Ineffective drug program should be cut

Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa says he is looking for savings in his department budget and is considering cutting Drug Abuse Resistance Education (Star-Bulletin, Sept. 1). May we help him in making this important decision? DARE should be cut.

The federal General Accounting Office reported in 2003 that in the 20 years since DARE began, the program has shown no significant effect on students' use of drugs. In 2001 the U.S. surgeon general placed DARE under the category of "Ineffective Programs," and the National Academy of Sciences has also called DARE "ineffective."

Hawaii must spend our scarce resources on drug education programs that actually work, not on those that are popular.

Oil rights based on residence, not race

I couldn't help but laugh when I read Zenko Paul Sakomizu's Sept. 11 letter, "Hawaiians should collect tax on water."

Mr. Sakomizu fails to realize that in Alaska as well as the Aleutian Islands, it is the local residents -- regardless of race, nationality, sex or age -- who get royalties from oil. Not just the Eskimos. Hawaii is still a state in the United States of America, and taxing people based on their race or national origin is discrimination.

The last thing this state needs is another social program or more taxes. How about fewer handouts, fewer social programs, fewer welfare programs, fewer taxes and instead improve the quality of our education, given incentives to start small businesses and then watch our state flourish?

Independent probe needed for Katrina

The president has stated that he will conduct a fact-finding mission as to what went wrong after Hurricane Katrina. An investigation into his conduct is just as important as the conduct of all the other people and institutions who dropped the ball right after the hurricane. The blame game seems to be this administration's way of proving it has always chosen the "right" action, which has almost always been the wrong thing to do.

Someone has to be accountable for the failures after the hurricane, and it should start from the top down. The investigation must be independent from this administration's politicians and have its own investigators, budget and subpoena authority.

Remember gas prices on Election Day

Democratic leaders promised lower gasoline prices with their touted "gas cap." They attacked those who argued against it and successfully used it as a weapon to remove five GOP representatives from the state House. Now we have the cap and gas prices are climbing like crazy.

On Election Day will the voters of Hawaii remember or will the Democrats once again get away with it?

Police might have good reason to run lights

I read with interest a letter to the editor on Sept. 13 complaining about a police officer who used his emergency equipment to pass through an intersection without waiting at a red light. I have been a police officer in Chicago for many years and a frequent visitor to Honolulu.

At work, if it is safe to do so, frequently I pass through red lights to get to a service call quicker. If I stop at five or so red lights, it will take five to 10 minutes longer to serve the citizen. Not all calls require responding with emergency equipment activated, but all calls deserve quick response as safely as possible.

I realize that citizens sitting at a red light who see a police car run the light might get angry. However, next time, try to remember -- he most likely is doing it to provide someone with quicker service, so they won't have to keep looking at their watch, wondering where that cop is they called 10 minutes ago.

Give the cop a break. His is a job few want. He (or she) is serving you because he wants to, not because he has to. He is serving you wikiwiki and with aloha.

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