Revamp driving qualifications

Recent tragic traffic events regarding roadside responders is truly saddening. Proposing new legislation to instruct drivers to slow down or move into the next lane is a good idea, but many drivers are not properly trained. The antiquated driver’s license test and teaching techniques apparently don’t produce better drivers.

I constantly see drivers who pass stopped school buses in both directions, tailgate on a regular basis, cross the center line, race through intersections, speed and drive recklessly with impunity, are discourteous, and fail to use turn signals. Good drivers who do slow down during unsafe conditions are often tailgated by unsafe drivers who race through construction areas and by roadside emergency vehicles. Many motorists have no concept of how long and far it takes to stop their vehicle.

We need a comprehensive program of revamped qualifications and aggressive media showing what unsafe driving practices are.

Hawaii does not need gambling

Several letter writers have recently urged Hawaii to legalize gambling. I have a suggestion for them: Move to Nevada.

Hawaii’s tourism industry does not need this blight. Visit Ala Moana Park, Kailua or Hanauma Bay on any Sunday to remind yourselves of what makes Hawaii unique and such a tourist mecca.

If paying taxes bothers these gambling advocates, Nevada’s gambling-dependent government will welcome them with open arms. There they can live off the suffering of chronic gamblers — the ones that casinos rely on to make their profits.

Studies have shown that the poor and middle class make up a disproportionate share of the gambling population. Consequently, Nevada is also blessed with some the highest dropout, suicide and teenage pregnancy rates in the nation.

I’d suggest these gambling advocates visit Reno’s seedy downtown and ask themselves if this is their idea of paradise.

Rail will sink like TheBoat

How many people in the Kapolei and Ewa areas remember TheBoat, which commuted from Ewa to the Aloha Tower?

How many people rode TheBoat to work?

I believe the fare was subsidized by the city. TheBoat is gone for two reasons: Lack of ridership and lack of maintenance.

If people did not ride TheBoat, what makes the train advocates think they will ride the train? And if the city could not maintain TheBoat, how in the world do they think they can pay to maintain the train?

Express buses should be tried, and if those don’t work, you can always sell them. You can’t sell a train and all its infrastructure.

Molokai wants say in protocols

We continue to support the status quo for the way we do business in America. This status quo uses the same business strategies for Hawaii, an island state, as they do on the continent.

Our economy is down the toilet because of such practices, but big business and politicians keep trying to justify the status quo, and when it doesn’t work they blame President Barack Obama.

This web of deception has taken years to weave. It will take the people of America, united and strong, to build this nation to what it was before — this time, with less greed and more pride in what we do together as a people.

In the meantime, we continue to teach our children on Molokai to respect the land and the ocean, and to preserve and protect our natural resources that will still be here for their children.

That is why we demand to set the protocols for doing business on Molokai.

That is why we protest.

Waikiki Beach too commercial

We have been coming to Hawaii for a number of years and have noticed a lot of changes.

The most recent and dramatic one is the number of lounge chairs and umbrellas that have overtaken Waikiki beach.

It appears that almost every hotel that is fronting the beach has claimed a portion of the beach via their chairs and umbrellas.

We are also amazed by the amount of beach area that the beach services, surfboards and such, are allowed to occupy. Have they expanded as well?

All of this may very well be legal and they are allowed to do this, but it is annoying that one cannot sit and enjoy the ocean and beach from any spot on the beach. I guess one can probably rent a chair, but that is not the point.

The beach is public and free, is it not?