Court should reverse its bad decision

The Supreme Court of Hawaii made a judicial error by requiring additional environmental study for the Superferry. The executive branch of government made a considered decision that the impact of the Superferry would not be significantly greater than existing facilities and services. This executive decision may be argued by some, but it was a reasonable decision. It was neither illegal nor unconstitutional. The court should have accepted the work of the executive branch of government. Second-guessing by the courts is wrong-headed and obstructionist. The Supreme Court should reconsider this case and reverse its error.

Easier travel would help small businesses

As a tile and stone contractor on Oahu, I have been supportive of the concept of the "H-4" (the Superferry). It makes us more fluid and more competitive. It probably doesn't make much difference to large companies, but it enlarges the market for us smaller enterprises in both directions. We would be able to, for the first time, drive interstate.

My sense of the whole situation, beyond the vocal minority, is some kind of controlling business and political level, an invisible power getting desperate in trying to stop the changes naturally evolving, the loss of their "feudal" control as land barons operating in an isolated area. The concerns thrown out regarding sea mammals have to be valid for all interisland carriers. Interisland contamination is also a part of the argument. Well, I just played golf on the Big Island and I probably had dirt on the bottom of my golf shoes, both when I arrived on the Big Island and when I returned to Oahu. Different dirt.

I consider environmentalists to have good hearts, but they're easy marks to be manipulated by those with ulterior motives. The whole situation seems like a fictional plot with no merit in a rational world.

EIS would help stave off destruction

Please help us halt the Superferry until after an environmental impact statement is completed. An environmental assessment (and then an EIS) are required by law for the Superferry. The ferry and the Lingle administration broke the law. They were told they broke the law years ago.

Gov. Linda Lingle was presented with a petition for an EIS signed by more than 6,000 Kauai residents a year ago. She refused to accept the petition then, and only accepted it when she finally came to our island to learn how we feel about this.

Without mitigating measures, the Superferry will do untold harm to Kauai. An EIS will define possible harmful effects and will also show us the way to take mitigating measures to stop the destruction of Kauai.

We understand that residents of Oahu cannot understand our strong determination to preserve our island. Clearly, Oahu was destroyed years ago, and no person who enjoys Honolulu would feel the same way as Kauai residents feel about Kauai.

Except for a few who sing "Waimanalo Blues," most people living on Oahu prefer a city lifestyle, the shopping and the night life, enjoy high-rises, are generally in favor of city living and freeways. That's fine. May you be blessed and happy there.

Please leave us our island as green and pristine as possible -- we are trying to save as much of it as we can.

Thanks for making life in Hawaii more costly

Another tax increase coming for the people of Hawaii ... thank you, environmentalists! You were brilliant! Guess who will be paying for those $40 million in bonds that the state put up?

We better start a study on the effects of a bridge connecting the islands and how it might affect the whales. Do we fine the whales if they hit the pillars?

Let's figure, if they can put those big oil rigs in the middle of the North Sea, the calm Pacific should hold very well.

If not pillars, why not build more land bridges, like Dubai built land extensions for housing, in the Middle East? One could probably be built on Maui to connect Molokai and Lanai to make it truly one county.

Just remember who these antagonists are who make living in Hawaii more costly. Only because they can't get voted in to office, they make it harder for all, then they leave for the mainland claiming its too expensive here. Go figure.

Even small packages cost too much postage

The new postal rates are in effect. I just got finished mailing to my granddaughter two small boxes of chocolate macadamia candy at $1.69 each, and the postage was $7.95. Such a deal. I can just imagine the cost of larger items like Christmas presents.

I asked the clerk why the high prices. he just shook his shoulders and told me that with the high prices maybe people would go to UPS or Fedex and it would mean less work for them. The front-line personnel at the post office work hard to be pleasant but when it comes to paying a king's ransom or three times as much for postage than the item cost me, it's time for a shake-up at the post office. It's a right for the American people to have a cheap postal system. Perhaps if the government did away with the monopoly, prices would come down.

The service in most cases is getting worse. I sent a letter from Honolulu to Honolulu and it took 19 days. I remember a 3-cent stamp that got a letter there quickly and efficiently. Higher costs do not mean better service.

It's so expensive at the post office that you just about have to fill out a credit statement to get postage for a simple package. It's time to roll back postal hikes before Christmas so that the word of the day will not be "bah, humbug, post office!"

City wants older applicants, too

I would like to thank the Star-Bulletin for Tuesday's front-page coverage of the city's Po'okela Fellows Program, which will provide intern-mentor experiences for college students. While the article provided details of the program as well as the employment challenges under which the program is being planned, the headline might have left some with the impression that the city is seeking only younger applicants. To the contrary, the city seeks applicants of all ages and the Po'okela Fellows Program will be open to students of all ages.

In addition to recognizing that during the next decade nearly 25 percent of the city's workforce will be eligible to retire, we know too that many baby boomers will seek second careers after retirement. We hope to attract this group of people to consider city jobs as well. We hope that the next generation of the city workforce will include people of diverse ages and backgrounds who desire a career of service to the public.