You're on candid cop camera

Don't pay camera traffic citations

I urge the people of Hawaii to unite and not pay any fines imposed on them by the newly installed red light and speeding traffic cameras.

I lived in Alaska when the people of Alaska did just that. Everyone joined together in a class-action lawsuit on the unconstitutionality of the computer-operated traffic cams. It was found that traffic tickets must be issued by an officer of the law. If everyone who is issued a ticket bans together and does not pay, we will have overcome Big Brother.

Kimo Orsen

Profit will drive issuing of tickets

Enforcement monitoring traffic cameras have been installed at key intersections on Oahu. Red light violators will be fined at least $77 and speeders will be fined $27, plus $5 for each mile over the speed limit. Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) will be providing the cameras and $29.75 will be paid to ACS per citation.

Has anyone faced reality? A subcontractor, ACS, has been hired to provide this service, but who is to say whether the citations are being lawfully sent? The company is profiting from each ticket that is given out. Therefore, wouldn't it be logical that the more citations sent out, the more profits the company makes? Couldn't one conclude that ACS's motives are profit driven?

Furthermore, photographs prove guilt, without the presumption of innocence. Has it occurred to anyone that photographs can be deceptive?

The current system has its flaws. However, if you receive a citation, you are allowed to challenge it and constitutionally face your accuser: a police officer exercising professional judgment and legitimate authority.

Traffic safety on the road is everyone's concern, but surveillance of this form oversteps constitutional boundaries and paves the way for American justice based on profits.

Faye Yuen

Snapping violators is attractive new field

I have an offer that will not only save public money, but keep that money in Hawaii and make me big bucks. Hire me to take pictures of cars that speed and run red lights, and I'll only charge $25 for each paid citation instead of the $29.75 charged by the non-local, NYSE-listed Affiliated Computer Services.

This way I won't have to hope that one day the government will raise the artificially low highway speed limits or create smooth-flowing traffic by aligning stop lights instead of the current stop-and-go light system, which both encourages running red lights and needlessly increases gas consumption. I'm ready to start working. What's another contract at the cost of the people?

Jeffrey Esmond

Kaneohe

Beat camera cops by driving slowly

How did we get from "We, the People ..." to the writhing mass of self-important regulators pushing us around today with rules for this, forms for that, more taxes so that government can intrude more deeply into our lives?

The latest scam is the "Keystone Kamera Kops." The state Department of Transportation says its goal is safety, but the state and the contractor are in it for the money, your money.

I suggest we beat them by driving under the speed limit everywhere, all of the time, and stopping at lights that are anywhere close to turning red. We'll all be late, the economy will tank, but after a couple of months with no income from tickets, the camera guys will quit and go home.

We can blame the DOT for the fiasco, since it, or rather taxpayers, will be stuck paying for the three-year contract. Then we can go after the clowns who foisted this scheme on the public. They'll be easy to spot. They'll have very red faces as they proclaim that their safety goals have been met.

After that, we can go back to driving normally while having intelligent police officers enforcing the law instead of Big Brother taking everyone's picture to pick our pockets. Dawdle for Liberty!

Brian Isaacson

[Quotables] "We don't want to go there. I don't want to go there." Pat Hamamoto Interim schools superintendent, saying she would find other ways to make the needed $7.1 million in education budget cuts rather than furlough Department of Education employees. "There are a lot of miracle stories out there. We're just one of them." Virginia Ruggiero Dennehy Newlywed, who was married Friday to Martin Dennehy, a New York City police officer, in a quickly organized ceremony at the Hawaii Prince Kuhio Hotel. Officer Dennehy, who survived one hour buried under the rubble of the World Trade Center, is one of 600 New York police, fire and rescue workers who accepted Gov. Ben Cayetano's invitation for a free week-long vacation in Hawaii.

'Family of Man' must unite, heal divisions

The Christian crusaders converted by the sword. The Spaniards slaughtered millions of South American Indians for gold and silver, all in the name of God. Westward-bound settlers massacred North American Indian tribes as godless savages.

