Safety fees
A recent Tribune-Herald article indicated that the fees for a personal vehicle safety check will soon increase 30 percent for auto/truck and 50 percent for motorcycles. Perhaps it’s a simplistic way to look at things, but what’s the basic purpose of a vehicle inspection? To ensure vehicles are safe to operate, of course.
And what does your favorite safety check station do? Walk around the vehicle to ensure the horn, brake lights and turn signals work. Of course, just because your brake lights work doesn’t mean your brakes do. (And does it really matter that your turn signals work when so many of Hawaii’s drivers don’t use them anyway?)
As long as safety inspections are performed as they mostly are, the fees could rise 100 percent with the same results. Likewise, it stands to reason that completely eliminating the safety check would have the same basic impact on vehicle safety. So why not simply do away with safety checks for personal vehicles?
The only down side is that you would get to keep the safety check money instead of the Department of Transportation, state government and safety check stations (which really can’t afford to spend the time necessary to perform the checks in the first place). After all, the cops can still issue tickets for broken lights — if they so desire.
Fred Fogel
Volcano
A no-brainer
Marriage, the uniting of one man and one woman to live together as one until parted by death, was ordained by God. (What man would ever have voluntarily limited himself to only one woman for life?)
The “equality” same-sex partners are asking for relates to man’s laws. Common sense, also given us by God, would have man change his laws to allow the employee, partner, etc., to designate the party entitled to share his benefits, insurance coverage, hospital visits, etc.
Is that not a no-brainer? If people can leave fortunes to their pets, why can’t this be done?
As Jesus said, paraphrased: Give to the government what is theirs, and to God what is His.
The big winners, if this bill is passed without the vote of the majority, are the divorce lawyers. If you are legally married, you must also be legally divorced. No more just walking away from your commitment into another.
Mary Sakanashi
Hilo
Abercrombie done?
I predict right now that Neil Abercrombie will not be re-elected governor. This whole gay marriage issue, combined with his other “negatives,” will be too much to overcome.
And good riddance!
A. Yamamoto
Hilo
