No smoking in the car with a child — where will it end (“Mayor backs anti-smoking measure,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. Opens in a new tab8) Opens in a new tab?
How long is the child exposed to second-hand smoke? Even on a bad driving day, stuck in traffic, maybe 90 minutes. Yet the child lives with the smoker or smokers and is being exposed 5-10 hours a day, seven days a week.
The logical solution is to have friends and neighbors report violators who are exposing children. And if that isn’t enough to protect the children, I suggest putting spy cameras in the household of every known smoker. We’ll save the children.
The City Council has more important issues that require attention. All that legislative experience for naught.
Tom Baca
Mililani
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Trump’s war talk another distraction?
A recent CNN Special Report by Fareed Zakaria, “Why Trump Won,” documented how Donald Trump, as a master performer, forged a powerful connection with Americans who harbored resentments and felt they have been left behind.
Several of the usual suspects were also highlighted: Russians releasing embarrassing emails, FBI director James Comey opening an investigation right before the election, and the Clinton campaign ignoring warning signs that the white working class felt voiceless.
However, Trump played the blame game with this base with an expertise few politicians understood — immigrants taking their jobs and committing heinous crimes, minorities demanding more rights, and bad trade deals eliminating American workers.
This documentary showed how Trump, throughout his entire life, was able to distract and control the media. Given this record, I wonder why Trump appears to fear special counsel Robert Mueller looking into his finances. But now there is even a greater distraction on the horizon — Trump talking war.
Jim Wolfe
Nuuanu
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Stop Trump before we are attacked
OK, Republicans and other Donald Trump voters: It is time to admit your emperor has no clothes. Dump your flag pins and put him in a straitjacket before our November practice warning sirens are for real.
Pat Meyers
Kailua
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High technology can improve agriculture
Regarding, “Who needs Ellison’s Lanai greenhouses?” (Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. Opens in a new tab8) Opens in a new tab.
Who? Lanai and Hawaii.
>> 85 percent of our food is imported. Where are we going to get food in a natural or unnatural disaster?
>> Yes, agriculture has already been transformed by modern technology — the ox was replaced by the tractor in 1900. But automation and artificial intelligence will advance agriculture in another gigantic leap into the future.
>> If Lanai can advance less water use, agriculture would explode yields across Hawaii and the world.
Is this just another envy-bashing of the rich guy?
You come up with a bold initiative. Then let others of less vision tear it down.
R. Erik Soderholm
Nuuanu
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Bicycles shouldn’t be treated like toys
Honolulu needs to address contradictions in its attitude toward bicycles. Are they children’s toys or a valid model of adult transportation?
Children’s toys don’t have a realistic registration program. They have no safety checks to determine if they have adequate lights for night travel, no requirements to have a horn or bell to warn pedestrians of the bike’s approach, no requirement to have license plates and no licensed bicyclists. Therefore, bicyclists are not tested to make sure they know the rules of the road.
I have seen bicyclists illegally careening along the sidewalks Downtown and witnessed a young girl being knocked down on a Maunakea Street sidewalk by a bicyclist. One of my dogs was almost run over twice in 15 seconds by a pair of bicyclists on that same sidewalk.
Encouraging people to ride bicycles in town will lead to more incidents involving motor vehicles and even pedestrians.
Andrew Rothstein
Chinatown
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Kapolei roadway needs major repairs
With current road repair activity in Makakilo and across the state, are there any plans to repair the section of road in Kapolei between Chili’s and K-mart?
That section has never been properly redone — only potholes filled, which makes it worse. It’s probably one of the busiest sections of road in Kapolei. Can someone responsible look at this? Not everyone drives a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Anthony Brack
Makakilo
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Mental health of leaders questioned
With all the bombastic rhetoric being exchanged between the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea, there has been analysis from the usual people — political analysts, legislators and others. But these two leaders are not exhibiting normal political-leader behavior. I wonder how the psychia- trists and psychologists would analyze this behavior.
Agnes Pigao Cadiz
Waipahu
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Increase $5,000 cap on small claims
Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the U.S., yet I was very surprised to recently learn that the cap on small claims here is only $5,000. In this day and age, that is small money. The cap in most states is higher, and even extends to $25,000 in Tennessee.
We are long overdue for a small claims cap increase here, inasmuch as efficiently resolving disputes in Small Claims Court benefits everyone generally with less “court-clogging,” costs of juries, attorneys, appeals, and so on.
Steve J. Williams
Ala Moana
