Let drunk pilots fly -- on the outside

Maybe there is a cure for airline pilots who attempt to fly a planeload of passengers while drunk. Since 9/11, I can understand why airline passengers may do like the planes and gas up before the flight. It's like a patient being anesthetized before the operation. Just as doctors do not join in the pre-op festivities, since they need to be steady of hand and clear of mind so as not to remove the wrong part, pilots need to get a grip -- not on the booze but on a cup of coffee.

Just as there is a pre-flight check for the aircraft before takeoff, let's give the pilots a breathalyzer test. The pilots who fail the test become passengers and can sit anywhere they want on the plane's exterior -- smoking section next to the engine exhaust, nonsmoking on top of the cockpit.

Smoky Guerrero
Mililani

City spokeswoman should face acts

The July 15 Star-Bulletin reports the start of work to reconfigure the new Hawaii Kai sign on Kalanianaole Highway to face in the proper direction. The article says Carol Costa, the mayor's spokeswoman, claimed it was hard to say how much of the total $190,000 package for three community signs was used for the Hawaii Kai sign. Balderdash. The city's project managers easily could have told her.

According to the Department of Design and Construction, construction of the Hawaii Kai sign cost $104,730, out of a total contract of $190,776 for three signs. The design cost was $24,300, out of $42,300 for the three-sign package. Adding a portion of $2,600 in "reimbursable expenses" payable to the designers, the total cost of the Hawaii Kai sign is almost $130,000.

That is a substantial amount, especially compared to the original Hawaii Kai entrance sign, built in the late 1970s with volunteer community support and $5,000 from the Bishop Estate. A nearby sign erected in the mid-1990s by the Portlock community cost some $6,000, plus professional and sweat-equity from that neighborhood. Small wonder that Costa finds it hard to talk about the actual costs of the city's sign project.

The obvious question is, why is this project costing taxpayers so much? Now that she has the numbers, perhaps Costa could address this larger question.

Richard W. Baker

Banks not to blame for hijackers' fraud

America's banks follow detailed procedures to verify the identity of anyone seeking to open an account. Banks are required to do so by federal law, but would do it for their own protection anyway.

No private industry does more to combat money laundering and terrorism than banking. Every business day, as required by the Bank Secrecy Act, banks file hundreds of Suspicious Activity Reports with federal regulators, alerting them to possible fraud or money laundering.

That's why it was puzzling to see the New York Times story on that subject in the July 10 Star-Bulletin. In the story, an FBI official implied that mainland banks goofed by not verifying Social Security numbers used by hijackers to open accounts.

In fact, any bank that tried to get the Social Security Administration to verify a number would fail. For privacy reasons, Social Security officials would refuse. In fact, if they did verify "Kimo Jones'" Social Security number, it would make it easier for someone to steal "Kimo's" identity.

It's just one more place where the legitimate interests of privacy and law enforcement collide. But despite the FBI official's comments, it's not evidence that banks don't do the right thing. The banking industry also has been pushing for federal standards on driver's licenses and other identification to make verification even more foolproof.

Rodney Shinkawa
Executive Vice President
Hawaii Bankers Association

Turn Natatorium into beach volleyball arena

The University of Hawaii swimming pool. Les Murakami baseball stadium. UH softball stadium. UH basketball/volleyball arena. Waipio soccer fields. Aloha football stadium (with new turf).

"Build it and they will come." And they did come.

Hawaii has some of the top volleyball players in the world. We should develop the Natatorium into a world-class beach volleyball stadium. Fill in the pool with the large, waste-mixed concrete blocks from the Ala Wai dredging. Cover that with smaller rocks, then fill with sand and make the Natatorium into the Wimbledon of Waikiki for beach volleyball.

Charles Berry

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