We all need money but we don’t all steal

Deputy Public Defender Susan Arnett’s response regarding the Fern Elementary secretary stealing more than $14,000 will not register with most people, I would think.

Her explanation was that the money stolen wasn’t used for luxury items but for basic necessities. How about getting a second job if we need more money? We all need more money.

I guess it’s easier to steal when you know that there will be no jail time. Community service is not justice when people steal from others.

Joe Carini
Nuuanu

City pulling fast one for precast facility

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation did its environmental impact statement for the rail project without considering the environmental impact of any precast facility, even though it realized it would need such a key support facility.

The planned 34-acre, 24 hours-a-day facility will include 20,000 square feet of buildings, an overhead crane system, a concrete batch plant, casting beds, material storage and rebar preparation.And now HART tries to justify its glaring omission of this facility from its EIS by claiming the environmental impacts of a facility that were never considered, and so by definition must be unknown, will not be "significantly different" from the impacts it did consider.

The Federal Transit Authority might buy that shibai, but I don’t.

Lunsford Phillips
Kailua

Freeway blockages prove need for rail

Within one week, two recent incidents on the H-1 freeway have affected Kapolei residents.

» When an asphalt truck overturned on April 2, I was stuck in traffic for two hours.

» Then on April 7, a crash on H-1 at Kualakai closed the freeway again. H-1 and Kapolei streets were in gridlock most of the morning.

People on the west side of the island need an alternative to H-1, which is horrible to drive on normal days, if you’re going to and from Honolulu during so-called peak hours.

Those who oppose the rail project apparently don’t know what it’s like for those of us who live out here. If this area is going to get most of Oahu’s future development, we need rail now so we can get to town and back in minutes, not hours.

Linda Lacaden
Kapolei

President Obama sadly militaristic

President Barack Obama recently made another midnight speech in a foreign capital, a practice that is becoming de rigueur for a sitting American commander-in-chief desperate to salvage domestic support for a protracted but failing occupation. Five years ago George W. Bush made a similar jaunt into Baghdad to address American troops, to reassure them that their mission was also coming to a successful end.

Revealingly, Obama didn’t speak before an Afghan audience. Instead, he delivered what amounted to a chest-thumping campaign speech to American occupation troops. It was a sadly militant diatribe from a Nobel "peace" laureate.

Danny H.C. Li
Keaau, Hawaii

Cellphone ticket tied to old habit

Thank you, Gene Park, for your column regarding cellphones and citations ("Young drivers risk citations and lives with cellphone use," Star-Advertiser, Parkway, May 4).

My wife and I, in our mid-60s, always try to answer phone calls immediately and return calls as soon as possible. Old habits die hard. We recognize the dangers of any distraction, cellphones or otherwise, that may impede a driver’s awareness and control.

We were approaching the red light at McCully and King Street, slowing to a stop, when a long-awaited call came in.I answered to say I would call back as soon as I parked the car, but instead was immediately apprehended and ticketed by a police officer.

It was quite a shock and continues to be.The fine itself will set us back several months.But the law is the law.We simply ask that some mercy could be offered to us old-timers who suffer from the bad habit of responding to phone calls immediately.

Mark Yasuhara
Aiea

City economic office helped Chinatown

The Honolulu Culture & Arts District Association’s mission is the revitalization of Chinatown through culture and the arts.

Over the last four or five years, we have successfully changed its image from a place that needed to be avoided to a trendy destination. Support from the city’s Office of Economic Development has been integral to my organization and Chinatown’s revitalization. OED grants have helped seed the development of the Nuuanu Street festivals that promote Chinatown, and have provided a means of community organization and economic support. OED leverages its modest funding with public-private partnerships to enrich the economic well being of our county.

I am stunned and disappointed to learn that the City Council plans to upset this effective model by moving OED out of the Mayor’s Office. I urge the Council to keep OED as is.

Ed Korybski
Executive director, Honolulu Culture & Arts District Association

Farmers market should be left alone

Denying the Haleiwa Farmers Market the right to continue at its present location is based on a technicality and does not serve our farmers, the community and general public.

The current location has worked well for three years. Relocating it within our already over-congested Haleiwa town is not the solution.

The state should either grant a waiver for the market to use the current space or redefine the parcel of land. It is a visible, convenient open space with traffic flow in three directions.

Haleiwa Farmers Market vendors are the smallest of small businesses. In support of the farmers, our community and the general public, leave the people to conduct their businesses.

Owana Salazar
Pupukea