TRAFFIC

PEARL TUNNEL WOULD MAKE MATTERS WORSE

Tom Berg's letter "Release the $200,000 for study" (for Pearl Harbor tunnel) fails to explain important points.

First, he does not disclose that he is the legislative office manager of Rep. Rida Cabanilla, who has become the shrill proponent of this absurd idea.

A tunnel would result in more traffic into 'Ewa Beach from all over the Leeward Coast, but since traffic would be just as bad at the other end of the tunnel, it would not serve any purpose except to park more cars. The Department of Transportation is correct to withhold the funding for this study as it simply won't work.

It's time for legislators like Cabanilla and her office employees to find out why the widening project on Fort Weaver Road has stopped and to speed up the North-South Road construction. We don't need dreamers, we need doers.

DISCRIMINATION

UARC ASSOCIATION AT UH WOULD BE ILLEGAL

Many reasons have been presented why it would be unwise for the University of Hawai'i to establish a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) with the United States Navy, but one important reason has been largely left out of the discussion: It's illegal.

Section 378-2 of the Hawai'i Revised Statutes prohibits all employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. The Navy explicitly discriminates with regard to employment based on sexual orientation.

The UARC proposal would require the University of Hawai'i to spend millions of dollars in the first few years to fund the project. Once under way, UH researchers would work on research projects as agents of the Navy, with security clearances. The purpose of these funds and this research is to help the Navy. The university and those who work on these projects would become partners with the Navy and thus would be "aiding and abetting" the Navy and its mission, unavoidably including its discriminatory employment practices.

Hawai'i's law against employment discrimination may not be enforceable directly against the Navy because of federal immunities. It is possible that the federal government could require the state of Hawai'i to work with the U.S. Navy, although whether the federal government has this power is not clear in light of recent Supreme Court decisions prohibiting the federal government from "commandeering" state government officials.

OIL SOURCE

GAS-CAP LAW PRICING BASE IS STRANGE INDEED

My question to the politicians who created the gas-cap law: How can the law base its prices on the gas if the oil that is used to create the gas here in Hawai'i comes from Asia? Hawai'i refines oil from Asia to make gas right here in Hawai'i.

My understanding is that the oil used to create gas on the Mainland comes from the southern coast area like Louisiana, not Asia.

My other concern is a public safety issue, and that is, eventually people are going to start stealing gas from other people's cars (remember the '70s?). So I would get a locking gas cap for your vehicle because it just might happen.

GAS CAP

OIL FIRMS NOT CHARGE MAXIMUM RATE? HAH!

How can our legislators, in all their "wisdom," ask the oil companies to not charge the maximum rate that the gas cap allows? This is exactly what they wanted! The gas cap was created to tie our gasoline market to Mainland markets. Never mind that what is going on up there has absolutely nothing to do with our Islands.

This is what happens when people with ulterior motives mess with the free market that our economy is based on. The oil companies would be fools not to charge the maximum they are allowed by the PUC. Will Sens. Ron Menor and Robert Bunda, Rep. Calvin Say and Gov. Lingle grant them a waiver on the cap when they are losing money on every barrel of oil they process? No way.

"Community confidence is not built by pricing up to the maximum simply because the law permits you to do so" is what House Speaker Say and Senate President Bunda wrote to the oil companies. Well, to them I say, business confidence is not built by legislative price controls simply because it makes for good election-year material.

I hope the people of this state remember this fiasco when all these legislators come up for re-election.

GOVERNMENT

BLAME BOTH SIDES FOR THIS GAS-CAP FIASCO

The Sept. 7 headline "50¢ gas cap rise likely Monday" is one more indication that our legislators and our governor have created a gas emergency in Hawai'i.

Our Democratic legislators rejected the overwhelming advice from numerous professionals that the proposed law was not only a bad idea, but in fact would contribute to higher prices at the pump — price increases that would not be in line with price increases elsewhere in the United States. The Legislature passed the law anyway.

Hawai'i's prices will have increased nearly 90 cents a gallon in the past two weeks. Elsewhere in the U.S., prices have increased about half that amount. Our Republican governor sidestepped the gas-cap issue when she let the law go into effect. The governor said she would revoke the law if and when it proved not to be working. Clearly it isn't, and so far Linda Lingle has been dead silent on the issue.

We're fortunate not to have a hurricane emergency, but unfortunately we do have a gas-price emergency. Much has been said about government's inability to respond quickly to the victims of the hurricane, an emergency caused by nature. It appears our local government can't even respond to an emergency created by it.

'RESTRAINT'

IT WORKS BOTH WAYS

First the governor and now two prominent Democratic legislators are asking the state's two refineries to "show restraint" with regard to wholesale gas pricing. I wonder, if the refineries were losing money because of the gas cap, would the state "show restraint"? I think not!

