Nina Wu’s article about electricity bills included many useful tips to conserve energy (“Electricity bills expected to rise with summer heat,” Star-Advertiser, June 13).

Here’s a piece of low-hanging fruit that in most cases would require very little upfront investment. Instead of using a machine to dry clothes, we can use a rack or line instead.

On a sunny or breezy day, clothes dry in about the same amount of time. When dry, they can be put in the machine on “air only” for 10 minutes with a piece of fabric softener. By proudly hanging our undergarments out in the yard for all to see, we’re showing our neighbors that we’re serious about slowing global warming, too.

Luke Wassermann

Kaneohe

Give police officers benefit of the doubt

Police work is tough. Officers must sometimes make split-second decisions in potentially deadly situations, and situations arise where there is no time to ponder unconscious biases or inner truths, especially when they may be facing the barrel of a Glock 19.

Unless there is clear and unambiguous evidence to the contrary, police officers should be given the benefit of the doubt. To my mind, the vast majority of police officers do their level best to protect and fairly serve their communities regardless of skin pigmentation.

Melvin Sugihara

Vancouver, Wash.

Let’s quell the fears about COVID-19 spread

Let’s examine the data on COVID-19. If a person is immunized or has had the disease, they have a 95% chance of not getting it if exposed, and if they do get the disease, they have minimal or no symptoms. To date, after nearly 2.1 billion immunizations, there have not been any documented cases of an infected person who has been immunized being able to transmit the disease to others.

Teenager immunizations confer 100% immunity, according to recent reports, and younger children rarely get the disease, have minimal symptoms unless severely compromised, and seldom transmit the disease to others.

It has also been shown that the 3-foot social distancing is sufficient and incessant cleaning is unnecessary. Nearly all infections are contracted indoors so outside masks are unnecessary.

So, get immunized with the Johnson & Johnson traditional modified adenovirus vaccine if you are concerned about M-RNA side effects. Understand there always will be those who refuse to take the freely available shots, or who fake documents. Go on with our lives without living in constant fear.

Gary R. Johnson, D.V.M., D.O.

Kaneohe

Headline misleads about new Alzheimer’s drug

Headlines, like first impressions, really do matter. A headline changes the way people read and remember an article, framing the rest of the experience.

“New Alzheimer’s drug offers hope to patients” (Star-Advertiser, June 14), implies that some genuine hope has been offered, but Sophie Cocke’s article makes it clear that the approval of the ruinously expensive drug aducanumab will not be “free” to anyone. Society collectively pays Medicare drugs costs. It also is highly controversial. Federal approval of the drug was described as “probably the worst drug approval decision in recent U.S. history.”

In the 1980s you would not have said, “Apricot pits offer hope for cancer patients.” An appropriate headline here might have been, “Controversial Alzheimer’s drug conditionally approved.”

Let the reader digest the facts before deciding if this is a basis for “hope.”

John Keiser

Makiki

Those who make more should be taxed more

Columnist Megan McArdle argued that taxing the wealth of the rich is unfair and will not work (“Billionaires, ordinary folks play by the same tax rules,” Star-Advertiser, June 12).

She misses the point. Wealth will be taxed; it’s called death taxes. The best way to make wealthy taxpayers pay more taxes while alive is to tax their income. That is how President Joe Biden wants to pay for his plan to upgrade the country’s infrastructure.

The progressive tax structure that exists today is the fairest way to get the wealthy to pay their fair share. Biden’s proposal will increase the highest federal tax bracket from 37% to 39.6%. It is not a wealth tax; it is an income tax.

Many taxpayers can pay more income taxes. Company CEOs who receive multimillion-dollar raises as well as sports and other celebrities with multimillion-dollar contracts come to mind. I don’t mind people getting paid what they think they are worth; just tax them more.

Stuart Shimazu

Kaimuki

Help car rental firms give deals to customers

Hawaii’s main industry has always been tourism. We offer beautiful beaches, fantastic weather and reasonable flights to the islands to tourists.

Without tourists, our economy will continue to sink. Many politicians get into office by promises never kept. Now is time for the state government to subsidize car rental companies. It is very basic. If people feel they are getting screwed over, which they are, why would they return to our paradise?

Stop spending money on those who do not work, or want to work, and give the money to the rental agencies, allowing them to give deals on cars to new arrivals.

James Delmonte

Hawaii Kai

Hard to meet deadline for license renewal

My driver’s license expires July 31. I’ve been checking the AlohaQ site since April. In May I finally got an appointment for Aug. 23.

The extension, per the governor’s latest decree, says I’ll be illegal as of Aug. 6. I would check for another appointment, but then I’d have to cancel the one I have, risking having an even later appointment. There is a big hole in this somehow.

Lance Bateman

Kalihi

>> Contact: 529-4831 (phone), 529-4750 (fax), letters@staradvertiser.com, staradvertiser.com/editorial/submit-letter