How much did it cost to nab 13-time felon?

While discussion is high about the costs of the war in Iraq, Japan trips, neighborhood signage, road maintenance and Sunsets on the Beach, has anyone figured out how much it cost the authorities to apprehend 13-time convicted felon Michael Gaspar after a 5 1/2-hour standoff with police? ("Waipahu standoff ends with suspect in custody," Star-Bulletin, July 16).

There were seven sheriff's deputies, two U.S. marshals, numerous Honolulu police officers and the Specialized Services Division. And that is not to mention emergency personnel and the St. Francis West medical team after Gaspar suffered what may have been a drug-induced seizure.

The costs will then continue to grow with the efforts of the judicial system, which has failed our society several times over in Gaspar's case.

Wake up everybody! This is where a large chunk of change goes everyday. Demand tougher laws from your lawmakers and those who appoint these bleeding heart judges.

I'm all for giving someone two or three chances, hell even five or six. But 13 prior felony convictions? We've seen this cycle before. The last time it happened an HPD officer lost his life. When will it end? When the public starts demanding changes!

Pat Kelly

New taxi system taxes riders' patience

Kenneth Kanter's letter (Star-Bulletin, July 2) praises the new system for taxis at Honolulu International Airport for levelling the playing field.

It is not so great for the taxi user.

We returned from the mainland earlier this month on Hawaiian Airlines Flight 33 arriving about 1:20 p.m. We had no check-in baggage, so we were able to go directly to the taxi dispatcher and be first in line. We waited at least 20 minutes for a taxi. By that time there was quite a line waiting behind us. We saw empty taxis go by; the dispatcher said they were going to Station 3 and we were at Station 2.

We saw empty taxis stop at Station 1. Finally, a taxi came for us. Not a Charley's, our usual choice, but at least a taxi. We commented on the long wait to our driver; he said that there were a 100 or so taxis waiting a short distance away, but that they could only come to the airport proper when summoned by a dispatcher.

The system doesn't sound too great for the drivers, either.

Arthur Sprague
Honolulu

Why can't court just declare us all equal?

Regarding the op-ed article, "The 9 most powerful people in the country":

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, as the swing vote in an often otherwise evenly divided U.S. Supreme Court, more than any other justice including the chief justice, decides a case with her vote. She may, in fact, be the most powerful person in the country.

By making paramount the University of Michigan Law School's policy of attaining a diverse student body, the court abrogates individuals' constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the laws set forth in the 14th amendment. The court is sworn to uphold our Constitution, not school admission policies. Flip-flopping on her prior inclination to reject racial preferences, O'Connor increases her own power by making the law woefully unpredictable and therefore subject to continual court scrutiny.

Why is it so difficult to adhere to our fundamental goal of equality before the law? It is an indisputable historical fact that it was once enshrined in law that certain of our forebears counted as only three-fifths of a person.

Now, with the help of the powerful "O'Connor Court," in some circumstances, certain of our contemporaries can count as six-fifths. As some members of the court's majority already agree, such inequities cannot last forever.

Michael G. Palcic
Honolulu

Prostitutes give Waikiki a bad image

The police should crack down on the number of prostitutes in Waikiki, whether it's under the light post, in dark corners, or just along the side streets, prostitution is taking place where thousands of people call home. Thousands of tourists also are exposed to this kind of behavior, which is not a good advertisement for "paradise." The Waikiki streets need to be clean once again.

If the police know that the women are there, why won't they take further action?

Young girls, not even age 21, are selling their bodies.

Police should clear the streets of loiterers and try their best to stop this kind of behavior. When they begin to crack down on prostitution, it will be at least one step closer to make Hawaii the paradise we advertise it to be.

Kaleilani Grant
Waikiki employee and Hawaii Business College student

Long-term care tax didn't add up

Benjamin Disraeli once said that lies come in three forms: lies, damn lies and statistics. Bruce McCullough's July 7 letter defending the long-term care proposal (and thus his position as a temporary trustee of this program) appears to cover most of those categories:

1) His letter said: "The benefits from this plan are for 365 days, not one year" as stated by Governor Lingle.

Her bad. No doubt Linda Lingle will be issuing a public apology for so egregiously mis- leading us about the length of insufficient benefits in return for a lifetime of taxes.

2) His letter said: "The fund could not be raided."

Unlike, say, the raided hurricane fund or the raided rainy day fund? All the Democrats in the Legislature have to do to raid any fund is to pass a bill revising existing law.

3) His letter said: The plan's flat monthly tax "was deemed affordable, easy to administer and actuarially sound."

Umm, he left out "fair." If the federal government used this regressive criteria in setting tax rates, a fry cook earning minimum wage and Bill Gates would both pay the same dollar amount in taxes.

The Democrats who support this misguided long-term care proposal would have us believe that they're looking out for the little guy, but McCullough's letter makes it clear that they're actually looking for the little guy's wallet.

Jim Henshaw
Kailua