Homeless people are not a disease

I was disturbed to read the phrase "plagued by homeless campers" in your front-page article ("Mayor goes on offense," Star-Advertiser, April 13).

This characterization of homeless people is demeaning. It implies that the victims of our high-priced housing market are a "plague"and not people.

The real plague in our islands is that the rich and powerful have too much control. No affordable housing is being built, while prime urban areas such as Kakaako are being developed for high-priced housing.

The recent seven-year recession caused a substantial loss of jobs and made more people jobless and homeless. Do these victims deserve to be characterized as a "plague" when they find whatever public shelter they can?

To commercialize these sites in Waikiki for businesses is even worse.

Why not build affordable housing?

John Witeck
Kamehameha Heights

Dispensing meds requires training

I am a psychologist who agrees with Drs. Julienne Aulwes and Jeffrey Akaka ("Psychiatrists, not psychologists, should prescribe medications," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, April 15).

However, no one could object to psychologists practicing medicine if they were willing to undergo standard medical training. Instead, psychologists pursuing prescriptive privileges want to complete only about 10 percent of the medical training required of psychiatrists and other physicians.

Bills with substandard medical training have been rejected nationally at least 183 times in 26 states over the past 20 years, including 36 times in Hawaii.

One survey of psychologists found that 89.2 percent believe psychologists should complete the same medical training required of other prescribers. If they are unwilling to do that, then they are ethically compelled to collaborate with their patient’s physician, if there is a perceived need for both psychotherapy and medication.

I thank state Sen. Josh Green for protecting consumers of mental health services in Hawaii by holding House Bill 1072, which would enable psychologists to practice medicine with very little medical training.

Elaine M. Heiby
Moiliili

Cops drinking should not be carrying guns

Kudos to the Star-Advertiser for its editorial, "Police shouldn’t drink and carry," which supports a zero-tolerance policy regarding officers carrying weapons if they drink alcohol, a policy inherent in the core of common sense (Star-Advertiser, Our View, April 14).

It shouldn’t even be an issue, but apparently it must be one, as some fail to recognize their own poor judgment calls, carelessness and basic limb control or hand-eye coordination while intoxicated, "buzzed" or tipsy.

Whatever the case may be, if there’s an accessible weapon, trouble is possible, if not inevitable, as in the case of off-duty Sgt. Anson Kimura, who allegedly accidentally shot a woman while he was in a bar.

If Hawaii lawmakers pass House Bill 888, it should hit the Honolulu Police Department like a bottle of V8 instead of a bottle of Heineken or the like.

Jan Farrant
Pacific Heights

‘Vertical integration’ bad for dispensaries

A commentary on medical marijuana got some things right, but other things wrong ("Medical marijuana dispensary legislation needs to meet the highest standards," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, April 12).

It is true that Hawaii desperately needs a working dispensary system. Any such system should require laboratory testing and seed-to-sale tracking. This requirement is already contained in both versions of the bill.

Unfortunately, the commentary also asked that we support vertical integration, which is a very bad idea, and has worked poorly in other states.

Vertical integration means that people cannot specialize in what they do best. That is when people will break the rules. It will mean that if a crop fails or is contaminated, dispensaries will be tempted to cheat or to sell bad product, because a recall would cause the whole system to collapse.

We need stability and safety in a balanced, federated system.

Rafael Kennedy
Executive director, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii

Discharge planning a key to health care

State Sen. Josh Green suggested that the bill to provide post-discharge instruction to caregivers would have been "catastrophic" for care ("Senator takes heat from psychologists, retirees on potential conflicts of interest," Star-Advertiser, April 12).

Green is mistaken. Post-discharge instruction is a function of registered nurses and discharge planners and must be supported by hospitals to significantly improve care and reduce costly hospital readmissions.

The caregiver bill simply ensures that family caregivers will receive the necessary instructions to care for their loved ones at home. It is a common-sense solution to a quality-of-care issue.

I have been a health care professional in Hawaii for more than 20 years, practicing as a registered nurse in acute hospital care, Medicare discharge planning and home health case management. I am currently a health care advocate and have seen firsthand that the real catastrophe occurs when patients are sent home without proper instruction.

Claire P. Santos
Proprietor, Allclaire Health Communication and Ask Nurse Santos

Auction cancellation was a relief to hear

I read with dismay on Wednesday that artifacts created by internees of Japanese descent were to be auctioned off to the highest bidder ("Auction of artifacts is deemed ‘betrayal,’" Star-Advertiser, April 15).

It was with great relief that I read that the auction was canceled ("Auction house halts sale of WWII items," Star-Advertiser, April 16).

A few years ago, I saw a book in my dentist’s office in Kaneohe that may have been the one mentioned in the paper, because it was a picture book with stories of the beautiful art created by the internees of the camps.

To further bring it home, my dentist’s wife said that her husband was born in one of the camps.

"They called them ‘barbed-wire babies’," she said.

It gave me chicken skin.

I hope the artifacts gain a permanent home as a reminder that we should never treat citizens of our nation so cruelly ever again.

Michel Grotstein
Kaneohe

Trade pact threatens national sovereignty

Your headline on the Trans-Pacific Partnership asks, "Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement benefit the U.S. economy, or cripple it?"

For us as an island state, a more pertinent question is, "How will the TPP affect our sovereignty — our capacity to determine our own destiny?"

"It’s a massive giveaway of our sovereignty," said U.S. Rep. Allan Grayson, D-Fla., one of the few outsiders allowed to read the secret TPP agreement.

"It’s no longer even properly called a trade agreement. It’s an anti-sovereignty agreement," he warned.

So the question that we in Hawaii should be asking is, "Are we absolved of being a state of the United States if it renounced its sovereignty?"

A clause in the preamble of our own state Constitution proclaims: "We reserve the right to control our destiny, to nurture the integrity of our people and culture, and to preserve the quality of life that we desire."

Richard Morse
Manoa

FROM THE FORUM

Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.

“Celebrities use fame to protest Mauna Kea telescope,” Star-Advertiser, April 13:

>> The bandwagon is getting kinda crowded.

>> Where were these sound-bite, headline-seeking pols and tabloid celebrities while the permitting was in process? Will they band together and come up with a better and higher use? Will they cough up $1.2 billion in damages to the telescope people? Will their obstruction block us from finding God? Or at least other, perhaps more intelligent life?

>> Who cares what self-serving fame-seekers think? The telescope went through a process and was granted the right to build on Mauna Kea. Protest all you want, but don’t stop construction.

>> These celebs are not the sharpest tools in the shed, and it is not what they say that scares me but the fact that others think they know what they are talking about.

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“Mayor Caldwell steps up law enforcement at the Wai­kiki pavilions,” Star-Advertiser, April 13:

>> How about trying to provide temporary shelter, permanent shelter and attempting to move the homeless into both?

>>  If people want housing or shelter, they have the opportunity to get it. Many simply don’t want it. 

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“State intends to use site to study area’s past,” Star-Advertiser, April 14:

>> This is another example of how the military has treated the land and waters of Hawaii as a dumping ground for munitions.

>> The Environmental Protection Agency and conservation were non-existent back then. Where did you dump your car oil after changing? Did you drive a “green” vehicle? Times have changed.

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“‘Five-0’ star teams with former MMA champ to teach self-defense,” Star-Advertiser, April 14:

>> Wow! What great free advertising.

>> For a fundraiser that benefits Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children.

>> Sometimes actors come to Hawaii and live here for quite a few years making a series without actually caring about the community to the extent of helping anyone. So it is nice to see this star does care and does try to help in his own way. Thank you, Alex O’Loughlin.

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“I’m done talking about pCard, says mayor,” Star-Advertiser, April 15:

>> The only way Mayor Billy Keoni is done talking about the pCard issue is if he refuses to answer questions based on his Fifth Amendment rights.

>> This guy should be down the road already.

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“New policy will return ‘unknowns’ to families,” Star-Advertiser, April 15:

>> Let the dead rest in peace where they are remembered with reverence and love by locals and visitors alike, especially during Memorial Day and Veterans Day. May their families find peace knowing their loved ones rest with their own friends and fellow Americans on the island overlooking the Pacific Ocean where they bravely gave their lives.

>> One thing about the unknown dead: They are not unknown to God, and may they rest in his arms in peace.

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“Some Native Hawaiians see project as important cultural link,” Star-Advertiser, April 16:

>> Mahalo, Star-Advertiser. Finally, we hear voices of support.

>> The Star-Advertiser is doing its part in publishing propaganda in support of the status quo, as usual.

>> Some will have good reason to comment on this issue, and any personal agendas should also be considered. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore what they say. It’s good that this dialogue has started. We need to have more Native Hawaiians speaking out about this great project since all mankind benefits from this major step in finding our place in the cosmos.

>> “Finding our place in the cosmos” should be a low priority compared to saving the planet. Humans are greedy.

>> Saving the planet from ourselves won’t save it from a plethora of celestial threats. What will help us save it from celestial threats? Astronomy.

>> There may be some arrogance to grab the public attention. But that is natural, if you have great fear that your values of the sacred mountain are being desecrated. 

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“When Mommy comes marching home, hurrah!,” Star-Advertiser, April 16:

>> Sweet!

>> Great story. Love your children and spoil them. No one else will.

>> Never forget the warriors who made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us here. Welcome home, Lt. Col. Mom!