Letters to the Editor
Reciprocity laws would ease problem
James Dannenberg's commentary in the Aug. 26 paper concerning protectionism in Hawai'i brings this problem out into the light after being ignored for far too many years.
While the paramedic shortage created by restrictions on the entry of out-of-state trained professionals could eventually cause life-threatening problems, there are other professions, as the judge mentions, similarly restricted to no good end.
As a dentist educated at the University of Illinois and licensed in that state, 17 years ago I attempted to get licensed in Hawai'i, only to meet defeat by the protectionist practices of the Hawai'i Dental Board. The exam was notoriously designed to flunk any Mainland dentist foolhardy enough to waste his time taking it. I finally gave up and moved to American Samoa, where my Illinois license allowed me to practice.
While I hear that the dental exam is not quite so unfair as in the past, a true reform would be to go the route of more progressive states whose reciprocity laws recognize licenses from states that do so in return. As the situation now stands, the current laws restrict the entry of various professionals into Hawai'i, with the main result being higher prices to consumers.
Ken Fasig, D.D.S.
Pago Pago, American Samoa
EMS regulations are there for safety
On behalf of the advisory committee to the Board of Medical Examiners, I would like to respond to the Aug. 26 commentary "Our bureaucratic wall of shame."
To be certified means that persons are able to provide emergency medical services (EMS) in a competent manner. It also means they are capable of implementing treatment protocols (standards of care) that are established within the EMS system. To perform these in a safe and satisfactory way requires training in areas and skills that are part of their functions as EMS personnel.
Because EMS functions and protocols vary from state to state, there is a wide variation in training programs. To be acceptable, the board's rules require that a program include training in areas and skills that are needed in order to operate safely and competently within Hawai'i's EMS system. It takes approximately 1,215 hours of paramedic training to accomplish this. In comparison, other states' programs range from 390 hours (Illinois) to 1,500 hours (Kentucky).
The committee recognizes the variations and sympathizes with applicants' frustration. In light of this, the committee has attempted to assist applicants in finding alternative ways (within the parameters of the laws and rules) of meeting the training requirements. For example, applicants wishing to have their employment considered are advised to submit information from their employer. Upon meeting certain conditions, the board has found these to be acceptable.
The committee has been reviewing the certification and training requirements and is exploring possible revisions. With public safety uppermost in mind, it is the committee's goal to recommend standards that ensure the certification of competent EMS personnel without preventing qualified persons from providing medical care to our community.
William T. Watkins Jr.
Former chairman, Advisory committee to the Board of Medical Examiners
'Healthy' people may be handicapped
Regarding the Aug. 3 letter on the abuse of handicap parking: Tom Aki of Kane'ohe must just be writing from what he "sees."
I have a handicap. I went through four knee surgeries, two hip surgeries, a hip fracture and a hip replacement. I am also a senior citizen.
I am not in a wheelchair (thank God), but at times I do use a cane. I do enter and exit my car very carefully. I do not want to depend on my cane or walker, but that does not mean I am not in pain, and I certainly do not want a whole lot of sympathy or pity from onlookers.
When I was issued my sticker for four years, an instruction sheet was given so that users follow rules. One of them is to display the sticker only when in the handicapped space and not to drive around with it forever on the rearview mirror.
Yes, there are people who abuse this privilege and some (myself) who are very grateful to use it when necessary.
I do agree with Aki about citation, but who gives it out? With each handicap tag, you also get a blue identification card that is to be kept with your driver's license. For my first tag, I had to pay $10, and it also had a picture of me. Then the state was accused of breaking a rule by the $10 fee, so no more picture IDs. I think we should go back to the $10 charge. The red tags are for six months; blue tags are issued for a limited time in years based on the person's disability. Renewals are done by the physician — in my case, my various orthopedic doctors.
I may look healthy, but looks are deceiving.
So please do not judge all handicapped people by the ones Aki "sees" abusing the privilege.
Yasuko Kim
Kaimuki
Not all car enthusiasts are breaking the law
In the wake of recent events, the community is pressing the Honolulu Police Department and the state for stricter penalties for people who drive modified cars. People need to realize that it is the driver, not the car, that is unsafe.
As expressed in letters of Aug. 31, people now want the government to restrict modified cars. I say don't punish the car enthusiasts because of a couple of "bad apples." Most of us are just looking for a way to express ourselves.
I have done modifications to my car that might make people think that my car is unsafe and a "high-speed" vehicle, but it is not. My car has been approved by the Reconstruction Station, and was deemed safe. And as for being a "high-speed" vehicle, let's face it: Changing the intake and exhaust system is not going to turn a car into an Indy 500 racecar. At the very most, my car might have gained 10 horsepower. So please don't stereotype people with modified cars as "racers"; most of us are law-abiding citizens.
Brad Takahashi
Pearl City
Travel piece on Italy was a racist attack
This is a response to the absurd travel piece written by one of your staff writers about Italy, "Insolent Italy," in the Aug. 26 Travel section. While I have no doubt that the writer had some bad experiences in Italy, I am simply amazed that your paper would carry what amounts to a racist attack on an entire nation.
Can one truly believe that Michael Tsai did not meet a single kind person or have a single pleasant moment during his holiday? This is simply inconceivable. The writer even admitted that, "It's not like I didn't have fun."
Well, then, what was the point of his story? Was his goal simply to make offensive and veiled racist remarks about Italians?
