Letters to the Editor

Private donors should have their anonymity

I disagree with Bruce Benson's Sept. 25 letter supporting anonymity for private donors to June Jones' salary.

Regarding the general need for privacy of contributions: I want my privacy only to be kept off junk-mail lists, and I make this clear to my donees under pain of their not getting another cent from me.

Concerning the anonymity of Christmas fund donors: The matter is irrelevant since they are giving gifts to poor people who can't return the favors. On the other hand, a football program donor could also be the distributor of expensive athletic equipment eager to sell his goods to universities.

Actually, the private-donor system might be at the heart of much college athletics corruption: Coaches getting paid this way must serve two masters, possibly leading them to be more concerned with pleasing their off-campus supporters while treating their academic bosses as fussbudgets merely to be tolerated.

Drug experts given short shrift by media

Recently all of our local broadcast stations gave an hour to show a scare film about crystal meth use in Hawai'i. The film gave time to leading Republicans, Harry Kim, Ed Kubo and our governor and lieutenant governor to make statements of concern.

Yet a 30-minute interview with Ethan Nadlemann, one of the foremost experts on drug addiction reform and harm reduction, ended up as only five seconds on air. June Jones' quotes took up more time.

The film relied on personal histories and other anecdotal evidence rather than on scientific research to make most of its points. As a scary propaganda piece, that may be fine, but it doesn't help Hawai'i get any closer to effective solutions.

Contrast the enormous free media attention given to the film to the absence of reporting on the recent visit of Stanton Peele to our state. Dr. Peele is a leading national expert on harm reduction who gave a workshop on Sept. 18. He presented information about treatment from a review of over 200 studies. Treatment professionals were greatly informed.

One can only wonder why such information went unreported in the media, un-included in the Aiona drug summit, and nowhere to be seen in the anti-ice film.

Kudos to task force for swift kick to ice

I would like to offer commendation and appreciation to our Senate and House leadership for their rapid response to our state ice epidemic.

The House-Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement, co-chaired by Sen. Melodie Aduja and Rep. Eric Hamakawa, has spent a huge amount of time in gathering feedback and addressing community concerns by visiting treatment facilities and holding public meetings and briefings.

Many of the task force members have also appeared at various town meetings in our communities to gather information about ice and other drugs as well as the havoc that addiction has brought upon families and communities.

We want to encourage the task force to continue its efforts to strengthen our focus on the issues of substance abuse in an open approach that looks for what is best for our state and people.

Lokelani really needed a 'mental health break'?

Regarding Lokelani Lindsey's carefree — oops, sorry, caregiving — support: Let's see a show of hands. How many other devoted wives/husbands/lifetime partners have committed themselves to their disabled partners, locally? Nationally? Did any 24/7 caregiving partners, with your Medicare/MedQuest assistance, head for Las Vegas to get a "mental health break"?

Hmmm, I wonder if this Las Vegas trip could be considered a medical write-off?

Come on! She had a career that paid her $850,000 a year, ahem ... doing good deeds for the 'ohana?

Judge Ezra allowed a delay in her six-month sentence three times. With all this luck she stepped into, it was advantageous for this poor woman to be in Las Vegas for a much-needed break?

What was she thinking?

Have the scofflaws pay for police raise

The police pay raise has caused city officials to consider different means to pay for it. Suggestions are to raise gas taxes, property taxes, etc. Let's not put the pay-raise burden on the average law-abiding citizen.

Hopefully, police officers spend the majority of their working hours apprehending criminals and writing citations for illegal parking, speeding and other illegal activities. I would suggest that state legislators tack on another surcharge to all citations. I believe there is an added charge now for traffic education. Let's have the people who cause most of the police work pay for the additional cost.

I'm all for the raise, and if tacking on another 10 bucks or so for illegal parking and another 20 bucks for speeding can provide these raises, so be it.

Bus drivers showed their true colors

I would just like to comment on the bus strike. I watched an 'Olelo special about the bus employee rally at the State Capitol. One of the participants commented on having 20-plus years of service, but only getting paid $21. Who wouldn't be happy with a $21/hour job?

In my opinion, the bus employees are just greedy and need to take a reality check. There are many more people employed by the state who deserve the raise — for example, teachers and police. I am sorry to say, but all the media coverage helped to show the real attitude of the bus employees: cocky and unappreciative.