The Jews, Christians and Muslims are all people of the book of the Torah, Quran and Bible. Each book varies mostly due to translation, key prophets and cultural differences in the divinely inspired writers.

Each group has experienced schisms. Christians have Protestants, Baptist, Catholic and many more. Jews have Orthodox and non-Orthodox, as well as radical extremists. Muslims have extreme fundamentalists as well as moderates.

All three groups have the same holy land. The amazing thing is they all believe in the same deity. The God of Abraham, Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah, same entity different name.

The Muslims believe that Jesus Christ (ISA) was a great prophet second only to Mohammed.

The Family of Mankind must unite and stop this senseless killing in the name of God.

Out of the World Trade Center tragedy I pray the world can unite in its resolve to finally heal these divisions and end these horrible acts.

Michael Spiker

Inmate, Oahu Community Correctional Center

American who fought with Taliban is a traitor

John Walker, the American who joined and fought with the Taliban, should be tried for treason by a jury of his peers, and if convicted, should receive the maximum penalty of death.

It's clear that Walker did knowingly, and clandestinely, and with evil and destructive intent, work against the interests of his country, and did aid and abet his country's enemy in a time of war.

In the Arab world, where honor is everything, America's treatment of Walker will be seen as a test of the integrity of our society. A system which is too weak or corrupt to punish its own traitors will not be respected, and that lack of respect will most definitely result in further terrorism and further loss of American life.

At home, a failure to effectively punish a traitor like John Walker will most definitely give a green light to every ethically marginal and confused individual in our midst, and will most definitely result in the further erosion of American core values.

Walker described himself as a "jihadi" (fighter of holy wars). By the value system to which John Walker treacherously subscribed, the greatest victory that a jihadi can achieve is his own death, in the line of what he considers his holy duty. So be it.

Mike Keolomakapu'u Pettingill

Kailua

Budget cuts may be good for schools

Gov. Ben Cayetano's proposed cuts to public school funding comprise a steep 44 percent of the proposed $48 million in cuts to the two-year general treasury budget.

Hawaii's public schools will have to do their best to cope with obligations to special education, pay increases and payments to state debt.

This budget cut may be beneficial to schools because it will force the Department of Education to focus on the essentials. Thankfully, though, the DOE is considering curbing money toward state and district office positions, out-of-state and inter-island travel, and personal services contracts, not necessary classroom learning programs and tools that directly influence a child's schooling.

Victor Chang

Corruption ultimately hurts school children

A public official was convicted of theft, bribery, extortion, wire fraud and witness tampering (Star-Bulletin, Dec. 6). Divide the money he stole by the 4 12-year penalty in jail time received, plus the full government benefits he will continue to receive. Now think about our school children in Ewa Beach Elementary sitting in their classrooms with no money, no air-conditioning and being cut off from millions of dollars by our government.

This just goes to show that corruption in our government comes at the expense of our children.

Von Dent
Aiea

High gasoline prices cannot be justified

Barnaby Robinson's justification of $1.80 per gal of gasoline in Hawaii speaks in generalities of costs to refine, market and deliver a gallon into your automobile (Letters, Dec. 5). I suspect refineries know, within a few pennies, costs related to any petroleum product they market.

The current price for tanker loads of unleaded regular gasoline (from Singapore or the West Coast) is 55 cents per gallon, according to Investors Business Daily. Adding to this 6 cents for shipping, 3 cents for local storage, 3 cents for delivery, 45 cents for taxes and 13 cents for the station operator totals $1.25, or a 50- to 60-cent overcharge.

The question Robinson should ask is, "If the average taxes in other states are, say, 15 cents less, how is it that the mainland prices are as much as 50 to 70 cents less per gallon, and why does it cost 30 cents more per gallon on the neighbor islands?"

Howard J.T. Lee

Ceremony should have noted Hackfeld's role

In the Saturday morning ceremony marking the change from the Liberty House to Macy's, it is unfortunate that Heinrich Hackfeld, the founder of Liberty House and of the largest corporation among the so-called Big Five of Honolulu, was not mentioned.

