AFTERNOONS

ZIPPER LANE NEEDED ON H-1 'EWA-BOUND

The traffic near the merge of the H-1 and the Moanalua Freeway is ridiculous.

Would it be possible to create a zipper lane on the H-1 in the 'ewa direction on the town-bound side during the afternoon rush hour? Maybe even contra-flowing two lanes in the 'ewa direction?

The town-bound traffic during the same hours is minuscule compared to the 'ewa side. It doesn't make any sense to have a zipper lane in the morning and none in the afternoon.

Please get rid of the HOV lane requirements. O'ahu is just too small to have such limitations.

ETHNICITY

DIVERSITY MAKES ISLES PERFECT PLACE TO LIVE

Why can't the world be like us in Hawai'i? The beauty of living in Hawai'i, with its multicultural and multiracial citizens, where no ethnic group is a majority of the population. Our leaders are a great example of this.

Today, we have a female Jewish governor, a Hawaiian lieutenant governor, a Samoan mayor of Honolulu, a Korean mayor of Hawai'i County, a Japanese mayor of Maui County and a Filipino mayor of Kaua'i County. The chairman of the City Council of Honolulu is Filipino. In the state Legislature, the speaker of the House is Chinese and the leader of the Senate is Filipino. Our chief justice of the Supreme Court is Korean, the Honolulu police chief and fire chief are Portuguese. The athletic director of the University of Hawai'i is black, and the state superintendent of education is Japanese. In the U.S. Congress, we are represented in the Senate by a Japanese and a Hawaiian and two white representatives in the House.

Yes, the true beauty of this situation is that most of us living here are not aware or concerned about this mixture of ethnic backgrounds. Why?

Because, as we say in Hawai'i, "Ain't no big thing." We have been educated and "environmentalized" (a new verb established in Hawai'i?) that we should judge each person as an individual. That's it! Quite simple in a world where people make life so complex.

There is no other place in the world where you will find people of different ethnic backgrounds getting along with each other. I am Hawai'i. You can be Hawai'i. Come see Hawai'i. Then live Hawai'i.

HOSPITALS

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON TRIPLER WAS LACKING

Your recent series on Tripler Army Medical Center was based on partial information that ultimately resulted in a one-sided slam on an excellent hospital.

It would have been helpful if you performed a comparative analysis of data obtained from other Island hospitals or hospitals nationwide. If you had done that, though, perhaps we wouldn't see the flashy headlines that were used for the articles.

I had a co-worker dramatically telling me that Tripler was killing people. He made it sound as if it were happening on a daily basis.

Over the past two years, we had a 23-year-old family member from the remote island of Ulithi in Micronesia treated for gestational trophoblastic carcinoma at Tripler. The professionalism of the doctors, nurses, counselors and hospital staff was second to none. I am happy to report that she is now a former patient and back on her home island thanks to these individuals.

SHERIFF ARPAIO

HAWAI'I SHOULD LOOK AT ARIZONA PRISON FACILITY

Regarding the article about the consideration of a new prison on the Big Island: I would like to recommend that government officials consider a prison like Sheriff Arpaio has in Maracopa County, Arizona.

Sheriff Arpaio's Web site is www.mcso.org. It boasts: "No other detention facility in the country, state or county can boast of 1,200 convicts in tents; no other county or state facility can boast of a gleaning program that results in costs of under 45 cents per meal per inmate; few others can say they have women in tents or on chain gangs."

Perhaps the Big Island prison would not need to be run as stringently as Sheriff Joe does it, but it could be built in the same manner and prisoners fed the same way and the sleeping arrangements could be the same. It would certainly be less expensive, and if our military can live that way, I don't know why our prisoners should be treated to a better environment.

I sure hope the legislators will consider it.

LAND GRANT

UH HAS OBLIGATION FOR MILITARY RESEARCH

With his Feb. 12 commentary "Military research could enhance the reputation of UH," Fujio Matsuda has added to his record of significant service to our state and our university.

In particular, Dr. Matsuda emphasized that the University of Hawai'i is a land-grant university and, as such, has a special relationship with the federal government.

Those who oppose military-sponsored research at UH appear to have forgotten our responsibilities under this relationship. We are not just another liberal arts university.

With respect to publishing the results of research, I have colleagues at the University of Texas, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Washington who have conducted research within their Navy-affiliated University Affiliated Research Centers. These colleagues have all published results from their research, all have achieved tenure and promotion, and all have achieved national and international recognition for themselves and for their universities.