Thanks to President Joe Biden for ending some of the stigma against marijuana offenders (“Ige reviewing request to pardon convictions,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 7).

For undecided people, first read Harry Anslinger’s testimony to Congress in 1937, in which he said marijuana was addictive for some.

Compare Anslinger’s testimony to the conclusions of the LaGuardia Report in 1944 by the New York Academy of Medicine; the doctors concluded that marijuana was not addictive for any user and could be used for years without any physical or mental deterioration. An addictive drug produces the great discomfort when withdrawing from the use thereof. Marijuana is not addictive.

I urge the end of prohibition of marijuana.

Phil Robertson

Kailua

Restaurant tacks on ‘service charge’ as tip

I had dinner with my wife at a Kaneohe restaurant last week, and I noticed an unexpected added charge to my bill. The restaurant added what it called a “service charge” to my balance. I asked my server what this charge was and she said the “kitchen help” would receive it as a tip.

I always thought a tip was optional and not mandatory. I asked to talk to the restaurant manager and he said it was an attempt to retain their kitchen help. I told him that was the restaurant’s responsibility and it should not be passed on to the customer. I also pointed out that there was no posted notice of this new policy. Is this legal?

Gary Suzuki

Kailua

City slow to clean up Palolo Stream trash

Palolo Stream is polluted with a pile of trash from the people living under the St. Louis Heights bridge. The trash has been there for awhile.

On Aug. 9, I emailed a complaint to the city to inform it about the situation and included a picture of the trash. About a month later the pile was still there and growing. I called the mayor’s complaint phone number and left my complaint in accordance with the recorded message. Someone called to verify the location. The person said that Palolo Stream was just one of many locations with the problem.

When we get more rain, much of the trash will be washed into Manoa Stream and out into the Ala Wai Canal, Ala Wai Yacht Harbor and the ocean, polluting these waters.

The city needs to assign priority to cleaning up these sites. If it can’t do the work with city workers, then it should hire out the work.

Our streams should not be allowed to be used as trash cans. I hope the trash get cleaned up before it rains.

Phil Alencastre

St. Louis Heights

More incentives needed to expand rooftop solar

The recent Island Voices commentary about rooftop solar was right on (“Harness full power of rooftop solar before disaster strikes,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 6). Nothing beats distributed on-site power, not only for security, but economically.

We are never going to utilize the potential of our rooftops without significant incentives, perhaps from both the state and Hawaiian Electric. HECO has a planning objective to increase rooftop solar dramatically, but it is just an objective, mostly out of its control. What’s required is making it a no-brainer for every business, residence and parking lot to install solar panels and batteries.

The other side of this coin is the capacity to export solar power to the grid. So far, virtually all rooftop installations have been designed to supply the needs of the site. We should use every square foot of roof space (and over parking lots) to generate solar power, exporting the excess to the grid to achieve the highest level of renewable power and security possible. Why leave valuable rooftop space underutilized while we build solar farms on the precious aina?

Brian Barbata

Kailua

PV system still depends on grid to function

While adding a rooftop photovoltaic system will certainly decrease your bill and the demand for electricity use on our island, the system will not provide electricity to the home, with or without a battery, during a power outage, as stated by Cory Harden, Melody Aduja and Mark Koppel (“Harness full power of rooftop solar before disaster strikes,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 6).

I expected my electricity to flow via my PV system and battery during a recent power outage, but I was still in the dark. As it turns out, virtually all rooftop systems, with rare exceptions, are tied to the power grid and the PV system needs power from the grid in order to function. This is largely a safety issue, as PV systems can feed power back to the grid, endangering line workers.

There are workarounds but they require installation of special equipment. Ask your solar company for details.

Tim Gedney

Hawaii Kai

Eliminate cap on tax to support Social Security

Not many workers have earnings exceeding the current $147,000 cap on the Social Security tax, which means that zero Social Security tax is charged for all earnings above $147,000. Those earnings should be subject to tax.

Low-wage workers get Social Security taxes taken out of their paychecks. If anything, the law should be changed to lower or reduce to zero payments by low-wage earners barely getting by.

Tax the rich and Social Security will be saved. Many members of Congress are millionaires, including Republicans who want to eliminate Social Security payments when most workers in the U.S. no longer have corporate pensions and little or no retirement savings. They will rely on Social Security payments for 90% of their retirement income.

Eliminate the cap on Social Security payments today. Problem solved. Social Security is saved.

Tom Sebas

Waikiki

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