Who has time to reclaim deposits?

City recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones states that the cost for the recycling beverage containers works out to be $12 per person per year (Gathering Places, Star-Bulletin, April 18). But not everyone has a garage to keep and store bottles that make it worth their time to recover the deposit.

Recycling aluminum has an economic incentive per ton, but again, how many people have the time, space and inclination to save their aluminum cans?

This would just be another financial burden on Hawaii residents, artificially increasing the cost of a consumer good while the majority will not have the time or the inclination to get their deposits back.

It's not surprising that all the government bureaucracies support this measure. They have to justify their existence, don't they? Don't let them do it at the expense of pulling more dollars from my pocket just to make a few activists feel good about themselves.

Bruce Wong

Beverage industry avoids responsibility

The more I hear the beverage industry's anti-bottle bill radio ads, the angrier I become.

For the mainland industry to hide behind a "Hawaii Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling" moniker is unconscionable, and Pepsi general manager for Hawaii Gary Yoshioka claiming the name is acceptable because he's a citizen is a joke.

This group's only goal is to kill the bottle bill by misleading the public into thinking the measure is somehow a new tax. It's a voluntary one, perhaps, if you choose to trash Hawaii's environment.

The truth is that the beverage industry wants no responsibility for its products after they leave the store. If the industry had to deal with the product waste that it is profiting from, it would pass the cost right on to consumers.

If the bottle bill is so bad, why is it so widely popular in other states? Is it because the bill has cleaned up roadsides and beaches, made recycling easier and fostered new industry?

The state Legislature has the opportunity to pass something tangible for Hawaii's future. Paradise, to me, is a clean environment, not litter and landfills. Hawaii deserves a bottle bill.

Michelle Johnson

Gasoline price bill holds other proposals

Most of the media coverage and discussion regarding SB2179, SD2, HD1 involves the establishment of a maximum wholesale price for gasoline in Hawaii (Part II of the bill).

Not often mentioned is the original intent of this bill -- that government should lead by example by mandating a reduction in energy use in state facilities and use renewable energy for much of the remaining energy demand (Part I).

This will significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels in state facilities as well as provide an example to other government and private-sector individuals and organizations.

While I strongly support the concept of regulating the price of gasoline, I would hate to see the energy conservation and renewable energy portions of the bill not pass due to an inability to agree on gasoline price controls. If necessary, gasoline price controls should be taken up next session.

Therefore, I would urge you to contact state Reps. Hermina Morita, Kenneth Hiraki, Dwight Takamine, Brian Schatz, Jim Rath and Paul Whalen and Sens. Ron Menor, Lorraine Inouye, Cal Kawamoto, Brian Taniguchi, Fred Hemmings and Suzanne Chun-Oakland to ensure that at least the energy conservation and renewable energy portions of this bill are passed.

David Rezachek

State must stop taking retirees' money

I applaud the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers for suing to stop the Legislature and the governor from perpetuating decades of skimming money from the state Employees Retirement System ("Cops file suit over pension fund 'raid,'" Star-Bulletin, April 24).

The Star-Bulletin reported Sen. Colleen Hanabusa as saying that there is no threat of reduced benefits for retirees and public workers.

Contrary to Hanabusa's statement, Act 100 illegally took the $346.9 million mentioned in the class-action lawsuit, resulting in the governor eliminating a long-standing, five-year retirement inflation adjustment.

Hanabusa arrogantly remarked, "We determine how much people will be paid, we determine whether people have collective bargaining rights, we determine the whole gamut."

The "we" Hanabusa refers to should fulfill fiduciary responsibilities to public workers, retirees and taxpayers, and pay off the current $991 million unfunded liability the state owes to the ERS, rather than extending these payments to 2030, as the Legislature and governor now propose in House Bill 2460.

And on election day, the public employees, retirees and taxpayers will determine if "we" are voted out.

Earl Arakaki
Ewa Beach

Builders put up homes, but no schools

In naming some of the state's contradictions, Thomas Haae of Waianae (Letters, Star-Bulletin, April 15) forgot a very important one. Build and they will come, but don't build the needed schools to educate the new children in the area.

Makakilo is a prime example. Construction continues, but the need to include schools is ignored, although the community association has pushed city and state officials to pay attention.

Developer Schuler's timetable for building through July 2003 includes another 662 units in Makakilo.

Already Makakilo children are being bused to Barbers Point because the neighborhood school has burst at the seams. Looking at these new building plans, another 1,200 students will be entering the area, and there is no plan for any new neighborhood school. And let's not even discuss traffic in the area.

I hope these irresponsible developers are letting home buyers know this reality when they advertise.

Marilyn Walsh

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