Testimony from physicians, medical experts and chemical engineers documented that the city's proposed sludge plant will pollute the air to levels hazardous to human health extending over a 4.5-square mile area. We are part of a coalition of more than 3,600 people who work, live and travel in and around the proposed sludge plant site. We are requesting that the Department of Health heed the warnings of the experts and deny an air pollution permit for this sludge plant.
The city's proposed plant doesn't belong in anyone's backyard or for that matter in anyone's front yard. Sensible, non-hazardous alternatives exist for disposing of sewage sludge. We urge Mayor Jeremy Harris and his administration to rethink this project before we are put at risk.
Jeffrey H. Deer
President, Bonded Materials Co.
Kapolei
But there is a growing number of over-the-counter medications that are being sold to the public without the order of a physician. The logic in this removal from prescription status is that there is now labeling to educate the lay person as to proper usage.
What is happening is that a typical customer buys these or other products, tears open the package and takes two or three tablets. The countless months spent negotiating with the Food and Drug Administration to provide proper instruction are dumped in the trash.
Many people are amazed and shocked to find that their favorite pain reliever is wrought with dangers. Little time is taken to consider that their own medical problems might be aggravated by these drugs.
A pharmacist cannot advise if he or she doesn't know that you bought some ibuprofen at the supermarket even though you have a blood pressure problem that could get critical if you take this pain reliever.
Tom Lynch
Mililani
There may be an auto insurance/liability system that has a role for no-fault, but the bill sponsored by Sens. Holt and Ikeda provides virtually no benefits for injured accident victims; that is, unless you consider paying a large premium to an insurance company a benefit. The only insurance required is prepaid medical insurance, coverage which the vast majority of Hawaii citizens already possess. There is no provision to cover wage or earnings losses for disabled accident victims unless they are lucky enough (and wealthy enough) to have optional earnings loss coverage.
There is no right to sue to recover lost wages from careless drivers unless the victim is covered by optional earnings loss coverage. How is the ordinary middle-class accident victim going to pay the rent or the mortgage or buy food? The Holt/Ikeda bill is a one-way ticket to the welfare system for poor and middle-class auto victims with disabling injuries.
Richard Miller
Professor of Law, Emeritus
Myth No. 1 - There is a revolving door on our prison.
If this were the case, our prisons would not be overcrowded to the extent that we send inmates to other states. Hawaii's inmates are serving relatively long terms.
Myth No. 2 - The system is more concerned with the rights of prisoners than the rights of victims.
In a democracy we must protect the rights of all citizens, inmates included.
Myth No. 3 - The corrections system was designed to be harsh punishment.
America has the dubious honor of inventing the modern prison. These prisons were designed to mitigate the harshness of physical punishments and capital punishment.
Myth No. 4 - We run country club prisons.
The primary punishment of incarceration is the loss of one's freedom. This is a severe form of punishment. I don't think anyone who spent as much as an hour in Halawa would describe it as a country club.
As a nation and a state, we are overzealous in our pursuit of more incarceration. Our prison population is showing us that more and harsher punishment is not the answer.
Gerald J. Reardon
Executive Director
John Howard Association of Hawaii