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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Driver's manual posted online last summer
Question: In your
Nov. 18, 2003, column, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation said the time had come for the Hawaii Driver's Manual to be posted on the Internet. It still isn't posted. Too slow? Yes!
Answer: We had a follow-up a few months after that column, in which the Transportation Department said the manual would not be posted online because of its contract with the printing company.
However, it obviously will surprise you -- it did us -- that the manual has been available online since last summer.
Go to www.hawaii.gov/dot, click on "News and Information," then "Drivers." You'll find the manual in PDF format.
Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said the contract issue "was taken care of about a year ago," but that it took a while to digitalize the pages for the department's Web site.
The manual is being revised. Major additions include the new provisional licensing requirements for minors, a section on "distracted driving" and a section on driving through a roundabout.
Q: I've received several chain letters via e-mail. I thought that, in addition to being annoying, they were illegal. If so, are e-mail chain letters illegal, too? To what authority can I report those who initiate or perpetuate chain letters? What recourse do I have in putting a stop to chain letters sent to me -- both through the mail and via e-mail?
A: Unless they are specifically asking you to send money through the U.S. mail, chain letters or e-mails are not illegal (Kokua Line, Oct. 25, 2004).
According to the U.S. Postal Service, chain letters soliciting money or anything of value in various get-rich-quick schemes are a form of gambling. Sending them through the mail -- or delivering them in person or by computer, but mailing money to participate -- violates the Postal Lottery Statute.
Chain letters asking for items of minor value, such as books or postcards, are not illegal.
Many chain e-mails don't even bring up money; instead, they just ask you to send the message on to as many people as possible, cluttering cyberspace.
If you receive a chain letter asking for anything of value, turn it over to your local postmaster or postal inspector.
Write on the mailing envelope of the letter or in a separate letter, "I received this in the mail and believe it may be illegal."
Get more information about chain letters at www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/chainlet.htm.
There also are various sites debunking and decrying the annoying e-mails. A good source is http://HoaxBusters.ciac.org, maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Cyber Security.
Generally, because it's almost impossible to track down the sources of chain letters, the only recourse is to just ignore them.
Got a question or complaint? Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered. E-mail to
kokualine@starbulletin.com.
See also: Useful phone numbers