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Saturday, December 18, 1999

Sports Utility Vehicles are scourge of roadways

The Sierra Club has condemned SUVs as being too large and polluting Hawaii's roads. No kidding! Have you ever had to follow one of those things on the road?

Since the resurrection of the mainland economy, all successful middle-class families and single people in Hawaii have taken to driving these large, pretentious vehicles. Some days, while on my bicycle or driving my little Sentra, all I follow are these ecological disasters, driven by yuppies with cell phones glued to their ears.

Some of these SUVs are driven by liberals with bumper stickers that say, "Save the Turtles" or "Mothers Against Veal." They have their windows up, with their air conditioning blasting, while they challenge pedestrians in marked crosswalks and apply make-up while running yellow lights on their daily commutes.

What is happening on our roads? Where are our police? What police? Oh, well, another bone to pick at election time.

Michael Powers

Home schooling isolates kids from peers

The motto of the United States is "E Pluribus Unum." It is not and never has been, "In God We Trust." This latter phrase was added to U.S. currency during the Eisenhower administration. The subjects of the Star-Bulletin's Nov. 22 article on home schooling seem not to know our motto, not to believe our motto, or not to care about our pluralistic society.

The home-school folks seem to have "found their 'Unum'"and they want to carefully keep their children following that "Unum" uniquely. They are not interested in the "Pluribus."

The United States and especially Hawaii have grown great because of diversity: cultural, religious, racial, ethnic and political. The Puritans tried to enforce their narrow "Unum," Anglicans in Virginia harassed Baptists and Presbyterians, but we emerged with a Bill of Rights that legalizes pluralism.

The scariest part of the story was the quote of Mendoza, who said, "How can another child teach a child how to participate in society? They need to learn from adults." This attitude is hell-bent on destroying the "Pluribus" in America and Hawaii in favor of narrow, intolerant views wrapped in religious conservatism.

Willis H.A. Moore

Photo reveals true picture on power lines

The picture of the power line protest signs on Page A-3 of your Nov. 19 edition was very revealing. The photo shows that the real view obstructors are not the proposed 138 KV conversion of an existing power line on a ridge a mile away from Manoa Road. But rather the 12 KV local power line with its big black low hanging telephone cables passing right in front of the very home displaying the protest signs.

It is much cheaper to bury existing telephone cables and local 12 KV power lines than it is to place 138 KV power lines underground.

Because there is only a limited amount of money available in our islands' stagnant economy to pay for undergrounding existing power lines, we should spend those limited funds only where they will do the most good.

If our regulatory agencies want utility customers to pay higher rates to cover additional undergrounding costs, they should authorize only the most cost effective projects, such as undergrounding the existing 12 KV and telephone lines on Manoa Road, along Mokulua Drive and in other neighborhoods where people actually live and work. We should not be spending all of our limited funds on a single costly 138 KV undergrounding project.

Alan S. Lloyd
Kailua

Quotables "The last three -- Wong, Peters and Lindsey -- were corpses who didn't recognize that they were dead." Samuel P. King SENIOR U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE AND C0-AUTHOR OF THE 1997 "BROKEN TRUST" ARTICLE ON THE BISHOP ESTATE On the resignation of trustee Lokelani Lindsey following the recent resignations of Richard Wong and Henry Peters "In my heart, I know that I never did anything to damage or hurt the estate and I expressly deny any wrongdoing in the discharge of my duties as a trustee." Lokelani Lindsey NEWLY RESIGNED BISHOP ESTATE TRUSTEE In her letter stepping down from the Bishop Estate Board of Trustees

Hawaii can afford only bare-bones government

The fact that the state is considering raising our gas tax because of highway maintenance costs typifies the convoluted thinking of government officials.

During difficult times, successful businesses prioritize their functions and cut needless fat from their operations. You would think the government would do the same.

Common sense tells you the state's servicing priorities in order are (1) education, (2) public health and (3) transportation.

And to optimally fund these priorities, clearly excesses could be eliminated accordingly:

Reduce Department of Human Services to a grantsmanship agency and spin off social services to the more efficient, less costly and effective private nonprofits.

Computerize Accounting and General Services and delegate procurement to each department.

Reduce or close departments that are duplicative or serve no real purpose such as Land and Natural Resources, Business, Economic Development and Tourism and Agriculture.

Enact a very low flat tax, thereby eliminating the need for a tax department.

By these and other streamlining actions, the state would be faced with tremendous surpluses to fund badly needed services such as education.

The resulting lower taxes, if coupled with removing our anti-business regulations, would spur and diversify our ailing economy. And a booming economy would provide more rewarding, fulfilling private-sector careers for displaced state workers.

Gene Dumaran
Ewa Beach

Economy is at mercy of outside influences

Your celebratory Dec. 13 editorial about the recovery of the Hawaii economy rings quite hollow on examination. The increase in real estate sales to mainland buyers has nothing whatsoever to do with what the government and business community may or may not have done in the past several years.

This kind of reactive view of the economy of this state will simply continue the illusions of the past three decades. We have depended solely on external influences but do basically nothing to effect meaningful changes in our internal economic functions.

Raymond Chuan
Hanalei, Kauai
Via the Internet

'Baywatch' needs to be shown on regular basis

There hasn't been a show set in Hawaii since the "Byrds of Paradise" was ripped off the air, so I guess "Baywatch Hawaii" is worth looking at, especially since I used to live in your state.

Now here's the problem. I live in northern Florida but I've only seen the show listed once in the TV Guide.

How's a show going to get a fighting chance to survive on the airwaves if the thing isn't shown everywhere at a regular time?

Peter Cady
St. Augustine, Fla.
Via the Internet

Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes

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