SAFETY

PHOTO ENFORCEMENT NEEDED ON OUR STREETS

The van cam to thwart O'ahu speeders wasn't handled correctly, but I agree with Don Chambers (Letters, Sept. 23) that photo enforcement at key intersections would provide a greater degree of safety for everyone on the street.

While visiting New Mexico recently, I was surprised to see that drivers, even truckers, stop more often when signals are changing from green to yellow.

Once I learned about red-light cameras in that state, I was much more alert regarding lights turning yellow and thought twice about driving through.

Here in Honolulu I'm shocked to see how many drivers disregard signals at intersections, even going around drivers slowing for a yellow light.

Red-light cameras are installed in Albuquerque and are being considered in Taos. It only takes one or two photo citations mailed to drivers to get them to change behavior.

Honolulu needs this enforcement, too.

FINANCIAL CRISIS

LIVE WITHIN MEANS, FIX YOUR OWN LIFE

There is an old saying that "there is no cure for stupidity."

When we look today at the so-called financial crisis in America, we really have to look at ourselves first.

Most Americans live beyond their means. They buy homes to impress others instead of homes they can afford. They max out credit cards that they know they cannot pay off. They have gas-guzzling cars instead of small economical ones, and they buy things they do not need instead of things of necessity.

Then they sit back and complain that there is no money left to invest in their future.

People do not know how to downsize their lives to make them more simple, less costly and easier to manage.

They would rather exist in life than live life. The solution is actually simple. Get a home you can afford (the smaller the home, the less utilities you pay and the less maintenance), look at economics when you purchase things like cars (gas mileage and maintenance), take time to use coupons and sale items, eat more at home (it is healthier and cheaper), and get rid of credit cards if you are not money smart on using them.

Stop complaining about your life and fix it. After all, you caused your own mess. Business corporations make profits because of your stupidity. As you have seen recently on TV, CEOs walk away with millions of dollars when their businesses fail. That is your money in their pockets.

POLITICS

RESIGN-TO-RUN LAW IS UNFAIR TO OFFICEHOLDERS

When I was director of civil service for the City and County of Honolulu under Mayor Frank F. Fasi, the Legislature passed a law that required Fasi to resign from office to run against then-Gov. George Ariyoshi.

The problem with this legislation is that it is still on the books and applies to officeholders such as Kaua'i Councilman Mel Rapozo, who had to resign his council seat to run for mayor of Kaua'i. This is a loss to the people of Kaua'i because most will agree that Rapozo did a good job on the council and should have been retained.

We are fortunate that there are competent people who choose elected office as a career. It is unfair to ask any person to resign from his present job to seek promotion or another job. The leaders of the Legislature should repeal this outdated and unfair law before we lose other deserving officeholders.

TOURISM PROMOTION

LURE TOURISTS TO ISLES WITH A CASH REBATE

Just wondering if it's legal: Why don't we give travelers to Hawai'i a cash rebate?

Instead of spending millions of dollars advertising Hawai'i as a visitor destination, why don't we give an incentive to travel to Hawai'i?

I'm sure it would be better spent than all the money we spend to send politicians and Hawai'i Tourism Authority and Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau staff to travel all over the U.S. and other countries to market Hawai'i.

We need to think outside the box.

IRAQ WAR

TOO EARLY TO JUDGE SIGNIFICANCE OF SURGE

Charles Krauthammer ("History will revise current verdict on Bush," Sept. 19) claims that the Iraq surge is the "most dramatic change in the fortune of an American war since the summer of 1864."

History says otherwise. Pickett's charge at Gettysburg in 1863, one year earlier, represented the most dramatic change in the tide of the Civil War. In World War I, Chateau-Thierry in the Second Battle of the Marne stopped the Germans from reaching Paris. In the Korean War, the "impossible" landing at Inchon dramatically shifted the conflict. Finally, in World War II, the Battle of the Bulge in Europe ended German hopes against the Allies while the Battle of Midway destroyed the Japanese carrier forces, ending hopes of Japanese victory in a space of six minutes.

Krauthammer cheapens the memory of the soldiers, sailors and Marines who fought and died in these battles when he chooses to ignore them in seeking to try to shore up the legacy of George Bush.

The effects of the surge may or may not survive our departure from Iraq. History will be the final judge of the surge, but it is too early to judge its significance.

VOTING

MAKE SURE BOXES ARE COMPLETELY FILLED IN

Like half the people at a recent breakfast, I missed the none-too-prominent instructions on the primary ballot saying that the square boxes on the ballot had to be completely filled in.

The poll station workers did not mention this point. The fine-pointed pens provided meant that it took a good deal of effort to fill in the sizable squares.

And, last but not least, one normally fills in circles on forms and puts a check or an "X" in boxes.

Want your vote counted? Watch out for this one in the general election.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

TEACHERS SHOULD HAVE NO DRUG-TEST QUALMS

Michael D. Clark (Letter, Sept. 22) opposes random teacher drug testing.

While working for the U.S. Department of Defense and handling sensitive material, I have been randomly tested for illicit drug use for more than 30 years.

For fear of being unsuccessful in my job, failing my family and ending up in jail, I have never used illicit drugs.

If Mr Clark believes that schoolchildren are also "sensitive material," then, as a teacher, he should have no qualms in the random illicit drug testing program.