CAR SAFETY

WE CAN LEARN A THING, OR TWO, FROM KOREA

During our recent trip to Korea, I noticed that almost all SUVs had outside rear-view mirrors (similar to school buses). They probably saved many a toddler's life. Why don't we have that here?

The newer cars have rear-view cameras with a screen on the dashboard that shows the entire lower back view of the pavement.

Another observation I made in Seoul, a city of about 15 million, and Busan was that I never saw any graffiti. Amazing!

HISTORY REVISITED

WWII VETERAN DEFENDS U.S. COURSE OF ACTION

Evidently David T. Webb (Letters, June 7) receives his knowledge of history from Clint Eastwood movies: "WWII put us on a collision course with the Japanese Empire. The carnage and stupidity of that war was graphically displayed in 'Letters From Iwo Jima.' "

As a veteran who fought in that war, I think Mr. Webb should get his history lessons from sources other than the movies. Has he ever heard of Pearl Harbor? "Carnage and stupidity" better describes that letter than the United States' response to Pearl Harbor.

BUS STOPS

SIGNS INDICATING ROUTE NUMBERS WOULD HELP

I don't know why the bus stops don't have signs telling the bus number of the route. I come from Brooklyn, N.Y., and in Brooklyn there are signs at bus stops and also a map of the route.

KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS

THOSE NOT VESTED ARE FILING LAWSUITS

News articles are sadly aimed at Kamehameha School's admissions policies. Are there other schools offering reasonably priced education at their own expense and not funded by the general, or the tax paying, public?

Kamehameha is educating children as a private school using its own funds and not that of taxpayers. Although challengers frequently claim the school is publicly supported, it is not, it is a private school using all its private funds.

The use of private funds is also required to defend its policies from apparent frivolous lawsuits seeking financial rewards.

Students who choose to attend can enjoy a vested interest identified by the Princess Pauahi. An earned vested interest is by the discovery, inhabiting, cultivating and managing of Hawai'i resources for generations. Now students must have an earned vested interest to attend. Some litigants today may not have an earned vested interest to attend Kamehameha and are complaining and filing lawsuits.

CROSSWALK SAFETY

STATE NEEDS TO RETHINK ITS MESSAGE TO PUBLIC

When I drive around town it seems many people don't understand how to behave when driving through or walking in crosswalks.

I have heard the law explained in the media several times. Each time I hear it, the law is described differently. The state needs to do a series of public service announcements, graphically describing how to handle crosswalk situations, so everyone can be on the same page on this.

The PSAs should be couched in the idea that the people in the crosswalk are members of your community. It doesn't make sense to just keep upping the penalties without making an appeal to reason and civility. People should look before they cross. People shouldn't gridlock the intersection. You would think people are aware of these concepts.

Every day I see people who ignore these simple rules because they think they are the exception to the rule. Maybe our community needs to be reminded of our responsibilities in a PSA.

The "pedestrian always has the right of way" mantra doesn't help people make good choices; it seems to make people think cars magically stop when they step foot in the road.

HAWAIIAN KINGDOM

INDEPENDENCE THE ANSWER, NOT AKAKA BILL

In 1959, the United States of America forced the Hawaiian Kingdom to become the 50th state of the Union. The 1993 Apology bill shows the wrongful and illegal act done to the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The only resolution is independence. We continue to fight for our independence peacefully from a country that champions democracy and yet fails to right the wrong done to the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The Akaka bill will only benefit a few Hawaiians. Some say this is better than nothing. I disagree. This bill will only widen the economic gap between the rich and poor.

The future can be promising, or it can be difficult. It is up to us now to make the right decisions for the future of Hawai'i nei.

KAWIKA KAPAHULEHUA

CREWMEMBER WAS LOST DURING A 1978 VOYAGE

The ocean-going 'ohana was saddened by the death of Kawika Kapahulehua, the designated captain of Hokule'a in its first voyage to Tahiti in 1976. Our respect and condolences go out to his family.

With his passing, an article appeared on The Honolulu Advertiser's front page on May 18. An insensitive comment was made in an article referring to Eddie Aikau getting killed on the 1978 voyage. Aikau was "lost at sea" when paddling a surfboard to the island of Lana'i in an attempt to get help for the capsized Hokule'a and its crewmembers. Aikau was never found. The crew was rescued and the Hokule'a was towed back to O'ahu to sail again.

We hope that a book will be written detailing the story of the Hawaiian crewmembers and their experiences with the questionable leadership.

YEAR-ROUND SCHOOLS

SCHEDULE DOESN'T HELP DOE WITH BEING GREEN

The Hawai'i Department of Education, through various initiatives, is touting itself as being environmentally green. However, last year's impulsive decision to impose a year-round education calendar on the schools says quite the opposite.

While the first increment of $40 million for air conditioning is justified (schools on the leeward coasts should have had it years ago), the other two-thirds of the schools could tolerate the heat for the month of September under a "traditional" school calendar.

By not air conditioning the bulk of the schools, enormous amounts of energy would be conserved. Just as important, taxpayers would save hundreds of millions of dollars in the cost of equipment, installation, electrical upgrades and the ever-increasing electric bills. We in the schools could use a fraction of that money so much more purposefully.

Solid research across the nation shows that student learning does not improve with the change to a year-round calendar. While some schools must use YRE due to their large student populations, the majority of the schools do not benefit. The DOE leadership made this systemwide change for bureaucratic convenience, rather than fully considering the environmental and financial costs.

How about a change back from the environmentally "dirty" YRE schedule to the traditional "green" calendar, and get some fresh air flowing into the DOE's thinking processes.

FUEL

ETHANOL USE IS NOT A WISE ENERGY POLICY

University of California-Berkeley professor of civil engineering T. Patzek has argued that the use of ethanol as a gas additive is a misguided public policy decision because it takes more fossil fuel to produce ethanol than the energy that comes from it.

D. Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University, added that ethanol is not sustainable because its production from corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced. The government spends more than $3 billion a year to subsidize ethanol production, but the vast majority of the subsidies go to large ethanol-producing corporations, not to farmers.

Worse yet, their analyses do not address the additional problem of wasting food for humans and animals by converting it to fuel.

Consumer Reports in October 2006 presented "The Ethanol Myth." CR tested identical large SUVs in gasoline and E85 versions. The overall mileage was 14 mpg for gasoline and 10 mpg for E85. The ethanol powered vehicle required 40 percent more fuel.

Ethanol is not green. Civil engineering professor M. Jacobson of Stanford University modeled a scenario in which all U.S. vehicles ran on E85 by 2020, and found that because ethanol produces more hydrocarbon emissions than gasoline, it causes an accelerated ozone formation and a 4.2 percent increase in deaths due to ozone.

Engineers are the primary problem solvers of our society. Unfortunately, as long as wishful thinking or uninformed or wrongly informed politicians attempt to solve a city's, state's or country's transportation and energy problems, then things will get worse. This is the case for ethanol in Hawai'i and rail transit for Honolulu: wasted billions of dollars for no net benefit.