Why must highway be wheelchair-accessible?
The state is going to spend $85,000 to make Kalanianaole Highway more accessible for wheelchairs. What a waste of money! Why can't the bicycle lane be designated for bicycle and wheelchairs? On rubbish days, the sidewalk would not be accessible to wheelchairs, anyway, even if the improvements were made.The money should be spent to improve the section from Kalani High School to Aina Koa Avenue instead. This is a very dangerous area for bicyclists and is completely inaccessible to wheelchairs.
Martin Wyss
Lingle is twisting facts about welfare reform
I am troubled to hear that Maui Mayor Linda Lingle would say at a town meeting in Waianae that "welfare as a concept is something we shouldn't accept."Lingle is perpetuating welfare myths. For her to say that single mother recipients are often teenagers is misleading. More than 60 percent of recipient heads of households are under 34 years of age, with most of them being in their 20s. This means that about 40 percent are 35 years or older.
As for the popular perception that people can just step off the plane in Hawaii and get on assistance, the reality is quite different. Of those who apply for assistance, 99 percent have lived here for more than a year.
As far as imposing a 60- or 90-day job search on newcomers, do we really think it's the healthy, able-bodied, unemployed surfer who's beating down the door of the Department of Human Services? There are ways to weed out those who don't qualify without unnecessarily imposing greater hardships on those who really are in need.
June Shimokawa
Member
WERC Steering Committee
The governor is behind 'Stop Linda Lingle Bill'
Have you seen the latest puppet show in the Legislature? It all started when the puppeteer, Governor Ben Cayetano, tied strings on two puppets, Speaker Joe Souki and Rep. Terrance Tom. The puppets started dancing, and then introduced and passed the campaign reform package, HB 1160 or the "Stop Linda Lingle Bill."It was originally drafted by the puppeteer to be retroactive to January 1998. This means that, if the bill survives the Senate, Lingle will have to return some money that she has now raised legally.
This strategy indicates that Cayetano is very concerned about Lingle's ability to raise the money she needs for the governor's race in November, and he should be. She is Hawaii's rising star in the political arena, has captured the hearts of the citizens of Hawaii, and nothing will stop her from becoming the next governor.
Danny Agsalog
Wailuku, Maui
City officials hit one out of the ball park
After waiting for several years, the installation of a baseball barrier fence extension at Kilauea District Park has been completed. Now, we have a safer community.Thank you, Mayor Jeremy Harris, City Councilman Duke Bainum and City Parks Director William Balfour Jr. Also, many thanks goes to former Councilman Leigh Wai Doo, who was most helpful.
Harry Fujihara
Lawsuit against juror was thrown out by judge
As an update to your Nov. 21, 1996 article, "Juror, state sued over privacy in murder trial," the state and Erlinda Dela Cruzham were vindicated on March 6 of this year, when judgment was entered in favor of the State of Hawaii and Cruzham in the civil suit filed by Raymond Augustin.Augustin failed to prove his claim against the state and the jury member before the arbitration judge, who found no liability against either. Augustin elected not to appeal the judge's ruling to the Circuit Court. The victory for the state and jury member stands.
This attempt to sue a member of the jury is unprecedented in Hawaii, and is an unfortunate commentary on our litigious society. When a juror is sued after performing her duty as a citizen, it is a threat to the entire jury system.
I hope that the judgment in this case will eliminate the chilling effect that potential jurors may have felt when the charges in this case were previously reported in the press.
Margery S. Bronster
Attorney General
State of Hawaii
Plan deserves support not general criticism
Recently, a reporter clearly spelled out the actions of the Economic Revitalization Task Force plan and it made me wonder why some people are opposed to it. I now see how this plan will help our economy and restructure government.It seems like most of the concerns I read about from other groups are addressed in this plan. There is reducing the red tape for business permitting, starting to cut the overlapping of state and county services for parks, roads and land issues, and it even has good privatization points. It also gives the largest tax cut I've ever seen as a resident.
If Hawaii is going to start getting back on track, we better support this plan. There's something in it that everyone can get behind. That's hard to do when you are trying to please more than one million people who call Hawaii home.
Nathan Kageyama
Noisy garbage trucks show lack of aloha in paradise
Did you know you have monsters in paradise? I'm referring to the garbage-collecting machines that thunder through the streets at six in the morning.We have the behemoths back home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, so I'm not surprised to see such technology. What is surprising is to see it in such a beautiful tropical setting.
The sun is rising, the birds are singing, the breeze is quickening -- and then crash, these monsters storm through the streets gobbling up garbage with their clanking metal teeth!
Has anyone considered reinstating the smaller garbage trucks with men heaving the garbage in? I think the tourists and residents would appreciate such an action and it would help to preserve your "aloha ambience."
Anna Olson
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Write a Want to write a letter to the editor? Let all Star-Bulletin readers know what you think. Please keep your letter to about 200 words. You can send it by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or you can fill in the online form for a faster response. Or print it and mail it to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or fax it to: 523-8509. Always be sure to include your daytime phone number.
Letter to the Editor