Will somebody enforce
the no-dogs rule on beach?

I am still harassed by dogs when walking on Lanikai beach. I am tired of getting the brush off when I go to neighborhood board meetings about this subject.

I get the distinct feeling that most of the people in attendance at these meetings just want me to disappear. They seem to think that if they just keep putting it off to another meeting, I will eventually give up.

Well, they are wrong. I have every right to walk on the beach without having to fear for my safety or the safety of my children.

At the last Kailua Neighborhood Board meeting on Oct. 2, there were some people in favor of breaking the law that says a dog must be leashed, restrained and under control while on the beach.

These people were so rude as to boo and hiss at those who disagreed with their view. They say their dogs are well behaved while on the beach, and it is not them but irresponsible people who are causing the problem.

The real problem is that no one is enforcing the law.

Chris Moore
Kailua

Kaahumanu Highway
is now safer for bicyclists

With the upcoming Ironman Triathlon, this is a good time to acknowledge those who helped make the Queen Kaahumanu Highway resurfacing project a reality.

After a very close friend was killed by a motorist, I made it my mission to improve bicycling safety.

While on a trip to the mainland with my wife, I noticed that some of the freeways had deep grooved strips in the middle of the lane to jolt sleepy motorists back to the middle of the roadway. I felt that, with a shallower groove, motorists would hear and feel a slight vibration if the vehicle strayed off the roadway. The shallow grooves would not create a controllability problem for cyclists.

I brought this idea to state highways engineer Joe Kapahu, who referred me to Hugh Ono, state highways division administrator. Ono recognized the potential of the rumble strip to improve highway safety and, over the course of a year, he and I fought off the skeptics. The strip was implanted as a test during the initial phase of the Queen Kaahumanu project.

When the grooved strip test plan was given to project engineer Bobby Lee Jr., he got together with Hawaii Bitumuls quality control manager Dave Scott. A grooved rumble strip was implemented for the entire resurfacing project.

This was good news to every cyclist in Kona. The news only got better when the highways division got federal highways enhancement funds to help pay for the project.

This is a perfect example of how state departments, private enterprise and the public can work together to improve life in Hawaii.

Lance Lau
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Problem with economy
is astronomical lease rents

We have lived in Hawaii Kai for 23 years. In that time, we have seen many small businesses close. When we ask proprietors why they were closing down, the answer was that they could no longer afford the lease rent.

Small-business people cannot afford commercial leases. Small farmers cannot develop diversified crops for local consumption and export because of the cost of leasing agricultural land.

Owners of condo units who bought the leased-fee interest in their homes have no discretionary funds. They must pay off the money they borrowed to pay for the leased-fee.

Those of us who did not buy the leased-fee live with uncertainty. What will happen at renegotiation? Will we ever be able to buy our leased-fee at a fair market price?

Many of us do not make improvements in our homes, buy a new car or make any expenditures we can possibly delay. Our untenable financial situation has to affect the economy. Is it possible to restart the economy with our current system of land ownership?

Therese Bissen Bard

Yet one more publication
blasts Hawaii's economy

Another magazine -- U.S. News & World Report -- calls our state's economy a "wipeout." Will our Democratic leaders again impugn the reputation of a respected national publication that happens to deliver a message they don't want our citizens to read?

The U.S. News simply tells the truth: our economy has been stagnant for six years the protracted slump shows no sign of easing, Hawaii is an "economic purgatory." In a balanced story that quotes a Bank of Hawaii economist, several businessmen, as well as a Republican state senator, Hawaii's history of anti-business policies and regulations is clearly set out.

Unlike Forbes magazine, which earlier this year said much the same, U.S. News is not tied to a former Republican presidential candidate. Gov. Cayetano used that excuse to explain away the Forbes' piece as slanted and hiding a Republican agenda.

How will our Democratic leaders explain away this most recent negative national exposure?

Quentin Kawananakoa
Republican Caucus
Hawaii House of Representatives

Irony of two articles
drives home the truth

The Oct. 7 Star-Bulletin headline, "Estate sues 2 ex-teachers," and the adjoining story of denial by the Bishop Estate's media relations manager, impart an oxymoron.

On the one hand, Bishop Estate is undeniably bringing suit against ex-employees who may or may not have legitimate complaints under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act after signing their legal rights away to qualify for severance pay. Can a business or charitable organization really do that?

On the other hand, a Bishop Estate representative proclaims emphatically that the appearance of trying to gag former employees is no more than an ugly rumor -- notwithstanding the proliferation of such ugly rumors in news articles over the past couple of months.

The timing of the trustees' decision to sue ex-employees is altogether deliciously humorous.

Frank J. Kocsis

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Bishop Estate Archive

Great ocean battle
is reminiscent of another

The Oct. 9 story about the fight to the death between a killer whale and a great white shark (the whale won) reminded me of a similar such fight in the 1950s. This one was between a whale of unspecified species and a giant marlin. It raged for days in the waters between Molokai and Maui.

Everyone on Molokai was talking about it. I was a young child and it's all vague now. Does anyone else remember the outcome of that?

Kurt Butler
Kula, Maui

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Bishop Estate Archive

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