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Kokua Line
Question: On Honowai Street in Waipahu, there is a house with a yard like a salvage yard. It's full of junk and most of it is against the neighbor's tile wall. Also, there are about 10 cats and a rabbit house against the wall, so there is a lot of doo-doo and many flies. Neighbors are complaining and don't know what to do. Can you help? Neighbors’ junky
yards worrisomeQ: What recourse do I have against a neighbor who has 50-foot areca palms on our boundary line? I am concerned about air and light; about rats, about rubbish that's constant, and about roots in the sewer line.
Answer: In both cases, call the state Vector Control Branch at 831-6767 and an inspector will be sent to investigate.
In the first complaint, all that "junk" may be harboring rodents, said Vector Control supervisor Norman Sato. If that's the case, inspectors can order the homeowner to clean up, he said.
In the second case, areca palms may not cause a rodent problem in themselves, he said.
"Depending on how thick the fronds are on top, there may be some nesting, but otherwise, we'll probably try to see if there's something else contributing to the rodent problem," Sato said.
Q: What is the law regarding illegal parking by a state worker? About noon on Thursday, Jan. 6, I came out of a parking lot on the corner of Bethel and King streets to make a right turn from Bethel (which is one-way mauka) onto King (one-way diamondhead). Because of all the construction, the Bethel lanes were coned -- the left lane going mauka and the right lane allowing a right turn. I went to the right lane, but there was a guy in a car at that corner. When the light turned green, he just sat in his car, so I honked. He came out and said he was working there. I went to the police officer directing traffic, who said the guy was a state archaeologist checking if there were any bones buried there. He said the guy had a right to park there because he was working and I should have turned from the left lane. I can see if there were no other spaces available, but there were spaces in a nearby loading zone. Also, the guy was just sitting in the unmarked car where there are signs saying, "No parking here to corner/tow-away zone." Afterward, the officer moved a cone in back of my car to prevent other cars from turning right from that lane. If it's a non-emergency, are state vehicles allowed to park illegally?
A: We checked with the state archaeology branch and was told that the man is not a state worker -- that he is a private archaeologist hired by the city.
Additionally, state archaeologists get no special parking privileges, an official said.
But to get to the crux of your complaint: State employees are not allowed to park illegally. The officer on the scene should have coned off the right lane at the start of the work, said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu.
At that point, the car would not have been parking illegally, but with the permission of the on-scene officer, she said.
Mahalo
To two great guys who pushed my dead car off Nimitz Highway on Dec. 30. Then a woman used her cell phone to call AAA for me and another woman in a nearby office invited me to wait for the tow truck in her air-conditioned office. To replace my car's alternator, the tow truck driver headed for Wayne's Electrical, where they were already having a year-end luncheon. But they made me their last satisfied customer of the year. I am so pleased with everybody's assistance -- Senior Citizen
Useful telephone numbers
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com