BEATING DEATH

NEIGHBOR WHO TRIED TO HELP IS TRULY A HERO

Last week's savage beating death of a young woman is utterly shocking.

The neighbor who tried to come to her aid deserves praise and thanks.

If a fund is established to aid in his hospital expenses, I stand ready to contribute. He is an American hero.

ENERGY

STATE'S SOLAR PROJECT SHOULD BE COMMENDED

The decision by the state Department of Transportation to bid for third-party-financed solar is huge and should be commended. Hopefully, it will be used by other state agencies and the City and County of Honolulu in the near future. This approach allows tax credits to be leveraged that are unavailable to government otherwise to buy down the cost while making a significant contribution toward energy sustainability.

The solar systems are privately owned and maintained while the green energy is sold at a rate lower than taxpayers pay today.

The Lingle administration deserves a big mahalo for its leadership.

LISA MATSUMOTO

A LESSON IN NOT LETTING FRIENDS DRIVE DRUNK

The Jan. 14 article on the tribute to Lisa Matsumoto was touching, but raised some very disturbing questions.

How many of the people who she dined and drank with were there to "celebrate" her life? What kind of "friends" were these to let a person with an alcohol level that high get behind the wheel of a car?

With an alcohol level of .242, how could they not see that she was intoxicated? Yet no "friend," no co-worker took her keys, no one called her a cab, no one who was sober volunteered to drive her home?

How many sat there looking at her picture saying to themselves, "I should have"? Should have doesn't count.

The commercial is the absolute truth: Friends do not let friends drive drunk!

Now, instead of celebrating her life with her, they are mourning her life that's over.

JUNE JONES

ACCOUNTABILITY AT UH GOES ALL THE WAY TO TOP

In all the hand wringing, finger pointing, and recriminations over June Jones' departure, not once have I see any specific criticism of UH President David McClain's inattentiveness and inaction.

The buck stops with him — and he was obviously asleep at the wheel until it was too late.

I think this incident reveals a malaise at UH that goes all the way to the top and to the regents who hired McClain after a "worldwide" search. They and McClain should be held accountable.

BIG ISLAND

MAHALO TO COUNCIL FOR CLEAN ELECTION VOTE

I want to thank our Hawai'i Island County Council for giving preliminary approval to a clean-elections bill. Our County Council will set a precedent for the state. The clean-election option will better serve the citizens of the state.

Clean elections will broaden the choices of "we, the people" by allowing our political leaders to vote for the public they represent, not to sell out to corporate money and influence.

Mahalo, mahalo to the County Council of Hawai'i Island.

TRANSIT

IS A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP NEEDED?

If the Federal Transit Administration is not going to fund fixed rail in the D.C. area, why would they care about Honolulu?

The Washington Post recently reported that "federal officials remain skeptical of the plan to extend Metrorail to Dulles International Airport and might reject it, even though their consultants recently found that the proposal meets requirements for full funding."

The Post reported that the FTA was concerned about the project's price tag.

The Post also noted that some say the FTA has long been skeptical of expensive rail projects and in recent years has more often championed bus rapid-transit projects.

The project would link the region's major international and transcontinental airport to the rest of the transportation network and help remake Tysons Corner. But without the more than $900 million in federal funding requested by Virginia, the plan would collapse.

Also, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters recently said she favored private investment and more tolling to control congestion.

Remaking Tysons Corner sounds a lot like remaking Waipahu. Given the climate in Washington, is building more lanes using public-private partnerships the only way to solve traffic problems faced by Leeward and Central O'ahu commuters?

DRUGS

DEALERS SHOULD SEE TRUTH OF HARM THEY DO

Ice has affected us all in one way or another in Hawai'i.

Someone should start an advertising campaign on TV and radio to make an appeal to the drug dealers to stop what they are doing.

I am not talking about the dime bag dealer. I am talking about the dealers who are floating pounds into the state. They make a lot of money dealing the ice. In the process, they contribute to tearing families apart and contribute to the increase of crime and violence in our state.

Dealers see the easy money. What they need to see is the vivid images of neglected children fending for themselves and going without the basic necessities like food, clothing and supervision because their ice-addicted parents are gone for hours or even days at a time.

Dealers should see some of the young female victims of sexual predators who are allowed in the homes by ice-addicted parents.

Ice dealers need to see the truth. Hopefully it would make them think twice about what they are really doing.

HEALTH COSTS

WHERE IS TORT REFORM IN LEGISLATIVE GOALS?

After reading the goals of all the different groups of legislators, the Senate Republicans, the Senate Democrats, etc., I did not see anything about tort reform for medical malpractice.

Do we have another group of self-serving politicians, of which most are attorneys, who are more interested in lining their own and their friends' pocketbooks than the people of Hawai'i, where doctors are leaving in droves to escape high malpractice insurance?

ALTERNATE REVIEW

'ON THE BEACH' EXHIBIT IS BLISSFUL, HUMOROUS

Having just visited the impressive "On the Beach" exhibition at The Contemporary Museum of Art with my wife, I can't help but offer an alternative reaction to that of Advertiser reviewer Marie Carvalho (Jan. 6).

She certainly has a right to her own interpretation, and her article is well-written and apparently inspired by the thoughts of the artist himself, Richard Misrach, as he took photos from a high-rise hotel balcony of beachgoers and swimmers in Waikiki in 2002-05.

But instead of feeling foreboding and uneasiness over an indifferent universe, which Carvalho does (and explicates as a form of sublime), I found the photos delightful, even blissful, and at times humorous, as when a swimmer turns upside down like a duck as the sunlight sparkles across the water. Or when a solitary fellow lying on his beach blanket amid a million footprints in the sand seems to say, "chill out and let go of the rat race."

The water was mostly calm, so to claim that people wading out of it were struggling against the sea's weight sounds way overblown to me, and the image of back-floating in such turquoise immensity certainly didn't make me think of torture and bloated corpses.

At the risk of sounding pedestrian, I humbly suggest that next time, the artist (and the reviewer?) should come down out of that morose ivory tower and enjoy the sunny beach and beautiful water as much as the actual subjects of the photos were doing.

If they want images of despair and terror, try shooting scenes of rivers flooding over people's homes or of hurricanes blowing them away.

As I read Carvalho's relentlessly negative version of the sublime, I thought I heard a fearless surfer laughing.

ALA MOANA CENTER

CHALLENGE ISSUED TO TAKE LEAD IN RECYCLING

As a frequent visitor to Japan, I am impressed with that country's effort to separate everyday waste.

In public, they have three or four different trash cans lined up, and each trash can is designated for one type of trash only. One for paper, one for plastic bottles, one for glass, etc.

Hawai'i needs to start separating its garbage more thoroughly to maximize recycling efforts.

As a start, I would like to see a big operation step up and take the lead. Ala Moana Center comes to mind.

Makai Market is set up perfectly for separating waste. Most of its trash cans are three wide already. All we need to do is put signs on them to let people know what they are for, such as paper, plastic and uneaten food. Japanese visitors would comply immediately because it is second nature to them. They will teach us by example.

Separating waste at Makai Market alone would make a huge difference. I challenge Ala Moana Center to be the first mall in Hawai'i to do this.

Separating our waste will take some getting used to, and there will be resistance. I am sure it was the same for Japan in the beginning.