AIONA

LT. GOV. APPLAUDED FOR STANDING UP FOR BELIEFS

I read Steve Leong's letter (June 21) regarding Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona's comments about civil unions.

How did the lieutenant governor push his religion on you or anyone? Did he say that you have to go to his church and/or join his religion?

To me, he just showed that he is a moral man — something society today is lacking.

I applaud the lieutenant governor for standing up for his beliefs.

PERSONAL BIASES CAN INFLUENCE POLITICIANS

In response to Eduardo Hernandez' June 14 letter, James Roller (Letter, June 16) wanted to know what facts Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona had distorted.

Like it or not, a politician's public words and actions provide clues to his or her personal biases. Since there is no such thing as a completely bias-free human being, the lieutenant governor's personal biases can be expected to influence what he is likely to do should he become our next governor.

Very few politicians can be completely neutral when dealing with hot-button issues. More than a few would cave in to the demands of an impassioned majority, even when the majority is wrong.

Since Mr. Hernandez did not demand that Duke Aiona stifle his speech, Mr. Roller's defense of Aiona's free-speech rights was unnecessary. Mr. Hernandez merely expressed his legitimate concern about the establishment of anything even faintly resembling a theocracy.

As stated so forcefully by James Madison, the father of the Constitution, "The number, the industry and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people, have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the state."

PSYCHOLOGISTS

GOV. LINGLE THANKED FOR INTENT TO VETO BILL

Gov. Linda Lingle should be thanked for her intent to veto SB 1004 relating to psychologists prescribing.

Her reasoned, thoughtful approach to improving access to safe, effective, timely and equitable mental healthcare, including medication management, to all the citizens of Hawai'i regardless of financial need should be applauded.

With increasing awareness of new findings about psychotropic drug risks and benefits, the prescribing of psychotropic drugs has increased in complexity over the past few years. The focus should be further enhancement of training of current group of prescribers, physicians and advanced practice nurses.

Passage of SB 1004 would be an unnecessary and risky experiment on the most vulnerable of the state's citizens.

Instead, work being done by consumers and providers from different mental health disciplines through efforts such as Psychiatric Access Collaboration and the Mental Health Transformation Grant Work Group will help move Hawai'i toward better access and overall improved delivery of mental health services.

COST SAVINGS

HEALTH-BENEFIT BILL SHOULD NOT BE VETOED

The Voluntary Employees Benefits Association Trust potentially saves taxpayers money while providing better health benefits to teachers at lower cost.

Gov. Linda Lingle proposes to veto a bill extending a pilot of this program by a year. She argues that the pilot's extension is premature because it was passed before an auditor's study of the program's effectiveness has been completed.

But since it took more than a year to implement the program in the first place, it has not been in operation long enough for the auditor's report to accurately judge the efficacy of the program.

It was envisioned as a three-year pilot program. It should be given the full three years to demonstrate its efficacy and cost-savings to taxpayers.

DEPARTURE

ALOHA AND MAHALO TO THE PEOPLE OF HAWAI'I

As my husband and I prepare to leave Hawai'i, I was prompted by your commemoration of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole to write my thanks to the people of Hawai'i, especially to those on the Leeward coast.

We have had the privilege of living and teaching on the west side for many years.

The community welcomed and cared for us, and we got to know many bright and warm-hearted children and their families. Thank you for giving us a home.

These beautiful islands have been our shelter and our comfort; we are deeply grateful to the people of Hawai'i for sharing their land and aloha with us.

Even as we get ready to explore new places, we know we will never find another people like you.

Until we meet again,

RECYCLING

ROLLOUT OF CURBSIDE PICKUP PLANNED FOR FALL

In response to Deborah Luckett's letter ("Curbside recycling must be implemented," June 25), there has been much discussion about curbside recycling by the city over the past several months, with more to come.

During April and May, Mayor Mufi Hannemann conducted seven community meetings on recycling, which presented new data from the ongoing solid-waste master-planning process and the mayor's proposal for an islandwide curbside recycling program.

The public discussion and the presentation materials from those meetings are posted online at www.opala.org.

The Solid Waste Advisory Committee appointed by the mayor continues to review and advise on the components of the overall plan and the City Council has approved funds for curbside recycling in the budget.

