My concern is with the school bus picking up children in the Newtown Estates area. My grandchildren face a dangerous situation because they have to cross busy Nahele Street - where cars speed downhill - to catch their bus. There is no crosswalk or street light there. It's kind of a blind corner. They have to run across Nahele to the Ewa side to catch the bus. Why can't the bus pick them up on Oliwa Street, as in past years? I fear there will be an accident. My daughter called Gomes bus company but they said no. Who else can I call? Bus company may say no,
but stops still changeableCall the state Department of Accounting and General Service's student transportation services branch, 831-6738.
The bus company does have some say, but his office would look into your request, said branch chief George Okano. No one from Gomes returned our call.
"We would take a look at the route, at the bus stop, how many kids are there, where they are coming from," etc., Okano said.
Decisions would be based on the basic sight distance, whether there is an adequate waiting area and what speeds motorists are traveling, "realistically."
The issue is "a real touchy one," Okano added, with people asking that bus stops be changed for a variety of reasons.
Okano said he gets about a dozen requests a year, with about half of them met. Transportation officers in the department also may field requests, he said.
Recently, I counted 12 of 30 cars using the car-pool lane with a single occupant. It is probably just as frustrating for the legal car-pool lane users having their lane filled as it is for us law-abiding drivers who watch these inconsiderate lawbreakers pass by. I know that enforcement is difficult for the police. Is there any way the public can help? "Solo bike officers patrol the freeways every morning and afternoon, and when they see violations, they cite," said Maj. Gary Dias, of the Honolulu Police Department's traffic division. "However, as can be expected, they have great distances to cover," he said. If you see a violation, notify his office and "we will send warning letters. Hopefully, this will reduce the violations," Dias said. Note the license number, date, time and place of the violation.
Can you please advise would-be donors that if they're over 75, they are too old to be organ donors? Had I known that, the phrase "organ donor" would not appear on my drivers license. That's only partially correct.
In Hawaii, there is an upper age limit of 75 for eye donors but a lower limit for tissue and other kinds of organ donors, said Elliott Alvarado, executive director of the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii.
But the center is reluctant to set age limitations "for the public to sort themselves out and say I can't be an organ donor" because there is no firm age criteria on who can and can't be a donor, he said.
Laws and restrictions in other states may differ. In some states, for example, eye donors are taken well in their 90s, Alvarado said. That's why organ donations usually are considered case-by-case, he said.
Call the center at 599-7630 if you have any questions.
To police trainees who quit without really working for the department. If you go into the armed services, you are obligated to serve several years. There should be the same requirement for police recruits to realize some return of our tax dollars. They should reimburse the city if they don't serve at least four years. It's only fair. - Mrs. M. Auwe
To the city for modifying the traffic lights at East Manoa, Oahu and University avenues. Left turns are now flowing smoothly. - Manoa senior citizen Mahalo
