HPD enforcing noise, tint laws

This is in response to the letter, "Driving infractions not being enforced" (Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 3).

The Honolulu Police Department continually enforces "boom box" violations and window tint laws.

From January through November 2012, the HPD has issued approximately 500 "prohibited noise" and 900 "window tint" citations to motorists who violated the law.

Prioritized enforcement effectively targets frequently occurring violations that pose the most danger to our communities such as speeding, mobile electronic device use and pedestrian violations. However, when violations such as boom box and tinted windows are observed, they are enforced.

Capt. Andrew Lum
Office of the Chief, Honolulu Police Department

HI-5 benefiting only select group

HI-5 started with good intentions.

Part of the collected fee covered administration and oversight costs.

That fee is being increased because more oversight is needed to control those gaming the system. Those costs will increase rather than be contained.

HI-5 is unneeded and should be eliminated. Those who don’t recycle find no incentive, even if the entire fee is returned. They fill public-area trash receptacles with discarded HI-5 cans and bottles for scavengers who turn them to cash. The beneficiaries of HI-5 are government employees who otherwise have no job; food wagons and convenience stores that recover the containers for redemption without cost because the buyers have dumped them in the trash; recyclers that redeem by weight and not by unit; and scavengers.

For the rest of us, HI-5 is a tax that will continue to grow. If HI-5 is eliminated, homes still have the blue container for recyclables. Public areas could have blue containers to separate recycle from other trash.

Ronald Wong
Salt Lake

Protect students before too late

After the Connecticut elementary school shooting, I feel that we should take a serious look at security at our schools. Let’s not wait until something awful happens before we accept the fact that something awful can happen to us.

What measures are there to prevent a person from shooting children in our schools? Do we have security doors? How about professional security guards?

Our schools should be better secured than banks and prisons.

I realize that the odds of this kind of tragedy happening in our community are very slim, but I’m not willing to bet my daughter’s life.

Michael Jefferson
Ewa Beach

Schatz will make good U.S. senator

Brian Schatz’s appointment to replace the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye is a great boon to Hawaii’s present and future generations.

He’s a competent leader, with the tools to serve with vigor and brilliance for many decades.

He has long, close personal ties to the Obama family, and led the 2011 APEC Conference and Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Hawaii to unprecedented success.

Brian was mentored in world affairs since childhood by family friend Madeleine Albright, the nation’s first female secretary of state. Albright currently serves as a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and chairwoman of the National Democratic Institute. The recent self-serving criticism of this excellent appointment by lobbyists for our great, late Inouye is unfortunate. The best way to honor Inouye is by supporting our capable, new congressional delegation.

Jonathan Starr
Wailuku, Maui

Medicare woes not easy to fix

The big threat to our nation’s fiscal situation is posed by Medicare as the baby boomers age into the program. But the problem is not easy to fix.

Even if we means-test the program and raise the eligibility age, that won’t fix it. Even if we had high-deductible Medicare policies where the deductible was funded by private insurance, that wouldn’t fix it.

In the end, saving Medicare means cutting back on the military and raising taxes. The sad part is that we don’t have the political will to do that.

Lloyd Lim
Makiki