ROUNDABOUT

THANKS TO MAYOR FOR PUTTING SAFETY FIRST

I am one of the many residents who refused to sign the petition to halt the installation of a roundabout in Foster Village. Fortunately, the city administration agreed with us and built it last month.

Why? A few years ago, a school boy was struck in the crosswalk at that intersection by a car driven by a woman checking her makeup in the mirror. Luckily, he wasn't killed. He sustained a broken leg, not to mention psychological trauma. I believe a roundabout would have prevented this accident. A stop sign would have been inadequate.

Yes, the roundabout is inconvenient for motorists who are in a hurry. And, yes, it is not very pretty. But, think of that little boy who was injured by a negligent driver. If the roundabout prevents future accidents, then it will be well worth the cost.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for siding with us.

PRISON SOLUTION

TENT COMPOUND IDEAL FOR HAWAI'I'S WEATHER

Bryan Wittekind wrote an interesting letter ("Thanks for shedding light on growing crisis," Oct. 5) that is right on track. And I would think that the government of the state of Hawai'i could easily reduce the need to send criminals to the Mainland if they would just do incarceration the way this man in Arizona, Sheriff Arpaio, has done.

On Aug. 3, 1993, he started the nation's largest tent city for convicted inmates. More than 2,000 convicted men and women serve their sentences in a canvas incarceration compound surrounded by a chain-link fence. It is a remarkable success story and has garnered the attention of government officials and media worldwide.

Equally impressive are his get-tough policies. Arpaio doesn't believe in coddling criminals, frequently saying that jails should not be country clubs. He banned smoking, coffee, pornographic magazines, movies and unrestricted television in all jails. He has the cheapest meals in the country, too. The average inmate meal costs under 20 cents.

I just don't understand why Hawai'i, with this year-round nice weather, doesn't do the same. Prison is not supposed to be some place one doesn't mind going to.

Wake up, Hawai'i!

HARRIET MIERS

LET'S PONDER WHAT KIND OF CASES SHE'D ARGUE

One question that should be asked when deciding whether or not Harriet Miers is qualified for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court is: Which clients would hire her to argue a constitutional claim before the U.S. Supreme Court?

That's important because, just like a physician or contractor, individual lawyers spend their time doing certain types of work in their profession at the exclusion of others. Lawyers don't take every kind of case brought to them. The lawyers who do argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court are few and far between.

Harriet Miers has been a lawyer for big businesses, and when those clients had constitutional issues, did they hire her to handle the cases?

This is a very important question because if I need legal representation in a case dealing with constitutional law, or if I need carpentry, plumbing or brain surgery, I should seek out a person with experience successfully completing that specific type of work. I would never ask an OBGYN or internal medicine specialist to operate on my vascular system, even though they are doctors.

REGISTRY

SEX OFFENDERS ARE NOT THE VICTIMS HERE

This is in response to the article and subsequent rambling editorial on the problems of the 93 sex offenders listed as living or working in the Wai'anae area.

I was the author of the unanimously approved resolution at the Wai'anae Neighborhood Board meeting that requested that the Honolulu Police Department verify the information listed on the Sex Offender Registry. There were numerous major errors and omissions such as people without an address working on Farrington Highway and two to four parolees at the same address. I believe that in all fairness the entire resolution of seven short paragraphs should be published for all to read.

References to "unequal treatment," "ethical concerns," "compounding the burden," "add-on to their punishment," "generalized targets of law enforcement" and the very unfortunate word "vigilantism" give fuel to the perception that your editorial policy is one that criminals are the victims.

Addressing the situation of fugitives, any police officer going to see a suspect will, as a matter of course, wish to know all available facts involving the person.

Should we have a tragic incident and our list is not current, fingers would be pointed. It does appear that there is light at the end of the tunnel as the agencies most involved (police, parole, attorney general, prosecutors, data center, etc.) are now talking to one another to cooperate and to agree on a protocol. Let's hope so.

Editor's note: See the Wai'anae Neighborhood Board's resolution.

Recently, I was very moved and reminded of why I am very proud to be an American when I attended my brother-in-law’s Coast Guard retirement ceremony at the Barbers Point station. A typical American military retirement would have been moving enough, but this one had extra impact and meaning.

