ALCOHOL

IT IS TIME TO TOUGHEN DRUNKEN DRIVING LAWS

"Acute alcohol intoxication" was a factor in the death of Lisa Matsumoto.

In other words, she was a drunken driver.

There has been enough public discourse on the subject over the years that no one can claim ignorance of the potentially lethal act of drinking and driving. Nevertheless, many people continue to drink and drive — and people continue to die — clearly indicating our existing laws do not present enough of a deterrent.

Our government has a choice. It can do nothing, keeping the current law and, therefore, tacitly approving of the threat posed by drunken drivers.

Or it can summon the courage to be bold, rise up to condemn those who drink and drive, and pass legislation with strict, Draconian punishment that neither judges nor juries have the power to diminish.

Perhaps a mandatory sentence of one year in prison and a $50,000 fine for a first offender will finally stop drunken driving. Think this is too harsh? Then now is the time for discussion and debate, but the current situation is not acceptable. Otherwise, if our legislators do nothing, then every drunken driving death will be blood on their hands.

UH FOOTBALL

CONGRATULATIONS, COLT, FROM WASHINGTON STATE

Congratulations to Colt Brennan. He has not only shown the nation aloha spirit, but has been an ambassador for the Hawaiian Islands.

We live on the Mainland and travel to Honolulu once a year to visit our son, who is also a huge Warrior fan. We always make sure we are in Hawai'i for a University of Hawai'i home football game.

Yes, we even were glued to the TV rooting the Warriors on as they beat our hometown University of Washington Huskies.

This is a humble young man who has learned from his past and will go far in the future.

Yes, we will be wearing green and black on Jan. 1, eating sugar cookies in the shape of football helmets with a huge H on the cookie. Go Warriors.

IRAQ

HISTORY TELLS US WE CANNOT BE VICTORIOUS

Holidays are a time for reflection and celebration. Sens. Joe Lieberman and John McCain believe we can be victorious in Iraq. A glance at history says otherwise.

America is not a colonial power like the British and French. The Iraq war is a colonial war because the reason for our invasion is the control of oil, not truth, justice, democracy and the American way. Ours is an economic colonialism.

Colonial powers learned a bitter lesson that we need to heed. We will leave Iraq sooner or later. All the king's money and all his men can't put it together again. The British were the last to get evicted. The French were kicked out of Vietnam and Algeria. We got kicked out of Vietnam despite millions of dead and wounded. We got tossed from Lebanon and we will have the same fate in Iraq.

The central question is: How many lost lives and how much lost treasure will it take for us to see the writing on the graves?

Do we need another Vietnam Wall inscribed with the names of our dead? Not if we are smart. While we pour our efforts into weapons and war, other nations are trouncing us educationally and economically.

VISAS

FEE HIKE UNDERCUTS ISLE TOURISM EFFORTS

The Dec. 17 Advertiser carried the news that the State Department has announced a 30 percent increase (to $131) for non-immigrant visas.

This is another body blow to efforts to welcome students and tourists to Hawai'i and America. It totally undercuts recent efforts by Gov. Linda Lingle and the U.S. Department of Commerce to reverse the declining numbers.

Why should a Korean or Chinese family of four be hit with a $524 penalty (plus travel to the interview) if they want to visit Hawai'i?

The Congress' actions to require government monopolies (State Department visa/passport operations, Homeland Security's immigration and FBI's fingerprint office) to be self-sustaining are deeply flawed.

It is a gift from heaven to these bureaucracies, in that their imbedded inefficiency is automatically rewarded.

Of course, this is what many politicians of left and right seek: to keep foreigners out, and marginal "security measures" provide an unchallengeable justification.

TRIBUTE

JOHN GRIFFIN A LOSS TO REALLY GOOD JOURNALISM

I might still be working for the Louisville Courier-Journal if John Griffin, education writer at the time, had not taken a Honolulu Advertiser sabbatical in 1963 to do Peace Corps work.