There is still much work to be done and opportunity to express your perspectives.

In September, we will stage our 3rd Annual Discover Recycling Fair at the Blaisdell Arena to promote greater awareness on this subject. And our plan as stated previously by Mayor Hannemann is to target a fall rollout of curbside recycling of mixed recyclables to complement our existing green-cycling program.

REPAVING

ROAD-REPAIR SCHEDULE DOESN'T MAKE SENSE

I understand there is a schedule for repairing our residential roads. What I don't understand is the way this schedule is apparently set in concrete.

For the past several weeks, I have watched streets being repaved in Waipi'o Gentry, streets in good repair with no cracks or potholes.

I question the wisdom of resurfacing perfectly good streets when others in Waipi'o can best be described as "tank traps." The best examples are Waipi'o Uka by Foodland and Moaniani by Costco.

ART

MURALS COULD BECOME ISLES' GRAFFITI-BUSTERS

Graffiti is costing the city and state millions of dollars. If we could solve the graffiti problem, we could afford to pay our teachers and police a decent wage.

Some graffitists have real potential to be great artists, but our schools and our great leaders haven't been able to promote their talents.

What public restrooms on the beach have no graffiti on the outside walls? The Sandy Beach restroom. It has a mural of Duke Kahanamoku.

With this concept, we should have more murals of our local heroes. One for Chad Rowan (Akebono) — visiting Japanese tourists would put Waimanalo on the map. If we had one for Eddie Aikau, no one would dare graffiti over it. If we had one for Brother Iz, Buffalo, or Sale Atisanoe, the results would be positive.

Our public schools could turn their stairwells into murals of an underground sea cave, a rainforest or volcano of long ago.

If hotels would dedicate elevators to be painted with murals, it would send a positive message to future artists that they can be paid for doing a mural rather than punished for tagging.

ADVERTISER

DISAPPOINTING TO SEE NO PHOTO OF HULA EVENT

I was absolutely stunned to open the Sunday paper and not see even one photograph from the King Kamehameha Hula Competition.

Are you telling me that with all the beautiful hula costumes, fantastic floral adornments and talented performers gathered at the Blaisdell, your cadre of photographers could not manage to capture a few great photos?

I am sure that some of the folks who could not make it to the Blaisdell would have enjoyed seeing some pictures, to say nothing of all the people who worked so hard for this competition.

Very disappointing; you really missed the boat.

LANDFILL CRISIS

LET'S REDUCE GARBAGE, NOT SHIP IT ELSEWHERE

The city's pursuit of plans to ship Honolulu's garbage to Washington state (Advertiser, June 24) is irresponsible on a number of levels.

Why is this drastic option being pursued without more proactive source reduction and diversion? Despite a directive from 80 percent of county voters who supported the curbside recycling charter amendment back in November, we're still waiting for the start of such a program. Ho-nolulu is the largest city in the nation without curbside recycling, and we need to demand it.

Despite holding a number of meetings to "gather input" from the community about recycling, it's clear that the city is still touting ramping up incineration as a viable, even sustainable, solution. Not much is heard about the dioxins and emissions produced when plastics and other material is incinerated.

Faced with our landfill crisis and the environmental and health impacts of incineration, the administration should make it easier for people to do the right thing.

According to a recent report commissioned by the city Department of Environmental Services, O'ahu residents produced about 30 percent more household trash per person than in 1999, while the population rose only 3 percent. What are we all doing to produce so much waste?

Let's take a hard look at what we're throwing away, and what we can do to reduce it.

The answers are not easy. But let's not teach our young people that the answer is paying someone to take our 'opala problem out of our backyard, and into someone else's.

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSIT SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE RELIABLE OPTION

Dale Evans, owner of Charley's Taxi, misses the point in her letter (June 25) about Honolulu's proposed mass-transit project.

Mass transit is a way to offer people a viable transportation alternative. It isn't intended to force anybody to do anything but to give Honolulu citizens a transportation option that is reliable and predictable. Having a mass-transit system on its own dedicated track does just that.

Having the freedom to choose how one travels is a good thing, except maybe if you'd lose money when people opt for mass transit rather than taxis.