Mahalo for your April 8 editorial (“Well-intended DUI anklet needs work,” Our View, Star-Advertiser), highlighting the flaws in House Bill 306, relating to alcohol-detecting ankle bracelets for repeat DUI offenders.
You rightly question how such a device would work alongside the existing, highly successful in-car breathalyzer, which last year prevented 12,685 drunken driving starts.
In 1992, my 15-year-old son was killed by a repeat offender with six prior DUI arrests. No amount of ankle bracelet “monitoring” is likely to keep us safe from such an alcohol-addicted drinker. But the ignition interlock might have done the job, had it been in use in the 1990s.
Theresa Paulette
Kailua
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Climate march calls for deniers to cease
The world’s scientific community agrees: we must take action now to address global warming. The only path for our future is carbon-free to protect our climate, our communities and our families.
Personally I have lived on my sailboat and cruised around the Caribbean and the Pacific from 1993 till 2013. Even during this relatively short time, I’ve noticed lots of changes in weather patterns and pollution. Already our reefs are being destroyed from the changes.
Clearly, we’re at a crucial tipping point.
On April 29, I will be marching with the People’s Climate March– Honolulu to demand that Congress take bold action now and refuse to allow this administration’s climate change deniers from threatening our future. They must stop all efforts to roll back policies that help address climate change.
With everything at stake, everyone has a role to play. On April 29 we march. I hope all readers will join me.
Marie-Louise Ansak
Ala Moana
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Impose prison terms for dogs’ suffering
This letter concerns Sheryl Luke-Kalani’s guilty plea to the tax evasion charges against her, and the pending tax evasion charges against her father, Vernon Luke.
Our dog, Lani, was one of the 153 dogs rescued by the Hawaiian Humane Society. While in the puppy mill owned by Luke-Kalani and her father, Lani and the other dogs and puppies suffered tremendously. Our vet said she was close to death when rescued.
Lani had 14 puppies shortly after being freed, and it took years for her to heal and to trust people again. Both the Lukes should be sentenced to a long prison term for what they did, and pay the restitution owed to the Humane Society.
David Randell
Kailua
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Pan Am’s no-touch policy was good one
In the 1960s, while I was a Pan American passenger service agent at Honolulu International Airport, we periodically had to remove a passenger due to overbooking. Our policy strictly prohibited us from touching or physically forcing the passenger from his seat. If he refused to get up, we tried to convince another passenger to leave the plane.
It is odd to me that United Airlines did not have a similarly humane policy 50 years later.
Michael A. Lilly
Pacific Heights
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Gabbard is vampire slayer in D.C. tumult
Like most Hawaiians and thoughtful people, I consider myself an outlier when it comes to U.S. and world politics.
Yet, it’s hard not to recognize that U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is one of the few people to go into Dracula’s castle on Capitol Hill in Washington and not be bitten by the toe-the-line, blood-sucking mentality; she has proven effective on her own terms.
In the last year, it’s become clear that she is a vampire slayer — from within her own party, to supporting our veterans, to principled stands on global issues.
We need to continue to support her with garlic, mirrors and sunlight. We’ll still check for the bite marks every time she comes home. But, it’s worth it for a world where we don’t need pitchforks and torches to solve problems.
Eamonn O’Laoghaire
Kewalo
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Property tax increase won’t touch Caldwell
Auwe. The mayor needs to put his money where his mouth is and start paying the piper.
With a family income of well over half a million dollars a year, he is paying only $300 property tax per year for his alleged historical mansion in Manoa.
His proposal for an 8 to 14 percent increase in property tax will be an intolerable burden on middle- and low-income property owners, while not bothering the top income property owners in the least.
Is he a Democrat or only a DINO (Democrat in Name Only)? Arghhh.
Thomas “T.J.” Davies Jr.
Kapiolani
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No surprise on more taxes for odious rail
No one should be surprised by Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s proposal to increase property taxes to fund the outrageous rail project.
I voted for Ben Cayetano, so don’t blame me.
Clark Himeda
Waialae-Kahala
