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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, August 13, 2009

Citizen patrol

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Homeowners beware: Houses that are being tented run the risk of being burglarized.

ADVERTISER LIBRARY PHOTO | 2004

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WATCH IS TO SEND BAD GUYS A MESSAGE

I appreciate Rachael Provenzale's (Letters, Aug. 10) concern for those citizens patrolling Kalihi Valley. She questions whether they are trained in law enforcement.

It is important to know that individuals who participate in NSW (Neighborhood Security Watch) all over the Islands are not out there to enforce laws. We are out there to be the eyes and ears of law enforcement and to send a message to the bad guys: We're watching you. It is not our intent to be forceful or to confront; we are there to observe and report.

Will a flashlight protect us in an altercation with a crack addict? I doubt it, which is why these volunteers should be applauded and need your kokua as well. HPD works very closely with these groups and indeed provides comprehensive training.

There is a lot more to the organization than just the matching T-shirts. It was an exhilarating experience to witness the thousands of people representing the many NSW groups around the island who attended the recent National Night Out.

Mark Ida | Salt Lake

SKATE PARK

BUNGLING CASTS DOUBT ON THE LARGER ISSUES

I shook my head in disbelief as I read how the City and County of Honolulu has bungled something as simple as building a skateboard park on the North Shore ("Rough ride so far for N. Shore skate park," Aug 10). Twenty-five years since the community started lobbying for it, and it still is not finished. And then, there was the Superferry debacle. Do we really want government in charge of our health care?

Ray Graham | Waikiki

HOME BURGLARY

RISK WARNING NEEDED DURING TENTING

Our home was treated for termites recently, and during the tenting operation the house was burglarized, with the thieves making off with more than $2,500 in items including irreplaceable heirloom jewelry. The police and the termite company both comment that this happens in up to 50 percent of homes being tented. Apparently this is a common occurrence.

Too bad we didn't know about it; we could have hired a security guard — or lived with the termites.

Robyn Petterson | Honolulu

MEDIA

DO JOB, STOP LETTING STATE DOMINATE NEWS

Congratulations. The Advertiser has finally printed an objective piece on Hawai'i's fiscal problems and the war between Gov. Linda Lingle and the public sector unions. The editors should seriously consider what Derrick DePledge reported (Aug. 8) — that the media's editorial boards have "allowed the governor to dictate and define what's fair," according to Randy Perreira. Have some faith in your readership. We are intelligent enough to decide for ourselves what is fair and reasonable.

What your readership desperately wants and needs are the facts — not sound bites and rhetoric regurgitated from press releases penned by the administration's spin doctors. Both the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin have for too long allowed the governor to frame the message that gets to the public.

Have some backbone, roll up your sleeves, and get to it.

Erik Abe | Honolulu

HURRICANE FUND

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN RELIEF NEEDED?

As I read through City Councilman Romy M. Cachola's Aug. 9 commentary "Tapping the hurricane fund for budget relief," it made me realize just how different politicians think from the rest of the public.

At the time of his commentary, Hurricane Felicia was bearing down on the Big Island with unknown costs and we are just in the middle of hurricane season; history shows most of the damaging hurricanes happen at the end of the season.

Mr. Cachola and many of his fellow politicians think now is the time to deplete the hurricane relief fund as long as politicians promise to pay it back someday.

But what will happen next year when the budget is still in need of money, the hurricane relief fund is gone and hurricane season comes again?

Garry P. Smith | 'Ewa Beach

KOLEA

BIRDS' EARLY RETURN A PLEASANT SURPRISE

I want to add to Lee Freitas' observation of the return of the kolea on Aug. 6 at his Hilo home.

My wife and I saw our first kolea of the season three days later on a usual walk in Mililani Mauka. We were elated and pleasantly surprised to be able to see the migratory bird so early in the season.

Robert Lee | Mililani Mauka

MAIL-ORDER MEDS

DECISION ADDS TO OUR ECONOMIC HURTS

The Hawai'i Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund decision to mandate use of a Florida mail order house will help the Florida economy and damage ours.

Is that the kind of decision we want one of our governmental agencies to make, especially in bad economic times when we are trying to stimulate our own economy? For every million dollars that local pharmacies and wholesalers cut back in their expenditures on staff and services because of this decision, the loss to the Hawai'i economy will be approximately $1.65 million.

Further, we have just established a College of Pharmacy in Hilo and EUTF is telling prospective students we would rather pay Florida pharmacists than the local graduates.

Finally, I would like EUTF to explain to me how to establish the same personal relationship with a mail-order pharmacist that I have with my own local pharmacist, who protects me from drug conflicts and answers my questions about the prescriptions he fills on my behalf. Maybe EUTF should look at the big picture and not just employ tunnel vision. When it does, then it will reverse its anti-Hawai'i decision.

Tom Dinell | Honolulu