Accident brought out the best in people

On the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 25, I was involved in a rear-end collision. Traffic was heavy, and I was driving at about 30 mph Honolulu-bound on Kalaniana'ole Highway near Castle Junction.

Suddenly I felt an impact, and as I lay slouched down in the front seat, very light-headed, a person came over to my car to assist me and sat me out on the curbside. (All during this time, my two dogs were barking frantically.) This person asked if I was OK and used his cell phone to call my wife, whom I was to pick up. He also apparently called 911 immediately after the accident because the ambulance arrived within minutes.

Now here is a person whose car I had just rear-ended, and he was more concerned about my health than his car or himself. During our conversation, not one single time did I hear him utter any derogatory remarks.

A few minutes later, an SUV pulled over on the side, and a stranger came to my aid and offered to take me and my two dogs home, knowing I was unable to drive my car. It was a very hot and humid day, and sensing my dogs could get dehydrated, he also gave them some water.

Yes, folks, even in this tumultuous world we live in, there are still some decent and caring people around us. Maybe more than we realize.

Noel Mock, Jerome and Dawn Nozawa, whatever your future, whatever your destiny, with the hand of God I know that you will find your purpose in life.

Carlyle Group must live up to contract

In Bill Kennard's commentary Sunday on the Carlyle Group's proposed acquisition of Verizon, Carlyle's managing director says, "We will honor the union contract and all its obligations."

One of the obligations is the medical plan from United Health Care.

In a meeting between Carlyle and employees of Verizon Hawaii on Oct. 5, the employees were told that if Carlyle purchases Verizon Hawaii, it will not offer the United Health Care medical plan. This will cause increased costs for many Verizon Hawaii employees.

If Carlyle wants to start on the right foot, it must live up to its obligation of honoring the union contract in totality.

'Best' to vote against Fasi's endorsement

So, Frank Fasi has endorsed Mufi Hannemann. This is the signal I've been waiting for. Now I know who will get my vote for mayor.

As a lifelong Republican with the memory of an elephant, I remember how Fasi and his Best Party cost the GOP and Pat Saiki the governor's race in 1994. And I remember how Fasi ran as a Republican against Linda Lingle in 1998, then after getting his 'okole beat, endorsing Ben Cayetano. Every Republican on this island needs to remember how Fasi has fought all his political life to keep our party from gaining a foothold and injecting new ideas into government. Now he's grooming Hannemann to follow in his footsteps.

Every independent voter and Republican on O'ahu ought to work as hard as he or she can to once and for all end Frank Fasi's influence on island politics by rejecting his endorsement and the man he wants to make king.

Misspent funds could have helped others

Is it just me or did anyone else notice that the money the regents are paying out to pay off Dr. Evan Dobelle and to hire a public relations person to try to cover up their mistakes would completely fund what the university needs to beef up the nursing school and pay for teachers and supplies for this much-needed facility?

The regents should be held personally responsible for the money they committed taxpayers to fund. Without them we would have had a UH president and a respected university. They have been warned many times by the national accrediting board that they do not understand their job and yet they do not change. Our university image erodes daily.

Please, Governor, replace them.

Aloha is manifested in love, humility, care

Regarding C. Kusaka's Oct. 1 letter and how there is no "aloha spirit" left on O'ahu: To me, aloha is a frame of mind and reflects the way in which one is raised. You have aloha when you possess love, humility and care for others in your mind, heart and actions — and by way of demonstration. Love is innate, and hate is learned, so it's difficult to make people act with aloha when they do not know how.

I suggest we all try to teach by example. At crosswalks, when you are driving in your shiny air-conditioned car and someone is on foot, let 'em walk. In traffic, when you are bumper-to-bumper and one single car would like to join in, let 'em in. If someone is frowning or having a bad day, smile at 'em. When the stoplight is green, proceed with caution, and when it is red, stop. Take turns, don't cut in line, be patient, offer your seat on the bus, and be thankful, too.

Try to practice what you wish the world to be, one precious moment at a time. Aloha!

Mayor should account for his worldwide travel

We recognize that the mayor of Honolulu may need to travel outside of Hawai'i on occasion. In 2004, however, Mayor Jeremy Harris has taken traveling to new lengths.

