Bottle bill rewards recycling efforts

Hawaii, despite the best efforts of dedicated county recycling offices, recycles only about 25 percent of our glass containers and perhaps 3 percent of our plastic bottles. Contrast that to an 80 percent recycling rate in states with bottle bills.

People will recycle when there's a reward. The bottle bill before the state Legislature offers a 5-cent reward for every aluminum, glass or plastic container. That's a lot more than is offered for aluminum cans, yet our can recycling rate is phenomenal. In the past 10 years, we've recycled enough cans to power all of Oahu with electricity for a year with the fuel saved.

The beverage industry, despite being told by legislators last year to reach a compromise with recyclers, is pushing a bill to raise taxes while letting those who profit from selling sugar water (soft drinks) reap the benefits.

Let's hope legislators have the courage to pass the bottle bill, which will beautify Hawaii and create recycling jobs.

Howard C. Wiig

Theater production lewd, vulgar, bawdy

It's time to judge a book by its cover. When a theater production comes to town heralded as a "phenomenon," it shouldn't have to shock the public into attendance. Full-page ads and radio voice plugs feigning embarrassment at the indelicate title, "Vagina Monologues," are guaranteed to fill the seats by those in search of something titillating.

Entertaining? Only if you've lowered your sights to lewd and bawdy humor. In fact, after you've heard the title you've heard it all.

After decades of fighting the concept of woman as merely a sex object, this production guarantees that will be the male perception. Why competent, proven actresses would condescend to be associated with this production remains a mystery, but I guess hunger for the spotlight can't pass up any opportunity for broad exposure.

Short of props, this "phenomenon" is even shorter on propriety. It is indeed a curious world when refinement risks public ridicule while vulgarity reaps public acclaim.

Jane Hays

[Quotables] "Snowboarders have their reputations. But my doing this, especially in the U. S., says a lot. Maybe it will shine a light on snowboarding, and people will look at it in a different way." Kelly Clark U.S. Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding, on the way the sport is viewed by some critics. Clark was the first American to win a gold medal at the Salt Lake City games. -- "To bail is to blow it and to cave in to the whiners." Grant Merritt Manoa resident, on the possibility of revoking of the state's traffic photo enforcement program. Last week, three Senate committees voted in favor of a bill to repeal the program. The bill now is headed for the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Political donations make corporate sense

The Enron failure has triggered the predictable calls for campaign finance reform. As Richard Weigel's letter (Star-Bulletin, Feb. 8) points out, corporations contribute millions of dollars to political candidates. Weigel mentions sizable corporate tax breaks, which he attributes to the influence of the political contributions.

But what would Weigel have corporations do? In a world where politicians take it upon themselves to draw up specifications for automobiles, determine how much the market should charge for a service such as health insurance and impose taxes of up to 50 percent on products such as gasoline, how else is a corporation to survive if it doesn't spend the money to influence the regulatory and tax environment in which it must function? If a company's political contributions create tax breaks that add to its bottom line, that's just good business sense.

Is the current system perfect? Hardly. But don't blame corporations, industries or individuals. It is the size, appetite and intrusiveness of government that often drives investment decisions that otherwise would be based on market conditions.

Real campaign finance reform begins with reducing demand. We must seriously reduce the size of government and the number of regulations and taxes by which government intrudes in economic markets and personal lives. Then industries, corporations and individuals will not feel the same pressure to contribute; we'll all be free to make decisions based on more sensible factors.

Robert R. Kessler

National Guard and Reserves can't do it all

Members of Congress who are arguing against the need for a homeland security force are misguided people if they believe that the National Guard and Reserves are the homeland security force. This is not true.

The National Guard and Reserves are part of our country's armed forces. Our current active-duty armed forces cannot handle all of the missions today. This is why Hawaii National Guard personnel have been activated -- so regular personnel can be rotated and rested.

This is peacetime. If a real war starts, all National Guard and Reserves will be activated. This means homeland security must be handled by others.

Myles H. Shinsato

Marketing noni could make Hawaii rich

Betty Shimabukuro's article about making noni juice palatable appeared in the Jan. 30 Star-Bulletin, the same day that my 8th-grade daughter, Yuki, submitted her St. Patrick's School science project on the same subject.

Yuki's noni research (tested on her 6-year-old sister, Noemi) concluded that honey added before the juice was made proved to be the best mixer.

Nowadays we see "aloe" in all types of ointments and shampoos. Is it possible that with more research Hawaii can replace entire medicine chests worldwide with a slug of noni and honey? We could balance the state budget.

John Wollstein

Thanks to Harris for road improvements

The District III Oahu Civil Defense volunteers of the Waianae Coast wish to thank Mayor Jeremy Harris and his Vision Team for the outstanding improvements and beautification along the shoreline makai of Farrington Highway from Nanakuli to Mali.

Citizens and tourists now can enjoy driving through the beautiful landscaping. The added height of the berm acts as a barrier during high-surf season.

Harris's vision to beautify our island may have other effects if he becomes governor.

Gabe K. Kilakalua, Jr.

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