Coaching family teaches right priorities

I enjoyed your article on the Nueku family (”;Dad coaches kids to similar sports lives,”; Star-Bulletin, Jan. 4). My two sons have the privilege of playing on basketball teams coached by Brad Nueku. Brad and his family have an admirable commitment to the youth of Hawaii Kai. The Nuekus teach their players first to be a good person with integrity, humility and strong work ethics, and then to be a good player. Thank you for highlighting such a wonderful, dedicated family.

Take a good look at transmission lines

Our state seems to by wired by inefficiency. A second blackout of the Oahu electrical system occurred again, after an incident in 2004. This time it lasted about 18 to 19 hours.

Something tells me this has to do with the transmission line system in the southern corridor serving urban/suburban Honolulu. At that time the improvement to install steel poles (towers) was rejected because the “;greenies”; objected to the sight of poles, and the “;religious”; types objected to the disruption of “;sacred”; grounds along Waahila Ridge.

Lightening will not damage facilities and lightening rods and devices are installed to attract and short the powerful lightening voltage to the ground. Metal poles and towers would attract the flash and ground out the voltage. Salt and maybe sulfur vog could build up over the insulators, this shorting the insulator and enter the equipment. When were the towers/poles and wiring inspected? Have the insulators been washed (in spite of rain)? Like salt, sulfur can form on acid (like acid rain). The lightening bolt jumps over this insulator and damages the equipment.

It was like World War II in the neighborhood

Was it the siege of Leningrad or just another traditional New Year's Eve in Honolulu? Gut-wrenching sulfur stench, blood-curdling noise, eyes burning like coals in their sockets.

Nothing could be better except being hit by a very large asteroid. How divinely merciful that would be!!

Happy New Year.

Motorcyclist shouldn't have tried to get away

Reading the article of the demise of Wayne Medeiros Jr. on his motorcycle has me wondering why didn't he stay where he was when the police had pulled him over. He waited for the policeman to exit the patrol car and then took off. I'm sorry for his family, but the police don't stop you for nothing. Too many people blame the police for their own troubles. If he had just stayed pulled over, he would have been alive today.

No one wants to lose a child. I feel the Medeiros family's pain but this is not the police officer's fault.

Kailua rep is working for his constituents

Do you recall the last time you said something nice about a politician?

On Dec. 31, my state representative sent me a letter. Anticipating the standard updating format, I was pleasantly surprised. I was being apprised that perhaps I qualified for unclaimed property reimbursement.

As it turns out, I do and have initiated the process.

Please note that I do not personally know my representative. What impresses is the fact that my best interest is being looked after simply because I live in his district, not because I voted for him (which my wife and I did).

Significantly, since the unclaimed reimbursements were sent to my Honolulu work address (retired in 2000), an akamai connection was made.

Mahalo, Chris Lee.

Oahu's North Shore needs our protection

For the past 35 years—matching the length of my career as a San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter—I've been coming to the North Shore for surf vacations. As a visitor with emotional ties and high regard for the area's pristine nature, I'd like to express my alarm about the notion of five hotels and some 1,000 condominiums being zoned for the open space between Kahuku Point and Kawela Bay.

I have never been opposed to development, as long as it's done with sensibility and a conscience. The North Shore remains one of Earth's richest treasures, virtually unchanged over the years, and such a proposal would tragically alter the landscape (to say nothing of the traffic heading up from Haleiwa, already a severe burden on locals). Whether the state purchases the land or it is rescued in some other manner, I would urge Oahu residents to support the Defend Oahu Coalition/Keep the Country COUNTRY and all other groups pushing so hard for preservation. Theirs is an essential cause.