Enabling deteriorating behavior hurts public
Due to my work, I’ve been driving around town for years, and it’s become crystal clear to me that we have had a noticeable increase in mentally ill people floating around lately. What’s being done to protect our keiki and kupuna from all these folks wandering around making violent gestures and talking to imaginary people? More than 10 times now, I have had to protect folks from dangerous people wandering around, and it’s getting worse.
When folks exhibit offensive loony behavior repeatedly (as Jerry Hanel did to me and others), they need to be regulated, not accommodated. When we “let it go,” we enable them, and other people wind up getting hurt.
Enablement is not compassion — it’s a cheesy, Band-aid remedy, under which a dangerous infection is festering.
Steve Williams
Makiki
Realize HPD tries best in split-second situations
Regarding the Star-Advertiser’s recent editorial, “Explain Opens in a new tab police Opens in a new tabshooting Opens in a new tab” (Our View, Jan. 11): Of course the police owe the public an explanation on the shooting. I’m inclined to believe they’ve done that to their best ability “pending further Investigation.” What bothers me is the constant lack of support in these officers on the road who must deal with these split-second life threatening decisions.
The decisions made by these officers stick with them the rest of their lives. We ask these officers to do their jobs in a time where they must do it with their hands tied behind their backs. Of course there will an occasional bad decision and bad apples along the way. But let’s try supporting the vast majority of our Honolulu Police Department officers who are doing their best and fighting the good fight. You never see that in the paper but it happens every single day.
Stay safe, HPD. There are more of us out here who support and appreciate you, than you know.
Mike Young
St. Louis Heights
Road-usage fee would raise prices for us all
The government is considering switching to a road usage tax as it claims to need more money to fix our crumbling roads.
First: This is a tax increase, plain and simple. It will hurt the people who live out of the city and have to commute to work. These are the people who can least afford an increase in the cost of living.
Second: Who puts the most mileage on their vehicles? Not the commuter but the trucks and vans that deliver all of our goods and services to stores. Think about all of the construction trucks, cement trucks and flat beds to deliver equipment to the site. This alone will raise the cost of living for us all as they’ll pass this on to the consumer.
Third: Most electric cars have to get their power from our electrical grid, i.e., Hawaiian Electric — power largely made by burning fossil fuel, which means we aren’t getting away from that, if ever.
Whiting Hyland
Kailua
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