Use rail guideways for first toll road

The money already spent on the Honolulu rail system should not be allowed to go to waste.

I say go ahead and build the guideways. They could be used as the basis for our first toll road. From 1 a.m. to noon, it could be one way, east-bound. From 1 p.m. to midnight, west-bound.

The plots of land purchased for the train stations could be turned into the on-ramp toll booths. Closing them one hour before the reverse traffic flow is to start would control the direction.

Charles McDonald
Waianae

EIS not final word in deciding on rail

Nothing within the law gives ultimate decision-making to the environmental impact statement or environmental assessment. They are for the purpose of information gathering only ("Opponents of rail argue case in court," Star-Advertiser, Aug. 22). There is a comment period in the EIS or EA, which is the appropriate time for naysayers to have an additional voice. They would also have had input during the information-gathering phase. The EIS provides information; it doesn’t make decisions. The law does not even require the decision making to abide by the EIS. The ultimate decision-making is made by voting.

Myron Berney
Honolulu

Kailuans opposed overdevelopment

Thanks to Barbara Mullen for her letter, "Kailua folks getting what they wanted" (Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 20). She is correct that some in Kailua have worked to encourage tourism.But who are they? They are not the 200-plus residents who came to meetings to protect our beach parks. They are not the folks, young and old, who held signs against the Target store. They are not the courageous members of the Kailua Neighborhood Board who deplored the loss of Don Quijote and the Kailua Road apartments, and worked both publicly and behind the scenes with our city officials to protect our zoning laws. They are not those who have decried the actions of at least three mayors’ administrations who turned a blind eye to enforcing existing rules at our beach parks.

Because of all those folks and recent City Council actions, we still have a chance to preserve the residential environment that we want for our future.Good job, Kailua!

Chuck Prentiss
Chairman, Kailua Neighborhood Board

LUC should protect precious farmland

Daniel Orodenker appears to be laboring under several misconceptions as regards the purpose of the state Land Use Commission ("Daniel Orodenker," Star-Advertiser, Name in the News, Aug. 17). The LUC does not, despite evidence to the contrary, exist to facilitate the transfer of agricultural land to the urban district at the convenience of and for the benefitof the landowner. It is chartered to protect the state’s agricultural land. There must be a compelling need to transfer acreage from agriculture to urban. For Koa Ridge and Ho‘opili, there is no such need.

What there is is an opportunity to give Castle & Cooke and Horton/Schuler Homes a windfall of a magnitude that defies belief. Horton will realize about $4.5 billion for developing Ho‘opili. This is outrageous! I urge the LUC to re-visit these actions in a more pono manner.

Jack Arnest
Kaimuki

Public relations job not worth $200,000

I am a disgruntled taxpayer and I don’t want to take it anymore.

It seems now every day I get to read about another disaster with the University of Hawaii and money.

I thought that positions at UH had to be posted for all to be able to apply. While no one has a handle on Jim Donovan’s new position or title, it does sound rather like a public relations function with some added fluff.

I have a degree in public relations. I have more than 35 years of sales, marketing and management experience with some great Hawaii companies. I’ve never had, however, a $200,000 a year job. Frankly, it would be a nice way to ease into retirement.

The administration and the Board of Regents do not appear to be upholding their fiduciary responsibility. It’s a very sad state of affairs, and very unfair to the taxpayers of Hawaii.

F.M. Scotty Anderson
Honolulu

Screening needed for hepatitis C

The recent announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on screening hepatitis C infection in baby boomers has created quite a few discussions among my peers. Those born between 1945 through 1965 make up about 82 percent of the 4 million Americans with this serious and potentially fatal disease. The disease progresses silently and can be detected only by a simple blood test. This disease has led to more than 15,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2007 and 350,000 each year worldwide.

In Hawaii, a third of patients who have had liver transplants did so because of hepatitis C. There is now treatment that is effective against this disease in up to 80 percent of patients, although the side effects can be prohibitive. But there are very encouraging data indicating a treatment that is more effective and with fewer side effects may become a reality in the near future. It makes sense for the CDC to recommend a screening policy focused on this group of individuals.

Naoky Tsai, M.D.
Kailua

Hawaii statehood cheered elsewhere

I agree with Kauai Sasano: no statehood celebration at all, but government offices closed and buses on holiday schedule ("Statehood Day barely celebrated," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 21)? Are we not proud of being the 50th state? I live in the mainland and I am proud to say that I am a kamaaina of Hawaii even though I have been here in Minnesota since 1983. Here in Minnesota are many of us kamaaina, and we all are proud of where we were born and raised.

We even have one of the charted Hawaiian civic clubs in the Midwest. We recently celebrated our statehood at our kanikapila this weekend here in Minneapolis.

Clayton Lum
Minneapolis