Price cap might force refineries to close

I don't get it. The gas cap controversy seems to be about whether the cap will or won't lower the price of gas a few cents. That misses the larger question. By limiting wholesale prices, the gas cap raises the issue of whether the refineries will be profitable enough for the oil companies to keep them open. If not, then where will Hawaii be? Reliant upon imports, and not only for gasoline, that's where. Plus we'll also be importing all the other products the refineries turn out, from jet fuel to the fuel the electric company uses to power its generating plants.

Will imported products cost us less? Will they make us more energy-independent? Will they be good for Hawaii? If you answered yes to any of these questions, hurry to your nearest psychiatrist to get your head examined. Legislators, repeal this foolish law!

Squatters make parks unattractive to visitors

If Hawaii repeals Act 50, the "squatter law," then you will allow people to live in parks and on beaches. Don't say it's because people have no place to live. If necessary they will provide for themselves. But you are going to provide the parks and beaches.

I have been to Hawaii about 20 times, lived there two years, and been there five of the past seven years. So I have seen the problem. The beach I have walked a hundred times had people sleeping in cars when we were there in February.

If you give the beaches over for people to live, where should tourists like me go?

Loud talkers should hush during concerts

Steve Paschal (Letters, April 24) believes we should go after disturbing car alarms and stereos. I couldn't agree more, but I would add that we seem to have a rude, self-centered society growing up around us.

A friend and I recently attended a performance of "Cats" where there was a mother and about a 5-year old girl in the balcony section. This mother allowed the child to talk during most of this performance; the poor child had never been taught to be quiet during a performance where people pay a lot of money to enjoy a show only to have talking by a child ruin the whole evening. I'm sure this mother felt she was treating her daughter to something very special, but what about the rest of the audience?

A week later, we tried to enjoy a wonderful jazz concert and dinner at a local club. This time a young man who was obviously trying to impress a new gal talked loudly during the entire evening. When the music was loud, he spoke even louder. By this time, I could only comment to my friend from Europe that "this is why so many Europeans hate the U.S." She agreed you would never see this type of behavior in her country.

What has happened to manners and consideration of others? And if we were to "Shhhh" these people or ask them to speak in more quiet voices, who knows what their angry response would be or what action might be taken. Parents, where are you?

Let's focus the efforts of graffiti vandals

I have an idea to save the city and state a lot of money on cleaning, repainting or replacing signs that has been vandalized by local graffiti taggers.

First, find out how many millions of dollars the city and state have spent to repaint or replace graffitied items. Then organize an effective anti-graffiti task force with innovative ideas on how to solve two problems with one idea. Reduce graffiti and put our graffitist to work with us.

Think out of the box for a moment, please. What public rest-room has the least graffiti outside? Answer: The restroom that has the picture of Duke Kahanamoku at Sandy Beach. It was painted several years ago. What's wrong with painting the rest of the city and state rest-rooms inside and out with the same type of theme in mind? We can hire the taggers to choose their own Hawaiian theme that has an important message to the visitors who come to visit our island. We can even hold a contest to see who can draw the best mural and be voted by the taggers themselves.

We have a lot of talented young taggers out there. Why not make use of their talents and reward them for their work?

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