Oahu road conditions spur plaintive wail

How long will we have to drive on Third World roads on Oahu ?

DOH must check sand for bacteria

I am appalled by the lack of concern the Department of Health has for the health and safety of the residents and visitors of Hawaii. Night after night the local news reports that the DOH thinks it unnecessary to test Waikiki's sand for heightened bacteria levels. Night after night I hear reports about residents and visitors with bacterial infections, which may or may not be from contaminated sand.

Regardless of the source of infection, the DOH needs to make every possible effort to eliminate such factors, instead of making excuses that are possibly putting the health and safety of beachgoers at risk. I keep hearing the same excuse that sand has never been tested before, and therefore there are no baseline levels. There is no reason why bacteria in levels at an assumed unaffected beach cannot be tested, and then compared to Waikiki sand. This is a great opportunity to begin collecting baseline levels.

We need to demand bacterial testing of sand by DOH officials, and demand it now. To begin to restore the public trust, they need to do their job instead of making excuses and show the people of Hawaii that they have their best interest in mind.

Julie Grass
Honolulu

Isn't it "Time" to consider a change?

It's about "Time" Hawaii voters take the wake-up call from a reputable national magazine to consider the reputation of an elected official we want to represent us in Washington. It's "Time" for a change!

Don't kill local airlines -- just go away

James Ko (Letters, April 17) misses the point of competition. For decades Hawaiian and Aloha airlines have been in friendly but competitive battle, resulting in some of the lowest per-mile airfares in the nation. Go! Air already has stated that at $39 it cannot make money, but will subsidize that with profits from its mainland operation. This is clearly predatory pricing aimed at putting someone out of business. Is this healthy competition? And if one of our local airlines shuts down, is this any better than where we are today?

I have one thing to say to go! -- Go away!

New airline good for local families

Thank God for free enterprise. Hawaiian and Aloha have had the citizens of this state by the short hairs for a long time. We have suffered long enough and it's great that another airline is coming in to the Hawaiian market.

Doesn't Daniel Moore (Letters, April 19) realize that because of the high cost of interisland flights a lot of people have stopped flying? As much as I would love to visit relatives on Maui more often, only family emergencies and certain celebrations warrant spending money for high-cost airline tickets. I can hardly wait until the interisland ferry gets thrown into the pot -- maybe the prices will drop again.

I'm happy with any new airlines -- go! airlines!

Smokers have no right to pollute our air

I must take exception to John Shupe's letter (Letters, April 18). If cigarettes were outlawed then the millions, if not billions, of dollars no longer would flow from federal and state coffers into medical programs set up specifically for smokers, anti-smoking education programs for kids and the cleaning up of the waste smokers leave behind.

Let's look at our visitor industry. We prostitute ourselves to smokers from other parts of the world for money. Is it worth it to let them participate in abnormal, destructive behavior? Emphatically, no!

Mr. Shupe, I don't want to smell or breathe your secondhand smoke. Neither do my kids or my friends and neighbors. We have the right to clean air. If you want to smoke, do it in your home or, if outside, don't exhale.