We would like to clarify some of the claims made about the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Richard Borreca’s column (“Choy’s proposals bad news for UH empire builders,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 13).

The first is that UH Cancer Center does help treat cancer. Thousands of Hawaii residents have received treatment through clinical trials at local hospitals, many of them developed at the center. If not for the Cancer Center, these types of treatments would have only been available to those who could afford to travel and live away from Hawaii.

Second, the center does run its own programs. For example, the Cancer Epidemiology Program focuses on the ethnic and racial differences in cancer occurrences here in Hawaii, and the Cancer Biology Program studies cancer development and progression here in Hawaii.

Dr. Jerris Hedges
Dean of the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine, interim director of the UH Cancer Center

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Secret meeting raises suspicion

A secret meeting without the chairwoman or executive director of the city Ethics Commission present (“Ethics Commission clears 3 of wrongdoing in votes taken by Council on rail,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 15)?

Really?

Come on, let’s see some real investigative journalism on this one.

Dave Young
Makiki

Laws could help with gun safety

Instead of trying to ban guns, let’s mandate gun ownership responsibility.

>> Enact Carry Sober laws. Intoxicated individuals in control of firearms need to face heavy fines and be suspended from owning for five years. We do not need alcohol and guns mixing in our communities.

>> Require mandatory prison time for anyone leaving a gun unsecured resulting in a crime or accidental shooting.

>> Suspend anyone convicted of domestic violence from owning a firearm for 10 years.

>> Adults giving minors permission to use guns need to be criminally liable for any damage caused by those guns.

>> Anyone selling a gun without doing a background check would face prison if that gun is ever used in a crime.

These laws would not infringe on Second Amendment rights. Add in public service ads and we can create a safer nation where guns are taken seriously.

Michael Pusch
Hawaiian Ocean View Estates

PV owners take hit from HECO

Do Hawaiian Electric customers with photovoltaic generating systems connected under the current net metering agreements realize they are getting no credit toward their electric bills for up to 40 percent of what their systems produce?

That is because HECO’s net meters do not have the capability to utilize the two sources of electricity (the customer’s and HECO’s) simultaneously. During morning and late afternoon hours, a customer’s system is producing a substantial amount of electricity, but since the sun is not high enough in the sky for production to exceed usage, all that electricity is lost. Only during the middle of the day, when the typical 10KW system is producing at its maximum, will production generally exceed the usage with any surplus going to credit the customer’s bill.

Now HECO has Public Utilities Commission approval to cut even that meager credit in half (“PUC reduces credit rate for new solar customers,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 15). With 30 to 40 percent of what the home system produces going to waste, customers might wonder why they spent all that money on PV.

In Hawaii I guess “net” doesn’t really mean “net.”

Jack M. Schmidt Jr.
Kailua

Libraries have caregiver books

Ken Takeya of Kailua wrote about the difficulties in obtaining a copy of “Deciding What’s Next and Who in the World Cares?” (“Caregiver books need distribution,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Oct. 15).

Our public library system cares. There are more than 100 copies of the latest 2014 edition in the statewide system. Kailua Library has four circulating copies and one reference copy. Look for it in the Hawaiian section @ H 346.013 Pi or ask the library staff for help. The loan period is three weeks.

The first library card is free if you do not have one. The advantage of getting a library copy is that you will always be able to find it when you want it.

Sylvia Mitchell
Branch manager, Liliha Public Library