ACCIDENTS

STOP DRUNKEN DRIVERS THROUGH TOUGHER LAWS

As soon as drivers are picked up on a DUI, their cars should immediately be confiscated and stored in a holding area at their expense for one year.

Their driver's licenses should be suspended for one year, and they should do community service for one year.

They should also undergo alcohol treatment for one year at their expense.

Let them take the bus, and possibly save us or our loved ones.

After one year, their license plate should read "DUI" with an assigned number at their expense. Second offense — one year in jail with no probation.

If it's not a law, make it one and enforce it yesterday. Stop babying these lawless irresponsible drunks and begin doing something that will be a real deterrent.

HOW ABOUT LIMITING PURCHASES OF ALCOHOL?

It seemed like every morning in mid-December there was an alcohol-related accident or death. Every single year during the holidays someone who's young with a beautiful family dies in some unnecessary car accident.

When are people going to learn not to drink and drive home? It's just not worth it, even if you live two blocks down the road.

Maybe lawmakers can adopt some kind of permit law — similar to our fireworks permit law — where a person can only purchase so many bottles of booze and that's it. This idea is probably unconstitutional, but at least it's not Prohibition.

Something has to be done.

PEARL HARBOR

MAHALO TO NAVY FOR SHIPS' CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Mahalo and Mele Kalikimaka to the Navy and to the folks at the Arizona Memorial.

I went with a group of my friends and thoroughly enjoyed the Pearl Harbor Christmas boat ride to see all of the naval ships decked out in their Christmas lights.

I appreciated all the time and effort everyone put in to make this opportunity possible.

To the Navy folks, thank you! To those at the Arizona Memorial, thank you!

CONCERT HALL

SYMPHONY DESERVES BETTER TREATMENT

The city's decision to boot the Honolulu Symphony out of its rightful home of nearly 50 years to make room for the recent production of "The Lion King" has had the unintended consequences of a missed paycheck for our resident artists.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann supported this decision with great pride, resulting in monumental logistical challenges for the symphony management, frustration for ticket holders and loss of ticket revenue.

A letter to the editor from Jack Lucas, president of West Coast Entertainment (Dec. 20), thanked everyone in sight, but did not mention the Honolulu Symphony and the musicians.

His statement, "until we meet again," portends to future productions and problems for the symphony.

I fear for the continued existence of the Honolulu Symphony if this "symphony eviction" policy is allowed to continue.

"The Lion King" has come and gone, but so will our fine musicians if we are not careful.

REVENUE SHOULD BE SHARED WITH SYMPHONY

Thank you, Mayor Mufi Hannemann and your Department of Enterprise Services, for displacing our Honolulu Symphony in favor of "The Lion King."

Many newspaper articles claim that millions of dollars were put in the coffers of the city (I doubt this very much and would like to see a financial statement released, proving this claim).

Mike Leidemann's Page One article (Dec. 16) informed the community that the symphony can't pay musicians this month.

If, in fact, the city did keep all of those millions of dollars in Hawai'i, wouldn't it be a wonderful gesture on your part to gift the Honolulu Symphony with a few of those millions so that these talented, hard-working, taxpaying citizens of Hawai'i can continue their beautiful music?

ROADS

CITY HAS BEEN BUSY PATCHING POTHOLES

There have been some recent letters to The Honolulu Advertiser regarding the state of city streets that beg clarification.

The Hannemann administration has been busy fixing our city roadways. The city not only patches potholes (more than 140,000 since we took office in January 2005), but also provides new road surfaces. The latter can range from a temporary "skin coat" of asphalt to complete rehabilitation, as we've done on Pi'ikoi Street, Waimano Home Road, Hind, Hamakua, Makakilo and Tantalus drives, and streets in Mililani.

Just this past Saturday, we blitzed the Honolulu district, using the two crews there and another six crews from around the island and filled more than 2,550 potholes using 57 tons of hot-mix asphalt.

And there's more. The Department of Design and Construction is spending $94 million to do work on Harding Avenue, Ala Wai Boulevard, Ke'eaumoku, Sheridan and South streets, University Avenue, and Beretania Street. We've also started or are near completion of local streets in Waipi'o, Crestview, Seaview and the Pearl City areas.

Projects soon to start are Kilauea Avenue, 'Alewa Drive, streets in Manoa including Lowrey Avenue, plus Kailua Road, Ku'ulei Road, and Lusitana Street.

Keep in mind, the state has maintenance jurisdiction over many major roadways and highways on our island and has also been working to repair roads.

The bottom line is that the city is doing a lot to keep the roads smooth, thanks to our hard-working city employees. Feel free to call the city's pothole hot line at 768-7777 and report a pothole. For state roads, call the state hotline at 536-7852. You'll get better results than you would by writing a letter to the editor.

AERIALS

ILLEGAL FIREWORKS ALSO PROBLEM IN KANE'OHE

I'm writing in response to Mark Barnes' letter (Dec. 24) regarding illegal aerials in Waipahu.

We are having the same problem in Kane'ohe. Since mid-November it has been like New Year's Eve.

Every night, illegal fireworks are being set off so late that it wakes my baby daughter up scared and startled.

We tried calling the police to complain but to no avail, nothing happens.

So, like Waipahu, Kane'ohe's New Year's Eve officially started in mid-November.

ARMY DEPLOYMENT

HAWAIIAN CANCELLATION CHARGE ETHICALLY WRONG

Thank you for your story on Dec. 20 about the problems a woman had with Hawaiian Airlines when she tried to cancel tickets after her mother died.

I had a similar problem with them in 2004.

I had planned to take my family with me to a work conference until the Army Reserves activated me. Since I was going to be deployed at the time of the conference, I needed to cancel the reservations. The hotel, conference organizers, and Priceline (for my rental car) all gave me full refunds once I explained the situation.

My Hawaiian ticket was given a full refund. But I was charged $50 each for canceling my wife's trip and my two children's trips on Hawaiian. I was told that "Just because the Army was deploying me did not stop them from still taking the trip."

With just a few days to get everything organized for my work and my family to leave with the Army, I decided not to further pursue this.

I am fairly certain that it was not legal to do that to a soldier and his family. Even if it was technically legal, it was ethically wrong.

GRANTS-IN-AID

DEMOCRATS SHOULD END CLOSED-DOOR PROCESS

The hidden, closed-door decision-making process Democrat legislators use to approve grants-in-aid for Hawai'i's non-profit organizations is another example of Democrats continuing to manipulate the public's trust to keep the stranglehold they have on the people of our state.

They are taking advantage of Hawai'i's most vulnerable and needy residents in an appalling, secretive legislative scheme to hold on to power, while keeping campaign donations rolling in.

The process for deciding which nonprofit organizations receive public funds lacks transparency and public input.

A lone Democrat, Rep. Michael Magaoay, decides which organizations will receive millions of taxpayer dollars. A determining factor in whether a nonprofit will be given a grant appears to be how much the organization is willing to "donate" to Rep. Magaoay's campaign, making him the top fundraiser in the House, surpassing even the House speaker and Finance Committee chair.

It is unclear what criteria Rep. Magaoay and a handful of other Democratic House leaders use in deciding which organizations to fund. The public is left out of the entire process, and important state priorities such as ending homelessness are short changed.

The public deserves to know how Rep. Magaoay makes these decisions and should hold Democratic leaders accountable to ensure that the organizations that receive grants are spending the money efficiently and that the money benefits those in need.

The Democrats' blatant misuse of public funds to gain power and manipulate our nonprofit organizations into donating to political campaigns must end.

I call upon the Democrats in the House and Senate to abolish the secretive grants-in-aid charade and use the open budget process to determine what amounts Hawai'i's nonprofit organizations should receive and how the results will be measured.

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