Death of student at surf school
was an accident waiting to happen

On May 20, I watched a man die, and it has been a heartbreaking experience.

It was also an accident waiting to happen. Many of us living on and around the Gold Coast have been trying to prevent just this. We live on a small stretch of beach, mostly seawall, facing Tonngs surf break.

For a while now, a surf school has been conducting lessons from the New Otani Hotel. With minimal safety instruction, and little or no ocean experience, these "students" paddle at least a quarter-mile to Tonngs, try to surf the better part of an hour, and then must paddle the quarter-mile back to the New Otani.

The vast majority of students have no surfing or paddling experience, and many are out of shape. That Friday, the student (I was later told) was celebrating his 60th birthday. I was watching from my fourth-floor lanai, my husband was heading down to the scene. We saw an instructor struggling to bring a student in through the surf, up over the six-foot seawall to the narrow ledge that abuts the condos there.

Emergency crews had been called, but the man was blue, not breathing, from what I was told. Later we went on our way, only to learn about his very sad fate. There has been no mention of this tragedy in the media.

The waters I write about cannot be seen by City and County lifeguards. There is no access or even parking for emergency crews or equipment. There is no way, even standing here watching, that we could have helped. Because of where the surf school instructs, all possibilities for help saving this man were removed once he became part of that class.

That the Department of Land and Natural Resources allows commercial surf schools in a small residential community, where the surf break truly is too far from the necessary support systems, puts the burden equally on their shoulders. Shame on the surf school and Peter Young's DLNR. They had been repeatedly warned of the unsafe conditions. I believe this tragedy should have been avoided, and it warrants a full investigation.

Drivers need to adopt pedestrian awareness

A new traffic safety measure that I was proud to enact into law last month will help protect pedestrians, especially our keiki and kupuna. The law requires drivers to stop -- not just yield or coast -- when a pedestrian is in a crosswalk on the vehicle's half of the road.

Too many drivers get behind the wheel with the mindset that the car has the right of way. Under this new law, every driver will need to be more alert and respectful to pedestrians in marked crosswalks. It will mean changing our driving habits so we are more cautious when approaching crosswalks. It will mean giving pedestrians the right of way by coming to a complete stop when we see someone in a crosswalk.

This change in behavior will not happen overnight. I know this first hand, because shortly after signing the new law, my driver failed to stop for a pedestrian who was in our half of the crosswalk. His action was not intentional, but it did point out how important it is for all of us to be more attentive to pedestrians.

During the next few months, the state Department of Transportation, and partners such as the city Department of Transportation Services and the Honolulu Police Department, will use the "Walk Wise Hawaii" program and public service announcements to help educate drivers about the new law.

The fine for violating the new crosswalk law is $97. That pales in comparison to the suffering and anguish of pedestrians and their families who are injured or killed while crossing the street. I should note I have sent a personal check to the "Walk Wise Hawaii" program for $97 dollars, to assist with public awareness and education of drivers and pedestrians.

I cannot stress enough that all motorists need to show greater respect for pedestrians. We must be patient and courteous, rather than rushing to make the next traffic light or to turn a corner.

By acting responsibly and obeying the law, we can prevent accidents and save lives. And that's far more important than shaving a few seconds off our drive times.

U.S. troops in Iraq are not dying in vain

I am so sick of people saying that our troops are "dying in vain" over there in Iraq. To say that a person has died without purpose and in vain is to say that the person had no value in life or in their cause.

To those who say these troops have died in vain, I ask you this:

If a firefighter dies in a fire and the property burns to the ground, did he die in vain?

If a police officer is killed in the line of duty and his killer goes free, did he die in vain?

If a teacher uses her body to shield an attack from a gun-wielding student but the student she is trying to protect is still murdered, did she die in vain?

An even better question is, did the passengers on board United Airlines Flight 93 die in vain when they tried to stop the terrorists on board their plane?

If so, I challenge any of you anti-war people who claim to "support the troops" to tell the families of dead firefighters, police officers, the families of those who died in the Columbine shootings and the families of the passengers on Flight 93 that their loved ones died in vain. Tell them that. Show the world your so-called compassion and support for others.

If you truly believe that our troops are dying in vain, then you haven't the faintest idea of the true meaning of words like honor, dedication, service, patriotism, loyalty and, most of all, duty.

New committee could investigate Kanno

I was very happy to hear that Sen. Robert Bunda is calling for the creation of a new ethics committee in the Senate. I have always thought that Bunda does a good job as Senate president but was disappointed with how he handled the unethical behavior committed by his colleague Sen. Brian Kanno.

Bunda waited too long to initiate an investigation into whether Kanno had used the power of his office to try to get Leon Rouse's job back at Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Now, with the creation of a new bipartisan committee, I am hopeful that justice will be served and that the public will find out why Kanno risked his once-promising political career to come to the aid of a convicted child molester.

GOP hypocrisy evident at Legislature

Irony writ large at the Legislature, part 217: Recently, Sen. Gordon Trimble was stripped of his position as GOP policy leader for defending the right of the Senate Democrats to call a reorganizational meeting on a moment's notice.

But the meeting in which the Senate Republicans stripped Trimble of his title was exactly the kind of ad hoc reorganizational meeting that Trimble was rebuked for permitting to occur.

Working folk want tape-delayed games

I work a full-time job. I'm an avid basketball fan, yet for some reason (and recently it has been happening a lot) all the televised sports are shown live. I know some sports fans want games shown live, but for us working folks, have some mercy or give us your extra vacation time to I can go home or to a sports bar to have a couple and watch the game.

Have a little heart. And go Heat!

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