BIKE RACE GOOD IDEA, BUT THERE'S PROBLEM

Linda Umstead's idea of starting a Tour of Hawai'i to increase tourism (Letters, July 14) makes a lot of sense, except for one thing. Our roads here are so bad that only a suicidal cyclist would dare to enter the race.

What is happening with all that money that isn't being used for road repairs?

Nat Aycox | Kailua

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

ETHANOL HURTING US MORE THAN HELPING

I wanted to offer a few facts regarding ethanol after reading K. Heflin's letter (July 5). Alternative energy has become a responsibility banner that politicians love to fly for the public. It makes them look conscientious, but what is the reality of all this posturing?

Consider the U.S. Department of Energy statistics that show in 2008, total electricity generated from solar and wind alternatives produced just 1.1 percent of total consumption in the U.S.

As a campaign promise, President Obama said he would double the nation's supply of renewable energy sources in the next three years. If successful, it would raise this eye-popping total to 2.2 percent — geez, only another 98 percent to go before we are carbon-free. So little is gained from ethanol additives that we would be better off harnessing the hot air from political mouths.

The really bad news is that federal subsidies keep all of this activity alive; Without your tax dollars, ethanol would have no place in the free market. USDE stats tell the truth; Ethanol and other biofuels were subsidized at $19.52 per megawatt hour in 2007. Compare that with just 10 cents for natural gas and petroleum products and 44 cents for coal!

Wind energy and solar require $23.37 and $24.34 in subsidies, respectively. In addition to these federal subsidies, it costs more at the pump to add ethanol.

It's time to remove ethanol from our fuel and look toward other alternatives.

Bryan Hoe | Manoa

CITY BUDGET

SENIORS ON FIXED INCOMES WILL SUFFER

Mayor Hannemann disagreed with the City Council regarding the budget but he decided he would let the budget pass without his signature.

By doing this he will make it very hard for senior citizens on fixed incomes to survive and live in their homes.

With the enormous property tax increase and very little or no relief for senior citizens on fixed incomes, this may force them to move out of their homes.

If Mayor Hannemann does not like the budget, he should have vetoed it and told the City Council to fix it and to take care of our senior citizens.

George Waialeale | Kapahulu

HEALTH CARE

AFFORDABLE BASELINE PLAN IS ONLY SOLUTION

The "public health care plan" debate comes down to two positions: (1) We decide on a minimum level of health care and make it affordable to everyone or (2) we let market forces decide what life, or some minimum quality of life, is worth.

Health care is not a commodity we can simply choose not to buy. That's what makes the health care market different.

Everyone needs health care. The only true way to address this is by offering an affordable baseline plan. Any other solution will be more complicated and less effective because it will not directly address the need.

Anton Rowe | Honolulu

SEX ASSAULTS

MOVE TO KENTUCKY PRISON EGREGIOUS

The recent news of sex assaults at Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky., where Hawai'i has 165 women incarcerated, sadly comes as no surprise.

Corrections Corporation of America's Steven Owen said, "CCA has a zero-tolerance policy for any form of sexual misconduct and takes any such allegations very seriously." Really? Below are two news items about sex assault reports from Otter Creek last year.

Sept. 13, 2008, from WKYT News, "Former Chaplain Charged With Sexual Abuse": "A former chaplain at the Otter Creek Correctional Facility is charged with having sexual contact with an inmate. The Floyd County Times reports 49 year old Randy Hagans of Prestonsburg is charged with third-degree sexual abuse. Hagans is accused of having unwanted sexual contact with the alleged victim from Feb. 14 through Aug. 4 at Otter Creek."

Oct. 24, 2008 article in the Floyd County Times, "Prison guards face sex charges": "The facility houses female inmates from Kentucky and Hawai'i and has seen a rash of similar charges brought against its officers in the past several years."

What is totally egregious is that the Department of Public Safety moved our women to a state where sexual assault is a misdemeanor and to a facility that is far from any OB/GYN facility. Shameful.

Kat Brady | Community Alliance on Prisons

LIBRARIES

CLOSURE PROPOSALS LACK COMMON SENSE

Loren Moreno's article in the July 15 Advertiser confirms my concern when I first read about the proposed closings a week ago.

I'm sure an extensive analysis was made but it appears to be a politically motivated decision. Closing libraries in close proximity of other libraries makes more sense than closing libraries where there is no reasonable alternative (i.e., Hana).

It seems that decisions are driven by numbers crunchers with no regard for good old common sense. Perhaps part of the $5.7 million cut can be achieved by cutting the positions of bureaucrats making these decisions. We need dedicated workers and not an overabundance of bureaucrats.

Clarence Ching | Honolulu