PATRONS SHOULD DO THEIR PART TO HELP

Regarding the laudable $3 million fund drive to keep libraries open despite the budget crunch, may I suggest a more modest way to donate: Be a good, or bad, patron. So far this year I have paid $172.25 in late fees for returning books past their due date.

Of course, if everyone followed my example, all the libraries would be open, but there would be no books in them.

We should all do whatever we can to keep our libraries open.

In a stormy sea of strife, noise, anxiety and foolishness, our libraries are islands of peace, quiet, calm and wisdom.

Walter Wright | Kane'ohe

STATE DEFICIT

CUT IN STATE JOBS IS ENTIRELY APPROPRIATE

HGEA and Gov. Lingle, please take note: Hawai'i has more than twice as many state workers as other states with comparable populations, and other states with the same number of state workers serve at least three times as many citizens as our state workers do.

U.S. Census data from 2000 show that states with populations comparable to Hawai'i's 1,211,537 have the following full-time workers: Maine, 20,714; Rhode Island, 18,511; Nevada, 25,336; compared to Hawai'i's 51,289.

States with full-time workers comparable to Hawai'i's 51,289 have the following populations: Oregon, 3,421,399; Wisconsin, 5,363,675; compared to Hawai'i's 1,211,537.

From these figures, it appears that a 50 percent cut in state jobs is entirely appropriate. If not, maybe a major overhaul of state worker efficiency is in order.

Guy Benjamin | 'Ewa Beach

HEALTH CARE

SYSTEM IN DIRE NEED OF MEANINGFUL REFORM

My husband has worked for 20 years at President Obama's alma mater. Lucky for us, because five years ago I had a massive heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery. A year later, my husband's brain tumor was diagnosed and he had gamma knife surgery. We both have very expensive checkups every year. Because Punahou offers the Cadillac of health care, we have suffered minimal financial impact.

But when my husband retires, he may have coverage, but I will not. Not just because of my heart, but my eyes and congenital kidney problems, I am the dictionary definition of pre-existing conditions. I know how much health care troubles cost, and I have gotten my money's worth. If we do not have health care reform, I will move with my husband to his home country: Canada. I am not a bit afraid of their system, but I don't want to leave my home in Hawai'i, where I have two businesses, children and grandchildren.

Our country's health care troubles are catastrophic. We desperately need reform.

Gloria Garvey | Kailua

MEDICARE-TYPE CARE IS THE RIGHT CHOICE

Medicare-type health care for all, with a choice of doctors and private as well as public options, doesn't represent the radical change for the worse for us as individual consumers that some fear and ballyhoo. Health care for all would bring wellness and preventive medicine to the front burner and help bring our public health up to par with other developed nations. It would help keep us as individuals and a nation from being crushed by the snowballing share of our financial resources being consumed by health care.

The pain of this change would be centered in the board rooms of the large private health insurance companies that have filled the vacuum. They would need to respond to a different playing field and would no longer be able to deny coverage due to pre-existing health problems. The marketplace will identify the companies up to the challenge.

For years we've been fortunate in Hawai'i to have many of us paying lower rates because we are in pools of customers gathered by our employers who are required to contribute to health care. National health care would move us even farther in the right direction. A hui hou!

Janet Thebaud | Honolulu