ZIPPER LANE

MINIMUM OF THREE PER CAR MUST BE RESTORED

It is ridiculous to allow drivers with only one passenger to enter the zipper lane. There has been no monitoring of the lane by police. Many autos have only the driver in this lane, to boot.

I have conducted my own little experiment and have found that in taking the zipper lane this year, my two sons and I not only need to leave 25 minutes earlier than last year, but over the past two weeks, drive time has been cut an average of 17 minutes by staying out of the zipper.

This privilege was meant to reward those with three per car. Those with two persons per car already have the carpool lane. Even bus riders are being unfairly penalized for doing their part to alleviate traffic congestion.

Drivers must speak out and changes must be made. Do the pono thing and restore the zipper lane to a mandatory minimum of three to a car.

OUTREACH

WAIKIKI HEALTH CENTER IS VITAL TO THE HOMELESS

As the name implies, minivans operated by the Waikiki Health Center outreach program CARE-A-VAN deliver care packages and on-site healthcare to the area's homeless.

The outreach hosted by the Waikiki Health Center was originally based in Waikiki and now is headquartered at 1640 South King St., where services include healthcare, clothing, food when available, a mail drop for the homeless and other services, from legal aid to filing paperwork for the Department of Human Services.

This fledgling organization has for many years been a godsend to hundreds of O'ahu's homeless, yet it could do more with contributions from the corporations and individuals, and I for one would like to challenge the community to support this vital effort. A few unsung heroes have dedicated themselves to working the front lines of poverty, destitution and disenfranchisement forced on many who live in our parks, streets and all the nooks and crannies of this island.

I would also like to challenge the current city and state leadership to fully support this organization. As a final note, I thank all the healthcare workers for their efforts

BASEBALL

THANKS FOR COVERAGE

I appreciate the outstanding coverage your newspaper provided on our West O'ahu baseball team. You brought the players into our homes and our hearts. You all hit a "grand slam." Move over, "Fabulous 5," and make room for the " 'Ewa Beach 12."

CROSS COUNTRY

COMPETITION WELCOME

Kudos to Iolani School and the parents who work so hard to bring us Mainland competition for the annual Iolani Cross Country Invitational. That way many of us don't have to spend the time and money to make sure our local athletes are challenged. I have to say the competition and organization of this meet get better every year. Hana hou.

INVEST IN ECONOMY

SHIFT TOURISM FUNDS TO TEACHERS

Lee Cataluna says what most people know, but few have the courage to say in print: Hawai'i has too many tourists ("No more rampant tourism," Aug. 25).

The visitor industry is so overly dependent on tourists that there's a strong resemblance to drug addiction. Like an addict, the visitor industry craves more and more tourists. This year there are more tourists than ever before. And next year the industry will want even more.

\Hawai'i's economy desperately needs diversification. However, the state government gives only token efforts to diversifying the economy while actually putting its money behind tourism. About $60 million in tax money is allocated each year to promote tourism. That money should be redirected toward economic diversification.

The visitor industry says that tourism is good for Hawai'i. But, as Ms. Cataluna amusingly yet perceptively observes, tourists have caused a deterioration in the quality of life of residents.

But we don't need to encourage fledgling industries with any more loan programs or any more tax breaks, which have proven to be questionable at best. That money should be redirected instead toward growing entrepreneurs and smart workers, who will be the foundation for the new and expanding industries of the future.

The money should be used to improve Hawai'i's public education system.

Different people will have different ideas about how to improve public education, but in my opinion the money should be used to increase the salaries of public school teachers. That would attract more young people to the teaching profession. As a result, colleges of education would be able to be more selective in enrolling students, and the public school system would be able to be more selective in hiring teachers. In the long run, a salary increase would have the effect of raising the caliber of teachers.

Granted, the salary scale of public school teachers has been set by a negotiated agreement between the state and the Hawai'i State Teachers Association. However, I don't think the HSTA would oppose a pay raise for its members that was initiated by the state.

Using the $60 million for a teacher salary increase would not only improve the quality of education, but it would have an economic benefit as well. Most of the money is now being removed from Hawai'i's economy and spent on the Mainland and in other countries on such things as TV commercials that promote Hawai'i. If Hawai'i's teachers receive the money, they would spend most of it in Hawai'i, which would have the effect of expanding Hawai'i's economy.

Of course, the visitor industry will never stand to reallocate the $60 million. The visitor industry believes that continued tourism growth is good for Hawai'i. The visitor industry refuses to believe it is already too big. That stands to reason. In the belief structure of addicts, denial is a very common characteristic.