beat six teams with a record of seven wins, 28 losses.

None of the six has a winning record, with 1-AA Charleston Southern at 3-3; 1-AA Northern Colorado, 0-6; UNLV, 2-4; La Tech, 1-4; Idaho, 1-5; and Utah State, 0-6.

Yes, the UH Warriors are giant killers and ready for the bowl created just for them, the Hawai'i Bowl, to play the No. 6 team from the Pac-10. Go Bows.

Stephen Casares
Kane'ohe

UH NEEDN'T APOLOGIZE FOR ITS NO. 16 RANKING

In response to G. Yamada's assertion in an Oct. 6 letter that the University of Hawai'i's football ranking "is due to default" ("UH's weak schedule should be considered"), he's left out a few important facts.

The most important fact would be that one of the most lucrative regular-season game packages ever offered to play the Warriors this season didn't have any takers. There were a handful of BCS conference teams that could have accepted, but didn't.

The letter writer states that UH "creeps its way up because" a higher-ranked opponent has fallen to another ranked opponent. No. 5 Michigan lost to unranked Appalachian State, and the importance of that is that UH was interested in playing Michigan in that exact game, a deal that Michigan wouldn't make.

BCS conference teams have pulled out of contracts to play Hawai'i.

Also, two-thirds of Hawai'i's schedule is within its conference. And Hawai'i doesn't apologize for playing in the WAC. The WAC was 3-1 in bowl games last season, including a BCS victory, with the one loss being by a single point.

Finally, the rankings are merely opinions, anyway.

Mel McKeague
'Ewa Beach