Thank you for your editorial, “Improve access to psychiatric care” (Star-Advertiser, Our View, March 22).
I do not think that you have given House Bill 1072 a fair shot. This bill would allow clinical psychologists with an additional master of science degree in psychopharmacology and board licensure to prescribe a narrow formulary of psychotropic medications.
Their patients would have to have a primary-care physician to treat their other medical conditions.
The physicians and psychologists would be required to collaborate if psychotropic medications needed to be prescribed so that all factors related to the patient’s health were considered.
The proposed policy and system is safe and necessary.
There are psychologists going through this training now who are from rural communities in Hawaii and will go back to practice. They can make an impact on the severe mental health crisis Hawaii is experiencing. Hawaii needs this change.
Trisha Kajimura
Executive director, Mental Health America of Hawaii
Ethics commission seems to lack ethics
I agree with David Shapiro’s column regarding the city Ethics Commission silencing longtime Executive Director Chuck Totto (“Backroom push to silence ethics director lacks class,” Star-Advertiser, Volcanic Ash, March 20).
Why we have an ethics commission is beyond me. City officials seem to subscribe to the theory that if no one speaks up against an action, then it must be OK to do it. Shame on all of the ethics commissioners who do not know the meaning of the word “ethics.”
Claudia McCloskey
Aiea Heights
We’re not reacting as we should to meth
I agree with Lee Cataluna’s column, “Meth’s dire consequences no longer make headlines” (Star-Advertiser, March 23).
She hit it spot-on by saying that we are not reacting as we should. Crystal meth and similar drugs are a major source of many of society’s problems, but, as Cataluna said, we are more concerned with matters other than the true culprit that is destroying our home. We are skirting the real issues and becoming complacent to how these drugs are harming our children and our beautiful islands.
Kudos to Kauai Police Chief Darryl Perry and his officers for being diligent in attacking this horrible poison that is destroying our people.
Marilee Lyons
Haleiwa
Ethnic bloc voting can be act of courage
I have been a loyal reader of Lee Cataluna and appreciate her sentiments on a variety of local issues. But I was appalled by her column suggesting ethnic bloc endorsements could be “reductive” and “racist” — singling out Filipinos who have endorsed Hillary Clinton’s candidacy (“Ethnic bloc endorsements help sustain racist notions,” Star-Advertiser, March 18).
As a Filipino-American, may I remind Cataluna that Filipinos in Hawaii were once, and are still in many respects, at the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy?
For a group of local Filipinos to publicly endorse a candidate is an admirable act of courage. It reflects their emerging consciousness that they have the means and power to have some influence on the election process — an act that should not be equated with racism or the assumption that people cannot think for themselves.
In Cataluna’s own words, this is a sign of progress.
Luvie Hurdus
Kaimuki
It’s a shame people still litter so much
As a fellow inveterate trash picker-upper, I loved Helen Gibson Ahn’s article (“We talk a lot about caring for the aina, but still public areas are defiled by litter,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, March 20).
Yes, it breaks my heart that so many who live in this gorgeous state have a propensity for littering, even dumping whole bags and truckloads of trash. I can’t believe my eyes most days.
When I do a lap around Kapiolani Park, I measure the lack of progress by how many bags of trash I pick up. On a bad day, I’ll pick up 10 grocery-bag-size bags of litter. Shame on those people. Have they no sense of responsibility?
We are definitely at a tipping point — the more litter people see, the more they perceive it to be OK to just add a little more.
Please, let’s all work together to keep Hawaii beautiful.
Valerie Koenig
St. Louis Heights
Lack of money isn’t why UH teams lose
I disagree with William Santos about funding for University of Hawaii athletics (“Fund UH sports and we all win,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 23).
Money does not create a winning team. A coach with a passion to win, and who can instill that passion into his or her team, will create the victories. UH’s weakness — obviously with some exceptions — seems to be the ability to hire and retain coaches who expect excellence and don’t accept anything less.
Lack of enough money is too often used as an excuse for poor performance. With success, money will come. You won’t even have to ask for it.
And, good luck to both basketball teams.
Paul Tyksinski
Kailua
Don’t credit Kealoha for low crime rate
How can the Honolulu Police Commission and others overlook all the wrongdoing of the Honolulu Police Department (“Police chief gets a good assessment,” Star-Advertiser, March 10)? That is a crime in itself.
Now Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife are being investigated by the FBI.
How can Kealoha or the police department take credit for making Honolulu is one of the safest places to live?
It is the majority of good people that make Hawaii a safe, awesome place. For one person or department to take credit for that is misleading and arrogant.
Lloyd K. Yamashiro
Ewa Beach
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