Feral chickens might be carriers of disease
As the reality of bird flu spreads around the world, we in Hawaii need to do whatever we can to preclude its arrival and spread here. One good place to start would be the eradication of the feral chickens we see all over the place. They are of no benefit to anyone or anything and their potential as bird flu carriers is frightening. Get rid of them! Are you listening, Mayor Hannemann? Governor Lingle?
Bill Carlile
Kailua
Let's hope Lingle chooses well this time
Governor Lingle must select a Republican to replace Rep. Galen Fox (
"Rep. Fox quits after sex conviction," Star-Bulletin, Nov. 1). Will she select a recently converted Republican? Will she thoroughly vet her selection?
Kenneth L. Barker
Honolulu
If true, Libby's charges had terrible effect
Last week, neo-conservative Scooter Libby was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of lying, among other crimes, before he resigned his position as Vice President Cheney's chief of staff. Now, if the rumor is true, as The New York Times has suggested, that the Bush administration will defend Libby and Karl Rove and White House staff generally by resorting to a "disagreement over legal technicalities," it behooves all of us to remember that Libby's alleged cover-up helped to lead our nation into the most disastrous, costly and dishonorable war this country has ever seen.
Mary Mulder
Kailua
Speed still a concern on Makakilo Drive
My son Nathan Michael Ackerman was killed on Makakilo Drive on April 4 as he was crossing the road to catch his school bus (
Star-Bulletin, April 5). Although speed has not been determined to be a factor pending the ongoing investigation, it has brought to the forefront the continuing speeding on Makakilo Drive, both up and down the hill. Six months after my son's death, drivers still speed on the road, as seen on a recent morning. Even with police presence from 6:57 to 7:45 a.m., 249 cars were caught speeding from 30 mph to 46 mph -- in a 25 mph school zone.
Now, according to the Department of Transportation Services and its data from April, there is no cause for alarm and no changes will be made on Makakilo Drive. I find this deplorable. This is the third time that residents have asked for assistance with their growing safety concerns, and the third time that they have been denied by DTS.
As we live on an extremely long block on a hill, children cross the street to catch their bus, a bus that, before April 4, only picked children up on the uphill side. Now, six months later, children still cross the road, both in the morning and afternoon, as do adults who ride the city bus and residents who cross to use the community pool.
So, as a concerned citizen who witnesses our increasingly dangerous traffic situation, I believe that the DTS is mistaken, and that a protected crosswalk and increased provisions to decrease vehicles' speed are necessary. Also, there are three further unprotected crosswalks on Makakilo Drive, and this should be remedied as well. Although DTS will say otherwise, the safety of all Makakilo residents, both drivers and pedestrians, is at stake. The next death will lie solely on those who continue to do nothing.
Christopher Ackerman
Makakilo
Sitting was her way of taking a stand
"Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats," the bus driver said. But one woman refused to give up her seat. For this small act of protest, Rosa Parks is rightly remembered as a giant of the civil rights movement in America. Her legacy lives on and has inspired people everywhere to speak out against injustice.
Laws and traditions of inequality, such as those that kept blacks at the back of the bus in 1955 or that today prevent same-sex couples from enjoying the equal benefits of marriage, simply have no place in America.
I am grateful for Rosa Parks. She sat down. In her memory, I will stand up.
Eduardo Hernandez
Maunalani Heights