Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Non-HSTA retirees
will keep benefits
Question: I am a retired schoolteacher. I heard recently that legislators have passed a law that if you don't belong to the Hawaii State Teachers Association, you will lose your medical benefits with the Hawaii Medical Service Association come July 1. Is this true?Answer: Not true, says Joan Lee Husted, executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
"We are lobbying in the state Legislature to allow HSTA to continue our federally supervised ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) medical insurance trust," she said.
If that bill passes, Husted said all nonmembers of the bargaining unit "will go into our medical trust, but they do not have to become members."
Current retirees like you will have the option of joining the trust whether they are HSTA members or not. "Future retirees will go into the trust but do not have to be members," she said.
However, the bill has not yet passed.
Husted added that "Hawaii does not permit closed shops (in which you must be a union member), and no one will lose their HMSA coverage."
Q: What is the significance of the beads at Mardi Gras?
A: In New Orleans, the American city most closely associated with Mardi Gras, the beads apparently evolved out of the practice of float riders tossing out everything from candy and trinkets to flour and quicklime to the crowd. That tradition started in the 1840s.
It was in the late 1800s, after "krewes" were formed to organize the annual festivities, that the throwing of beaded necklaces became popular.
These days, colorful plastic or aluminum beaded necklaces have become the favored items of barter, most notably to coax women into baring their breasts, during the weeks of Carnival festivities that precede Mardi Gras.
Mardi Gras (French for "fat Tuesday") falls on a different day each year, set 40 days before Easter Sunday. It is the last day of the carnival period and the day before Lent, a time of fasting. This year, Mardi Gras was March 4.
Mardi Gras was introduced in the United States by French explorers in 1699, and Louisiana is the only state that celebrates the day as a legal holiday.
Mahalo
Belatedly, to Kaui from Nanakuli. I lived in Hawaii for more than 45 years. On my last weekend at the end of January, before we moved to Las Vegas, I took my mother out. To my dismay, while coming out of the tunnel on the beautiful H-3 freeway, I had my first flat tire. It happened so fast, and I was unsure what to do next. A true good Samaritan named Kaui pulled over without hesitation and was such a gentleman in changing my flat tire. Kaui works at the Kapolei Post Office. He mentioned that others had stopped to assist his wife before, and he was reciprocating. He was a final inspiration for me of the Aloha Spirit in Hawaii. I haven't seen that here and will miss it very much. Much mahalo to you, Kaui. I will try and carry on the aloha spirit here in Vegas. -- Judy A. Murata
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Useful phone numbers
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com