Bail should be posted by accused driver

After reading the Feb. 25 article about the gruesome accident causing the death of Jane O'Brien, a tourist from California, I was shocked to learn from a friend recently returned from Hawaii that the driver of the car that struck O'Brien has been released from custody without paying the $14,000 bail.

Although police determined the driver was "highly intoxicated" at the time of the accident, the accused, Stephen St. Clair, has been released to possibly inflict damage on other innocent pedestrians. Since St. Clair has been charged on a number of counts, the most serious of which is manslaughter, he should have been required to pay the bail.

On the basis of the fatal accident and the way in which the case is being handled, I wonder whether I will feel safe if I want to travel to the beautiful state of Hawaii again in the near future.

All pedestrians, including tourists, need to be able to proceed without fearing for their lives. And, in the awful circumstance in which death results from a vehicle colliding with a pedestrian, the victim's family needs to know that their rights will receive at least as much consideration as those of the accused.

Dorothy B. Rosenthal
Florence, Mass.

City Council blind to Haleiwa's vision

For 20 years, the community has had a vision -- to preserve the rural, historic, pedestrian-oriented character of Haleiwa town. We were afraid we would look like Wahiawa, a similar historic-based rural commercial community with recent uncontrolled design and growth. A strip of fast-food restaurants of standard prototype designs with accompanying paved parking lots and modern brightly lighted signs have replaced many of the structures that gave Wahiawa its special rural feeling.

Where has our vision gone? Where is the vision of the City Council that was part and parcel in the development and implementation of the law? When our vision of the Haleiwa Special District was enacted, the entire community had been polled and surveyed and consulted. This was not enacted by 100 people, but thousands of community members. We had documentation and data to support our vision. The documentation continues to this day in the Sustainable Communities Plan.

Where is the documentation that the community no longer feels this way about Haleiwa? There is none.

So, dear City Council, representatives of our community, the enactors of good planning, the upholders of the law abiding, should table the bill that will allow drive-through window service at the McDonald's in Haleiwa. It goes counter to our vision.

Laura Lee Bolles

[Quotables] "The awards are nice, but the goal all year has been to get to the NCAA tournament again. Winning it all here is the best award." Riley Wallace University of Hawaii basketball coach, named Coach of the Year in the Western Athletic Conference for the third time, with his team in Tulsa to compete in this week's WAC tournament for an automatic seed in the NCAA tournament. "Hey, I need all the help I can get." Gov. Ben Cayetano Joking with reporters about the selection of mainland artist Daniel Greene to paint his portrait to be hung alongside those of other former governors in the governor's ceremonial office, because he thought Greene's work was superior to entries of island artists in the competition.

Streets need fixing before governor race

I agree with the seal that adorns the side of our city buses, the best in the land. But our streets are another subject.

I, being a senior citizen, ride TheBus every day, and the bus route streets are deplorable. For example, on a recent day I rode the B Express Bus from Waikiki to the Kamehameha shopping center and back to Waikiki, noticing potholes on 90 percent of the route and that the concrete on Kuhio Avenue was broken on almost every stop.

Mayor Harris should fix our streets before he runs for governor.

T.B. Long
Waikiki

Ethnic stereotypes don't explain tourism

Anyone can hold an ethnic stereotype, even those who are members of the stereotyped group. In a Feb. 20 article, "Japanese tourism recovery topping forecasts," Kiyoshi Mukumoto, vice-president of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, cited two Japanese characteristics as reasons why the number of Japanese tourists started to recover more quickly than expected.

I'm Japanese and came to Hawaii to study two years ago. Mukumoto's opinion is just a stereotype for Japanese.

As a evidence to prove that these characteristics are true, the article notes that Mukumoto was born in Japan. He lives in America now and cannot see the issue and Japan from the outside. Of course, Japan is also always changing. In addition, these characteristics have no relation to the recovery of Japanese tourism.

As a Japanese who often returns to Japan, I have my own opinions about the reasons. Price cuts of plane tickets cause the recovery. Since the terrorism happened, the prices of tours are surprisingly cheap so, of course, many people leap at this chance.

The recovery of the Japanese market in Hawaii should be the outcome of a great effort of Japanese and Hawaiian travel agents, airline companies, etc. In order to know the true figure of an issue, the points of view from both the outside and the inside are necessary.

Kae Uchida

Increased traffic isolates people

A funny thing struck me the other day -- like a lightning bolt. Actually, it was much more frightening than funny. During a conversation with a new acquaintance the subject came up of where I lived. Without any thought my natural response was, "About 45 minutes from here. It used to be 10 minutes, but the traffic has changed that."

For some reason that blunt crush of the heavier traffic had not come home to me quite so hard until that moment. Living in town the commuter traffic is always there but it's usually not a priority item for us.

From my residence in the Punchbowl area it was 10 to 15 minutes to Waikiki for a quick swim and walk on the beach. Or it was an easy 5 to 10 minutes shoot down to Kakaako Waterfront Park to sit on the breakwater at sunset and watch the surfers. The caress and the taste of the breeze was rewarding and refreshing after a day at work. It is no more.

I hate it that what once was just an instant reaction now has to be a planned logistics exercise. It is much harder now to find the time or the patience. Living in Honolulu has lost a few more points.

R. E. Pyles

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