Moving crosswalks can reduce jaywalking

While my husband and I were out running errands, we purposely checked to see if any jaywalkers were being ticketed or if anyone was being ticketed for not stopping on their side of a crosswalk while a pedestrian was crossing. No one was enforcing the law. That's a difficult task without having someone at each crosswalk.

There are still people who don't come to a complete stop or stop at stop signs, and there are more people running red lights, oblivious to anything else but their cigarettes and cell phones.

So here's a suggestion that I hope will be taken to heart. While the state transit director is working on solving our traffic woes, perhaps he can also reposition crosswalks in front of bus stops, in front of schools, in front of senior centers and in front of churches. That way, most people won't have an excuse for jaywalking and perhaps we'll lose fewer lives.

Police shouldn't try to cheat the system

I am writing this letter in response to an event I just witnessed. A police officer in a squad car was leaving Fort Street Mall turning left onto Beretania Avenue. Because of traffic, he had to wait until the Fort Street light turned green. Once it turned green, he inched out of the driveway and turned on his lights so he could cross without having to wait for the pedestrians to pass halfway. After his squad car cleared the crosswalk, he turned off his lights and continued down the road in the far left lane.

It appeared that he used his police lights to beat the pedestrians and oncoming traffic. This is abuse of his status as a police officer. He should be setting the example and obeying the law. I was disappointed to see such an incident when so many other drivers have been ticketed for doing the exact same thing.

What is the law enforcement on this island coming to?

Law should prohibit truck's gory ads

A visit to the mainland quickly shows the wisdom of Hawaii's "no billboards" law. It's aggravating to see the lengths that some dumb people have gone to get around this smart law.

The worst is the truck that drives around town with huge photographs of unborn aborted fetuses on its sides. It's absolutely disgusting and is about as low of taste as it gets. Just imagine having to explain to your youngster what that is that they are seeing, or it being a dreadful reminder for an unfortunate woman who had to go through this.

It's senseless and shameless. How do they get away with it?

It's clear the gas cap is not working

The gas cap was a bad idea. Tying our prices to places outside Hawaii makes no sense, especially to the Gulf Coast, which historically is affected by storms that cause their prices to spike. Supporters say we should wait and see how the cap will affect prices. Right now all I can see is the 71-cent increase since Sept.1 due to this ridiculous so-called cap. Economist predicted this would not work.

The Legislature's stupidity is raising the cost of living in Hawaii. Let's vote them all out next year and start over.

Democratic officials failed Louisiana

Roger Yu's Sept. 7 letter blaming the Bush administration for the Katrina aftermath is hilarious. He "wonders how things would be different if socially conscious Democrats had been at the helm." I would like to inform Mr. Yu that the mayor and governor of Louisiana are both socially conscious Democrats. That's right, the Democratic governor and Democratic mayor neglected the poor, neglected the African Americans and neglected the average New Orleans resident.

The Bush administration cannot be blamed for the shortcomings of state and local governments. To attempt to place blame on the president shows a lack of understanding about the governmental chain of command and a lack of common sense.

We should await the forthcoming investigation before placing blame. President Bush is anxious to investigate this incident, and I am confident that the socially conscious Democrats are not free from fault.

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