Others must continue Thompson's work

The Hawaiian community and Hawaii grieve the loss of Myron B. "Pinky" Thompson, a social worker by training, a Hawaiian of spirit, a compassionate, courageous and visionary human being.

By his passing, Pinky's lifetime pursuit to better conditions for Hawaiians and Hawaii must now be the kuleana of those of us who celebrate his life. He rests in the realm of our ancestors, and like our ancestors is but a moment away.

Aloha nui to the Thompson ohana and mahalo for sharing Pinky with us.

Haunani Apoliona
Trustee
Office of Hawaiian Affairs

McKinley code doesn't endorse religion

I can't believe what I read in your Dec. 28 article, "McKinley pride built in code, officials say." It is really outrageous to learn that Mitch Kahle is trying to get the McKinley High School code of honor thrown out because it includes the words, "Love of God."

This code of honor has been at the school since 1927 and has nothing to do with endorsing a specific religion. A code of honor instills in students a sense of honesty, brotherhood, love, compassion and respect. These are things that kids should be learning, considering all the violence, drugs, and images of sex that they encounter on a daily basis.

Kathy Martin

[Quotables] "I'm just flattered all these people have faith and confidence in what I've done for them in the past." Wes Kurihara Owner of Wes' Keolu Shell, on the outpouring of aloha that has come his way from customers since he announced he is closing his 11-year-old, full-service gas station in Kailua. "Everything is a character-building opportunity." Irving Lauber Aloha United Way president, on the difficulty of raising funds for the charity in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Slow drivers cause dangerous situations

In August 1999, I attended a seminar in Fresno, Calif., and then drove to Los Angeles. Traffic moved at least 10 mph above the speed limit and no law enforcement agencies interfered with the traffic on I-5.

Upon entering Los Angeles, I spotted a highway patrol officer in his squad car and immediately dropped my speed to the legal limit of 65 mph. Guess what? I got pulled over for impeding traffic. The officer politely explained to me that traffic must flow like water for the safety of all concerned and that I stopped that flow. I was told to keep up with traffic or face a ticket next time.

On the major freeways in Hawaii, the default speed in the fast lanes seems to be 65 mph or greater. On Likelike, the default speed is greater than 55 mph. The bottom line is that speed cams may be causing an uneven flow of traffic, thereby creating accidents. I would suggest that the traffic rulemakers of this state consult with California officials regarding speed cameras.

Speed cams should be used to nab those driving too slow or beyond the flow of traffic.

As to red-light cameras, I feel that they are acceptable as long as the light-change cycles are not altered for the purpose of the vendor's profits.

Philip B. Sterry
Kailua

Huge wealth gap divides Americans

Millions of Americans who were earning $6, $8 or $10 an hour have been laid off, while corporate CEOs, whose annual salaries are in multimillion-dollar figures are huddling with $600-an-hour consultants and $1,000-an-hour lawyers and analysts to try figure out what is going wrong with our economy. Why are they no longer enjoying 100 percent returns on their investments?

Meanwhile, the poor folks sit at home worrying about how to pay next month's rent, and watch television talking heads, who often earn even more than many of the CEOs, telling them why all of this is happening in our land of opportunity.

We are fast becoming a nation of very wealthy and very poor, an oligarchy that once was a land of great opportunity for all. Or was it?

Keith Haugen

Bus operation annoys tourists left stranded

I take the 22 or 58 bus from Waikiki about once a week to go to Costco in Hawaii Kai. I live on Koa Street in Waikiki, and in order to take one of those buses I go to the stop at Kuhio and Ohua and go west to Lewers. I then go across the street and catch the 22 or 58 east to Hawaii Kai. Last Thursday, I got on the 10 a.m. 22 bus at Lewers and got the last seat available; the bus then filled up with standees at that stop.

The bus driver then had to pass up the rest of the stops in Waikiki and leave the people who had been standing there for up to an hour waiting for the 22 bus. We passed an average of 25 outraged tourists at each stop. The tourists who were standing had to ride that way to Waimea Bay.

I have seen this bus overload happen every time I have caught, or tried to catch, the 22 bus any morning except Tuesday, when Waimea Bay is closed. That is why I go west to Lewers to catch the bus. It is the last stop that I have a chance of getting a seat in the morning.

I cannot understand the failure of the bus company to correct this situation. Either it is not aware of the overload, it can't figure out how to correct the situation, it doesn't care if the tourists are left stranded every morning or it doesn't believe it is as bad as I have described.

If it is the latter, I suggest that company officials try to catch the 22 bus tomorrow morning and see. Hawaii has spent a lot of time and money since Sept. 11 trying to attract tourists and make sure they have a good experience here. This failure to give them enough buses certainly does not help.

Bill Millan

There's a way to clean up drug trade

Regarding the Star-Bulletin editorial, "Drug bust just one step in breaking cycle," printed on Dec. 24:

Regulating, thereby controlling, the illegal drug market would immediately take most of the nasty street drugs out of the hands of petty thugs and worldwide cartels. Is this really so difficult to understand?

When the herb cannabis is cheaper than meth, would we have fewer people using ice? Yep!

It really is time to take politics and other corruptions out of the drug trade.

Peace on Earth!

Steve Reiff
Kalaheo, Hawaii

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