It was the tale of two American-hero soldiers, really — one who came to America as a Vietnamese boy and the other a former Army sergeant.

The Coast Guard hangar at Barbers Point was filled with my brother-in-law’s fellow guards, their commanding officers and his family. He was retiring with the rank of chief in charge of repairing and maintaining the aircraft at Barbers Point. He was awarded medals and a commendation for maintaining the aircraft that saved countless lives over the years.

Commanding officers came up and told glowing stories of his service to his country and how he came to America 30 years ago as a refugee from Vietnam. As touching as all this was, the event that brought a tear to everyone’s eyes was when the Coast Guard presented him with an American flag that had flown over the Arizona Memorial. But that was not the end of the story.

After receiving the flag, he called my other brother-in-law, who is a retired Army sergeant, up to the front and presented him with the flag. My retiring Coast Guard chief brother-in-law thanked him for remaining in South Vietnam 30 years ago as the country collapsed (when he could have evacuated back to safety and the U.S. almost immediately) long enough to rescue the rest of the chief’s Vietnamese family and bring them to the U.S. There was not a dry eye on the hangar deck.

This is more than a cute story. It is a metaphor for America. A former refugee earned and received a blessed American flag and then in gratitude returned it to the American who, in essence, first gave it to him by giving him the greatest opportunity in the world: becoming an American. You don’t have to speak English (initially) or be rich or white to succeed in America. This is the true living “E Pluribus Unum” motto that is on our coins: “One out of many.”

This is the true America that you do not see in the media. Instead, we are given the false stories of the now debunked rampage of rape at the New Orleans Superdome or the obsessive coverage of Abu Ghraib.

The point is that we have many “quiet heroes” in America that you will never hear about, such as my two brothers-in-law (and, I have a third one serving in Iraq). Instead, we and the rest of the world largely get our picture of the United States from the headlines and main stories on television, which are almost always negative.

As veteran journalists put it, “if it bleeds, it leads.” That is why it is easy for some to hate America when the better and vastly more representative truth about good Americans is not covered.

It is instructive to note that while so many want us to believe that we are a racist, unjust, elitist and hate-filled country, everybody (even those who supposedly have no chance here) still wants to come here!
We are a great country made up of people from all over the world who are proud to be free Americans and make us very proud.

HOT LANES WORK WELL, BUT GO HAND IN HAND WITH TRAINS

I actually agree with the Cliff Slater’s Oct. 11 commentary “Time is money for Honolulu’s commuters.” The piece implies that HOT (high occupancy tollways) lanes are the answer to our wasted time in traffic, using the San Diego-Los Angeles corridor HOT lanes as an example.
I’ve used these very same HOT lanes while attending college in San Diego to make meetings in Los Angeles. However, my decision-making regarding whether or not I used said lanes was entirely different from the picture Slater painted.

I made that San Diego-L.A. trip numerous times, and I started my experience there by driving. One time, it took me one hour and 45 minutes. Another time, it took more than three hours. Planning for trips through that corridor is a nightmare; you’re either an hour early or an hour late, and it’s impossible to know which. Then I found the train. It was by far the most predictable option, and quickly became my first choice — hands down, without a question.

The HOT lanes, though, did serve me well when I couldn’t ride the train, and I absolutely had to make that meeting. They were speedy and, heck, even lovely at points. Because I didn’t have to make that drive every day, the cost didn’t bother me either. Honestly, I thought then, and still think now, that they are a great idea.

The whole story about the San Diego-L.A. HOT lanes, however, was not told in Slater’s piece. This commuter always chose the train first and the HOT lanes second. I used both “value of reliability” and “value of time” as my decision-making factor, and I agree with Slater: these elements must be included in commuter-pattern forecasting. However, the train wasn’t mentioned in his piece, and I find that an odd and awfully biased way to present the truth about transit and HOT lanes.
The people of O‘ahu — many of whom have never been to these Mainland regions of trains and HOT lanes — really do deserve to hear the whole story. Trains are not intended to replace HOT lanes, or visa-versa. They can truly complement each other, though.

Most notably, the HOT lanes Slater so widely touts were preceded by rail, and for this commuter, the train beat any road in that area hands down. Driving at all was always my last, and least appealing, choice.