PAT-DOWN POLICY MAKES NO SENSE

With two metal knees and a metal hip, I set off the metal detector every time I fly. I'm then shunted to one side and eventually scanned from head to toe with an electronic wand.
Fair enough. But then, after the wand has detected the metal joints, I'm given a full-body pat-down. "What's the point of this?" I'll sometimes ask the TSA agent (while my wife, watching over my shoes and carryon, rolls her eyes at my futile question).
The answer almost always is simply, "It's policy." But one time a chatty agent responded that neither the wand nor the metal detector could catch explosive powders or liquids that might be taped to my body.
"You mean like for all those people?" I replied, nodding toward the line walking freely through the metal detector. He shrugged and even smiled slightly. After all, he didn't set this policy.
Unless passengers with metal joint replacements are considered more likely to be terrorists, this makes no sense. What's needed is for everyone to get the same full-body pat-down. Either that, or we should be prepared to accept the occasional disaster triggered by nonmetal explosives.

DAVID PELLEGRIN | Maunawili

FIREWORKS

RAISE PERMIT FEES UNTIL BAN IN PLACE

Because too many people ignore the legal period for fireworks (Dec. 31 from

9 p.m. to 12 a.m.), I support the total ban on fireworks urged by the police and fire departments. But until the Legislature acts, why don't the county governments raise the permit fees from $25 to $250? Perhaps raising the fee tenfold will result in one-tenth as many violations.

LUNSFORD PHILLIPS | Kailua

NIGHTMARE GOES ON AND LAWMAKERS LET IT

Here we go again. Every year it's the same old, same old.

Every night since Thanksgiving some idiot pyromaniac sets off a bomb over Haiku Road that rattles the windows over the whole neighborhood and nearly gives me cardiac arrest.

My normally fearless pit-mix dog is reduced to a nervous wreck resembling a shivering bowl of mochi and I wonder if some illegal aerial is going to land on the roof of one of the body shops lining Kahuhipa Street and set the whole place ablaze.

Forget going out on New Year's Eve. Last year we couldn't even go to an early movie. Regal Cinemas at Windward Mall had to shut down because the smoke alarms kept going off at about 8:30 p.m.

If we drive to town to go out for dinner we can barely see the road driving home, for the smoke and driving is life-threatening, what with the impaired drivers and the idiots who think it's good fun to throw firecrackers in the street in front of your car.

New Year's Eve is a nightmare for so many people being held prisoner in their own homes and yet every year our legislators choose to kill any bill that will stop the insanity.

MICHEL GROTSTEIN | Käneohe

BREATHE EASIER, SKIP THE FIREWORKS

New Year's Eve brings fun and fireworks to some while another group runs for relief from the smoke. This one night compromises 175,000 children and adults in Hawaii who have lung disease — that's more than all those on Maui and Kauai combined. For those who struggle to breathe, one night can be deadly — especially with this year's expected vog and low winds.

Many light fireworks without considering someone else's air quality and the danger the drifting smoke may bring to others. Many will suffer in silence. Some will end up in an emergency room.

We recommend those who have breathing problems to stay inside with the doors and windows closed. Avoid physical exertion. Use a particle mask or damp washcloth over your face unless those make it harder to breathe. If you take medications, keep them available and call for medical assistance if your breathing problems continue to worsen.

Please, skip the fireworks this year. Instead, put the money you would have spent on fireworks toward a healthy family activity or donate your fireworks dollars to your favorite nonprofit. And let's all consider passing stricter regulations on fireworks usage. Many more will breathe easier.

JEAN EVANS, MPH | Executive director, American Lung Association in Hawaii

HOMEMADE BOMBS A NOISY DANGER

I wholeheartedly agree with Steve Perchemlides' letter (Dec. 28) about noise destroying the quality of life in Honolulu, except he needs to expand his geography to include Windward Oahu. More troubling than vehicle noise is the noise generated throughout our neighborhood by fireworks, which made their debut well before Christmas.

Many of the nightly explosions cannot be attributed to legally acquired or legally used fireworks. I have seen a neighbor fashion dry ice bombs of various sizes using water bottles and empty paint buckets.

Firecrackers are re-packaged to increase the intensity of their blast by ensuring simultaneous detonation of an entire brick. The noise created from these and other fireworks occur nightly in Kailua in the weeks leading to New Year's Eve, and will extend several days into the New Year.

Despite injuries, fires and window-shaking, middle-of-the-night explosions, no meaningful enforcement of illegal fireworks takes place.

Enforcement admittedly is difficult but entirely possible, if elected officials demand it.

Until then, citizens must continue to watch their animals cower, their children be awakened and their peaceful nights get disturbed by explosions principally attributable to homemade explosives and fireworks employed in a manner not intended by their manufactures.

CHRISTOPHER E. BLANCHARD | Kailua