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State Hospital rules should force meds
Safety among staff and patients at the Hawaii State Hospital would be greatly enhanced if an order to treat, given by the judge ordering hospitalization, accompanied the patients as a routine protocol.
As a recognized treatment facility for the mentally ill, medication would not just be instituted during emergency/crisis situations, but rather, as a treatment modality upon hospitalization.
Currently, it can require several requests to the judge to petition for this order. In the meantime, health care workers are placed in a vulnerable and dangerous position each and every minute they spend with these unpredictable and potentially volatile individuals.
I urge the state Senate to give that careful review during its up-coming hearings on safety issues at the Hawaii State Hospital.
Michael Springhetti
Waikiki
Help parents prep kids for first classes
In regards to disbanding junior kindergarten by the state Department of Education as mentioned in an Dec. 3 editorial ("It’s not day care, it’s an education," Our View, Star-Advertiser), there is a solution far less expensive.
It is to provide parents of preschoolers with a check-off list of reading, writing and arithmetic skills educators would like children to have when they begin school. The check-off list is to be turned in when registering their child for school.
Parents can prepare their kids for school, but they need help from the DOE. It’s worth a try.
Bill Prescott
Nanakuli
Attending weddings not that common
Reader Dale Christensen seems to think that 15 percent saying they would attend a same-sex wedding in the coming year is a low number, from which he seems to infer that most people are against same-sex marriage ("‘Big Q’ results ran counter to hoopla," Letters, Star-Advertiser, Dec. 9).
I wonder what results would have been for the question, "Will you be attending a wedding ceremony in the coming year?"
I am one of those who voted "No" on that Big Q, but I would also vote against preventing gays from marrying each other.
I can remember attending two weddings in my 78 years on this planet, and there are probably some I don’t recall, but I’m surprised that as many as 15 percent think they might attend any kind of wedding in the coming year.
Bart Mathias
Kaimuki
Throw bus ads under the bus
Hawaii adopted a statewide ban on billboards in 1927, a law intended to protect the heart of tourism and the quality of life of those of us living here.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell has introduced a bill attempting to degrade that statute which has served us well for 86 years.
Bill 69, proposing advertising on city buses, is well beyond a slippery slope. It is more like a giant sinkhole with the potential to engulf the rapidly diminishing aesthetic qualities we all covet.
What next? Billboards on the rail, school buses, garbage trucks? Mobile billboards divert attention from natural scenic landscapes as well as unique cultural art such as historic buildings and statues.
Caldwell states that he is "willing to negotiate."
How about this? Put the advertising under the bus. That’s the same place Bill 69 is attempting to throw the billboard law.
Stann W. Reiziss
Kailua
Taxing cyber sales in Hawaii only fair
Your editorial on applying sales taxes, or similar ones like Hawaii’s general excise tax, to cyber sales was right on ("Internet sales should be taxed," Our View, Star-Advertiser, Dec. 9).
I have believed it was the only fair thing to do for years. Your editorial contains all the points I have used to support it.
There are three groups of people involved: the buyer who is self-interested in a cheaper overall price; the seller who doesn’t want to bother with the bookkeeping and administration; and the states who need the money to continue providing the services that the sales tax funds.
In all fairness, assessing such taxes on all sales levels the playing field between local sellers and cyber sellers.
It is rare that I would support increasing taxes, but this is one where fairness and funding local government services trumps all other arguments.
Jim Pollock
Kaneohe
Remembrance wall needs restoration
The Wall of Remembrance at the USS Arizona Memorial is famous around the world.
From time to time, deterioration of the Wall naturally takes place. It was replaced in 1983 and now, 30 years later, the names of the entombed sailors are again deteriorating.
Let us always honor the brave men entombed within that sunken warship; they must never be forgotten. This cost for a replacement Wall alone would be $250,000. As soon as sufficient donations covering the cost of restoration are received, the work can commence.
Donations for the Wall’s restoration may be made directly to the U.S. Park Service at the Arizona Memorial; indicate that your donation is for that project.
Brooks W. Outland
Waianae
SAY ALOHA TO 2013
As 2013 nears an end, what issue or topic leaves you with a gnawing sense of unfinished business?
Or, what milestone, policy or feat occurred that deserves to be highlighted?
Tell us in a 150-word letter to the editor, or in a 500- to 600-word commentary.
Send to “Aloha, 2013” c/o Letters, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana, #7-210, Honolulu, HI, 96813; or email to letters@staradvertiser.com.
We’ll print some near year’s end; deadline is Dec. 19.
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