[ OUR OPINION ]
Hold your breath,
ears for festivitiesHONOLULU residents will have ample opportunity to celebrate the Fourth of July by watching aerial fireworks displays without engaging in illegal activity or risking personal injury. Unfortunately, although polls show most Hawaii residents want a ban on all fireworks, they will be subjected again to the risk of fire, injury, breathing problems and hearing impairment during an explosive Sunday evening.
THE ISSUE
Public and private displays of fireworks in Hawaii will celebrate the Fourth of July.
Aerial fireworks are banned statewide except in public displays licensed by the county fire departments. Such exhibitions will be conducted at various locations on Oahu. Seven businesses stepped in to rescue the aerial celebration at Kailua Beach Park, which had been financed by the Kailua Chamber of Commerce mostly through member donations that dwindled.
"We are saying this is a tradition that is an important thing to be continued," said Mitch D'Olier of Kaneohe Ranch Co., one of the businesses that saved the Kailua festivities. Many Oahu residents strongly hold their private fireworks displays to be traditionally important, but the loudness and smoke is annoying to many neighbors, and the explosions can be dangerous. People should attend the public displays rather than engage in risky conduct themselves.
The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 9,300 people were taken to hospital emergency rooms last year because of fireworks-related injuries, mostly during the Independence Day period. Most of those injuries came in the Fourth of July period, although more fireworks are exploded on New Year's Eve in Hawaii.
The 1999 New Year's festivities were described by then-Gov. Ben Cayetano as "utter madness," and Cayetano called for a ban on fireworks. The 2000 Legislature enacted a $25 fee for the purchase of a string of 5,000 firecrackers, which has been effective as a strategy for discouraging the use of fireworks. The fee is not excessive, and attempts to repeal it have failed.
People who insist on lighting fireworks should take basic safety measures, such as using only legal fireworks -- M-80s, cherry bombs and quarter sticks are banned federally -- and never trying to relight a dud. Police should be on the lookout for those who use illegal fireworks or aerial pyrotechnics in private displays.
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Incoming pet reforms
hold tourism promiseLIFTING of the state's animal quarantine requirement for qualified pets has been successful in its first year. The new program has a potential for significantly improving Hawaii's tourism by allowing vacationers to bring their dogs or cats with them. The higher numbers of pets entering the state should encourage state tourism officials and travel agencies to spread the word and hoteliers to accommodate their guests' best friends.
THE ISSUE
Reforms that eliminated lengthy quarantines for animals arriving in Hawaii completed their first year of operation.
Rules that since 1912 had required all incoming animals to undergo four months of imprisonment in the state animal quarantine were reduced in 1997 to 30 days of incarceration for pets that underwent rabies vaccinations and met other requirements. The rules were changed a year ago to allow pets to be released within five days if they took measures required of them over a four-month period prior to their arrival. Three-fourths of those were reunited with their families at the airport.
In the past year, a record 6,600 cats and dogs were admitted to the islands, compared with 4,681 in the previous fiscal year, and most of the new arrivals qualified for the quick-release program. Those figures surprised Dr. James Foppoli, the state veterinarian, who had expected only half of the incoming pets would qualify.
"The modernized quarantine rules have made it much more convenient for people to travel to and from the islands with their pets, while still ensuring Hawaii remains rabies-free," says Governor Lingle, whose cockapoo dog Spooky spent four months in quarantine when Lingle moved to Hawaii in 1975.
The new rules may be a consideration for people who otherwise would be hesitant about moving to Hawaii. Many of those whose relocation plans came on short notice have a choice now of leaving their pets with friends or relatives on the mainland for a few months to comply with the quick-release requirements, which include vaccinations, identifying electronic microchips and a blood test. Only 12 percent of animals arriving in the past year had to endure the four-month quarantine.
The rules are consistent with a trend toward using new technology to guard against rabies. Britain, which had a six-month quarantine for incoming animals, relaxed the requirement for pets coming from Europe and extended the rules to North America in December 2002.
