Police should train for all road conditions
As a former federal law enforcement officer, it hit home to learn that
Honolulu Police Officer Steve Favela had passed away due to injuries suffered in his accident while escorting President Bush's motorcade last week. My heart and prayers go out to his family and the rest of the HPD ohana.
There was a report of two separate HPD motor officer crashes on two different days due to road conditions. This also happened in 1995, when President Clinton came to the islands. People on the mainland watch what we do here, and it's a little embarrassing that HPD training will not keep up with modern times.
I think it is time for the HPD administrators to progress from the "stone age" and properly train all their motor officers on all street conditions. On the mainland, we train our motor officers to navigate and negotiate all motorcycle turns, various types of accelerations, emergency stops, slides and ejections during emergencies in all types of road conditions.
A local news station reported that HPD does not train motor officers in adverse conditions due to safety reasons. Safety reasons? In Hawaii, we all face constant rainy/wet road conditions. It would seem to me that common sense would prevail in training motor officers on all types of road conditions. It may not have made a difference in the case of Officer Favela, but with the lack of this type of training, how would one know if it would make a difference or not? Food for thought.
Bob Ruiz
Wahiawa
Officer gave his life for his country
God bless
Officer Steve Favela, his wonderful wife and his beautiful children and the people of Hawaii. Favela gave his life in the line of duty, honor and country. Thank you for your service, Officer Favela! Thank you for your sacrifice, Mrs. Favela and family. God Bless. You are in our prayers.
Cherie Roughneen
Dallas, Texas
Hawaiian TelCom has the only truly regional listing
For longtime Windward residents, the choice of telephone directories is easy. Only Hawaiian TelCom has a true Windward directory. Both white and yellow pages are Windward numbers only, except for a few businesses outside our area that want to advertise in this market. The other two telephone books have a "Windward directory," but when you look in the yellow pages, it's hard to find a Windward business because they include all businesses islandwide. The negative effect on the Windward business community, especially the service sector, is serious. I recently had a customer from Waimanalo call me after going to Pearl City, thinking there was no one in my trade on the Windward side. He was using the book with the "pretty cover." The Leeward business community is also probably taking a hit.
Jim Saya
Kailua
Fast food film curbs your appetite
I recently watched the trailer for the movie "Fast Food Nation," which is now showing in Hawaii theaters. It's a very compelling and informative film talking about our country's addiction to fast food, and how much it hurts the environment, animals and ourselves.
It's been revealed that one patty in a hamburger can include parts from thousands of other animals. How disgusting is that? Maybe we should all ditch this habit of relying on greasy fast food outlets to provide us with food, and actually pay attention to how much harm we put on animals as well as ourselves.
Go check out "Fast Food Nation," and hold the burgers!
Alvin Park
Mililani
Federal money should go to Kahuku Hospital
Instead of spending our tax money on benefits to illegal aliens, I'd like to see the U.S. government aid our own true American citizens and keep the Kahuku Hospital open.
Wallace G. Pfeifer
Joliet, Illinois
Health care is better, cheaper outside U.S.
Is it possible that health needs may best be met overseas? Sure looks that way; not only due to superior medical techniques and professionalism, but more importantly, the lower cost.
This fact is clearly evident by the success of entertainer Do Ho's stem cell procedure last year in Thailand for a heart problem and Big Island resident Penny Thomas' stem cell treatment in Beijing for Parkinson's disease (Star-Bulletin Oct. 30).
In a more recent Star-Bulletin article Nov. 5, an estimated 500,000 Americans are taking their health into their own hands by choosing to go abroad. By and large they believe it's not only less costly, but the medical procedures are far superior, citing hip resurfacing abroad as against hip replacement in the United States that severely limits mobility.
Superior medical techniques such as the stem cell procedure and hip resurfacing not available in the United States, along with lower costs, are motivating Americans to go abroad in droves.
The countries of choice are Thailand, China and India and the exodus is not likely to abate anytime soon.
Hank McKeague
Honolulu
State ought to be energy independent
In the aftermath of last month's earthquake, Hawaii residents were informed that insuring continued electrical distribution in a future disaster would cost each of us $3,400 to shore up HECO's infrastructure. Is that the way Hawaii should go?
Iceland vowed a decade ago to switch to renewable energy in 10 years -- and did it. San Francisco decided to have solar on all its government buildings, bringing down the price of solar and enabling more residents to afford it. Oregon's governor issued an executive order five years ago -- and the state is rapidly progressing towards sustainability. Now a second order is that all of Oregon's state buildings be on renewable energy in four years.
Hawaii has a greater number of renewable energy resources available -- solar, wind, wave action, ocean thermal -- than any other state. Why aren't we doing the same?
Instead of more dependence on centralized electrical generation, we should be making it possible for every building to generate its own electricity. Solar panels (and solar water heating units) would enable everything to function better when the next Iniki or other disaster comes. And the state should retrofit the airport with solar to enable it to be more functional the next time.
Renee Ing
Honolulu
New judges need to be diverse group
The defeat of the constitutional amendment in this month's election to permit judges to continue serving beyond the age of 70 means that Gov. Linda Lingle will have an opportunity to appoint a number of appellate and trial judges during her second term. Governors in the past have appointed a cross section of attorneys to be judges, i.e., prosecutors, defense lawyers, civil attorneys, in order to ensure that our judges have a diverse background and have the requisite experience to address the multitude of issues that come before our courts. Lingle has to date appointed only prosecutors and ex-prosecutors to judicial vacancies, and the word around town is that all of her judicial appointments will be prosecutors or ex-prosecutors. Packing our courts with all prosecutors will only diminish the standing of our judiciary. It is impossible to have a first-class judiciary without diversity. The people need to speak up and tell the governor that a diverse population such as ours requires a diverse judiciary.
Earle A. Partington
Attorney
Immigration worsens housing, traffic woes
In all the letters complaining about traffic, fixed rail and unaffordable housing, I don't see a word about the cause of all those problems: immigration, which is driving population growth, which is the cause of unaffordable housing and terrible gridlock traffic, which is why we now have to build a hugely expensive mass-transport system, which will be the cause again of higher taxes.
And all this is the cause of our steadily deteriorating quality of life. Immigration's benefits? None for the common people.
Volker Hildebrandt
Kaneohe
Bush should listen when Kissinger talks
Last week former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger came up with the profound observation that victory in Iraq is not possible. President Bush would be wise to follow the advice of such an experienced elder statesman, since Kissinger arrived at that conclusion after only three and a half years into the current war, while it took some eight years for him to do so in the war in Vietnam.
Thank you, Mr. Kissinger, for stating this obvious fact. Perhaps now even President Bush will recognize that victory in Iraq is not possible.
John A. Broussard
Kamuela, Hawaii