Question: Do the guards at Kaneohe Marine Base have any authorization to ask for your Social Security number as you enter the base? They were provided with my driver's license, car insurance, registration and safety check, but they then asked for my Social Security number. I asked why it was required and they just indicated it was. However, some of my friends who entered to join me at the golf course said they weren't asked for their Social Security numbers. Can you check whether it was proper to ask for my Social Security number?

Answer: Everyone entering the base, unless they have a military ID card that already has that information, will be asked for a Social Security number.

The number is used to access a database to verify the person has not previously been barred from Navy-Marine Corps bases for any reason, explained Maj. Alan Crouch, spokesman for Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Social Security numbers are used because they have a “;unique value”; in searching the database for someone banned for trespassing, for example, or even “;inappropriate solicitation”; on base, he said.

The information also “;could potentially be used as part of an investigation.”;

That all said, Crouch added that the Marine Corps base “;is particularly attuned to the collection of what we call 'P.I.I.' - personally identifiable information.

  “;We do not take that collection lightly,”; he said. “;We do take every precaution with that information”; to make sure it doesn't get out.

  Q: Why is it when I call the police about smokers breaking the law along Maunakea Street between Beretania Street and Nimitz Highway, they say they need the name of the complainant or they will not respond.

But when speeders and jaywalkers get caught no complainer is required.

A: Basically, it's because a police officer usually witnesses someone speeding or jaywalking, while a smoker violating the law usually isn't doing it by the time police arrive, said Maj. Frank Fujii, spokesman for the Honolulu Police Department.

If police are going to respond to such a call, they want a witness to the violation.

  Q: Where did Glenn Beck come from? Who is he?

A: Beck, 44, was born in Mount Vernon, Wash.

Before he became a conservative political commentator on CNN's Headline News, his career, starting as a teenager, was on radio: hosting programs ranging from Top 40 hits to Christian radio to country, until he settled in on talk radio.

He was an alcoholic and drug addict by the time he was 30, but managed to overcome his addictions, divorced and remarried and, although raised a Roman Catholic, was baptized a Mormon in 2000.

In 2002, he gained a national audience via Premier Radio Networks with “;The Glenn Beck Program”; and in 2006 he joined CNN Headline News.

CNN abruptly canceled his TV show on Oct. 16, after he announced plans to move to rival Fox News Channel next spring. He has published two books, with a third due out later this month.

He has four children and lives with his second wife in Connecticut.