POWER LINES

HECO CAN'T AFFORD TO IGNORE WAI'ANAE COAST

I have lived in Wai'anae for three years, but I work in town. I was unable to go to work because of the latest natural disaster. Wai'anae once again was held hostage by downed power lines and limited access roads.

These same power lines have been blown over twice in the past two years and still HECO has made no movement to bury the lines.

The Pali Highway was closed Wednesday, but people living on the Windward side had alternative routes to town. The Wai'anae Coast has no such luxury. If Farrington Highway is closed, Wai'anae is shut down. People cannot evacuate in case of emergency. Supplies cannot be brought in to help the needy. Ambulances cannot come in to help the sick. It is unbelievable that there has been no movement from the state to build another viable access road. People have talked about this problem for years, but Wai'anae still has one road in and one road out.

I cannot afford to lose more work, and the state and HECO cannot afford to continue to ignore the people living on the Wai'anae Coast.

HOMES

DHHL LANDS SHOULD GO TO THOSE ON WAITING LIST

Let's push more Hawaiians off lands retained for use by them. Let's make more money. Let's keep people on the waiting list until they die.

Funny how the lands being targeted for development, like in Kona and in Hilo, are Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

It's time to stop this practice.

When you hear of people waiting on the list for 35 years to get a piece of property to build a home on and then have to pay $250,000 for that home to be built, how many of you plan on doing that when you are 50-plus years old? In the meantime, what happens to your family while waiting 35-plus years?

It's time to sue the DHHL, and put it in the hands of people who actually care about the people whom it was meant to benefit. Have you guys ever lived in homes with planes constantly landing and taking off?

FOOTBALL

UH-WASHINGTON GAME ONE OF BEST OF THE YEAR

My hat's off to the University of Washington for the class they showed after a tough loss.

Ty Willingham is a first-class coach. He was very honest in saying he knew what an explosive offense Hawai'i had and what they needed to do to stop them.

However, Washington never quit. They fought tooth and nail. My hat's off to him and the Washington team for coming over and playing us here on our turf when many wouldn't even consider it. It was one of the best college games of the year.

LINGLE, LEGISLATURE

MAHALO TO OFFICIALS FOR COOPERATION ON FERRY

Since I was one of the people urging our elected officials to allow the Superferry to operate as planned, I would be remiss if I did not say mahalo nui to Gov. Linda Lingle and the Legislature for showing what can happen when they work together.

Gov. Lingle has many great ideas to help the state and the people in it. Let us hope our legislators will carry this new-found spirit of cooperation into the next regular legislative session, which opens next month, and pass Gov. Lingle's initiatives into law for the benefit of everyone in Hawai'i.

EAST O'AHU

NEW ROUTE BENEFITS MAJORITY OF BUS RIDERS

With regard to the changes in bus service for East O'ahu, and in particular those for the 'Aina Haina loop, a reality check may be in order.

Apart from the question of whether the community was properly informed of the changes, the major objections seem to concern the need for bus passengers going from 'Aina Haina to Hawai'i Kai to cross Kalaniana'ole Highway on foot, or alternatively take a bus to Kahala Mall and change for one going to Hawai'i Kai. From personal observation, I can state that only a very few of those boarding the bus along the 'Aina Haina loop are headed toward Hawai'i Kai. The impact of the change in bus service should therefore be minimal.

As for crossing the highway, while it is true that there are six lanes of traffic, there are traffic signals at both the East Hind and West Hind intersections, as well as a center island along this entire stretch of highway. For persons who are mobility-challenged, the solution is to cross to the center island, wait for the next red light, and cross the other three lanes. For those who prefer the "all bus" solution, the travel time from 'Aina Haina to Kahala Mall by bus is not more than 10 minutes.

Public services such as TheBus must be structured so as to provide the greatest good for the greatest number, which in the present instance translates into a better and more rapid bus service for the large number of bus riders originating in and/or headed toward Hawai'i Kai; the new route structure does just that.

TEEN PREGNANCY

CHILDREN MUST BE TAUGHT VALUE OF LIFE

From Barry Raff's letter (Dec. 10), he would have you believe that the single reason for a continued high incidence of teen pregnancy is abstinence education.

Let me point out some other highly dangerous contributing factors. Parents do not take time to invest in their children's education, or are even aware of what they are doing in their spare time. Morals are set at home by parents.

Our children are bombarded by mass media glamorizing sex. Children are being brainwashed that looking and acting sexual is the mark of a mature and successful person.

Our male children are being taught that sex is the stepping stone to manhood, and dominance over women is the natural course of the world.

Planned Parenthood's solution to this problem is the use of abortion as a method of birth control. Barry Raff says our children need sexuality education in order for them to make responsible decisions. Our under-aged children cannot make responsible decisions in regard to abortion as long as we throw media at them that argues that life is meaningless and worthless.

Parental, family or church involvement and education is the only way to reduce unwanted teenage pregnancies.

Young men must be taught they are just as responsible for preventing teen pregnancies as young women.

Advocating abortion as a form of birth control does not account for this issue, it puts all the responsibility and guilt on the young women. Our young people must be taught to recognize and value the life of an unborn child, it is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.

PHYSICIANS

UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE ANSWER TO SHORTAGE

Dr. Cynthia Goto's "Hot Seat" answer (Focus, Dec. 9) to the question about frivolous lawsuits appeared to be purposely vague and evasive.

Her assertion that 86 percent of medical malpractice claims lack merit translates: 14 out of 100 claims are serious enough to get their day in court. When a person has the wrong leg amputated, is permanently brain damaged from improper use of anesthesia, is changed for life from receiving the wrong medication, etc., how much of their long-term care are we willing to limit?

Many times these types of life-changing accidents occur specifically because our for-profit hospitals and health insurers demand staff reductions and quick turnover of hospital beds resulting in overworked, underpaid, exhausted healthcare professionals and patients at risk.

If the truth be told, risky investments by the insurance companies may have far more to do with high medical malpractice insurance premiums than fair settlements for the poor souls who will never again have the quality of life they once enjoyed.

Let's stop blaming the victims and, worse, penalizing the victims by limiting liability in those 14 out of 100 legitimate lawsuits. The real answer to the doctor shortage is universal healthcare and a humane nonprofit healthcare system.

The presidential election is coming up in 2008. Which of the candidates will do the right thing and resist the big health insurance and pharmaceutical money that will surely be pouring into their campaigns?

CLASSROOMS

STIFLING HEAT IS A POOR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

In a Dec. 3 letter, Judy Strait-Jones dismisses the need for air conditioning in public school classrooms, suggesting environmentally friendly alternatives. While thinking green is laudable, it doesn't always yield practical solutions.

I am a teacher at a school named by the Department of Education as one of the hottest in the state. I invite interested persons to visit my classroom and experience firsthand the stifling heat my students contend with daily.

We do open our windows and have four fans running. This does little to mitigate the heat, but adds the noise of landing airplanes, emergency vehicles, and power lawnmowers to our learning environment. I do not think that planting more trees around the campus would make a tangible difference.

Why do we justify an environment for our keiki that no professional workers in either the public or private sector would tolerate?

If environmental alternatives to air conditioning have merit, I suggest a trial program at the State Capitol. Turn off the air conditioning, open the windows, buy a few fans, and plant some trees. Let our elected officials decide if air conditioning is a waste of electricity.