My wife is a native of Italy. She routinely consults people who travel to her homeland for pleasure. Dozens of Hawai'i residents ask her advice and recommend Italy to their friends because they have a good time and find the Italians to be warm, hospitable people. Are all of these people stupid or is Tsai unrealistic?
Did he visit Assisi, Taormina, Cinque Terre, Erice, San Gimignano or any of the other jewels of Italian civilization? Did he hike in the Dolomites, wind-surf on Lake Garda or consider a relaxing visit to an agro-turismo family farm?
Obviously not.
Italy is a country, like any other, with good and bad points. It is unfortunately true that some of the tourist areas offer a level of customer service below American standards. But this does mean that all the Italian people are a bunch of lowlifes, as Tsai implies. Tourists occasionally come to Hawai'i and get robbed, beaten or raped. Does this mean that all Hawai'i residents are criminals? Of course not.
Joseph Bonfiglio
Union demonstrations getting on our nerves
Once again the residents of Waikiki have been treated to a noisy union demonstration at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. This time was noisier than previous ones, with louder retaliation by the hotel.
A futile phone call to the HPD resulted in a return call, after the demonstration, with a lame excuse as to why police cannot control these demonstrations.
I sympathize with the workers who lost their jobs, but they will just have to accept it and move on. The demonstrations are futile and will do nothing for them or the unions except to alienate the surrounding residents and drive the tourists away.
Joe Penn
Travel agents are getting a bad deal
Doesn't it seem strange that nearly all of the airlines have come up with the same amount of commission reduction to travel agents within approximately one week?
With the airlines promoting the Internet and other cost-cutting factors, isn't there a question in the public mind that the airline fares are not decreasing? Other than during a sale for a slow period, the airline fares have steadily increased. Does anyone get better service for this increase?
With the amount of complaints we receive daily about the airlines' poor service and rude personnel, where is all of the extra increase of fares and decrease of travel agent commissions going? Does the Internet service seniors? I don't see it finding the senior discounts, senior coupons, emergency fares, etc. When did the airlines ever call you to tell you your fare had decreased and given you back a credit?
Commissions help to defray the office expense for the time involved helping to plan trips for the customers on these airlines. What the airlines are doing is increasing fares and causing the travel agents to charge service charges on top of that in order for us to survive. We serve the public; do they?
Joyce Wrobel
Travel Inc.
Fort Weaver Road traffic will get help
Everyone knows about the traffic nightmares on the infamous Fort Weaver Road in 'Ewa, but I wanted to let you know about a little miracle project that would take an estimated 300 to 400 cars off Fort Weaver Road daily.
The 'Ewa Mill access gate project, which is actually an extension and continuation of Kapolei Parkway Boulevard, is a project I have been working on with the City & County and Councilman John DeSoto's office for three years now. Desoto's office budgeted for design and construction of the Kapolei Parkway, but that will take a minimum of two years from now for completion. We need relief now. I continued to ask for temporary relief of our traffic problems by opening the 'Ewa Mill access gate. Over a month ago, the gate was opened for about three weeks and then closed again due to safety concerns.
Currently it is closed, but I just got word through DeSoto's office from Malcolm Tom's office that they are going to pave the area and put in safety signage and markings. The city is committed to reopening the 'Ewa Mill access gate in two or three months.
I want to thank John DeSoto's office, Malcolm Tom's office, Skippa Diaz (the mayor's representative for the 'Ewa Neighborhood Board) and all the concerned residents of the 'Ewa plain who signed petitions, called the city and continued to support the efforts of the 'Ewa Mill access gate project.
Tesha H. Malama
'Ewa Beach
Shapiro's Sharpei: a modern allegory
For its fast-breaking news and its hard-hitting editorials, I can't wait for my early morning edition of The Honolulu Advertiser.
For a moment, imagine my wonderment at David Shapiro's Aug. 29 piece entitled, "Bird dogging a pigeon mystery."
What did kibbles and dead pigeons have to do with the rest of the news: prisoners indirectly feeding police, golfers desiring prompt starting times at the Ala Wai catering to our public servants, or Jon Yoshimura trying to feed the public another line?
But suddenly the story came to life ... The Volcanic Ash ... the distinctive acrid fumes of hydrogen sulfide ... a modern fable subtly packaged for Hawai'i taxpayers.
Clearly Shapiro is the overly generous Hawai'i taxpayer who is unwittingly supplying twice as much tax revenue cleverly labeled not as Alpo or Friskies but as kibbles that can be consumed by our overworked and stressed-out bureaucracy portrayed as the Sharpei named Bingo.
What a superb representation of our local government fighting corruption when he penned "Bingo occasionally looks up from his nap to think about chasing them (pigeons) away, but he seems to know intuitively that this burns up more caloric energy than he gains by saving food."
The fearsome-looking plastic owl, carefully placed by Shapiro to prevent the illegal diversion of money so lovingly and carefully provided — none other than our elected city prosecutor, Peter Carlisle.
And our mayor, reluctant to dirty his hands on the carcasses of dead pigeons, wanting instead to leave the responsibility for "one of our sons who owes us money to come ... "
And what goes in the Sharpei as tax revenue comes out as public services. No wonder David Shapiro feels it is bad karma to mix public service with dead pigeons and thus the great detail to the description of the careful packaging of the final product.
And as I finish my first cup of coffee, I muse on the allegory I might have read if Shapiro portrayed our governor instead of Mayor Jeremy Harris.
Gordon M. Trimble
