Adjust rules for road safety

I’m deeply saddened by the death of the Honolulu police officer this weekend, and feel that the fault is largely due to the lack of up-to-date road rules.

I grew up in San Jose, Calif., which is about the same size and population as Oahu. Road rules there don’t allow someone to pull over to the left side of the freeway, ever. If you have car trouble or an accident, you are expected to pull to the right into the shoulder. If an emergency vehicle is approaching, you pull to the right, not to the left. This is for the safety of all.

Semis and big rigs are never allowed in the fast lane to protect the road wear and, again, for the safety of all.

Motorcycle officers are not on the road after dark.

With a few minor adjustments to our laws, we could save precious lives.

Sharon Morrison
Ewa Beach

Casinos linked to spouse abuse

The headline, "Survey shows support for casino" (Star-Advertiser, Jan. 20), is misleading.

As the story explains, 54 percent of those surveyed think that gambling would have an overall negative effect. They are right. A casino would stimulate compulsive gambling and all of the financial problems that go along with it.

I believe that everyone has the right to impoverish themselves if they want to, but many potential compulsive gamblers are married and have young children. Their spouses and children would be affected because compulsive gamblers exhibit high rates of spouse abuse and child abuse. For example, after the introduction of casinos on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast in 1992, requests for assistance from domestic violence shelters doubled in 1995.

The level of domestic violence in Hawaii is already too high. A casino would only make it worse.

John Kawamoto
Honolulu

Dryland valley should be saved

Kimo Franklin’s article about Kamilonui Valley is right on target ("Cemetery would not be highest and best use of Kamilonui Valley," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Jan. 23).

I was just thinking about the beautiful groves of native wiliwili trees there, hoping we can keep that place natural instead of letting the rest get plowed over, too.

They already chopped off the side of the cliff when they built the new houses. Let us save one of the last remaining dryland forest habitats left on Oahu, which incidentally connects to the Kaiwi Coast on the other side of the mountain, where we have already started to save what is still left of our native environment in the area. Affording some of the best views around, the valley and its mountains are a secret gem that we must no longer allow to be a secret if we are to save it.

Joey Watts
Hilo

HECO should boost efficiency

Kudos to reader James Fernandez on his letter about Hawaiian Electric Co. ads ("HECO ads insulting and waste of money," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 23).

He got it exactly right. They are infuriating. Instead of telling us how to save while they raise their rates, why don’t they tell us how they are going to save on their cost of generation so that they can pass on the savings to us?

All this talk about alternate ways to generate but no results. It’s enough to drive you to solar.

Paul Tyksinski
Kailua

Rail won’t work without UH stop

Under normal circumstances, I would never vote for Ben Cayetano. However, his stance on the rail is enough for me to reconsider. If you’ve sat in stop-and-go traffic from Central and West Oahu, you know like I do that the only time there ever seems to be any decrease in town-bound traffic is when the University of Hawaii is not in session. Therefore, it is the students who need to be encouraged to utilize rail, but a route that does not reach UH will not do that. This project will not have the desired effect on traffic everyone is hoping for.

I was once a supporter of rail, but a route that does not include UH will end up being a giant waste of taxpayer dollars in the long run. The only individuals who stand to benefit from this project will be all the union workers building it at our expense.

Philip White
Mililani

Voters showed they want rail

I’ve been reading about Ben Cayetano’s mayoral bid with much confoundment and outrage.

How many times do Oahu residents have to tell the politicians we want the rail? Didn’t they vote on it? Why is Cayetano so intent on going against the people’s will? Cayetano is retired, lives on Hawaii Loa Ridge and doesn’t need to commute. But there are thousands of young families from Kapolei, Waikele, Mililani, Ewa and Pearl City, spending hours and hours on our ridiculously clogged, three-lane freeway, hoping for the rail to appear someday. We are the silent majority and we’ve already spoken with our votes. We want the rail now.

Mr. Cayetano, please do not go against our wishes. Don’t be so narrow and indulge only the select few’s interests. A vast majority of us, young and hard-working, needs the rail desperately.

Thomas Kim
Mililani

Rail will help Leeward folks

Please let the rail transit project roll on its track. More buses will create create more traffic.

If the Leeward side had three highways to go to work and go home each day, like the Windward side, the Leeward side wouldn’t need rail.

Come on, Windward and East side people — help the Leeward side ease traffic by having the rail built.

We say we live in the Aloha State. Let’s show our aloha to our fellow citizens on the Leeward side of Oahu. Leeward needs the rail now.

Sonny Pasion
Pearl City

Profits trump sound planning

All I can say is, auwe.

First, the state Department of Agriculture comes out in support of a Mililani-sized development on Aloun Farms and has the gall to say that agriculture in Hawaii won’t be negatively affected by the loss of some of the most productive agricultural land in the state.

Then the Department of Transportation chimes in with its approval, saying that adding an extra lane from Kunia Road to the H-1/H-2 bottleneck is good enough for them, when common sense tells you that you will only make the gridlock worse at the merge, as will adding 25,000 cars a day to the H-1.

Can any rational person come to any other conclusion than that the corporate interests and the political hacks who support them will do whatever it takes to get what they want with zero regard for sound land use planning?

It seems that corporate profits will always trump the common good.

Jack Arnest
Kaimuki