Kids need advice on crossing roundabout

This is a heads up for all parents whose young children walk in Foster Village en route to school. (Children from both the village and Aliamanu Military Reservation are affected.) There is now a roundabout near the entrance to the village -- at Haloa and Ala Oli streets. As a result, the crosswalks are all changed. One is now located very close to a stop sign, which means it is very close to cars. The other is close to a busy bus stop.

To these hazards, add drivers' unfamiliarity with the roundabout. One car has already hit another while negotiating the circle.

Children need to be extra careful while crossing.

Please come and see the new roundabout for yourselves. Then you will be in the best position to instruct your keiki.

Finally, be sure to warn your keiki not to ever cross through the roundabout!

Nimitz wasn't meant for use as sidewalk

There's been an oversight in the construction taking place on Nimitz Highway. The sidewalk on Nimitz between Nuuanu Avenue and Smith Street has been neglected, and pedestrians still must walk in the street in order to pass. The sidewalk has had barriers around it for about one year. Each week, I keep thinking someone must be coming this week in order to repair it, but another week passes and then another and then another, and the sidewalk still is the same.

It is creating a safety issue. People in wheelchairs can't pass on the sidewalk; people pushing baby carriages must push them in the street. Pedestrians have to use Nimitz Highway as a sidewalk. Nimitz is very busy, and someone is going to get hurt. At whose expense?

State should allow use of hold-open gas latch

Concerning the "Kokua Line" article (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 2) about gasoline dispensers on Oahu not having the hold-open latches that are common in many other states: The official from the Honolulu Fire Department was misleading in stating that the fire code prohibits hold-open devices. In fact, the prevailing fire code in Honolulu, known as the Uniform Fire Code, does not prohibit hold-open latches on self-service gasoline dispensers. The Uniform Fire Code is a nationally recognized standard published by the International Conference of Building Officials and the Western Fire Chiefs Association, and is adopted for use in many jurisdictions throughout the country. Section 79.903 permits the use of nozzles "with or without a latch-open device."

For some reason, local officials feel that Hawaii residents are not capable of safely handling nozzles with hold-open latches, so they rewrote that section of the code locally to prohibit them in Honolulu. Anyone who drives on the mainland is aware that nozzles with hold-open latches are quite common at self-service gas stations in other states. This is another example of our "big brother" government that feels Hawaii needs to have more stringent regulations than do people in other states.

Stealing of native land is bound to continue

Only through the revival of the government of the Hawaiian kingdom will Kamehameha Schools and Hawaiians be safe from vicious attacks.

Since the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom, Kamehameha Schools and Hawaiians have had thousands of acres of Hawaiian national lands stolen. The stealing of our national lands will not stop. There will always be those who want what does not belong to them. They will not stop until everything belongs to them, and Hawaiians are strangers in our lands.

Who needs forgiveness, and for what offense?

I read the article this morning about "Forgiveness Day" and am confused as to who is to be forgiving whom. As a Christian, I forgive Japan for what it did at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, but if this day is for the United States to apologize and ask for forgiveness for ending the war with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I may have an issue with that. I feel that the war had to end -- period!

Turn Clay's school into athletic showplace

It was wonderful to read of Bryan Clay's triumph in the decathlon at the world track and field championships. Now that he has become a true world champion, we should honor him with a renovation and dedication of the athletic facilities at his alma mater, Castle High School.

To the legislators who represent the Windward side of Oahu: Don't just renovate the bleachers -- resurface the track and field, renovate all the decathlon facilities at Castle, then dedicate and rename the stadium the Bryan Clay Athletic Complex. Or, shall we wait until Bryan wins the gold medal at the next Olympics?

Only 1 more year until football gets livelier

Luckily, we have only one more year to suffer with KITV's asinine policy of delaying the "Monday Night Football" broadcast. Next year, ESPN will broadcast the game live, moving Hawaii's football fans into the new millennium.

For only one more year will we have to go to a bar or a friend's house with a satellite dish to catch the game live, to deal with "close your eyes time" or trying not to see or hear the score otherwise.

KITV has its reasons for showing the game tape-delayed, and Hawaii's viewers have to deal with it. But to whiners who complain about not being able to watch the game live, I suggest they do what KITV does -- tape it. A videocassette recorder is not too hard to operate.

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Encountering the legend at ABC

I only met him once -- in the elevator after a late-night broadcast for the primaries last January. He was genial, handsome, curious and extremely charming, as well as very intelligent and very genuine, a colleague to his co-workers and never a primadonna or a star who demanded special treatment.

This even an intern could tell by the way he talked with people, his serious manner, his smile and the way he shuffled his notes while on the set and off camera, and from the fond and later, concerned things others said about him around the office.

On the way down to the first floor, he asked what I thought of my internship at ABC and the broadcast that night, and seemed genuinely interested in my answer.

It was one of those conversations that when it is taking place, you know you must and will remember it very vividly, perhaps because you need to tell people what working at ABC was like, what exciting things you did, who you worked with, what you covered, what famous people you met. But although my brief encounter with Peter Jennings did fill me with the same nervousness and awe as would bumping into any celebrity, somehow it was the most "normal" celebrity encounter I have ever had. I could see in that moment how anyone being interviewed -- or simply being casually spoken to -- by Mr. Jennings would feel like he or she was the real celebrity, the real expert, the star. That was his touch.

Though just a very small part of this enormous castle of an office on 66th Street, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the news about "PJ." He was a remarkable man, and his memory lives everywhere at ABC. I had not expected that our unit, (where part of the) job is to prepare for the deaths of notables, would be fashioning a report to remember Mr. Jennings this summer. But I am extremely fortunate and extremely grateful to have had a chance to work in the same office as he did, and to be able to remember him through his interviews, his reports and the dedicated people with whom he worked so closely.

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