No surprise taxi owner came out against rail

Dale Evans, owner of Charley's Taxi, completely misses the point in her letter about Honolulu's proposed mass transit project (Letters, June 23).

Mass transit is a way to offer people a viable transportation alternative. It isn't intended to force anybody to do anything, but rather give Honolulu residents a transportation option that is reliable and predictable. Having a mass transit system on its own dedicated track does just that.

Having the freedom to choose how one travels is a good thing -- except maybe if you'd lose money when people opt for mass transit rather than taxis.

'Safe haven' does little to save baby's feelings

Gov. Linda Lingle has placed House Bill 1830 on her potential bill veto list; if invoked, the Legislature should let the veto stand.

The bills' purpose is to establish a "safe haven" for newborns and provide immunity from prosecution. Unfortunately, this bill encourages individuals (unable to deal with the harsh reality of parenthood) to legally abandon their newborns. It fails to address the cause of the problem or the psychological and emotional needs of the newborns.

The bill's author seems to suggest that any child removed from his or her birth parents will thrive. We know of adoptees who will tell you otherwise. Their struggles with identity, medical history, cultural background and feelings of abandonment and rejection are lifetime problems. As adoptive parents of two, we have witnessed this struggle.

Being physically saved is insufficient. To not address the newborn's psychological and emotional needs would be tantamount to dumping the newborn into the dumpster.

The Legislature would serve the community well by revising this bill to address the total needs of the newborn.

Would you let just anyone fly a plane?

Thank you to Gov. Linda Lingle for looking out for our patients -- whose mental illnesses can kill them the same as if they had died of heart disease or cancer -- by putting SB 1004 on her list of bills she intends to veto on July 10 (Star-Bulletin, June 26). This bill would allow psychologists, who are not medical doctors and would receive only a crash course in medicine, to dispense powerful psychotropic drugs to patients regardless of age or co-occurring medical condition.

To pass a bill like this can be likened to the state handing out a pilot's license to someone who never went to flight school; someone who instead made up their own classes for one-tenth of the required time and were taught by those who took the same crash-course. Then pretend this is OK because the formulary would be limited to commuters between Molokai and Maui and on one type of airplane.

Nobody would allow that. Hawaii should not allow anything less for patients who are medically ill and require a physician's care. Hawaii is ranked 11th in the nation for its delivery of mental health services. Thank you for not letting us go backward to where we were just 10 years ago when we were rated 51st, coming in behind Puerto Rico.

Give trust for teachers' benefits more time

House Bill 1746, the Voluntary Employees Benefits Association trust extension bill, should not be vetoed. The VEBA trust potentially saves the taxpayer money while providing better health benefits to teachers at lower cost. Gov. Linda Lingle proposes vetoing the bill because it was passed before the state auditor's study of the program's effectiveness has been completed. But since it took more than a year to implement the VEBA trust program after it was initially passed, the program has not been in operation long enough for the auditor's report to accurately judge the efficacy of the program.

The program was envisioned to be piloted for three years. It should be given the full three years to demonstrate its efficacy and cost savings to taxpayers.

Editor's note: To read Gov. Linda Lingle's statement concerning her veto list, please see:

www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessioncurrent/bills/gm979_.pdf

Moses was a Jew, not a Christian

I was taught the Ten Commandments were given to the world by God, via Moses on Mount Sinai. This contradicts the June 25 letter from Bill Prescott, who wrote that Christians gave us the Ten Commandments. I've never heard that Moses converted from Judaism to Christianity, but miracles do happen.

A winning strategy in Afghanistan, sort of

Terrorists are killing more civilians than we are in Iraq -- fresh evidence that the insurgents are getting desperate, according to the Bush administration.

In Afghanistan, the opposite is true. So far this year, the U.S. coalition forces have killed 203 civilians, while the terrorists are lagging behind with only 178 killed -- more fresh evidence that we are winning that war after only six years of fighting.