ALA MOANA

DO SOMETHING ABOUT EVICTION OF HOMELESS

There are 200 human beings, including about 30 children, living in Ala Moana Park because they have no other place to live. Few people are homeless by choice.

This letter is yet another voice asking why our city government cannot show a bit of compassion and understanding?

Can it not meet with the staffs of the Waikiki Health Center and the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance before handing down an eviction edict? Can it not provide an alternative site before simply expelling people?

Living homeless is not easy, especially in all this rain. Our guess is that Parks Director Lester Chang has himself never been a victim of homelessness, or else he would never have acted in this manner.

CAP DEBATE

HIGHER GAS PRICES SHOULD BE OUR GOAL

The Advertiser's March 26 Focus section featured an opinion by former governor Ben Cayetano on the gas cap debate. This debate has been framed by Mr. Cayetano and indeed the entire state government in the worst possible way.

Any rational energy policy that acknowledges the reality of permanently high oil prices due to a dwindling oil supply that is forecast to be depleted within a very small number of decades must focus on decreasing oil consumption as much and as soon as possible. Attempts to keep gasoline prices low are criminally counterproductive to this goal.

Mr. Cayetano accuses our legislators of lacking backbone, but if in fact they had not only backbone but a moderate amount of foresight, they would immediately impose a hefty gas tax as many foreign governments did after the OPEC actions of the 1970s. High taxes are the reason those countries are not anywhere near as dependent, as the U.S. on oil today. Steeper gas prices will encourage development of alternate transportation solutions as well as diminish consumption, and revenues from a significant tax could be directed to fund those solutions.

The days of mindless mall-hopping in bloated SUVs are coming to an end one way or the other. Consumers need to junk their gas guzzlers, buy hybrids and get on with life.

I for one would like to be outlived by my children, but right now the inability of both our leaders and the public at large to fully grasp the consequences of the coming energy crisis render the chances of that happening not very favorable.

TRANSIT

BUILD IT, ALREADY

The city's proposed transit line routes and stations look fine. Stop futzing around and build the damn thing already!

EFFICIENCY

TOO MANY STOPS WILL DOOM TRANSIT SYSTEM

City Council members are looking at rail all wrong. They have placed too many stops along the line to ensure rapid, efficient movement.

Trains are similar to ships or large motor vehicles. It takes a tremendous amount of power to begin moving. Once moving, the savings begin to materialize. However, if the stops are less than five miles apart, the costs will exceed any benefits gained through increased fuel usage and increased time wasted by too many stops.

A hub-and-spoke design with TheBus feeding the stations would be a much more efficient way to get the same job done.

I'm sure previous administrations authorized lots of consultant studies on this issue, so why not use them and do it right? This is not the time to let the politicians decide what is best. We should let individuals with transit and engineering backgrounds decide this issue.

FREEWAYS

MASS TRANSIT WON'T SOLVE OUR TRAFFIC MESS

Mass transit is an important part of our transportation future, but it will never solve our traffic problem. Period.

Even the consultants paid to design the proposed train system will tell you that.

Our freeway system is appropriate for a city half the size of Honolulu. We need better. Some of that need might be met without new construction (for example, the inner emergency lane on the H-1 in town could be converted to a traffic lane), but we will not reduce our traffic problem without some new construction.

Some people will oppose that, but we are now sitting in their traffic.

We can either get started fixing the problem, or we might as well stop complaining about it.

PRESCRIPTIONS

PSYCHOLOGISTS DON'T HAVE PROPER TRAINING

A bill has come before the Legislature allowing psychologists, who have no medical training, to prescribe medication. This is dangerous.

Worse yet, it is exploiting the fact that patients generally don't know the difference between psychologists, who aren't physicians, and psychiatrists, who are medical doctors with medical training in pediatrics, surgery, pharmacology and many other medical fields over a period of eight years or more.

I'm not saying that psychologists should never prescribe. If they go through the appropriate training, I am all for it. In fact, there is such a program in Hawai'i — it is called medical school.

