Kokua Line June Watanabe

Park Service keeps access to Arizona free

Question: I recently visited the USS Missouri and USS Arizona Memorials. Why is it that the USS Missouri charges fees for entrance and for tours, but it's free for the USS Arizona? The USS Arizona has a small area for donations, but if they charged even $1 for admission, they'd make close to $4,500 a day toward fixing and maintaining the memorial. Do you know why this is?

Answer: The USS Arizona Memorial is managed by the National Park Service, under an agreement with the U.S. Navy, while the USS Missouri Memorial is overseen by a nonprofit organization, which uses admission fees to help refurbish, maintain and operate the battleship.

The Park Service's "general approach" is not to charge admission to historic memorials, such as the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, explained Frank Hays, Pacific Area director for the National Park Service and acting superintendent for the USS Arizona Memorial.

The philosophy is to have such memorials -- "such important parts of American history" -- be as open to the American public as possible.

That said, visitors are always welcome to give donations.

"That's the approach most memorial sites take," Hays said.

With an average of about a million and a half visitors a year, the Arizona Memorial has been receiving between $200,000 and $300,000 a year in donations, all of which "goes directly to supporting operations" at the memorial, Hays said.

It now costs about $2.9 million a year to operate the Arizona Memorial.

Funding is expected to increase once the new visitors center opens at the end of 2009.

The Park Service, which oversees nearly 400 sites nationwide, has operated the Arizona Memorial and the visitor center since 1980.

Q: I have back problems due to degenerative discs and go to a chiropractor for treatment. I was denied a disabled parking placard. The clerk at a satellite city hall said that was because chiropractors do not prescribe medication. My chiropractor is treating the condition; taking medication does not treat it. Why can't they accept the word of a chiropractor?

A: The key requirement, under state law, is that the person certifying the disability be a "licensed practicing physician," explained Francine Wai, executive director of the state Disability and Communications Access Board.

State rules on the disability parking program define a licensed practicing physician as a "doctor of medicine, naturopathy, osteopathy, or podiatry licensed and authorized to practice in the State of Hawaii."

While those physicians can prescribe medication, "that fact is not relevant to the issue," Wai said. "Chiropractors are not in that category."

At one time, the definition of physician did not include naturopaths, osteopaths, or podiatrists, but that has since been changed, she said.

"The issue of expanding to nonphysicians has been raised periodically, but not expanded," Wai said, because "the expansion beyond physicians opened the doors to physical therapists, rehabilitation counselors, acupuncturists, prosthetic dealers, etc., as well as chiropractors."