Perhaps the red, gold and black balloons decorating the event were selected to reflect a German connection, but the opportunity to provide a richer picture of the store's provenance was missed. Those interested in the full history should read Niklaus R. Scheizer's "Hawaii and the German Speaking Peoples" (Topgallant, 1982).

Mary M. F. Bitterman

Riding a bike to work can lead to romance

Not long ago a letter writer reported that the long-delayed lines of traffic out of Ewa would be relieved by taking the bike lanes running from Ewa to Pearl Harbor and converting them for automobile use.

I'm thinking that instead of stressing out in traffic, if I got off my duff and onto a bike and cycled in to work, I likely would arrive at my destination more quickly than many cars. If more motorists would follow suit our opus and okoles would convert from luxury size to the compact model, more of the opposite sex would give us a second look and our hearts would say mahalo for our new-found good health and possible romance. Cycle on, Hawaii!

Smoky Guerrero
Mililani

Felix decree necessary to bring about change

The current "real problem" with the Felix decree compliance, which Richard J. Gelles addresses in his article ("What is the real problem with Felix decree compliance?," Star-Bulletin Nov. 30), is the misinterpretation of the actual progress and goals implemented thus far. Gelles fails to realize that the "well-intended efforts of the Federal Court" have indeed provided the beginning of an educational system for our special-needs students.

Gelles does not understand that the "disrepair (and) antiquated texts and resources" in our school system existed long before the court's mandate. I just completed a service testing and found the process to be credible and, hopefully, helpful to the state by providing needed data.

Most importantly, the evidence shows that many disabled students, including my son and many other children with autism, finally are receiving services along with a semblance of an appropriate education rather than being warehoused in an institution or a DOE classroom. A properly conducted state response (i.e., process) would have provided timely help for the Felix children.

I am appalled and saddened that Gelles, hired by the legislative auditor's study, is misrepresenting his findings to a community that is becoming increasingly leery of supporting a process that is finally beginning to provide services for the disabled.

Mary Taylor
Parent and DOE teacher

Liberate Iolani Palace from separatists

A small group of Hawaiian activists imagine Iolani Palace as their capitol of a still-living Kingdom of Hawaii. They have controlled our publicly owned museum for years. Many tour guides, as well as an inflammatory films shown in the barracks, make statements that are false but part of the constant drumbeat of sovereignty activist mythology.

The activists said they felt "hurt" when the U.S. flag was raised over Iolani after Sept. 11. But we all are hurt when Iolani operates as an anti-American propaganda factory and cult headquarters. Not flying our American flag there gives aid and comfort to radicals who see the United States as a hostile, foreign occupying power in Hawaii. Every expression of their anger or "hurt" is another reason why the U.S. flag must fly there, to show we are all Americans and will remain so.

Let's all wear or display U.S. flags whenever we visit this museum or have a picnic on its lovely grounds. Let's replace the sovereignty activists on the board of directors with historians, scholars and managerial experts. Let's liberate and de-mystify Iolani.

Ken Conklin

Trust ethics committee to examine cloning

Regarding How Tim Chang's Dec. 5 letter: His arguments seem to be quite similar to those of the government in the 1940s with regard to nuclear power. The United States spent millions (if not billions) developing nuclear power to wreak havoc on other countries, physically as well as psychologically, and it ended a great war.

But there are many people today who believe that doing so was a mistake. Cloning, like nuclear power, is a great technology that must be intelligently debated. President Bush expressed his opposition, but he also appointed an ethics committee headed by the University of Chicago's Leon Kass.

I'm a U. of C. student, and Kass is one of the most respected professors on campus. What he doesn't know about the field of ethics is not worth knowing. I feel confident that with Kass mediating the debate and welcoming objections, a good resolution that balances the needs of science and the needs of humanity will be found.

Leslie Ching
Hilo, Hawaii

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