LETTERS: Foreign cars, sober homes and more

Foreign car worry was off the mark

We owe our freedoms to the servicemen and women, yes; freedom to choose what we drive is included . Many have died for that right.

Being in the automotive industry, I can tell you that every car, be it foreign or domestic, is in fact built with parts made around the world. If you removed just one part made elsewhere it would not run.

What about the Japanese TV you used to watch other Memorial Day Parades? Was that wrong, too?

Joseph Mulligan

Seaford

State must oversee sober home program

We wholeheartedly agree with the Suffolk Welfare to Work Commission's recommendation that the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Service "regulate hundreds of now unchecked sober homes" "Sober home regulation urged," News, June 4]. OASAS representative Jennifer Farrell's response that regulation of sober homes is "an issue best addressed by the local government" completely misses the mark and once again seeks to absolve the state from assuming its responsibility to oversee the entire spectrum of alcohol and substance abuse treatment programs, including licensed and regulated sober homes.

OASAS mandates licensing for outpatient treatment, detoxification, methadone maintenance, inpatient and residential substance abuse programs. To exclude from its purview the regulation and oversight of the supervision of aftercare recovery housing harshly abandons an entire struggling population susceptible to relapse and re-entry into costly treatment programs.

Local governments already exercise their responsibility to monitor compliance with local housing ordinances, but it's not their role to determine if the supervision and clinical regulation of a sober home appropriately fulfills each patient's needs. Both county executives Steve Levy and Edward Mangano are committed to the proposition that OASAS must finally accept its responsibility to not abandon individuals at their most vulnerable stage of recovery.

John E. Imhof

Mineola

Gregory J. Blass

Ronkonkoma

Editor's note: The writers are the commissioners of social services in Nassau County and Suffolk County, respectively.

BP ad dollars should go to victims instead

The $50 million BP is squandering on TV ads to improve its "image" could provide 500 families who lost their livelihood with $100,000 each. Seems to me to be a much better investment.

Jeff Gullotta

Hicksville