President did not halt stem-cell research
Your
July 20 editorial, "Stem-cell research must await new president," prolongs the myth. Stem-cell research moves ahead, awaiting nothing. President Bush merely vetoed expanded taxpayer funding, as well he should have. There is nothing in the Constitution about federal funding of medical research.
Just as private enterprise recently sent man into space and is commencing space tourism, private funding will happily fund stem-cell research. This is what made America great.
Considering the usual bungling, mandates, waste and bureaucratic bloat, the last thing we need is more federal funding of anything!
John Corboy
Mililani
Was tailgating a factor in Farrington wreck?
Reading the account of the July 2003 accident on Farrington Highway (Star-Bulletin July
23-
24) reminded of one factor that disturbed me at the time and disturbs me yet.
A comment accompanying the diagram of the accident in the July 23 issue states, "A white Mustang hit the rear of the Dodge truck, causing the truck to veer into the Waianae-bound lanes of H-1, colliding with three of five HPD motorcycles."
Another sentence on the same page says, "Although tire marks indicated one of the drivers was speeding, the city Prosecutor's Office opted not to pursue charges of negligent homicide."
One of the first things I learned when I started to learn to drive was that if you rear-ended another vehicle, it was ipso facto evidence that you were driving too fast. Even if you accidentally, under the stress of the situation, hit the accelerator instead of the brake, it was no excuse; had you given enough distance between your vehicle and the preceding vehicle, you should have had time to correct for even this unfortunate error.
In view of the foregoing, and the fact that tailgating is generally considered to be one of the more flagrant violations of safe driving practices in Hawaii, I would be interested to know the basis for the prosecutor's decision.
Louis H. Trigg
Pearl City
New hospital would enhance Maui living
My husband and I desperately want to be able to grow old in a healthy manner on Maui. We love the land and the people of Maui but are terrified when we hear horror stories of misdiagnosed illnesses and outdated treatments offered here due to our antiquated health care facility. We lived in a mainland area where a hospital was allowed to provide the public with a less-than-stellar level of care, and to have a monopoly on services. The certificate of need for a new hospital was approved and the competition spurred the old hospital to raise its standards.
If Maui wants to continue to bring in tax money from its residents and tourists, it will have to keep them healthy. To attract high-quality physicians and technicians to the island and retain those individuals, it will have to use state-of-the-art equipment in clean, modern facilities with well-trained support staff.
Please continue the process to bring Maui up to date in providing medical services to the greatest number of people in multiple locations. Make the hospitals accountable to the public for providing high-quality care through competition between the facilities.
Sheryl Eddy
Kihei, Maui
Too many laws ruin local fishing culture
When the hippies took our opihi and sold the shells to make money, laws were made after they left to tell us what opihi we can pick. The fishing boats hauled in turtles with their turtle nets to sell the backs to make money to the point where the turtle became an endangered species. After they made all their money, they left and a law was made telling us that we cannot catch turtles anymore. Note that we were gathering for food.
There are windsurf, kitesurf and every other kind of surf boards out there scaring all the fishes away but they blame our nets, and now they are trying to make it so that we have to go and register all our nets with the Department of Land and Natural Resources. On top of all that, proposals are being made by the DLNR disallowing long-net fishing around the island of Maui.
It's like Martha Stewart having to wear a monitor and the drug dealers around the Lahaina banyan tree being told not to do it anymore around Lahaina Town and Front Street, but they don't have to wear monitors. We have to go and register our nets? This is our island home. This doesn't belong to the transplanted surfers from all over the world. Why not register all their surfboards too? Don't forget who took what from whom!
Henry P. Kahula Jr.
Paia, Maui
More radio coverage needed during storms
After hearing one of the more popular local radio stations tell us listeners to be sure to have extra batteries and a radio close by as we prepare for the arrival of Tropical Storm Daniel, I ask all of our local radio and TV stations to also be prepared to provide us 24-hour coverage (during this or any other storm) and not the normal 5 a.m.-10 p.m. as has been the case in years past when bad weather strikes. Also, I would encourage our Civil Defense folks to re-emphasize to everyone when to stay off the roads. Invariably people will continue to be out during the storm and unless public announcements are by Civil Defense.
John Toillion
Mililani
Keep it cool by starting school year later
The
July 23 article "Schools will try to beat isle heat" contains the following incongruous sentences:
» "Beginning this year, all public schools will open by the end of July, on a single calendar designed to make school operations more efficient and to boost learning."
» "The new school calendar, which starts July 27, will put Hawaii's public school students in class for the hottest months of the year, with little relief in sight."
» "People become tired when it's 90 degrees and on up."
Department of Education officials in the story bemoan the fact that they don't get enough money for air-conditioning. Here's a free and simple solution: Start the school year in September, end by June 1. That way, everyone can enjoy summer and will be refreshed when they return to school.
Laura Brown
Education researcher
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii