Oahu drivers aren't as bad as some others

If Michael Chiaramonte (Letters, Dec. 3) thinks the drivers are bad and courtesy is on the way out in Oahu, perhaps he should drive in Port Angeles for a while. A lot of people here drive with all the speed of a snail and are totally unaware of the traffic they are holding up. Turn signals are almost unknown. I have been given the finger numerous times by people who are driving well past the speed limit and want me to drive at least as fast as they are going, even though I was already driving the speed limit.

I never encountered any driving problems when I was in Honolulu in 1999.

Alan Cummings
Port Angeles, Wash.

Council ruled correctly on rooster bill

A recent editorial was critical of City Council members for rejecting Bill 71, which would have banned roosters in residential areas (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 16). To the contrary, those Council members are to be applauded for their courage in standing up for what is right.

Cockfighting is already illegal under state law. The bill before the Council related to odor and noise. When it became obvious that one dog produces more feces than a dozen chickens, odor became a dead issue. Data from the Hawaiian Humane Society from a four-month period showed a total of 1,073 complaints about barking dogs, compared to just 175 for crowing roosters. Should dogs be considered farm animals and banned from residential areas, since they generate a lot more odor and noise complaints than roosters?

The Animal Care Foundation is planning and implementing procedures that would curtail noise from both roosters and dogs. A majority of Council members decided to give Animal Care Foundation a chance to address the problem and implement the most effective solution. We are fortunate to have Council members who realize our country was not founded on the restriction and punishment of the masses, based on the actions of a few.

Billy Ervin
Waianae

Many nursing homes work to improve

Recently, there have been news stories about Hawaii's nursing home quality, sparked by new quality measures released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("Isle nursing care ranks above national average," Star-Bulletin, Nov. 13).

This two-fold CMS initiative first provides Hawaii residents with access to nursing home quality information by logging onto www.medicare.gov and clicking on Nursing Home Compare, or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). I'd like to encourage consumers to take advantage of this additional resource in making informed decisions about a nursing home for a loved one.

The second part of this initiative is for Medicare to provide assistance to Hawaii nursing homes to improve their measures. We at Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Foundation are Medicare's designated quality improvement organization in Hawaii. Our job is to provide no-cost assistance to willing nursing homes wishing to improve their quality of care as represented by the new measures.

I am proud to say many Hawaii nursing homes are more than willing. We are contacted regularly by nursing home representatives and staff members who want to provide excellent care to their residents. I'd like to commend the nursing homes in our state that want to improve, and I look forward to the future reports of their successes.

Dee Dee Nelson
Director
Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Foundation

Education 'dilemma' can be resolved

The "dilemma in undergraduate education" referred to in a recent letter to the editor ("Don't limit university to 'first-tier' students," Star-Bulletin, Nov. 20) is not the responsibility of the university. That is the basic problem that has had the agonized attention of educators, government, teachers and parents for many years.

The University of Hawaii has a right to expect that any student admitted will have the "primary school skills and bases of essential knowledge" the writer mentioned. If elementary and high school standards can be raised to provide students with those skills, they will be prepared for a first-tier university. With a first-tier university available in Hawaii, the "brain drain" to mainland colleges will be lessened or obliterated.

The university must be permitted and aided to become a first-tier institution. More important, we must raise the standards and challenges of undergraduate facilities. Isn't that what all the recent gubernatorial candidates promised to do?

Marie I. Boles

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