Take Ellison's spirit to stars and beyond

Ellison Onizuka's legacy and example to humankind, and especially to Hawaii's high school and University of Hawaii science students via numerous educational space programs and scholarships, are indeed priceless (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 26).

The NASA space program's International Space Station's ongoing intensive engineering research and observation of the Earth's resources and climate (including global warming data) also are priceless. We need Ellison's spirit of aloha as humankind ventures into our solar system and "beyond the infinite."

Per ardua ad astra! (Together to the stars!)

Cameras don't make intersections safer

Someone wrote in support of red light cameras (Letters, Star-Bulletin, Jan. 26). Unfortunately, red light cameras make a bad situation worse. A recent extensive study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation and conducted by the Urban Transit Institute shows that installing red light cameras causes more accidents at intersections.

After analyzing 17,271 crashes at 303 intersections for five years, including two years before the cameras were introduced, the study found that, "The results do not support the view that red light cameras reduce crashes. Instead, we find that red light cameras are associated with higher levels of many types and severity categories of crashes."

The study can be found at http://www.ncat.edu/~traninst/Research.html

Dangerous intersections can generally be fixed by using simple engineering solutions such as lengthening the yellow light time or adding metal backers to traffic lights for improved visibility. A red light camera-enforced location in Virginia saw a 94 percent drop in citations from 52.1 per day to less than 1 per day by increasing the yellow time by 1.5 seconds from 4 seconds to 5.5.

Ticket cameras do not stop dangerous drivers, nor do they fix problematic intersections. They simply create a profit source.

KHON's new owner had better wise up

Recent stories in your paper regarding anchorman Joe Moore of KHON TV's comments about new owner Montecito Broadcast Group require comment. I have for the past 10 years while on vacation in January always enjoyed Moore's straightforward and honest opinions expressed on his six o'clock newscast. He is only trying to protect his employees from losing their employment. Any organization that decides to cut its employee budget by 35 percent will lose in the long run. Right now I believe KHON's rating are near the top. Why, then, would any top brass want to destroy that?

George Lilly, Montecito's president and chief executive officer who lives in California, obviously has no feel for the Hawaii market. Perhaps he should think again. When other stations have taken this route their ratings dropped and they lost valuable advertising over it.

Mr. Moore, please continue speaking out, and just maybe the Montecito Group will get the message.

Businesses crowd Waikiki sidewalks, too

Oh, the hypocrisy that is demonstrated by our government officials. They tell us that street performers are blocking the sidewalk and creating pedestrian safety problems, and yet they have allowed the Cheesecake Factory to extend its business onto the sidewalk area so far that at peak times, when customers are waiting, access to the sidewalk is minimal, and I have found it necessary to walk onto the street to get past the mass of people.

When it comes to blocking the sidewalks, apparently anything goes when the City and County of Honolulu sees tax revenues to be gained. What business will be next to steal our sidewalk area?

President has a way with prepositions

At the risk of being accused of parsing prepositions, I would like to ask a question: When President Bush insists that he is conducting his program of domestic spying "under the law," what is the difference between that and "above the law"? Both terms seem to me to be "outside the law" rather than "within the law."