Cellphones
and highways
A tragic accident on Highway 130 in lower Puna points to two persistent problems, one islandwide.
Islandwide cellphone coverage is needed for health and safety reasons. 5G is being delayed with issues, so this will involve getting 4G connections. As I travel from Kehena to Wailea daily, I know Kehena, Highway 137, and Highway 130 to Pahoa lack coverage.
Also, from Honomu to Hakalau and up Kaiwiki Road for two miles, there is no coverage. There are many other places, but these affect me daily.
Had there been cell service on Highway 130, a 911 call could have been made at the recent tragic accident.
In 2010, Harry Kim responded to my plea for cellphone coverage for police and crowds coming to view lava, which got a small tower located near the Highway 137 turnoff. Although the coverage area is limited, I personally know three people whose lives were saved by being able to call for help in that area.
There needs to be an alternative route from lower Puna. Cutting off Highway 130 during morning commutes for six hours is not acceptable. People missed jobs, court and medical appointments. Even with death, it would seem at least one lane could be opened for traffic. Six hours is way too long to close a road to take measurements.
I am saddened by this terrible accident, but there are lessons from it and the lava flow that have not been learned and problems that are not yet remedied. This does not take a million-dollar study to fix.
We need cellphone coverage and roads.
Bettie VanOverbeke
Pahoa
Fraud now easier
It looks like bad timing for all-mail voting, since corruption in local Hawaii politics might be at an all-time high (rail, the Kealohas, state bribery federal investigations). In a climate of widespread government corruption, voter fraud becomes too easy and inviting.
The theory that we would improve Hawaii’s embarrassingly rock-bottom, last-place voter turnout rate is questionable. It may be that with all-mail voting, you would simply increase the amount of voters largely by fraudulent ones, and votes by people who don’t even care enough to vote otherwise.
All-mail voting simply means that we will TRUST local government officials to verify the legitimacy of each ballot. How confident are we of this?
It should be noted that the ones under federal investigation are the very ones who are supposed to protect us from fraud and corruption.
Remember when they said how cheap and under control rail would be?
Leighton Loo
Mililani, Oahu
