From the Forum

Online readers are able to respond immediately to Star-Bulletin stories through our Web forum, which can be accessed at the end of stories, editorials and columns at starbulletin.com. Below is a selection of forum comments that appeared last week. Most forum contributors use pseudonyms; their “;names”; have been omitted here.

”;HPD's war on noise is alive and well,”; Star-Bulletin, March 16: Wish they could come into Ala Moana shopping center ... idiots come racing in with their radios at the max in their Hondas and alarms go off and senior citizens kind of cover their ears. These idiots have no respect ... thank you.

Motorcyclists gather at Moanalua Gardens park nearly every weekend. I can guarantee you that HPD would be able to issue at least 100 citations just cruising this park on Sunday. Doesn't take more than 5 minutes to drive by and scope the scene. But it keeps happening week after week. Some of these bozos will blatantly block the intersection (against the traffic light) to allow the other bikers to leave the park at once in one large pack. And, yes, I have filed complaints with HPD.

Hawaii is one of only six states with no regulation of off-road vehicles (ORV)s. ORVs include ATVs and dirt bikes.

Rural areas are increasingly exposed to noise from these vehicles. Irresponsible use of ORVs on public and private property, with no regard to the environment, has resulted in a marked deterioration in the quality of life for those living in rural communities. Since there are no exhaust standards, riders may use any sort of muffler they choose. Sound from a single vehicle can travel over one mile. It's time to address ORV use in Hawaii.

Heard 13 loud scooters blow past my house in the last hour. That's more than the total number of citations given last year!

Then get out there and complain to the police chief and the mayor. That would be a lot more productive than putting down the officers here on a public forum. The officers have a hard enough and thankless job, so why give them such a hard time?

”;Superferry suspended/Operations are halted after Hawaii's Supreme Court says that environmental laws were circumvented,”; Star-Bulletin, March 17: Looks like our governor is going to cost taxpayers millions of dollars in wasted expense and future litigation by Superferry. If she had done it right from the start, we would have an alternative to air travel. Now we are stuck with a multimillion-dollar boondogle.

I live in southern China and there must be hundreds of ferries zipping back and forth between Macau, Hong Kong and cities in Guangdong Province. These are only an option in addition to trains, planes and automobiles. Is there any wonder why easy, affordable and fast transportation infrastructure helps a place grow economically? I'm not saying Hawaii should emulate that, but shooting yourself in the foot in these trying times is yet another reason why Hawaii will always only be “;a nice place to visit”; with nothing much else going on for it. Oh yeah ... you get the Pro Bowl back. Yippee ...

Hawaii is going down the drain, pushed there by local ultranationalists, radical environmentalists and the extremist Supreme Court of Hawaii. Hawaii hotels are near empty, tourists swim right where homeless relieve themselves, parks are taken over by vagrants, entire tourism-related industries are pushed into bankruptcy. Remember ATA? Remember Aloha Airlines? Remember Superferry?

You cannot make a law for one class of individual or group. Lingle knows she was wrong. She forced it down the throats of the legislators and now they all look foolish. State is liable for all court cost and fees. That is going to be helpful in a bad economy. Democracy is difficult and rules are hard to follow but that is our system ... The state Supreme Court is just keeping everybody straight and that is a good thing.

”;Bill to ban drivers' phone use advances,”; Star-Bulletin, March 19: Please no more cell phones while driving! I am sick and tired of being nearly killed each day and/or watching near fatal accidents on the highways - while some numbnut driving a car is holding a cell phone to his left ear blinding his vision and totally engrossed in some mindless conversation.

And now that you're banning the 9th and 10th leading cause of “;minor accidents”; let's ban the top 3, no more kids in cars, no more food in cars, and no more reading or putting on make-up in cars.

”;Officer heard Nofoa's threat to shoot girlfriend 'in the head',”; Star-Bulletin, March 19: I think lawmakers had better step up an make it a priority for law enforcement to take serious action about domestic incidents. I am appalled that an officer hears a direct threat made to kill the deceased and apparently not enough was done to get this guy off of the street. What poor response and coordination on the part of law enforcement.

It seems the police didn't have too much trouble finding him after the shooting but couldn't locate him before the shooting. Makes one wonder how hard they were really looking prior to the shooting. I realize the police have other things to do but clearly this guy had already violated enough laws to make him a priority.