ARREST WARRANTS

LARGE BACKLOG SHOWS THAT PRIORITIES WRONG

What's this? There are now 52,000 unserved traffic court warrants and an undetermined number of outstanding arrest warrants because the police and sheriff's departments lack the resources to serve the warrants?

Innocent people like the Good Samaritan in Waikiki are allegedly killed by a repeat offender who should have been arrested long ago. Pedestrians are being killed by hit-and-run drivers who probably don't dare stop because they know they are driving illegally. Can we accept this? Do you want to be the next to die?

There is something really wrong with our priorities if we can find the time and money to spend on a program like the recent Click It or Ticket program to enforce use of seat belts and punish those guilty of such victimless crimes, while making excuses that there are not enough resources to enforce outstanding arrest warrants.

I, for one, would much rather know that my taxes were being spent to protect our citizens from known criminals instead of to defend the city against lawsuits that will surely be brought by the families of crime victims.

And why not join the computer age and update the vehicle licensing and registration system so that vehicles cannot be registered or transferred if outstanding traffic violations exist?

Who knows, maybe if the money from all outstanding violations was paid, the system upgrade might even pay for itself.

MAKAKILO

ESSENTIAL FOR QUARRY OPERATIONS TO CONTINUE

I would like to express my support for Grace Pacific's efforts to continue its operations at Makakilo Quarry.

As a local site work contractor for the past 30 years, I am well aware of the important role Grace Pacific plays in the supply of aggregate and building material for both public and private infrastructure projects (such as roads, highways, installation of sewer and water lines).

At a time when fuel costs are driving the cost of construction skyward, it is essential for the construction industry to efficiently utilize its existing resources. If Grace Pacific is forced to shut down its Makakilo Quarry, public and private projects will have to rely on imported rock and aggregate, substantially increasing project cost and resulting in the tax-paying public forced to pay more for O'ahu's capital projects.

To continue to meet the challenges of the increasing cost of construction projects, it is imperative that Grace Pacific be allowed to continue its operations at Makakilo Quarry.

SUGAR BOWL

DID YOU WONDER WHY YOU WEREN'T ON LIST?

Did you find yourself wondering why you weren't on the University of Hawai'i Sugar Bowl list?

I sure was. I mean, what did you have to do to get invited? Alumni of the University of Hawai'i? That's me! Football booster, you bet! I was on the sidelines when they were still the Rainbows, and even went in to cheer them up in the locker room.

What a short memory these guys have. And how about that football game I announced between Kailua and Kalaheo. So what if it was 1988. It counts.

OK, I was a little upset when I didn't get the interview for the UH coaching job, and to add insult to injury, the new guy's nickname is "coach Mac."

The next time they go to the Sugar Bowl, they better include me.

HARLAN CLEVELAND

POLICY-MAKERS SHOULD HAVE PAID ATTENTION

As far back as 1986, the late Harlan Cleveland, while at the Hubert Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs, envisioned the information revolution sweeping across Asia.

With his strong ties to Hawai'i, he called upon the communications department of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa and the East-West Center to organize a conference in Singapore to discuss this issue.

The meeting was co-sponsored by the Asian Institute for Mass Communications, resulting in a volume entitled "The Passing of Remoteness."

He wrote the first chapter, in which he foresaw the "twilight of hierarchy" and discussed the role of innovation as the agent of economic growth. Two decades ago, if the policy-makers in Hawai'i had heeded his call, we would not have been solely dependent on a declining tourism industry.

PEARL HARBOR

TUNNEL STUDY FUNDS SHOULD BE RELEASED

Gov. Linda Lingle has until the end of this month to release $200,000 appropriated by the Legislature calling for a Pearl Harbor tunnel feasibility study.

While we wait, the latest in tunnel technology has numerous cities, such as Brisbane, Australia, going forward with tunnel projects that could be duplicated here.

Our topography in Honolulu is just like Brisbane's in that we lack land to expand our surface transportation network. In these situations, tunneling is the solution.

Since the tunnel concept through Pearl Harbor was last evaluated in 1992, when the technology to bore in muck was not perfected, today's proposal has merit in that the portals are to be located off military property and incorporate advancements in tunnel technology.

The University of Hawai'i Transportation Laboratory put the tunnel across Pearl Harbor at $3 billion, the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization at $7 billion and the state Department of Transportation at $9 billion.

Brisbane's proposed network of tunnels includes going under a river at less than $1 billion per mile to construct and financed with a toll instead of taxes.

Our tunnel option could include a three-lane reversible expressway with a rail spur and bicycle lane. The best part is that there's no noise to contend with, no property to take, no views to obstruct and no traffic to impose upon during construction.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

OBAMA PLAN WILL CAUSE AN ECONOMIC DISASTER

On June 8, The Advertiser ran a story in the Focus section about Barack Obama picking a candidate for vice president.

Funny, I never saw anything like this article about John McCain's worries of selecting a vice president.

It points more to the bias of the local papers. McCain is going to have a more difficult job of selecting a vice president than Obama will. McCain has to select a candidate who will appeal to the conservative branch of the GOP. Most conservatives do not trust McCain because of liberal tendencies.

Obama has it easier. There are a lot of liberals like him who are ready, willing and able to do his beckoning. The Democratic Party wants three things passed in the first 100 days: the biggest tax increase in modern history, a surrender in the war against radical Islam and a government takeover of healthcare in America.

These three issues will cause an economic disaster.

By the way, nobody has responded to my challenge to cite anything that Obama has said that does not require a massive tax increase. He stands for nothing other than separating me from my hard-earned money. In case nobody has heard, Canada is in the process of scrapping their "free" healthcare and are going to a privately run system. When you have to wait three years for an MRI or CAT scan, the system isn't working.

ROD TAM

TERM IS DEROGATORY SLANG, NOT RACIAL SLUR

Undocumented workers should not be allowed to work here, but I was shocked to hear the statement made by City Councilman Rod Tam referring to undocumented Mexican workers as "wetbacks."

Although I applaud the City Council for prompt censure of his ignorant comment, I believe they showed similar ignorance by labeling his comment as a "racial slur." The term "wetback" is a derogatory slang not a racial slur. He should have been censured for derogatory slang.

Dwight D. Eisenhower said: "The rise in illegal border crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' (rooted from the watery route taken by the Mexican immigrants across the Rio Grande) to a current rate of more than 1 million cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the federal government." That was 1954. "Operation Wetback" was conducted by the U.S. INS.

Just as an American cannot be defined by a race, neither can a Mexican. They are both nationalities, not races.