Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: I bought gasoline at the Tesoro station in Waianae and paid $1.759. The Tesoro in Pearlridge was charging about 10 cents more per gallon. Why the difference in price? Gas prices can vary
with local competitionAnswer: Competition.
"The price of gasoline is based on competition in that neighborhood," said Tesoro spokesman Nathan Hokama. "That's why the price in one area of Oahu would be different from another area."
He noted that the Star-Bulletin posts a weekly survey of gas prices on Oahu, which appears Wednesdays in the business section, listing prices of stations roughly bounded by Ward Avenue and King, McCully and Beretania streets. The Tesoro price is based on the King/Kalakaua station, Hokama said.
Q: In newspaper reporting about the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in Britain, it is frequently mentioned that the authorities are reluctant to permit vaccination and therefore resort to wholesale destruction of animals. Apparently, vaccination would render the animals unfit for export, but why this is so is never explained. I would think vaccination would protect the animals from infection and thus make them qualified for export. When we human beings need to go to a dangerous area, we get vaccinated to protect ourselves. Why not cows?
A: While there is no danger to humans in eating meat or drinking milk from vaccinated animals (because people are not at risk for foot-and-mouth disease), the concern is the spread of the disease to other animals.
The problem with the vaccine is that it takes four days for it to work, and even then it may not be completely effective, according to experts. Furthermore, vaccinated animals can still carry the virus and pass it on, without showing any symptoms.
The United States would bar British meat from vaccinated animals, and vaccinated animals could not be exported to the United States or to Japan.
But the BBC quotes the president of the National Farmers' Union in Great Britain as saying that the concern goes beyond economics.
"There is a real possibility that the use of vaccination could actually prolong this outbreak, resulting in the culling of more cattle rather than less. This has happened elsewhere in the world," he said.
"Once we go down this road, there will be no going back. And it is farmers throughout the U.K. -- not just in vaccinated areas and not only cattle farmers -- who will have to bear the consequences for a very long time."
What they meant to say
A city parks official says the Department of Parks and Recreation does take water leaks seriously. In answer to a "Kokua Line" "auwe," a parks official told the Board of Water Supply no one would be sent to fix a leak at a park over the weekend unless it was a "health and safety" issue ("Kokua Line," Aug. 30).Craig Mayeda, the parks maintenance and recreation services administrator, said if it is a "small drip drip, we will probably ignore it till the next day."
But "if it's a decent amount of water, we definitely will respond" immediately, he said. For example, if he gets a call at 3 a.m., and even if he's sure the problem is an irrigation problem, where a sprinkler is shooting water, "we will send someone out to check just to make sure ... because it is a waste of water, and we do care very much about water."
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com