Q. I was bitten by a part pit bull dog that was walking with a woman and another dog — a beagle — on July 1, 2006, in Kailua. The dogs were trailing leashes when one ran up and bit me at Kawainui Park near the road along the marsh. The woman walking the dogs apologized and talked to the police while I waited for the ambulance. I am diabetic and had a deep bite and puncture wound on my thigh and didn't get the dog owner's name at the time. I have recovered but am retired and would like to be reimbursed for several hundred dollars in medical bills and ambulance fees that weren't paid by my insurance. But when I requested the police report, the name and address of the dog owner were blacked out. Why did this happen?

A. Honolulu police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said certain information was blacked out as required by state law. She said the only way to get an unedited copy is with a subpoena.

If you had been involved in a traffic accident, you could have exchanged information at the scene and been able to receive a police report with the other woman's name in the report.

She said that's because traffic accident reports are covered by a different section of the law, which states that traffic accident reports are available upon request to people involved in or having an interest in the accident. And she said the traffic accident law overrules the privacy law in cases of conflict.

Perhaps the woman will learn what happened from your story and come forward. Or perhaps someone can tell us if there are low-cost legal alternatives or how to go to small claims court to pursue the matter based on the information you already have.

Q. I used to live in Colorado where they have been recycling a long time. Why don't the stores that charge the deposit take them back here like they did there? That was easier than the Hawai'i system.

A. When state lawmakers were writing that law, they heard from both supporters of that type of system and from retailers here who fought any move to force them to recycle at the stores that sell the beverages. The state has been offering incentives to retailers and others to encourage them to put in reverse vending machines.

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