Question: After removing the decal from my Certificate of Motor Vehicle Registration and applying it to my auto, I trimmed the right 31⁄2 inches from the certificate to allow the certificate to fit conveniently with the registration and safety inspection documents in a folder. On a subsequent traffic stop, a police officer informed me that trimming the certificate in this manner is unlawful. Since no unique information is imprinted on that portion of the certificate, such a prohibition seems odd.
Can you verify?
Answer: There is no such law or prohibition, according to the Honolulu Police Department and the city Motor Vehicle & Licensing Division.
The officer “may have been mistaken in this case,” an HPD spokeswoman said.
However, instead of cutting the certificate, “I would recommend the public fold the certificate to fit the certificate holder,” said Dennis Kamimura, administrator of the Motor Vehicle & Licensing Division.
He noted that the only required motor vehicle information contained on the right 31⁄2-inch portion of the certificate that was removed is the emblem number issued to the vehicle.
Q: Whom do I contact to fish a shopping cart out of the Ala Wai Canal? It has been sitting there for some time and is an eyesore for both residents and visitors. It is on the mauka/Ewa side of the canal, where it meets up with Ala Moana Boulevard near the boat harbor. There appear to be traffic cones also thrown in the water there.
A: The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation would be the agency to contact.
The number for the Oahu District Office is 832-3520. Your complaint has been forwarded to that office.
If the shopping cart can be fished out from land, removal should be done relatively quickly, a spokesman said. If it has to be accessed by boat, it may take a while longer, depending on the availability of staff and craft.
MAHALO
To the man wearing a white bicycle helmet, green T-shirt and white shorts who had his bike propped against a pole holding the two “One Way” signs at the exit of the Makiki Post Office parking lot around 12:45 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10. He was standing on his bike, cleaning the signs. At a time when the city is struggling to keep potholes filled, let alone make sewer and sewage treatment plant repairs mandated by the federal government, it is wonderful to see a private citizen anonymously doing his part to at least keep something looking clean.
— A. White
AUWE
To a guy who, in his mind, had outsmarted the system. About 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18, my wife, two kids and I boarded TheBus at Seaside Avenue in Waikiki to go to the Don Quijote store. A few blocks later on Kuhio Avenue, just before Kalakaua Avenue, the driver tells five elderly people sitting behind her that they had to move to make room for a man in a wheelchair. Afterward, we were in the produce section of the store when we noticed the man walking around with the best of them and using his wheelchair to hold his purchases! He recognized us and came over to talk to me, delighted in outsmarting the system. I broke off the conversation because he was clearly not in his right mind. Afterward, I thought we should have taken a photo and turned him in. — Thought We Had Seen It All
A: There’s not much that bus drivers can do even if you had photographed the man.
“Our bus operators are trained and expected to courteously serve every passenger,” said Michelle Kennedy, spokeswoman for Oahu Transit Services. “They are not allowed to question or challenge anyone using a mobility device.”
Even if you had provided a photo of the man standing, “the bus operator does not have the option to deny service to that same bus patron in a wheelchair,” she said.
