Letters to the Editor
Public interest is high to rescind no-fault
I read with interest the Star-Bulletin's front-page story (March 14) regarding the Good Drivers' Coalition's practice of sending faxes to legislators on behalf of constituents.
Since our 1-800 number has been available to the people of Hawaii who want to say no to no-fault, more than 1,800 have called. When asked if a letter in their name can be sent, about 1,730 people agreed and this was done. Callers are also asked if they want additional information.
In addition to this, the Good Drivers' Coalition has received about 1,300 pieces of mail from people urging the repeal of no-fault insurance. We have canvassed 4,000 homes and left information for these people on the topic.
I can tell you from having personally gone door-to-door that the people of Hawaii understand that the problem with the high cost of auto insurance is no-fault.
RONALD TORNGREN
President, Good Drivers' Coalition
Denying state benefits will lead to problems
Hats off to Richard Borreca for his March 6 column on welfare cuts to the disabled. General assistance to the unemployed and unemployable poor and disabled has long been an accepted entitlement in our state. Governor Cayetano and the Legislature are about to perpetrate a savage attack on it.
Benefits to more than 4,000 individuals and families will be cut off as of July 1. As of March 1, grants of $418 were cut by more than $200. In the future, a disabled individual may receive only a one-time benefit over a six-month period.
What can the public expect if all of this comes to pass?
- More people unable to pay rent will sleep in parks or on the beaches, and more will search garbage cans for leftover food.
- Added individuals will show up at the Institute for Human Services and other shelters, an expense ultimately borne by the public.
- More shoplifting and other petty and not-so-petty crimes will occur.
Beyond the indignity that the dispossessed will suffer, how will more fortunate citizens and tourists in paradise feel when besieged for handouts and, perhaps even menaced, by unfortunate persons trying to get a meal?
RUTH ELLEN LINDENBERG
Cal Thomas distorts truth in column on euthanasia
In his March 13 column, Cal Thomas uses language himself as a tool to convince others that "pro-euthanasia forces" are "masking their true intent" to "mandate death" vxxx "even if you don't want to die."
The use of such phrases has not persuaded me to the author's position. On the contrary, I am frightened by the kind of thought process that leaps fromconstitutional protection of individual rights to wholesale slaughter by greedy heirs.
If life were fair, Thomas would be subjected to a dose of the intractable pain he requires others to suffer through to the bitter end.
LYNNE BECKSTROM
Refugee flight from Cuba says much about country
I find it hard to believe that people are still justifying and defending the Castro regime. Brothers To The Rescue may have indeed provoked the attack, but the shooting down of two civilian aircraft is an act of barbarism.
Tyrants fear information more than they fear guns. If two of Castro's civilian aircraft were to drop leaflets over Key West, they might be detained and fined but we would not scramble F-15s to shoot them down.
We do not have Americans escaping Florida in inner tubes heading for Cuba; it's the other way around. You want to stop immigration? Promote democracy. There is no illegal immigration from countries with a democratic system.
RAY PEREZ
Cuban immigrant