LETTERS: Health care workers, alcohol monitoring ...

Group's response to wage bill woeful
It is hard to believe that Erica Chase, speaking for the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, said her members support the Living Wage Bill but that it should be "put off until Jan. 1 while we try to figure out how to deal with this" ["$1 raise returns," News, July 27].

The nonprofits posture themselves as advocates for the poor. How then in good conscience can they stand in the way of a raise that still does not help the health care workers to achieve the lowest rung of the poverty level? If Chase is accurately describing the opinions of her group's members, they should be ashamed of themselves for throwing the recipients of this increase to the wolves in favor of themselves.

Kudos to the legislators who acted unanimously to keep the raise on track.
Leone Baum, Hempstead

Let offenders pay for alcohol monitoring
I applaud Nassau and Suffolk Counties for adopting the use of alcohol detection devices in convicted driver's vehicles ["No ignition in drunken condition," News, July 26].

I don't understand what all the concern is over paying for monitoring offenders and getting state grants to defray costs. Isn't it high time that people pay for their legal violations and not the state?

The solution to paying for monitoring isn't rocket science: Let the offenders pay for the equipment rental and pay a surcharge for what is calculated to be the cost of monitoring.
Robert H. Pahl Sr., Mount Sinai

Disabling their cars is no solution. Who says a convicted DWI driver has to drive his or her own car? They may have access to a relative's car or a rental car. We need stronger laws, not a slap on the wrist.
Sanford Schneider, Island Park

Plover protection lax
The recent death of two plover chicks comes as alarming and embarrassing news to me ["Protecting the plovers," News, July 21]. A former plover steward of three years for Suffolk County Parks, I and other stewards had monitored and protected 75 pairs of plovers per year with no vehicular deaths.

The event at Robert Moses State Park should not have occurred. The birds' death suggests that the stewardship at Democrat Point had been lax at the time. Plover stewards are paid to monitor the activity of these birds on a daily basis, and there should be no question as to where the brood is foraging.

Monitoring should be increased before and after the hatch date, because this is when the chicks are most vulnerable - especially in areas where there is vehicle use. The State Parks should not need the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to tell them that.

Further, the symbolic fencing is designed to be adapted to the needs of the brood. Their activity should be known each morning, and the location of the string fence should be moved to accommodate the brood's needs.

If all agencies participating in the Plover Protection Program did this, there would be a fewer chick deaths.
Peter Priolo, Moriches