Editorials
Friday, December 24, 1999Fireworks dealer law
needs strengtheningTHE arrest of a Mililani woman on charges of fireworks violations is an encouraging indication that the Honolulu Police Department is determined to enforce the fireworks laws. But it also illustrates a problem with the law.The issue: A woman has been charged with the possession and sale of illegal fireworks, a petty misdemeanor.
The accused, Charlene Hopfe, is charged with the possession and sale of illegal fireworks. But that is a petty misdemeanor under state law, punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
That is a mere rap on the knuckles -- not sufficient punishment to serve as an effective deterrent to illegal trafficking in fireworks. The law should be amended to provide for a stiffer sentence.
Importing fireworks is a felony, but a police spokesman said they did not have enough evidence to charge the woman with that crime.
Tougher laws against fireworks use are needed, but the key to combating this problem is putting the dealers in illegal fireworks out of business.
This case illustrates the reality that fireworks are a real danger to life and property. Police said they found more than a ton of illegal fireworks, with a street value of $250,000, at the accused's home in Mililani Town. It took six vehicles making three or four trips to transport all the fireworks -- mostly rockets and oversized firecrackers -- from the home to the Kalihi police substation.
If those fireworks had caught fire, not only the home and its occupants but the neighbors as well would have been at risk.
Police Maj. Stephen Kornegay commented, "The volume that was recovered, if it was to have accidentally discharged, would have been a very real threat of death or serious bodily injury not only to the people within the house but the immediate neighbors."
As Governor Cayetano declared after the debacle of last New Year's Eve, the fireworks problem in this community has gotten totally out of hand. Cayetano called for a ban on fireworks, but the Legislature couldn't agree on anything.
This New Year's Eve threatens to be the worst ever in terms of fireworks violations. The next Legislature must come to grips with the problem -- by, among other things, toughening the penalties for illegal dealing in fireworks.
Car pollution rules
are welcome changeAN ambitious program aimed at requiring cleaner gasolines and stronger emission standards for sport utility vehicles has been announced by President Clinton. Oil companies are complaining about the new standards, but they are the result of a compromise that could have an effect as beneficial as the elimination of lead from gasoline in the 1970s.
Most U.S. gasolines contain an average of 300 parts per million of sulphur, which tends to clog vehicles' emissions-control devices designed to reduce pollutants leaving tail pipes.
Automakers wanted sulphur entirely eliminated from gasoline, but oil companies complained that the removal process would make gasoline prohibitively expensive. The compromise will be 30 ppm, beginning in 2004, except in California, where the state standard already is 15 ppm. Oil companies say even that could increase gasoline prices by 5 to 6 cents a gallon.
The rules also will require most trucks and sport utility vehicles to meet the same emission standards that have been required of cars.
The rules apply to pickups, minivans, vans and SUVs that have not been covered by the standards -- a huge loophole in the current regulations. All major automakers have agreed to comply with the standards with little objection except the warning that the conversion will be expensive.
Together, the new sulphur limits and auto-emission standards could result in the equivalent of 54 million cars being taken off the road, according to the program's advocates.
Vickie Patton, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, says they "will cut harmful smog, reduce fine sooty particles breathed deep into the lungs and help curb air pollution damage to our forests, lakes and streams."
The effect of the standards may not be as noticeable in Honolulu as in cities that lack the benefit of trade winds blowing polluted air out to sea. However, the improved standards can't help but improve the health of Americans across the country.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
