Brainstorm! Challenge

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Other schools should follow beat of Kapolei

Susan Essoyan's news story about a Kapolei Middle School dance class (Star-Bulletin, Dec. 21) was wonderful holiday news amid stories of terror, murder, political infighting and crowded shopping malls.

Cheers should go up from every parent of a young teen. For those of us who remember sock hops, teen clubs and home parties where the lure of what is now called ballroom dancing was a given on Friday and Saturday nights, here's a warm thank you for this elective dance course.

Instructor Tracy Taylor and Rumours Nightclub deserve awards for providing the space for our most endangered-age kids to learn and enjoy not only the fun and social pleasure of dancing, but something about music, culture and health benefits of the dancing as exercise.

Let's not stop with Kapolei, folks. Make it a goal that at least one middle school in every island district offers this course. In time, the benefit could be a significant reduction in both parental stress and street crime.

Marjorie Scott
Kailua

SUV owners ought to pay higher fees

Of course the director of the Automobile Dealers' Association favors a flat tax for cars, trucks and SUVs. ("Flat-rate vehicle tax best," Gathering Place, Dec. 23). That way persons of modest means who buy economical cars would be forced to pay the road taxes for the SUVs and pickups that provide the automobile dealers with their highest profit margins. If the dealers could just palm off SUV registration fees on drivers of smaller cars, they could sell even more of these road terrors.

SUVs are unsafe. Their bumpers and headlamps are too high. Their drivers cannot see either in front or behind well. They are too large for public roads and parking spaces. They are so high they regularly tip over, maiming or killing their occupants. They kill riders in smaller cars. They pollute the atmosphere, and contribute to global warming and rising sea levels. This is, after all, an island. Let's at least make them pay their fair share of taxes!

Scott Allen
Kailua

Ferry idea offers false hope to commuters

With all the different ways to alleviate the traffic gridlock on the freeway from Leeward Oahu to Honolulu, the one about transporting cars via ferry has to be the most absurd idea yet. While this way may reduce the number of cars on the freeway, can you imagine the long line of cars waiting to board the ferry? This would amount to a much longer time to reach your destination. Besides, who would want the salt spray on their car? Let's stay on the land where cars belong.

Michael Nomura
Kailua

Hawaii shouldn't 'export' trash

I am amazed and furious about City Councilman Mike Gabbard's suggestion to ship Oahu's 3,000-ton-a-day garbage habit to Washington state, "City Councilman to see 2 mainland landfills," Newswatch, Dec. 22).

How dare he say with such arrogance, "Obviously no one on Oahu wants a landfill in their back yard, so I'm saying if there are people on the mainland who actually want our trash, then I say more opala to them."

Along with this, I read daily letters complaining about mainland tourists, mainland companies and how people on the mainland have no respect for the land. People in other states have learned to deal with their trash problems. Washington state is one of the nation's leading recyclers.

Hawaii residents can continue to keep their eyes closed and noses high in the air, but don't pawn off Hawaii's trash on others because our city can't take care of its own land.

I can't believe how many people preach about the beauty of Hawaii and taking care of the aina, and yet are quite literally destroying it with their habits. The arrogance is mind-boggling. Instead of continuing to be complacent, let's try setting our goals higher. Strive to be better than the best, and then strive to be even better. Until then, keep Hawaii trash in the islands, in the ocean, forests, Ala Wai Canal, in illegal frontyard dumpsites, or wherever else Hawaii residents find it convenient to dump.

Chris Bowling
Honolulu

Explain how capturing Saddam boosts safety

With the capture of Saddam Hussein, our president said the world is a safer place. Why, if the world is safer, are we under the biggest terrorist threat since 9/11?

Ted Obringer
Mililani

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] What should the city do with the elegant old sewage pump station? It's empty and fading, and now it's taking a beating from all the construction going on around it. The O.G. Traphagen-designed sewage pump station on Ala Moana Boulevard, more than a century old, is a monument to the glory days of municipal architecture, when city fathers took such pride in their community that even a humble sewage station became a landmark structure. Millions of tourists drive by it every year, and it's an embarrassing reminder of how poorly Honolulu treats its historic landmarks. Over the years, dozens of uses and excuses and blue-sky speculations have been suggested for the striking structure. Now we're asking you, Mr. and Mrs. Kimo Q. Publique, what should the city do with the elegant old pump building? Send your ideas and solutions by Jan. 15 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750