Impact study should get military's input

I just finished reading about the committee being established to examine the potential impact on Hawaii of war with Iraq (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 30). I think this committee is a great idea, but it clearly misses a major player with information that cannot help but prove to be essential: the view of the military in the islands.

I certainly do not speak for the military, but it is clear to me that what the military in Hawaii does in response to this conflict will have a huge impact on the state's economy. How about we get the Legislature to add someone from the U.S. Pacific Command to at least sit in on the panel, offering what information they can share?

Kurt R. Eleam

Group misused data in gasoline-price study

Stillwater Associates gave a somewhat fair assessment of the Hawaii gasoline market but left many key pieces of information out of the equation ("Report tanks gas cap," Star-Bulletin, Jan. 29).

It was Chevron management in 1989 that organized dealers against BHP (Gas Express) to pass the first dealer legislation that put restraints on the Hawaii market. This stopped competitors from entering the Hawaii market.

Stillwater is skewing the data by using gasoline price comparisons from a time period when the state had filed an antitrust lawsuit against the oil companies and the Legislature already was discussing price controls. Data from five years earlier would show huge savings to Hawaii consumers -- as much as 60 cents per gallon!

Stillwater claims that the Hawaii refiners lose money on other products. Show the consumers these numbers to justify such bold statements. According to Chevron's own publications, the Hawaii refinery has been one of the most efficient and a model for other refineries.

The people at Stillwater criticized our legislators for passing the price-cap law, yet they had no explanation for the high prices in Hawaii because they know that Big Oil has the power to manipulate any market by controlling supply, pricing and other players. There is no substitute for gasoline -- yet.

Frank Young
Former Chevron dealer

Maui finally gets real community planning

Maui Planning Director Mike Foley and Mayor Alan Arakawa are ensuring we will have real land planning with the future in mind. Certain developers have had free reign for many years to bypass the thoughts and vision of the people who volunteer thousands of hours on the community plans. A plan is worked on, put in place and immediately these developers begin asking for amendments and exemptions, and they have been successful with past administrations. Some West Maui developments are prime examples.

Many developers are welcoming the ability to have a level playing field to work with and it is these folks and the rest of us who will truly profit from the new planning direction. Let's work with builders and officials who will build real affordable housing for local families. How many of you have friends, neighbors or family who can't afford a house? How many of you work 10 or more hours a day just to try to make ends meet? Please back the administration and conscientious developers who will work with this new opportunity as they try to make sure we have Maui and not Malibu in 10 years.

Sean Lester
Haiku, Maui

Lane-hogging BRT has fundamental problems

Your Jan. 15 editorial in support of the city's Bus Rapid Transit proposal assumes that the current plans are equivalent to those that work in other major cities.

Unfortunately, the in-town segment of the BRT has fundamental problems that actually will increase the travel time for both motorists and bus riders.

First, most of the roads where the BRT is supposed to stake out its exclusive and semi-exclusive bus lanes are already overcrowded during rush hours and have no lanes to spare.

Another problem is that one-third of the in-town routes will not be narrowed with new "bus-only" lanes. Here the new BRT vehicles will get caught in traffic jams created by the BRT bottlenecks in the remaining two-thirds of their routes.

I have been asking the City Council to undertake some testing of the new in-town BRT routes for more than two years. City Resolution 00-280 was intended to initiate testing of some of the proposed lane changes, but the last Department of Transportation chairman refused to even schedule a hearing for it. To make a test-run more realistic, the city should substitute some of the Express Buses for the promised gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

Such a trial run would quickly reveal the true nature of this lane-devouring beast, and quickly point us toward alternatives such as the re-emergence of light rail as proposed by Sen. Robert Bunda.

Wally Bachman
Science adviser
Citizens Advocating Responsible Education

Ice users get little treatment in prison

In the article "Lawmakers urged to battle ice problem" (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 26), city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle is quoted as saying, "When their brain is already damaged, isolate them, incapacitate them, then treat them."

Although I am not a drug user, I am currently incarcerated, and many people I know are addicted to drugs. Is locking them away for "treatment" truly the answer? What treatment does the state provide? Many inmates want to change their lives, but how are they going to change while incarcerated with no programs, continuous lockdowns and poor management?

Not all "ice" users are violent criminals. Is overcrowding our prisons with people who need treatment the answer? No, Carlisle wants bigger prisons, more jobs for corrupt state workers and a bigger burden on our taxpayers. Maybe Governor Lingle's administration will provide treatment for drug users and help manage an efficient prison system.

Quintin-John D'Agirbaud III
Inmate, Oahu Community Correctional Center

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