‘Expired’ drugs often still useful

Your article urging consumers to consider expiration or "use by" dates on foods — chiefly intended for retailers — to be merely common-sense guidelines is right on the mark ("Expiration dates a suggestion, not a command," Star-Advertiser, Off the News, Sept. 23).

Much the same is true for pharmaceuticals: The expirationsimply indicates that the manufacturer no longer guarantees full labeled potency beyond that date.For most over-the-counterremedies or nutritionals, consumption beyond the expiration date, implyingreduced potency, may not matter.

Forprescription medications, particularly those intended for critical medical conditions, seriously reduced potency could provelife-threatening.

Unfortunately, patients sometimes discard expensive but recently "expired" medications on the misguided assumption that these somehow become toxic upon reachingthe crucial date.Again, common sense and, if appropriate, consulting with one’s pharmacist orphysician remains the best course.

John M. Corboy, M.D.
Kaunakakai, Molokai

Don’t let Matson pass on spill cost

The level of damage to the environment and marine life caused by the Matson molasses fiasco demands investigation and assigning of accountability.

How can that amount of molasses get spilled without anyone noticing?

I call on our Legislature to conduct a thorough investigation, starting from the Matson CEO on down and the governor of Hawaii on down.

I also call on the Legislature to introduce legislation that would prohibit companies that are fined for such incidents from passing on the cost of the fines to their customers, effectively prohibiting them from raising their prices for a set period such as three to five years.

Let these companies use up some of their own profits to pay the fines and pay for the cleanup.Prosecuting those responsible will ensure that companies and bureaucratic agencies will take their responsibilities less lightly in the future.

James Roller
Mililani

Molasses spill was not seepage

Saturday’s article on the molasses spill described previous leakages as a steady "drip" and the spill of Sept. 7-8 as "seeping" from the faulty pipe ("Coming clean," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 21).

What happened can by no stretch of the imagination be called a seepage —223,000 gallons were spilled in a period of about 12 hours or less. That amounts to more than 300 gallons per minute. For comparison, a typical firehose also puts out about 200-300 gallons per minute.

That wasn’t a seepage, it was a gusher.It is amazing no one noticed.

Edward K. Conklin
Diamond Head

Big firms follow different rules

This massive molasses kill-off was not caused by a failure to have environmental studies completed for the Superferry.

The same big companies that would not allow competition in this state follow different rules and have too much political and financial influence on our government. Too bad we can’t bring back the Superferry.

Raymond Yourchek
Waikiki

HECO should get with program

Ho hum, Hawaiian Electric Co. is crying again.

Anna Kelly hit the nail right on the head ("It’s HECO’s kuleana to upgrade the grid," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Sept. 22).

HECO Vice President Scott Seu pointed out that Hawaii has the highest percentage of customers with solar systems in the nation ("Critics of HECO overlooked facts," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Sept. 18).

It is a shame that if you would ask HECO customers how they feel, I think the majority would agree with Kelly.HECO should have been looking a long time ago at promoting renewable energy and at the same time keeping the people of Hawaii’s best interest in mind.

Vance H. Fujino
Aiea

Limited-service hotels needed

The comments by Eric Gill of Unite Here! Local 5 hotel workers union misinterpret the purpose of the Honolulu Ordinance 13-010 and its likely effects ("Eric Gill," Star-Advertiser, Name in the News, Sept. 6).

Ordinance 13-010 allows limited-service hotels in BMX-3 zoned areas on Oahu, provided certain conditions are met.

Limited-service hotels respond to a particular market demand that is currently not being met, including parents of students attending the University of Hawaii at West Oahu campus, family dependents and other short-term visitors to military bases, and sports teams seeking affordable accommodations closer to competition venues.

The very few limited-service hotels that will actually be built on Oahu will not impact existing hotel worker jobs, but rather will increase jobs by providing new employment for the workers whom Gill represents.

Theresia McMurdo
President, Kapolei Chamber of Commerce

State pension in dire trouble

Hawaii has made the top 10 ranks of states with significant unfunded state pension plans. We rank No. 8, according to a report by Yahoo Finance.The report said Hawaii has an unfunded pension liability of $27 billion, or a per-person liability of $19,357.

Facts relating to the challenges facing the state pension plan surfaced in the news this year, and the Legislature made a token appropriation aimed at meeting the pension shortfall. While this gesture is a step in the right direction, legislators need to establish a meaningful long-term plan in 2014 to address this serious and critical issue.

The retirees who rely on the state Employee Retirement System to meet its pension payment obligations deserve assurance that their future financial needs will not be impaired.The governor needs to establish this issue as a priority in 2014 and formulate meaningful funding proposals for the Legislature to consider.

John M. Tamashiro
Pearl City

Taxes threaten religious liberty

I am writing in response to Debra Miyake ("Churches seem to be getting a free ride," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Sept. 22).

I believe it was Thomas Jefferson’s desire to establish a "separation of church and state" to keep the state out of the affairs of the church because he sought to maximize religious liberty.

The U.S. Supreme Court said that "the power to tax involves the power to destroy," so churches are tax-exempt not to avoid paying what is owed to the state, but to preserve their autonomy and free exercise of religion, which the First Amendment guarantees.

When politicians seek to enact laws such as the legalization of same-sex marriages that threaten religious beliefs and the freedom not to consummate these marriages, then it is not the church that has interfered with the state by its "political voice," but the state that has interfered with the church by seeking to enact laws that would quiet their religious freedom of expression.

Suzie Lum
Honolulu