If that's too long, they could get their nursing degree at UH and then become nurse practitioners.

Please call your legislators today and tell them to stop this dangerous bill.

SLAVERY

PUTTING KAMEHAMEHA ON QUARTER AN INSULT

Regarding Art Franks' March 8 letter on putting Kamehameha's likeness on the state quarter: If Kamehameha were alive between 1893 to 1898, there would have been a major war with the United States.

Kamehameha would never have condoned any form of imperialism by the U.S. Things would be much different today in Hawai'i. It would still contain its independent global status. Hawaiians would still have control of their destiny.

To even consider Kamehameha's portrait on the state quarter is a complete insult to King Kamehameha and the Kamehameha family living today.

The United States is enslaving his people, destroying all of Hawai'i's natural resources, desecrating Hawaiian sacred sites and attempting to steal all of his property in the name of its racist Constitution.

Having King Kamehameha's picture on the state quarter would be the ultimate acknowledgement of slavery of the Hawaiian people under the U.S.A.

WHAT TALES THIS CANADIAN 5-CENT PIECE COULD TELL US

Some folks have spent their entire life collecting valuable and rare coins. They store them in special books that are designed for this purpose, or they keep them in a bank vault, taking them out only on occasion to enjoy their prized possessions. Perhaps one day the coins will be passed down to a family member or be sold for profit.

There are many excellent reasons why you might want to collect coins. For starters, they tell unique stories. A coin's design, mint mark, condition and composition can offer a glimpse into history and a better understanding of the past.

Some people collect coins in the hope that they will appreciate in value. Some coins have intrinsic bullion value (such as silver, gold and platinum coins). Others become valuable because they are rare.

But there is an easier way to search for lost coins for gain. While they do not have the value of old or rare coins that are recognized and prized by antique collectors, they nevertheless offer their own special challenge and sometimes render an unexpected dividend when one turns out to be a rare find.

The easy way to collect coins?

Recently, I was in Honolulu and passed by a "Coin Star Machine." This machine is the recipient of the common household jar of coins. Coins are poured into the machine and counted, and a receipt is issued to the owner. Foreign and bent coins are rejected.

I noticed a few crusty pennies in the reject pile as well as a few casino coins and a couple of "Caribbean treasures." I cleaned out the trough and examined my booty — perhaps 12 cents in total. "What is this?" I thought as I examined a tarnished artifact. It was a Canadian silver five-cent piece. The coin was worn thin, and the portrait of the queen was barely visible. The date was 1881, and the queen was Queen Victoria.

What unique story does this coin tell? What glimpse into history and better understanding of the past does it provide?

The coin has no real value to collectors, but it does make you wonder how a worn and thin five-cent silver coin that has been obsolete for at least 86 years (the mint quit minting five-cent silver pieces in 1920) could have found its way to Hawai'i.

Had the coin spent its entire 125 years in Hawai'i? That would mean that it was there only 100 years or so after Captain Cook's adventures.

Did it arrive in Hawai'i aboard some pirate ship?

It's not likely to come in the change of a passenger on a jet airplane.

Maybe it came aboard a cruise ship in the early 1900s?

The coin is back on Canadian soil, and the only historical past I can say for certain is that the coin has made a trip to Hawai'i and returned safely to Canada.

If you lost a silver five-cent coin in a machine in Hawai'i, I have it and it's yours if you can tell me how it got there.

FUNDRAISING DEAL

HERE'S WHY THE GOP KEPT QUIET

In a March 26 commentary, Jerry Burris speculates on why the Hawai'i Republican Party "took several days and obviously a lot of thinking before the local GOP jumped on an obvious goof by the Hawai'i Democratic Party involving a fundraising deal that stretched from here to Rhode Island."

Burris further speculates that "It suggests there was a lot of time devoted to making sure their own house was in order before slapping the Democrats."

There were actually several reasons why the Hawai'i Republican Party did not instantly react to the news that the local Democrats appeared to be involved in campaign money-laundering with Democratic officials in other states: