March 18, 2006 - Saturday

Happy 10th birthday to Starbulletin.com, which went online for the first time on March 18, 1996, years before the Advertiser. Says webmaster Blaine Fergerstrom: "Doesn't seem that long, yet seems an eternity."

Contract negotiations, or lack of negotiations, at the Hawaii Tribune Herald in Hilo also seem llike an eternity. The bad situation created by the Stephens Media Group is described in a story in today's Star-Bulletin. Click here for the Newspaper Guild's press release about the situation.

The Kaaawa crime wave continues with multiple reports of mostly small thefts, items lost from cars parked at home in driveways or garages, and a few reports of burglars entering homes. There have been at least two vehicles "of interest" seen in the area, a small white car, perhaps a VW Golf, and what was described as a white Blazer with a dented door.

We stopped early yesterday to warn one person who we often pass in the morning about the thefts, and he immediately invited us into the yard to see what he had found. Carefully stacked behind a utility shed out of view, just steps from the sandy outflow of this storm drain, were a tool box, a leather sports bag of some kind, and a new looking weed eater, apparently stolen items stashed for later retrieval.

click for more

Footprints in the sand led up from below.

He said it is the second time this has happened. Sometime earlier, he found three fishing poles stashed behind the house. Those he removed and took home.

In light of the other thefts, we advised calling the police and making a report. He later said that he went home (across the street) to get a cell phone, and when he returned the items were already gone and there were more footprints in the sand below the yard.

I took photos of the footprints, which I'll post later over at Kaaawa.net.

And so it goes on this Saturday morning.

March 17, 2006 - Friday

The weather continues to be ominous. Heavy overcast and the threat of rain. Yesterday rain was visible off shore, but we didn't have to deploy umbrellas during our morning walk. This was the dawn in Kaaawa, a gradual lightening of the gloom and shadows. No direct sun visible. Could have been worse.

I'm surprised that the Advertiser hasn't made more reference to its somewhat prescient package on local dam safety that appeared last October, which included a listing of dams statewide and a map of their locations.

On the information front, I just noticed that after years of lagging behind many other federal districts, Hawaii's U.S. District Court has instituted electronic filing with documents becoming available online through the PACER computer system. It's a big step forward in public access.

The Maui News is displaying the following notice in the spot normally reserved for its online poll: "Due to individuals skewing the results by casting multiple votes, the Maui News poll is temporarily out of service while tighter security measures are programmed into it. Thank you for your patience."

A group calling itself the Defend Oahu Coalition has announced two community meetings to be held Saturday afternoon to rally opposition to the planned mega-expansion of the Turtle Bay Resort. The meetings are scheduled for Kahuku High School at 1 p.m. and and Sunset Beach Elementary at 4 p.m. A quick check shows the web site is registered to Unite Here Local 5, the union representing employees of the resort.

Ms. Rosie of Kalihi is the latest addition to the Readers' Gallery. She was lucky to be rescued from the parking lot of the Kamehameha Shopping Center. Her joins three other cats, two also former foundlings from the same parking lot. Lucky cats.

March 16, 2006 - Thursday

Wednesday was another two-newspaper day in reporting on a study of information access in Hawaii released this week.

What that glass of sunshine three-quarters full or one-quarter empty?

Honolulu Advertiser version

Headline: Most record requests met

First sentence: "Government agencies are "pretty good" at releasing information under the state open records law."

Star-Bulletin version

Headline: Agencies deny 1 in 4 requests

First sentence: "Citizen volunteers who requested public information from county and state agencies were denied about one out of four times, according to a first-ever audit of the state's compliance with freedom of information laws."

In an early morning email yesterday, one reader noted other aspects of the Kauai flood coverage:

Of course there was coverage in today's (Wednesday) Kauai paper -- but there was NOTHING about it in today's Maui News.

The Hilo and Kona papers' Web sites still have the March 14 editions posted online -- no breaking news references to Kauai, as far as I could see.

Just my two cents.

Although the status of the Big Island's Hokulia development has apparently been resolved by the settlement of the lawsuit that had been on appeal to the Hawaii Supreme Court, attorney Alan Murakami notes Hokulia-related legislation is still pending in the state Senate.

However, the impact of the settlement is on HB 1368, HD 2, still pending before the Senate, is still UNCLEAR. It is still uncertain whether proponents of the bill will continue to push for carte blanche grandfathering of thousands of illegal agricultural subdivision lots without following the process the 2005 Legislature initiated last year with the Rural Land Study (Act 183) and identification of Important Ag Lands (Act 205).

Both of these processes were to ultimately resolve the many unresolved issues involving the use of these lands, a process that would have had to consider what to do with these other non-Hokulia lots. None of them face any immediate threat of eviction, prosecution or any other enforcement action, for many legal reasons. However, it is still possible that the Hokulia lot owners will continue to attempt to use the perceived threat of enforcement against these other lot owners to seek an exemption from complying with the land use laws.

In the meantime, former Gov. George Ariyoshi, in a series of columns in Hawaii Business Magazine, has called for long-range vision and planing in the creation of housing rather than the rush for short-term profits.

The more farsighted business interests must begin to speak up. What comes through publicly from the business community is the narrow and short-term view - the cry for fast action by government regardless of the content of a development proposal, the cry for less regulation and more rezoning. These are the cliches that coalesce around the call to abolish the State Land Use Commission.

Where are the voices of our long-term good? Where are the businesses of yesterday that were actively concerned about their employees having decent housing and stable communities? Where are the voices of the travel industry that acknowledged their stake in good planning and open space? Where are the investors, consumers and citizens who are concerned that their children's possibilities for the good life might be foreclosed? (Hawaii Business, Sept 2005)

Interesting reading.

Fans of Gordon Gecko, one of the recent additions to the Readers' Pets Gallery, might be interested in this additional information:

For the interest of Gordon's fans: Gordon belongs to the Phelsuma genus of Day Geckos. The are completely diurnal ( A bit redundant for day Geckos...) His common name is Giant Day Gecko and his original home was Madagascar.When adult, Gordon is a hefty 10 inches long and iridescent and the envy of his nocturnal cousins.

March 15, 2006 - Wednesday

Pictures of the damage on Kauai yesterday helps to put the Kaaawa flooding into perspective. It could have been a lot, lot worse. Both the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin present additional photos online today, but neither shares more than a handfull of the hundreds of photographs which must have been taken.

From a friend in Kalihi:

FYI, something interesting ... it is now almost 4:30 pm (Tuesday) and there is still not one word on the KHON2 website about the Kauai flood at Kilauea, which has washed away 2 homes, killed one person, caused up to 7 people to be missing, broken the Kuhio Hwy, knocked out power and physically isolated Princeville and Hanalei -- with the reservoir above Old Koloa Town threatening to overflow its banks, and another dam near Kilauea, the Morita, threatening to blow also -- all this, already on CNN and MSNBC and every other news website you can think of, including newspapers across the country, and all the other local TV sites  ... and not one single mention of it on the KHON2 website.

I called them at about 1:30 to ask if this might be the result of cutbacks in staff, and the girl said something about "they're working on it and don't want to put it up until they have all the facts." The Kauai mayor's office has made a statement, the Civil Defense have made several statements, and still nothing at KHON.

Good thing we have options.

Yes, good thing.

Spotted in a Star-Bulletin editorial on Monday:

DEMOCRATIC legislators appear headed for a confrontation with Governor Lingle that could backfire in next year's gubernatorial race. If they fail to recognize that fiscal responsibility reflects political popularity, they will encumber their candidate with an impossible task. [emphasis added]

I don't agree with this slanted assessment, but that's not the problem with the editorial's lead. The problem is the calendar. The election, last time I checked, is this year rather than next. Ooops. Maybe Canadians are voting in odd years....

Today's additions to the Readers' Gallery are Nui, an 11-year old Jack Russell Terrier in Kailua-Kona, and Gordon, the Manoa gecko. Yup. A gecko. Around here in the world of catrs, Gordon would be an endangered species. In Manoa, he's a pet.

March 14, 2006 - Tuesday

The rain started getting serious shortly after 4 a.m. Now it is drowning out everything else. It sounds like we're at the base of a waterfall that's coming down directly onto the roof. It's been steady for more than an hour. I can't do a full cat count without waking Meda up, so I just have to hope that all the cats got inside when the rain began.

Now we have that new worry--will Kamehameha Highway be open? And will it be able to stay open so that we can get back home at the end of the day?

It's the anniversary of the old Star-Bulletin's last day in 2001. The day before, a final lunch at the city desk, a couple of speeches, a few awkward goodbyes, the last issue from the old newsroom. Then the exodus from the building. I should go back and reprocess the photos, which could look a lot better. But somehow the energy isn't there.

There were some suprises when groups disclosed how much they spent lobbying during the last eight months of 2005. At the top of the list of reported lobbying expenditures from May 1 through December 31, 2005 were the Hawaii Community Foundation ($230,000), Hawaii Association of Realtors ($140,880), Hawaii Operating Engineers Industry Stabilizaton Fund ($89,420.22), Honolulu Board of Water Supply ($83,333.36) and the Western States Petroleum Association ($80,000). The foundation's position is surprising and needs some explanation, since nonprofits are typically limited in their ability to lobby.

Check out a two-page list of just the top spenders, or browse the full list, prepared by the State Ethics Commission.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has reportedly raised over $20 million for her campaign fund, including 15 contributions from Hawaii.

The rain abruptly stopped about 5:50 a.m. We're waiting to see what it's like as it gets light.

We were relieved by Silverman's reappearance last night. We hadn't actually seen him since Friday night, and while he often misses a day, it's not often that he disappears for longer than that. But he strolled in a round 8:30 last night, hungry but otherwise looking fine.

Galdalf and Arwyn, who share a household in Austin, Texas, are the latest felines to join the Readers' Gallery.

March 13, 2006 - Monday

The McClatchy newspaper chain will buy Knight Ridder, according to an announcement made this morning. However, McClatchey is immediately seeking to sell off the 12 newspapers published in large urban areas. According to the San Jose Mercurty News: "In addition to the Mercury News and Contra Costa Times, those include the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, the Akron Beacon Journal, the Wilkes Barre Times Leader, the Aberdeen American News, the Grand Forks Herald, the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinal, the Monterey Herald, and the Deluth News and Tribune."

Here's the short interview with Star-Bulletin publisher Dennis Francis, from the current issue of Pacific Business News.

I asked a friend in Hilo whether they had much rain recently. Here's his reply:

Oh, well now , I had just toted up the rain in the past few days, per our rain gauge. We received 22.8" of rain from march 4 through March 11, and we have received a total of 46.1" of rain from February 1 through March 11. We got 9" of rain on march 8.

I guess that's an affirmative.

Here's an interesting analysis of the story from last fall about the former California con who has become a well-to-do ATM broker in Hawaii, examing just why the story was so effective.

Cat news: After two rounds of blood tests confirmed high values of the liver enzyme ALT, Ms. Kili, now 8 years old, is getting a daily dose of a relatively new drug called Denosyl. The normal range for ALT is 10-100, but Kili measured 219 and 239 in tests one month apart. So it's a pill a day on an empty stomach and at least another hour before she gets to eat.

According to the manufacturer:

Denosyl has been shown to increase hepatic glutathione levels in cats and dogs.10-12 Glutathione is a potent antioxidant that protects hepatic cells from toxins and death. A recent analysis of 31 dogs and cats with various severe liver problems showed that 45% of these animals had low hepatic glutathione levels.13 Denosyl is recommended to improve hepatic glutathione levels in compromised patients to help maintain and protect liver function. Denosyl may also be used in other conditions of tissue oxidant injury and RBC fragility caused by certain toxins or drugs which are related to reduced glutathione concentrations.11

The diagnosis of a liver problem of unknown origin is troubling because we've had other cats die of liver problems. Kolo died of liver failure just days after showing symptoms. Hiwa battled a chronic liver infection for over a year. Lindsey also was being treated for an underlying liver problem when he disappeared three years ago. So we tend to be overly sensitive to liver troubles.

And don't miss taking a closer look at Dr. Pepper, the latest addition to the gallery of readers' pets. She was rescued 10 years ago and is now a pampered household member in Honolulu.

March 12, 2006 - Sunday