Push for clotheslines might be coming down

THE ISSUE The governor plans to veto legislation to allow clotheslines in communities regulated by homeowners associations.

Though Gov. Linda Lingle supports renewable-energy legislation, she's not keen on one of the simplest devices to harness the power of the sun and the wind -- the clothesline.

Lingle has signaled she will veto a bill that would let residents hang towels, T-shirts and socks out to dry for fear of "invalidating" homeowner associations' rules that favor keeping laundry out of sight and fluffing with expensive electricity.

Association representatives say they don't like the idea of boxers or briefs on public display, but the bill would let them restrict where lines can be put up so as not to spoil views.

And according to state administration figures calculated when a barrel of oil cost only $90 -- it was $142 a barrel on Friday -- spending on oil would shrink by $1.7 million a year if just 20,000 Hawaii households pinned clothes to lines half the time.

Clothesline drying is an idea whose time has come again.