MYLES ARAKAWA

KALANI SOCCER COACH SHOWS TRUE LEADERSHIP

Coach Myles Arakawa has shown to the Hawai'i soccer world that true leadership, mentorship and the ability to make something from nothing is alive and well in Kuli'ou'ou.

This is a year of firsts for Kalani High School. I know with coach Myles at the helm, it won't be the last.

Congratulations to the young men of Kalani, coach Myles and his staff, and to the supporters of Team Kalani.

TRANSIT

SCRAP RAIL; IT WILL HELP ONLY A SELECT FEW

The City Council is arguing over what route the rail transit should take, and it is getting upset over the disagreements of two different ideas.

What about taxpayers who live on the Windward side who have to pay taxes to help fund this thing, and we aren't even going to get to use it?

They should scrap this thing and use money on maybe building something that will benefit everyone, not just a select few.

TRAFFIC SAFETY

REMOVAL OF BUS STOPS SHOULD BE RE-EXAMINED

Thank you for your excellent article about our growing fatalities at crosswalks.

I suggest the removal of bus stops be reexamined.

The bus stop at Kapi'olani and Pensacola has been discontinued, producing a safety hazard to walkers going diamondhead on the makai side of Kapi'olani.

Cars speed around that right turn, not even seeing pedestrians. A bus pausing there used to slow them down a bit — not anymore.

DRIVERS TOO BUSY TO PAY ATTENTION TO ROAD

Enough of these silly complaints about pedestrians.

It doesn't matter if a child darts into the street, a dog, cat, ball or some UFO, the law requires the operator of a motor vehicle to look as far down the road as can be seen, to anticipate what might happen within that zone, to calculate speed, braking distance and lane maneuverability to avoid possible obstacles, including that of someone in a parked vehicle suddenly blocking the driver's path by swinging open a car door.

The law also requires the operator of a motor vehicle to keep both hands on the steering wheel at all times except when shifting gears or making a hand signal.

In Honolulu, we are more likely to see a dog with both front paws on the steering wheel, because drivers are busy talking on the telephone, reading, applying cosmetics, etc., or turned completely around to shake a fist at children imprisoned in "safety" seats, or bent down out of sight to adjust radios, TVs, CDs or boom boxes.

After last Sunday's articles bad-mouthing pedestrians, on Tuesday (Page F1) The Hono-lulu Advertiser encourages drivers to "Make your passenger seat your office." Why look to see if there might be a pedestrian in a crosswalk when you could be scribbling notes to yourself on your own passenger-seat office memorandum?

Instead of funding a pedestrian study, why not fund a 911 e-mail, where drivers and pedestrians can promptly e-mail reports and photos of offenses?

SOUTH KOREA

Visa-waiver program important for U.S.

As a Korean-American who has lived in Hawai'i most of my life and has family in Korea, I applaud your editorial, "Visa process overdue for updates, waivers" (Feb. 12).

The Republic of Korea has been a strong ally of the United States for more than half a century and is the seventh largest trading partner of the U.S. and the fifth largest importer of U.S. agricultural products. There are more than two million Korean-Americans living in the United States.

The visa-waiver program will not only keep U.S. dollars in the U.S., but will bring in much-needed foreign dollars and also suppress the anti-U.S. emotions that some Koreans retain.

I truly hope that the visa-waiver program will achieve realization in the shortest time possible.

COURT CASE

KAUA'I TAX-AMENDMENT ISSUES ARE CLARIFIED

The generally balanced article by Jerry Burris in the Feb. 18 issue on the Kaua'i property tax charter amendment requires correction on some important points.

The article associates the Kaua'i measure with California Proposition 13 and states that the amendment puts severe limits on tax collections.

The California proposition covered all properties, but the Kaua'i measure only relates to homeowner properties. Although current Kaua'i annual property tax revenues are about $78 million, the measure would affect only about $2 million collected from homeowners. There is no necessary impairment of total Kaua'i tax revenue as no restrictions are made on other taxpayers.

The article suggests that taxes were soaring due to booming property values. Values and assessments may be soaring but taxes increase because of government spending.

The article notes that Pacific Legal Foundation, the lawyers for the Kaua'i taxpayers, also defended Proposition 13 "against opposition from local and state government officials." The litigation in California was by private parties, with government officials supporting the tax.

On Kaua'i, it was the government officials who attacked the charter amendment.

CITY COUNCIL

COUNCIL SHOULD SERVE ALL PEOPLE OF HONOLULU

I, like many other people in Honolulu, am outraged at City Councilmember Romy Cachola and his attempt to hold up the city and county.

He and the other members are there to serve all of the people of the City of Honolulu first, then his own district second.

Here is my question: Mr. Cachola, how many people both inbound and outbound and tourists will use the rail from Downtown to the airport and back?

How many military at Hickam Air Force Base and Pearl Harbor would use the system, versus the numbers who live in Salt Lake?

Do not show me the money, but show me the data that support your reasoning.

I might just point out to all the councilmembers that we have 6 million tourists who come into Honolulu Airport. It's $10 a trip, which is half the price of a cab from the airport to Ala Moana. Do the math, councilmembers.

I wonder who is really asleep at the switch.

Councilmembers, think of all of the people first. Drop the politics.

TEACHERS

CALLS FOR DRUG TESTING ARE AN OVERREACTION

I know a few teachers, and I absolutely positively know they are drug-free. I also know that they struggle to maintain a reasonable quality of life in Hawai'i.

Otherwise, it's common knowledge that our public schools are seriously under-funded, and the teachers and administrators are underpaid.

Where will officials suddenly get the money to implement a drug-test program for the DOE? They recently balked at paying the pay increases that had been negotiated.

Mostly fueled by the media, a hysteria has been created in which many perceive that there is a massive drug problem in the DOE.

Based on the teachers I know, I don't believe this to be the case.

Even with the recent publicized cases, all reports indicate that those teachers were good, productive teachers who never showed any signs of being a detriment to the students or the school.

Those who are calling for an immediate, costly drug-test program for the entire DOE are overreacting.

It's disingenuous when some advocate for drug-testing at all costs knowing that teachers are underpaid; most work in facilities that are substandard and have libraries without books.