This is in response to Tim Hurley’s story, “Telescope protesters’ attorney quits due to scheduling” (Star-Advertiser, Oct. 12).

First, Judge Riki May Amano set the schedule way in advance. She wanted everyone to know what would be expected of them.

Second, there are others without lawyers who are doing fine. Why can’t these protesters handle the case themselves?

And third, if Kealoha Pisciotta is willing to sacrifice her political career over this, then that is her choice and hers alone.

This should not impact the hearings as that would not be fair.

Annette Reyes

Captain Cook

Lousy drivers cause bad traffic

Everyone complains about traffic. But isn’t it caused by lousy drivers?

Traffic would flow better if we were more considerate and knowledgeable about our driving.

Drivers need to keep up with the flow of traffic, maintain a constant speed and not drive too slow in the left lane or too fast in the right lane. They should not cross solid lines, not drive in the shoulder lanes and stay out of the HOV lanes, if they don’t qualify for their use. They should learn how to merge correctly, change lanes and make left turns.

The state’s and counties’ departments of transportation should consider an education program to help people become better drivers.

Egan Kawamoto

Ewa Beach

Heed call to end war on drugs

Hawaii legislators should take a long look at Wednesday’s call by the Human Rights Watch and American Civil Liberties Union to decriminalize drug use, because it is an excellent idea (“Major rights groups: Decriminalize use of all illicit drugs,” Star-Advertiser, Breaking News, Oct. 11).

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 2 million people are incarcerated in the U.S. This disgusting number is far too high for the “land of the free.”

How can a young man in his 20s find his calling, work his way up to a management role, or start a family if he is spending these years in a prison? And why is prison the appropriate sentence for drug use?

Mandatory drug treatment would be far more appropriate and productive for the individual, society and even government budgets.

Instead of trying to figure out how to house all of the prisoners in Hawaii, let’s reduce the number of Hawaii residents in prison. One easy step is to decriminalize drug use.

Nicholas Kalkas

Lanikai

Trump had done voters a service

From a perusal of reader comments regarding “Unshackled Trump unleashes aggressive attacks on own party” (Star-Advertiser, Top News, Oct. 11), it appears many may believe George Wallace was prescient when, almost half a century ago, he observed there is not a dime’s difference between the Republican and Democratic parties.

For all his flaws, Donald Trump has pulled aside the green curtain so conservatives can see how long they have been swindled by a well-heeled, lethargic GOP Beltway establishment interested primarily not in winning elections but in “getting along” to preserve their comfy sinecures.

The idea that it is OK for Hillary Clinton to become president so long as there are GOP majorities in Congress to keep her in check is ludicrous. Consider the lousy job these nominal Republicans did in their feeble efforts to keep President Barack Obama in check.

Whether or not Trump wins, he has done his fellow Americans a profoundly valuable service exposing this long-running GOP scam. He is a true patriot, a hero.

Thomas E. Stuart

Kapaau, Hawaii island

Mileage tax could be gamed

The thought of replacing the gasoline tax with a mileage tax will only open the floodgates for gaming the system.

There are thousands of vehicles with expired safety checks. How will the state calculate the taxes on a yearly basis, when the record-keeping will not match the expiration of the registration?

We see so many illegal vehicles on the road and wonder how they passed a safety check. Maybe these vehicles can also get a mileage adjustment on their next inspection to get a big discount on the vehicle tax. Or maybe I’ll do my safety check every 10 months instead of yearly and get an annual tax discount on my vehicle for doing my inspection early.

It only took a couple minutes to figure this out. Maybe with more thought, I could come up with more.

Frank Young

Kakaako