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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, March 17, 2007

Letters to the Editor

GOVERNMENT SECRECY

CRASH DATA COULD HELP SOLVE TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

The articles about crash data secrecy (Page One, March 14) reminded me of the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," when Indiana Jones is told that "top experts" are studying the ark, which is then shown being wheeled into an endless storeroom, never to be seen again.

I hope that Honolulu's crash data isn't getting the same treatment, and that our "top experts" aren't the same ones who produced our many highway design flaws, crosswalk issues and lack of traffic-light timing.

University of Hawai'i researchers have come up with some good ideas to address our traffic. At least give the crash data to them to study.

Alex Kinzler
Honolulu

TRAFFIC SAFETY

LET'S USE RED, WHITE PAINT FOR CROSSWALKS

Since I am a driver and a pedestrian, I sympathize with both when it comes to pedestrian safety.

As a pedestrian, I find myself most in danger when crossing a street because nearly all drivers disobey the law by not stopping before making a right turn. This is a flagrant danger and a law not enforced by the Honolulu Police Department.

As a driver, I find it difficult to discern many crosswalks because they are so badly worn they are hardly visible. This is coupled with the fact that there is a myriad of white street markings, making it difficult to quickly discern between crosswalks and all the others.

My suggestion: Have all crosswalks painted with alternate red and white stripes. This would make crosswalk markings unique — and red, to a driver or a pedestrian, means "stop" or "danger."

Donald D. Graber
Honolulu

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

TRAINED PSYCHOLOGISTS WOULD WORK WITH M.D.S

With all due respect to Dr. Alfred Arensdorf (Letters, March 12), who is a tireless, effective advocate for improving services to children with emotional and behavioral problems, he has his facts wrong about current legislation when he asserts that only physicians, not psychologists, should prescribe medication.

The bills place the trained psychologists at community health centers, where they will work closely in a team with primary-care physicians to ensure that underlying medical conditions and side effects will not be overlooked and drug interactions will be avoided.

So it simply won't happen, as Dr. Arensdorf alleges, that a psychologist operating alone would prescribe an antidepressant to a person with a subtle medical condition or would miss serious side effects or dangerous drug interactions.

More than 20,000 prescriptions have been issued by trained psychologists in other states without one adverse incident, as Hawai'i's Legislative Reference Bureau has found.

The claim that psychologists will be trained through a "15-week course" is untrue. The bills mandate training of 450 hours of coursework in psychopharmacology, which amounts to 35 credit hours, or one full year of study; they must then pass a national psychopharmacology examination and spend a year treating patients under a medical doctor's supervision.

Mary Protheroe
Member, board of directors, Mental Health America of Hawai'i

LEGISLATURE

GET EXEMPTION FOR GAS SHOULD BE RENEWED

I have been patiently waiting for lawmakers to renew the general excise tax exemption for gasoline.

They said they overlooked it last session, so it expired and the price of gasoline instantly went up 11 cents a gallon.

So why are we still paying 11-cents-a-gallon tax, now that they are back in session? Isn't anybody else upset over this?

The state has a surplus. Imagine how much it is collecting by charging 11 cents for every gallon of gas sold in Hawai'i.

It would sure help my budget and everyone else's if the price of gas went instantly down by 11 cents a gallon.

Rita Frank
Kailua

TIME

DAYLIGHT-SAVING NOT ALL THAT GREAT FOR SOME

Why are people pushing so hard for daylight-saving time?

We just went back an hour, and it has taken me four days to adjust.

It's like a bad jet lag, but you didn't go anywhere!

And for those who work at night, when it switches over in the fall, they lose an hour of pay because they still have to work their eight hours on the clock.

They may be able to make it up in the following spring, but there's also the chance they aren't working that night or working for the same company.

I guess it's the "grass is greener" mindset, but it's not that great.

J. Karonis
Las Vegas, Nev.

MILITARY

GEN. PACE'S VIEW GOES AGAINST WAIVER POLICY

In expressing his views on homosexuals in the military, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated, "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."

That directly contradicts the military's policy of issuing moral waivers to enlist new recruits who have committed misdemeanors or felonies, including aggravated assault, robbery and burglary. Some 125,000 new recruits have been admitted to the four military services under these moral waivers over the past three years. General Pace would issue a gun to a known convicted felon, yet finds it unconscionable that homosexuals serve openly in the military.

General Pace's views lead me to question his ability to work effectively in his position, which requires interaction with government workers and foreign military personnel who may be gay but are not under the same constraints as the defenders of freedom who serve in the U.S. military.

Bart Zobel
Kapolei