He opened up a slot for my employment application and I'm still here.

John died at age 80. He's a loss to really good journalism. He kept pounding on serious local matters while the electorate was distracted by the trivial.

I liked his reasonable liberalism, and it became my goal as I went on to column writing. He never chose the dark side of meat-eating attack that seems to be the way for so many columnists and radio talk-show hosts today.

He was very bright and very nice. What better epitaph?

WORLD WAR II

AMERICA OWES BENEFITS TO FILIPINO VETERANS

I salute Sen. Dan Akaka for trying to remedy the injustice done to Filipino veterans of World War II. More than six decades ago, Filipinos made up the bulk of the U.S. armed forces in the Philippines fighting the Japanese military's invasion. More than 200,000 Filipinos fought a guerrilla war against the Japanese occupation forces, tying down thousands of Japanese soldiers. Their tremendous sacrifice was a major boost to U.S. forces and helped hasten Japan's defeat.

But shortly after World War II ended, despite promises to the contrary, the U.S. Congress denied the Filipino fighters their full veteran status and benefits. They received only service-related disability or death benefits and later gained some other related benefits through lawsuits.

But major benefits such as healthcare, home loans, education benefits, job training, handicap aids for a house or car, pensions for low-income veterans and survivors' benefits for spouses of deceased veterans have been denied.

Some 20,000 Filipino veterans reside in the U.S. today, many of them in their 80s. Of these, about 2,000 live in Hawai'i. It is a real travesty that so many years have gone by without these veterans being accorded equal treatment.

The U.S. Congress must act quickly to approve legislation to right this grievous wrong and provide full status and benefits to these veterans and their survivors.

It would be a shame for more time to pass, more of these veterans to die, without justice.

ALA WAI PARKING

PROPOSED FEES NOT REASONABLE FOR LOCALS

Recently, letters from mainlanders have advocated for the "reasonable" parking rates the state is pushing for Ala Wai Harbor.

The view of folks who spend a week here is very different from that of local people who work two jobs and whose only recreation is the beach.

Yes, the Ala Wai has been neglected — not by users, but by the state. It's about recreation and a floating neighborhood of elder boaters surviving on fixed incomes.

This is the place in Waikiki where locals and visitors mix without commerce in "submerged lands" belonging to the people. That's what the law says.

The changes would make it just another moneymaking endeavor. Why go from no parking enforcement to parking fees? Would you like your family to pay Downtown rates to sit at the beach or to surf?

Downtown, we are glad to pay 75 cents for an hour to visit a restaurant, but people come to the beach for hours. This area is already zoned for meters; Hono-lulu Zoo rates might be appropriate.

For parking permits to go from $25 annually (along with monthly boat-slip fees that just went up) to $75 a month is only reasonable to someone who won't pay it.

The process is flawed.

MAHALO

'THE LION KING' LEAVES WITH FOND MEMORIES

It is with a very heartfelt mahalo that we thank the citizens of Honolulu and the state of Hawai'i for providing the cast and crew of Disney's "The Lion King" your gracious aloha spirit.

We all felt very special being able to be part of your community over the past several months. The last day of the engagement was emotional as we said goodbye to all of the friends we had made throughout our stay.

Additional mahalo to Mayor Mufi Hannemann, the staff members of the city of Honolulu, the Blaisdell Center, Laird Christianson Advertising, Hawai'i Opera Theatre, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, Hagadone Printing, Fleet Street Graphics and many more who were an integral part of the success of the engagement.

"The Lion King" set all-time records for total performances, total tickets sold, total gross dollars sold and total tickets sold by week. A large economic contribution was made to the community, but more importantly was the connection made between us, the tour and this community.

And now, we don't wish to say a final goodbye, but rather to say "until we meet again."

Our circle of life and the aloha spirit merged together for our stay in Honolulu and we leave with many great memories.

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