1967 CAPTURE

RESCUERS TURNED MCCAIN OVER TO NORTH VIETNAM

Your July 2 editorial page contains an amazing photo of presidential candidate John McCain being pulled out of Truc Bach Lake near Hanoi minutes after his bomber jet was shot down.

However, the caption "being captured by Vietnamese civilians" is misleading.

McCain was badly injured from a desperate low-altitude ejection. By the time he hit the water, he was unconscious with multiple fractures.

The civilians pictured swam into the lake and rescued a drowning McCain, who had requested the risky assignment with the VA-146 "Saints" bomber squadron to blow up central Hanoi's key power plant during a 1967 U.S. air war advance into civilian areas of North Vietnam away from the battle zones in the south.

McCain's rescuers turned him over to the North Vietnamese military, and he endured five years of poor medical treatment, isolation and torture.

That he survived this ordeal with courage and bravery is obvious, but the context of how he became a POW is more complex.

CONGESTION PRICING

DJOU WOULD PENALIZE US FOR GOING TO WORK

Again, Councilman Charles Djou is up to his magic fix-it ideas: Penalize the voting public for driving to and from work during rush hour.

Hmm... I wonder why there is a rush-hour? Could it be because people are going to and from work? Yeah, go ahead and make people pay for the privilege of getting to work on time or having to pick the kids up after at A-plus.

Other cities have tolls to pay for maintaining roads, not to penalize them and keep vehicle traffic to a minimum.

RAIL DEBATE

VOTING AGAINST RAIL WOULD BE BIG MISTAKE

This letter is in regard to everyone who is against rail transit. I have sat back and read everyone's concerns, including finger pointing toward Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

The mayor has outstanding leadership skills, and is doing exactly what the people of Hawai'i need.

Tom McAuliffe and the Grassroot Institute don't know what it is like to sit in heavy rush hour traffic on a daily basis. I realize not everyone will be using the rail transit, but everyone who opposes the system needs to ride out to the countryside during rush-hour traffic. I am certain you will change your mind immediately. It is not our choice that we live in the countryside, but it is because of our financial status.

If Rene Mansho had approved this issue many years ago, the rail would be up and running at one half of the total cost.

There are going to be 20,000 homes built on the Leeward side of the island. It doesn't take Einstein to figure out we need the rail transit system.

I urge the citizens of Hawai'i not to make another mistake by voting against the rail transit system.

Mayor Hannemann, I want you to know I feel you're doing a darn good job and you have my vote to go for it.

RAIL IS NOT THE ANSWER TO TRAFFIC CONGESTION

Why are we building a rail system that is not going to help relieve the traffic congestion in the future? Not only do taxpayers have to pay higher excise tax during this economic hard time, but hundreds of people will be chased out of their homes due to eminent domain.

The tax dollars will be better used by developing the rural areas, such as 'Ewa Beach and Kapolei, into more commercialized cities so that people do not have to travel so far to go to work in Honolulu and Waikiki.

They can build shopping malls, motels and a low-rent retirement community in 'Ewa Beach and Kapolei to provide more places to shop and more job opportunities for local residents.

Meanwhile, 'Aiea, Pearlridge, Pearl City and Waipahu can provide closer places to shop and more job opportunities for people who live in the west side of O'ahu.

Many people will agree that the more urgent homeless problem needs to be addressed compassionately with the extra tax dollars. It is time to clean up and revitalize the older and dirtier parts of the city, so that Hawai'i can truly live up to its reputation of being a tropical paradise.

PROJECT WILL DO LITTLE TO RELIEVE CONGESTION

Steven Fukunaga (Letter, June 30) says we should trust our elected officials to choose what is best for us.

However, our City Council did not choose rail. Rail could not win when two council meetings deadlocked 4-4. The mayor then chose rail.

It is interesting that in all the mayor's accusations of outsider and Mainland interests backing the anti-rail movement, the League of Women Voters of Honolulu, a truly local organization with an impeccable reputation, is never mentioned.

My family has been in Hawai'i for generations. My great-grandfather was a citizen of the Republic of Hawai'i. As chair of the league's planning and transportation committee, I have spearheaded our anti-rail efforts.

When I invited the mayor to debate the merits of his rail project on prime-time television, he declined. By remarkable coincidence, every other well-known proponent of rail also could not make the debate. Without a pro-rail spokesperson, KHON had to cancel the debate.

The league is for mass transit. However this rail project will do little to relieve traffic congestion, and will cost several times what reversible elevated bus-carpool lanes would cost. Buses would be able to carry commuters at high speed in contrast to the trains' projected 23 miles per hour

The mayor keeps saying the bus alternative has been "studied" and rejected as too expensive. The "study" is the alternatives analysis done by Parsons Brinkerhoff, which did not really study any alternatives to rail.

ANTI-RAIL GROUP MUSTN'T CONTROL O'AHU'S FUTURE

I am appalled by the anti-rail faction's attacks in the last few weeks. They came out with the deceitful slogan, "let the people decide," without explaining that their motion, if presented on the ballot, will effectively kill proposals for all forms of mass transit.

With the announcement of Panos Prevedouros running for mayor, it is now apparent that this group is trying to leverage its misled supporters into electing a politician who is anti-progress and profit-motivated.

Backed by Dale Evans, owner of Charley's Taxi, Panos will be a proponent of small-time politics.

Let's not let the motives and proposals of Charley's Taxi control the future of our quality of life in Hawai'i.

The numbers tell the truth. With gas rising to $5 per gallon, how many working-class people in Mililani, Pearl City and even 'Aiea will be able to afford a $400 to $600 gas bill per month? How will it be in 10 years, when our westward population has increased substantially and driving daily is no longer financially possible?

We need to think about our near future as well as our kids' future.