Adoptive families are just as 'real'
"Family found" (
Star-Bulletin, Jan. 16) was a heart-warming story of a woman's reunion with her birth family. As an adoptive mother, I would point out that the use of language in the article erases the woman's adoptive family, who are only mentioned for their assistance in getting Sarah Michel together with her birth family. Throughout the article, the birth family is referred to as "her family," and the adoptive family erased from the picture.
What gets ignored here, as in so many similar stories, is the dual nature of family; an adoptee has a birth family and an adoptive family. To utterly erase the adoptive family is to ignore the fact that adoptive families also are "real."
Susan Webster Schultz
Kaneohe
Study, editorial flawed about driving, alcohol
A study of DUI statistics by the state Attorney General's Office (
Star-Bulletin, Jan. 12) and a subsequent editorial (
Jan. 16) draw the dangerous conclusion that drivers with lower blood-alcohol content drive faster and more recklessly than severely intoxicated drivers, who allegedly are aware of their condition and try to compensate by driving slower. This erroneous conclusion results from sample selection -- in accidents without injuries or with minor injuries, only heavily intoxicated drivers are likely to be arrested and have blood-alcohol content monitored. Those with lower alcohol levels who may not be obviously impaired are less likely to have blood-alcohol tested and therefore are underrepresented in the study results.
In accidents with severe injuries, police are more likely to order a blood-alcohol test even when the driver is not behaving erratically. Your editorial could have tragic consequences of encouraging those with drinking problems to rationalize having "one more for the road."
David A. Bremer
Mililani
Transparency won't lower gas prices
Ted Liu, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, recently commented that forcing the oil companies to be transparent in their pricing policies would benefit the consumer because no company would charge more than a reasonable amount because no one would buy their product (
Star-Bulletin, Jan. 13).
I am retired, and a simple consumer with no ties to the oil industry. Liu ignores the fact that Chevron and Shell gasoline stations are able to charge a premium for the same grade gasoline compared to the price Aloha stations charge, and yet the consumer has not put Chevron and Shell stations out of business. During my working years, I was in the garment business. Sears had high standards for goods that were produced for them, yet consumers were willing to pay premium prices to the specialty stores carrying the same type of product. Levi jeans cost more than Lee jeans, and designer jeans sell for more than Levi jeans. Jeans and gasoline are commodities, and people will pay for perceived value.
Ronald Wong
Honolulu
Mayor has sensible idea for homeowners
It's about time Honolulu got on board with the rest of the state and established a homeowner's classification for property taxes. This will allow the administration and the City Council to set a reasonable tax rate for those who live here and have no intention of selling their homes, no matter how much they might be worth.
It's too bad the homeowner's classification can't be operational this year, but thanks to Mayor Hannemann, it's an idea that could be implemented next tax year -- if the City Council agrees to act on his proposal.
Spencer Robinson
Honolulu
Drug companies profit at Americans' expense
Since the late 1990s, the pharmaceutical industry has been the most profitable industry in America. So what did the compassionate conservative President Bush do? He guaranteed the industry even greater profits.
The Medicare drug plan that took effect Jan. 1 prevents all state governments from negotiating bulk purchases and forbids importation of drugs manufactured in foreign countries, even if it is the same drug as in the United States.
Consumers in the United States pay the highest prices in the world for the same drugs. From 1999 to 2004, the drug companies gave $45 million to elected officials and currently employ more than 600 lobbyists in Washington, D.C. Know why so many insurance companies are sponsoring drug plans around the country? Because they can recognize a gravy train when they see one!
Vernon Wong
Waipahu