Letters to the Editor
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SAFE DRIVING
PRIORITIES MIXED UP ON SEAT BELT REQUIREMENT
For those folks who don't wear their seat belts: A $92 fine is much better than cracking your windshield with your forehead, losing some teeth on your dash or having your body being ejected on the road and being run over by another vehicle.
Do you think race car drivers would even hesitate for a moment about buckling up?
For the defiant ones, though, who get ticketed, let's use that $92 fine to buy a pair of seat belts for one of our school buses to possibly save one of our most precious commodities, our children, from serious injuries.
As a society our priorities are a little twisted regarding requiring seatbelt use.
Bill RomerhausHale'iwa
GO AFTER DRIVERS WHO GAB ON CELL PHONES
Letter writer Kalani Chong is correct in requesting the HPD go after the speeders and red-light runners.
Cameras at intersections is the answer, so the police can go after burglars, meth makers and marijuana growers. Let technology do the work.
However, the Click It or Ticket campaign is a joke.
I drive a 2007 Toyota Camry that has seven air bags. Unless I run into a solid wall at 70 mph, I'm virtually safe from injury.
A law mandating that I need to additionally strap myself in is redundant. And a $92 fine is absurd.
Go after cell phone/text messagers, who are far more dangerous.
Paul D'ArgentLahaina, Maui
TRIBUTE
LAKE'S LEGACY LIVES ON IN HIS FORMER STUDENTS
It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of my beloved teacher and friend Kumu John Lake.
"Mr. Lake," as his students at Saint Louis knew him, was an inspiration and adviser to me and many others long after we graduated from high school.
In spite of his busy schedule, he was never too busy to return a phone call or meet with a student or former student who needed his counsel or advice.
In the years since his retirement from Saint Louis, Kumu John Lake was a tireless teacher of Hawaiian culture to young men and women of Hawai'i.
He was in the truest sense of the word a real gentlemen.
In his passing Hawai'i has lost a giant, but his legacy lives on in thousands of his former students.
Aloha "Mr. Lake," you will never be forgotten.
David Alan EzraSaint Louis School, Class of 1965
PRIORITIES
LEGISLATURE PROVIDED FUNDING WHERE NEEDED
In her May 2 opinion piece in The Advertiser, the governor's senior policy adviser distorted the truth on what the Legislature did or did not do.
Here are some simple facts:
The Legislature provided 150 percent more money than the governor requested for the repair and maintenance of our schools. The governor sought $26 million, while the Legislature provided more than $66 million.
The Legislature provided 40 percent more than the governor requested for the repair and maintenance of University of Hawai'i facilities. The governor sought $50 million, while the Legislature provided more than $70 million.
The Legislature provided a total of $57.7 million for charter schools. That's $1.6 million more than the governor provided and $6.1 million more than they are currently receiving.
Linda Smith implies that the governor's budget was balanced, and had all the correct priorities. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Most people don't consider spending $8 million to replace the Capitol pool a top priority, especially when she refuses to fund federally mandated cesspool repairs at our Neighbor Island schools.
The truth is the Legislature cut $44 million from the governor's spending plan, bringing it back into balance, but ensured that sufficient funding was provided to:
The senior policy adviser's spinning of the truth leaves one dizzy.
Rep. Marcus OshiroChair, House Finance Committee
VOTE YES
CONCON ALLOWS US TO INFLUENCE GOVERNANCE
David Shapiro's column on the ConCon debate (Volcanic Ash, May 14) is a good reminder for all of us to vote in favor regardless of the cost.
For many of us, it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to influence how we should be governed in Hawai'i.
The ineptitude of current legislators in reaching a decision and sticking with it is legendary. It appears that once elected, unless you do something horrible, you have lifetime tenure. So, there is little motivation to ruffle the waters and do something bold.
This ConCon, hopefully, gives us a chance to make appropriate changes in our governance.
One of the possibilities is to set up term limits. Another is to establish proper separation between the city and and the state. Why should the state get a fat fee for collecting O'ahu's portion of the general excise tax when they do so little?
One more possibility is setting up new limits for debt, limiting the number of new bond issues for which we have to pay so much interest through taxes.
These and many other possibilities should excite the voters to vote for ConCon and open up the debate to all of us.
Paul TyksinskiKailua
DRUG TESTS
WELFARE RECIPIENTS SHOULD ALSO BE TESTED
If teachers need to be drug tested to get a raise, then people on welfare should also be required to take the same test to get a welfare check.
If you pass the drug test, the state should pay for the test; if you fail, you pay for that test.
Alvin WongPearl City
ENVIRONMENT
PLASTIC BAG, STYROFOAM BANS NEED TO BE PASSED
Our esteemed legislators failed us once again in the 2008 legislative session.
Two bills would have gone a long way toward cleaning up the environment, saving both birds and sea life in the deal.
Bans of both Styrofoam packaging for takeout food and plastic shopping bags both failed.
These were simple bills to implement but both failed. China has banned the use of plastic bags, and they were using in excess of 3 billion a day. Ireland and Bangladesh have also instituted the ban and San Francisco recently followed suit.
While it's true that we need to pay attention to long-term environmental threats, it seems to me we should do all we can immediately to solve some of these issues. Let's get it together next session and ban these harmful products.
David J. Stewart'Ewa Beach