Over the past few months, the mayor has not only taken trips to domestic destinations like South Carolina, Vermont and New York, but also to foreign countries, including Australia, Chile, China, Saipan and even Sweden. Indeed, so far this year the number of working days Harris spent outside of Honolulu nearly matches the number of days he has spent in the state.

Mayor Harris' extensive travel raises serious concerns and has created issues over the operation of city government. Earlier this summer, Harris attempted to veto a bill providing tax relief to farmers while he was away in Boston, something clearly prohibited by the City Charter. Harris, however, never notified the City Council that he would be out of the state; council members learned of his absence from the media.

When the governor leaves the state and transfers power to the lieutenant governor, she provides notice to the Legislature. It is not unreasonable to ask the mayor to provide similar notice to the City Council when he goes out of state and relinquishes his duties and responsibilities to the managing director, an un-elected official.

Furthermore, the fact that the mayor has accepted gifts of expensive trips without disclosing the identity of the individuals or organizations that have given him those gifts raises serious ethical concerns. Special-interest groups often seek to influence government decision-making by making gifts to elected officials.

While we do not disagree with the mayor's right to accept gifts of travel, we believe that his acceptance of such gifts should be disclosed to the public. In government, open, honest disclosure is the law. This is why the City Council and city departments disclose whom they accepts gifts of travel from and why the mayor should, too. The mayor should obey the law.

With so many major problems facing Honolulu, it is unfortunate that the frequent and extensive worldwide travel by Mayor Harris is an issue. We hope he fully discloses where he has traveled in 2004, when he took those trips, how much those trips cost and who paid for those trips. The mayor is accountable to the people who elected him, and those people have a right to know.

Hawai'i consumer being gouged

In a Sept. 30 letter by a Kaua'i orthopedist ("Dysfunctional system prevents rehabilitation"), the writer stated: "Many orthopedists no longer will see injured workers, or have severely limited their access to care. The reasons are twofold: (1) Remuneration is low. (2) The paperwork required is onerous."

He wrote that the worker injured in a workers'-compensation accident has lower access to care by a Hawai'i rehabilitation doctor because the fee paid to the injured worker's doctor was lowered by over 40 percent in mid-1995. He said there was now a crisis in access of care. The worker injured in a workers'-comp injury now cannot get to see the better rehabilitation doctors.

The same crisis in access of care has occurred for the auto injury patient and for the same reasons.

In mid-1995, after the Legislature lowered the fee paid to doctors in workers'-comp injuries by over 40 percent, the insurance companies in Hawai'i providing coverage for auto accident injuries immediately elected to apply this over 40 percent reduction to payments for healthcare services provided to persons suffering from auto accident injuries. They did this on their own, without legislative approval, creating a crisis in access in auto injury care.

This reduction in amounts paid to healthcare providers resulted in substantial savings to the insurance companies. Such a reduction could, perhaps, be justified if the savings had been passed on to the consumers.

But the Hawai'i auto insurance companies did not lower the automobile premiums in 1995, 1996 and 1997 when they lowered the fees paid to the doctors caring for the auto accident victims. The premiums remained steady, with Hawai'i consumers paying, during the period, on average, the second to fourth highest premiums in the country.

Where did the money go? Data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners show that the Hawai'i insurance industry earned a return on net worth of 22.6 percent in 1995, 27.5 percent in 1996 and 26.6 percent the following year. The national average during those same years ranged from 10.7 percent to 11.7 percent.

Birny Birnbaum, a Texas-based insurance economist and former insurance regulator for that state, has said that Hawai'i consumers have been paying inflated premiums to support extraordinary profits. "You have been mightily gouged," he said. "By any stretch of the imagination, over a three- or four-year period these are wildly excessive profits for auto insurance."

So the Hawai'i consumer didn't get a lowering of premiums. And not only that, he or she got the crisis in access of care. This crisis was documented by a published study of Hawai'i's Legislative Reference Bureau in 1998 (Report No. 8, 1998). This crisis continues today.

On Nov. 2, we all have a chance to do something about this.