VACATION RENTALS

R&R ACCOMMODATIONS CAN BE FOUND ON BASE

In response to Paul Swart's Jan. 21 letter about B&Bs: Nice try, Mr. Swart, but the military on R&R have access exclusively to some very affordable accommodations with outstanding amenities on bases such as Bellows and Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe.

They are very nice, uncrowded beaches, and you don't have to worry about your belongings being stolen.

TURTLE BAY

IN OUR INTEREST TO KEEP NORTH SHORE PRISTINE

The idea to preserve Turtle Bay area is phenomenal.

I am a longtime North Shore resident and this sounds great. The North Shore is already showing signs of pollution and is getting more and more abused and looking less and less beautiful. The traffic is horrendous even now.

The ocean is getting polluted and the beaches don't look as nice as before. There is trash on the beaches.

The entire North Shore should be limited and frozen to development.

Most tourists that I talk to on the North Shore have escaped from Waikiki because they think it is crazy — too busy, too loud, too artificial. They got that at home and are looking for something relaxing instead. So, keep North Shore pretty, keep it pristine, keep it quaint.

The bottom line is that's what we sell here in Hawai'i: a more sane, natural lifestyle, in a pristine environment.

It is in our best interest to keep our environment pristine and our lifestyle simple and natural. Nobody else has that — so they will pay big bucks to come here to experience it.

PROPERTY WORTH WHAT BUYER WILLING TO PAY

Since when is a property worth significantly more than the value sought in a foreclosure? If $283 million, or even $400 million, were the true value of the Turtle Bay Resort, why aren't savvy businesses lining up to take advantage of the bargain?

According to the foreclosure complaint, the borrower utilized proceeds to make "a one-time distribution to the beneficial owners." What did the owners do with the money they paid themselves? Why haven't they used the funds to repay their obligation?

Besides being a director of Keep the North Shore Country, I have been in the mortgage-lending business for 16 years and one fact is abundantly clear: The value of real estate is determined by what an informed buyer is willing to pay, not what a seller hopes to get.

This resort is probably worth much less than the "asking price" of $283 million.

PROTECT TURTLE BAY AS ONE OF LAST RURAL PLACES

As a lifetime resident of the North Shore, I share the desire to protect Turtle Bay as one of the last rural and old-Hawai'i outlets.

It is a beautiful and peaceful place. It is sacred for the Hawaiians, with many iwi on the land.

It must be protected for our children and their children.

Turtle Bay (and the North Shore as a whole) is a special place for locals on O'ahu and visiting tourists.

I humbly ask you to support Gov. Linda Lingle's proposal in this critical time.

DEATH PENALTY

DETERRENCE A START IN FIXING PRISON SYSTEM

The article "Room for improvement" by Ronald Becker (Focus, Jan. 20) was thought-provoking, and the message was clear: The rule of thumb for community treatment of inmates is out of sight, out of mind.

But their absence takes a toll on their families, and inmates typically return to their old neighborhoods with no new virtues, only new vices such as being more violent. In other words, the corrections system is dysfunctional; inmates are not reformed.

It appears the best remedy is preventive medicine. Why not try and discourage the conduct in the first place through deterrence? Where to start? How about imposing the death penalty on drug dealers?

THIRD-WORLD ROADS

POTHOLES, RUTS HELP DEVELOP DRIVING SKILLS

I'd like to thank the great leaders of the city and the state for providing me with all the free training I've had for many, many (too many) years.

I am now totally qualified to drive on any rutted, potholed, rough or washboard road in all the Third-World countries.

Driving on O'ahu roads reminds me of someone learning to ski moguls.

I only have one complaint. On a recent day I was maneuvering between ruts and holes and all of a sudden I was on a smooth surface. This is extremely dangerous and I feel the state should be posting signs, "Danger: Smooth Road Ahead."

REEFS

FRESH WATER ALSO IS NEEDED IN ECOSYSTEM

I would like to express my concern, which was missed in The Advertiser's recent article, "It's the year of the reef" (Jan. 24) to no fault of your writer.

I would have expected Alan Friedlander to have made mention of an element critical in a thriving nearshore ocean ecosystem — "fresh water" and the lack thereof.

I'm not talking about runoff or water from sewage plants. I'm talking about nearshore springs and streams that feed this crucial element into our nearshore estuaries and the ocean's ecosystem.

Much of nature's water that once made it to our ocean has now been capped or diverted for O'ahu's growing population, especially on our south and west shores, where even Freidlander admits reefs are in poor health.

Many indigenous species have a critical time of development that depend on this natural occurrence.

We must take this important issue into consideration when helping to protect and preserve our natural resources.

HAWAI'I

DON'T DO STUPID THINGS JUST FOR SUSTAINABILITY

I hear the political slogan of sustainability a lot and am wondering what it could possibly mean with respect to Hawai'i.

Several ships come here every week carrying thousands of items that are made, grown or found elsewhere. If we should achieve sustainability in any one item, how about the other thousands of items that are not or can not be created in Hawai'i?

If in the name of sustainability we should make uneconomic choices, then we pay the price for that in a lower standard of living and/or reduced competitiveness in business.

It is a fallacy to separate Hawai'i's economy from the rest of the country and imagine that doing things locally makes us richer. It makes the whole country materially richer (including Hawai'i) if things are produced where they can be produced most efficiently.

A pretty good rule of thumb is that if the market hasn't already created a Hawai'i source for some product, then it is likely because that activity is uneconomical in Hawai'i.

Issues about oil and gasoline require very careful analysis because sustainability and "feeling good" can interfere with solid analysis. Even though sugar is the preferred feed stock for ethanol, none of our sugar companies who have studied the market and who can get 100 percent tax write-offs to build a plant have started one yet.

Hawai'i is not going to turn global problems around. We should be careful not to do too many stupid things in the name of sustainability, or we will have sustainability because no one can afford to live here.

UH

ASK QUESTIONS BEFORE SPENDING MORE MONEY

Recent reports of shoddy maintenance at the University of Hawai'i are absolutely outrageous. The poor facilities for football are only a part of the larger picture: a university gone bad with shoddy maintenance.

Obviously some money is needed. But before the Legislature throws huge mounds of money at the university, some questions should be asked.

We need to know what money has gone to the university and where the money went. How much money has the Legislature appropriated per student, and how does that compare with other universities?

Has the maintenance staff done a good job considering funds available?

So before the Legislature appropriates more money to improve university facilities, it should get the facts first as to what has been done with the money already given to the campus.

And while we are at it, the Board of Regents needs to ask what the chancellor and president of the university have done about the situation. Do we, perhaps, need a new administration at the university?

Let us act, but let us get the facts first. The students at the university are the ones who are poorly served. They are preparing for their futures, and we should not let them down.

GOVERNMENT

TAXES ARE CULPRIT IN HIGH PRICE OF GASOLINE

I read with interest the column by Sen. Ron Menor (Focus, Jan. 20). I wanted to see if he would get to the true culprit in the price of gas. But he didn't, which was what I expected.

At no point in his column did he mention the amount of taxes levied on gas by the federal and state governments.

The federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. The state gas tax is 60.1 cents a gallon. This means every gallon in Hawai'i has 78.5 cents of tax on it.

With gas at about $3.31 a gallon, taxes make up about 25 percent of the price of a gallon.

There is only one state that has higher gas taxes than Hawai'i — New York.

With that amount of tax revenue, we should have world-class streets and roads. Instead, we have world-classless roads.

So, Sen. Menor, come clean on who is the largest reason of the high cost of gas and oil.