Little library has big role

Tourism's down, revenues are plunging; it's rumored the Department of Education will soon start making cuts in the state library system.

Yet libraries become more, not less, important during a depression. They're the only free source of information and entertainment. For many, they're the only way to connect, via Internet, with the rest of the world.

It's bad if any public library closes, but it would be a tragedy if Oahu's smallest library, Waialua, were to close. It's received several awards for excellence. Its many outreach programs enrich life for the whole North Shore community. It serves the largest area of any library on Oahu.

Honolulu residents can drive in minutes to one of 10 or so libraries in the urban area, but if Waialua closed, it would take local residents a full half-hour to reach a library. When gas prices rise again, as they surely will, this will be prohibitive.

Cuts might have to be made, but on behalf of all local residents I beg you, please, please spare Waialua library!

As with ethnicity, so goes religion in Hawaii

Mahalo to Mary Adamski for the interesting and enlightening look at religious numbers in Hawaii nei (”;Hawaii's religious landscape,”; Star-Bulletin, March 7). Here's another way to look at the Pew Forum survey results.

Our islands are just as mixed up from a religion standpoint as we are ethnically.

If you put 200 Hawaii residents in one room, you could expect that 52 of them would be evangelical Protestants from an undetermined number of different denominations. Another 36 would be “;mainline”; Protestants, whatever that is, making Protestants the largest group in Hawaii, but still not in a majority.

Forty-four would be Roman Catholic; 12 would be Buddhist; 10 would be Mormon; four would be Jehovah's Witnesses; two would be Hindu; one would be Jewish and one would be Muslim. There would be one Orthodox Christian, one Historically Black Protestant, whatever that is, and 21 others would represent a variety of other religious groups or be unaffiliated with any specific religion.

So, just like our ethnic mix, no one group is in a majority in Hawaii nei.

Taking rail funds would be unfair to voters

In regard to Senate Bill 1626, now before the Legislature, that proposes to use Honolulu's rail transit money to balance this year's state budget:

Rail is a quality-of-life issue for our island and should be allowed to proceed now that Oahu voters approved it. We are the ones who decided in favor of rail and we are the ones who are paying for it. It would be unfair for the Legislature to take that money away from Honolulu and spend it on state projects.

If rail is compromised or delayed, the biggest losers are the residents of the Leeward Coast. They get up a four in the morning and commute into town for an hour and a half, then do it again to get home after dark. It is unreasonable to jeopardize rail and the future well-being of West Oahu and all island residents by diverting rail money to balance the state budget.

To increase revenue, overtax all the hacks

Here is a cheap plan to increase tax revenues for the government, both federal and state. A new 95 percent tax rate on all the political hacks, their campaign contributions, their salaries, their kickbacks and bribes from the special interest groups — and we should tax the pork, too. Maybe we could give the political hacks a break on their stiff tax rate, but only if they can prove that they are saving money for the taxpayers, rather than wasting the money. I firmly believe that most political hacks lack the common sense displayed by their speechwriters.

Scammers make big bucks on safety checks

There is a major problem in Hawaii concerning safety checks on motor vehicles.

I cannot mention names, but have witnessed on many occasions motor vehicles getting through safety inspections that shouldn't.

Everyone seems to know a mechanic who will pass their vehicle if a speedometer cable doesn't work, if the muffler is loud or even if the high beams don't work. I know someone whose mechanic delivers to their home the safety inspection sticker without ever checking the car.

Mechanics are endangering our lives by trying to give friends a break. Who knows how many accidents could be prevented if there were stricter laws on issuing safety inspection stickers?

The whole safety inspection deal is just another scam for the almighty buck.

Don't take vehicle mandates for granted

In his letter to the editor (Star-Bulletin, March 12) regarding a road tax tied to odometers, Jim Harwood makes the statement that “;every jurisdiction in the country mandates periodic safety and/or emissions checks for vehicles.”;

In South Carolina we have neither. Our governor, Mark Sanford, believes in states' rights, not federal mandates.

People behave only if there's punishment

The article “;Speeding violations stir police concerns”; (Star-Bulletin, March 11) mentioned that people are not hearing the message from the police. Indeed, punishment is the only way make people behave themselves. The rate of fatalities is gradually getting higher and higher. What is the reason for this? Speeding violations, driving under the influence, text messaging or talking on the phone while driving have caused fatalities to increase. License suspension for 30 days should be imposed, rather than just issuing a ticket. Then the violator would feel the pain of inconvenience and always remember to slow down while driving.

Sometimes money isn't the only way to solve the punishment. People behave themselves only when a heavy punishment might be imposed.