Bill would put 'Dog' on a short leash
Your state is a relaxing second home to me, especially when I want to escape the harsh New England winters. I am, however, bothered by recent news of the new House bill that some are trying to pass.
HB 3014 changes some of the guidelines for bail bond agencies and restrict, if not end, the work done by some bounty hunters in Hawaii.
By this, yes, I mean the effect it will have on Duane Chapman (Da Kine Bail Bonds) and your state.
Duane "Dog" Chapman has done a lot of wonderful work helping to keep the streets of your state clean from drug users and abusers, making it a better state to live in for your people and a better place for people like me to visit.
Because of the conditions of this bill, Duane "Dog" Chapman will be unable to do the work that your very state awarded him for doing.
I am asking legislators to vote no to the passing of HB 3014. Help Duane Chapman and others like him to help you have a better place to live.
Penny Clark Babson
West Pawlet, Vt.
Grass is nice but so is pavement
I agree with Roy M. Chee that grassy areas along our freeways are in need of maintenance (
Letters, Jan. 28), but I don't think that we really need to worry that travelers will miss these tropical vistas ... because they are too busy trying to avoid the potholes.
T.M. Allard
Ewa Beach
Editorial understated renewables output
Thanks for your continued coverage of Hawaii's energy challenges. One welcome addition to our renewable electricity capacity will be the Kaheawa Pastures wind project under construction in West Maui on the ridge above McGregor Point between Wailuku and Lahaina.
We hope this is a turning point. It will be clearly visible and once more people can see a wind farm with its turbines turning slowly in the wind, we hope it will be easier to site future facilities. If Hawaii is to increase renewables like wind, more communities must be being willing to host them.
To correct the record, Kaheawa Pastures will comprise 20 GE 1.5 wind turbines, each about 280 feet tall from ground to topmost tip of the propeller, not 400 feet as was reported.
Further, your Jan. 23 editorial in support of renewable energy was welcome, but the current status is not as gloomy you suggest. As Warren Bollmeier of the Hawaii Renewable Energy Alliance reported at the Energy Policy Forum briefing, HECO, MECO and HELCO have thus far achieved an estimated Renewable Portfolio Standard of more than 11 percent (not 5 percent), with close to 7.5 percent of that coming from "classic" renewable sources like wind, biomass and geothermal and over 3.5 percent coming from the energy saved through energy efficiency programs. As the demand for power rises, keeping up and moving forward to the goal of 20 percent by 2020 will be a growing challenge for all of us, but one we are committed to do everything in our power to meet.
Robert A. Alm
Senior vice president
Public affairs
Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.
Most people would rather work full-time
I found the Associated Press article about the Corporation for Enterprise Development giving Hawaii an "F" (
Star-Bulletin, Jan. 27) to be very insightful. It states that isle residents are the most likely to work part-time because of the limited availability of good-paying, full-time jobs.
How true! For years the biggest percentage of companies have only offered part-time jobs because they do not have to provide health care, leaving that burden to the state.
Of course, the local pundits jumped on the bandwagon to dispute this report's findings. The most absurd was Bank of Hawaii chief economist Paul Brewbaker's comment, "They define quality incorrectly. If you surf, you don't want to go to work at 8 in the morning ... there's a lot of people that want to work part time."
Mr. Brewbaker, I suggest that you get out of your ivory tower and find out what's going on in Hawaii. The local people are struggling to make a living by accepting three or four part-time jobs with no health insurance for their families. For you to suggest anything different is an insult to our citizens.
Neda Baird
Honolulu
Maybe hoopsters should stay home
Here is a great idea on how we can save the University of Hawaii's athletic program some serious money: Have the men's basketball team not show up when they are suppose to travel to the mainland and play a game. God knows it will not hurt their win-loss record, and they can use the extra time to boost their grades.
Troy Bolstad
Honolulu
President's probing targets innocents
I can understand the government's need to be super-aware of any attempt by terrorist groups to cause mayhem. The president can order monitoring of the communications of individuals or groups if he submits a justification statement to the courts, even if it is after the fact.
On the other hand, if it monitors people without notification or warrant, this is a fishing expedition or a witch-hunt.
As a translator, I have to search for terminology for any document I am translating, whether translating fiction, legal or political documents. If they concern terrorism (e.g. translating the script of Syriana into another language, or translating its Arabic and Farsi scripts into English), some National Security Agency man might say, "Aha, we found one!" and proceed to detain me incommunicado, render me off on a private jet to the Czech republic for endless interrogation and God only knows what else.
If I were translating a Lolita-like novel into English and searching all sites that might deal with voyeurism, sodomy or other type of pornography, an FBI man might show up at my door with a warrant to take my hard drive to a lab, and who knows what they would do with me.
Maybe I sound paranoid. But five years ago I would have never thought of saying this -- in jest, half seriously or seriously.
David Ashworth
Kapolei
Be careful what you liberals wish for
Do these folks agitating for the impeachment of President Bush know what they're asking for? A simple search on Google informs us of the sequence of presidential succession:
1. Vice President Richard Cheney
2. Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
3. President pro tempore of the Senate Ted Stevens
4. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
5. Secretary of the Treasury John Snow
6. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
7. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
8. Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton
9. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns
10. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez (ineligible -- born in Cuba)
11. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao (ineligible -- born in Taiwan)
12. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt
How far down the list would they have to go before they would feel they have improved anything?
John M. Flanigan
Kaneohe
Lingle working for all the people at last
Congratulations to Governor Lingle for her
proposal to reduce the tax burden on the poor and middle class. She was elected to represent ALL the people of Hawaii, not just members of the upper class who provided most of the funding for her election campaign. After four years in office, she is finally learning to think in terms of what is best for the majority of the population rather than toeing the Republican Party line of tax cuts to the rich.
William Moake
Honolulu