Question: Where can I direct an immigrant neighbor who would like to get a driver’s license but doesn’t confidently read English? He understands the road signs, but is worried about the written test.
Answer: The Hawaii Driver’s Manual is available online in at least 13 languages besides English and, as far as the written test is concerned, driver’s license applicants who are unable to read and/or write English may be allowed to take an oral exam in their preferred language instead.
Find links to the manual in 14 languages at 808ne.ws/driver, the website of the state Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Safety Office. Your neighbor can download a PDF of the manual for free, assuming that his preferred language is available. The possibilities include Chinese (simplified and traditional), Chuukese, English, Hawaiian, Ilocano, Japanese, Korean, Marshallese, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog, Tongan and Vietnamese.
As for requesting an oral exam in lieu of the written test, he should call 808-768-9100 or email dl.sid.help@honolulu.gov for more information, keeping in mind that restrictions may apply, according to Honolulu County’s Department of Customer Services.
Q: Is there a rule that all residential or commercial properties must have a mailbox? … It would seem as one is required, otherwise how else can we send bills to an address?
A: No. Federal postal regulations don’t require all properties to install a mail receptacle because there are multiple ways the U.S. Postal Service can deliver mail, said spokesman Duke Gonzales. Some customers have direct delivery to their physical address, while others pick up their mail from a post office box or via general delivery, which means over the counter at a USPS retail lobby, he said.
You can check whether a corporate or residential street address is verified for U.S. mail delivery by using the “Look Up a ZIP Code” tool at USPS.com; 808ne.ws/lookzip is a direct link. Enter the address and click “find.” “If the address that pops up includes a ZIP code with a ‘+4’ suffix, that address is in our USPS delivery database,” Gonzales said.
He noted that “customers seeking to activate mail delivery at new properties/delivery points must first request and receive approval from their local post offices of the specific locations of their mail receptacles. Mail delivery will not commence for such customers until the locations of their mail receptacles and the modes of delivery to those locations are approved.”
Mahalo
A huge mahalo to the person who found my purse and turned it in to security at the Kuakini Medical Center. I was not familiar with the center so I returned to my doctor’s office to inquire about a lost and found department. One of the doctor’s assistants stayed with me and took me to several offices to see if anyone had turned in a purse, but we were not successful. Upon leaving the parking structure, I asked the cashier if Kuakini had a lost and found department. She directed me to the hospital building. We parked near the emergency entrance. There were workers nearby so I asked for directions again. A woman asked me to wait there and said she would call security. After some anxious moments I saw an individual walking toward me with her arm outstretched and my purse hanging over her arm. It was an unbelievable sight. All the contents were in the purse. The person who found it did not leave a name so I hope they see this mahalo and know that I am extremely grateful for their honesty and goodwill. Thanks to everyone else who helped me that day too. — Grateful reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
