Plastic bag ban doesn’t work

Honolulu’s plastic bag ban is not logical. While grocery stores are banned from using these bags, restaurants, lunch wagons, bakeries, pharmacies and dry cleaners are allow to use them.

Let’s look at the big picture. An individual shops at a grocery store. This person takes these purchases home — a controlled environment. The bag is in the house. I doubt the individual will open the door and throw the bag out into the wind. Conversely, an individual goes to a lunch wagon/restaurant/bakery, buys a couple of plate lunches in stryofoam containers, sits on a park bench and consumes the food. Which plastic bag do you think will be floating in the ocean?

Let’s be fair. Why have exemptions? Why go after Long’s, Tamura’s and Walmart?

Police the beaches, collect discarded bags, check the logos on the bags, then make an informed decision on where the litter is coming from.

The overall cure would be no food in city and state parks and beaches.

Keith Fujimura
Kapolei

Use string bags that expand

I think your editorial staff can count on one hand the number of men wandering around town with an empty — or full — tote bag (“Loopholes hurt plastic bag ban,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, July 13).

They also lack understanding that paper bags rapidly disintegrate when the contents “sweat” or with a little rain, most especially while waiting for The Bus, or legal permission to step into a crosswalk.

Retailers should be promoting the string bags used in Europe, which shrink to fit in a purse or pocket, but stretch to contain a bag of rice.

Rico Leffanta
Kakaako

Mahalo to those working outside

Everyone is doing their job, but some are sweating more than others this summer.

Although Labor Day is a few months away, now is the time to recognize and say mahalo to the motorcycle officers on the side of the road, the construction workers, the maintenance crews taking care of the roads and cleaning the parks, and the utility company workers monitoring power to operate the air conditioning units in homes and buildings.

There are many more who deserve to be mentioned, but with this weather, it is the right time to say mahalo to those who work outdoors to service the public.

It is always the right time to say mahalo to all who work to make Hawaii no ka oi.

Leonard Leong
Manoa

Asphyxiation cruel to chickens

Animal Haven president Frank DeGiacomo calls killing the chickens on Oahu with carbon dioxide (CO2) inhumane (“Initiative targets feral fowl overrunning city facilities,” Star-Advertiser, July 11). He’s right. That this method meets American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines means nothing. CO2 is used to kill animals because it’s cheap. Since “euthanasia” means a merciful death, the term does not apply to CO2 asphyxiation of chickens in a lethal chamber.

CO2 activates brain regions in birds that activate pain perception. Chickens’ chemical receptors are extremely sensitive to CO2, causing them to breathe rapidly and deeply to expel the poisonous gas. Sadly, this only increases their intake, and their death is protracted and cruel.

DeGiacomo urges the city to use Ovo Control, a contraceptive he says would reduce the number of chickens on Oahu. If a truly humane method of controlling the chicken population exists, it should be used instead of subjecting these birds to a horrible death.

Karen Davis
President, United Poultry Concerns Machipongo, Va.

Kokua Line a force for good

June Watanabe answered many of my questions in her Kokua Line column (“Mahalo goes to everyone for making Kokua Line a success for decades,” Star-Advertiser, Kokua Line, July 12).

Quality — that’s the word that rings when I see her work. Dedicated is what I saw in her thorough research to find the answers. Kind is the heartfelt word describing the delicate, live, interactive relationship she had with readers.

Mahalo for her service to the people of Hawaii and the sharing of her soul in a positive way.

Amy Brown
Kaimuki

Don’t allow fake ‘service animals’

Thanks to June Watanabe for a job well done, especially for her last column, in which she said, “Service dogs are not required to be certified. The way the laws are now written, anyone can claim a dog is a service animal ignoring signs saying ‘service animals only’ and businesses can’t demand proof” (“Mahalo goes to everyone for making Kokua Line a success for decades,” Star-Advertiser, Kokua Line, July 12).

I’ve seen many dogs in our supermarkets, and once a dog that reeked badly in the produce section of our supermarket. Doesn’t the governor or his Department of Health care? Why won’t our Legislature do anything about this deplorable situation?

Art Frank
Makaha

Let teenagers catch chickens

Come on, let’s get real. Motion sensors, surveillance cameras, $80,000 just to rid government properties of gallus gallus (feral chickens). The director of the city’s Department of Customer Services says that this is “a better use of taxpayers dollars” (“Initiative targets feral fowl overrunning city facilities,” Star-Advertiser, July 11). Is the DCS really serious?

An alternative plan: Advertise for 17to 18-yearolds to apply for a two-month permit to catch feral chickens. Permits stipulate what methods can be used, that the jurisdictions bear no liability and how to dispose of the feral chickens. A bounty of $1 will be paid for each bird, dead or alive, with deposit stations stipulated. No permit, no bounty. Antifraud recording system would be used.

The system would be islandwide, not just for government properties, and at a much reduced cost. It would provide fun and income for many teenagers.

Ernest Scheerer
Kaimuki

Put crosswalks at Laniakea

As the deadline looms for the state Department of Transportation to remove the parking barriers at Laniakea, it’s time to look at a solution that works, and it’s only a short distance down the road (“State studies options in Laniakea ruling,” Star-Advertiser, July 14).

At Sunset Beach, two parking lots cause traffic slowdowns as cars from the mauka lot pull out onto the highway, and vehicles from the beachside lot back out onto it. There are three pedestrian crosswalks at Sunset, one on each end and one in the center. Traffic stops as pedestrians cross, but there is no outcry from motorists.

At Laniakea, before the barriers went up, there was one mauka lot and no crosswalks. Also, the barriers eliminated almost 50 net parking spaces on the North Shore, as beachgoers took parking spaces elsewhere along the highway. DOT should try the Sunset solution. All it would take is a few cans of paint.

Richard McMahon
Kahuku