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July 6, 2002 - Saturday

Several years ago I did a couple of stories on Judge David Fong who, while serving as a part-time per diem judge, had a private law practice specialized in liquor license law and representing hostess bars, while his wife owned a building which rented space to several clubs. Fong professed ignorance of the illegal activities going on in the building. I reported that Fong had not reported several of his wife's financial interests on the annual financial disclosures required of all judges. The Commission on Judicial Discipline broke their silence to say they had started a review of the case based on the news reports, but they have apparently never reached a conclusion.

Fong's term expires on November 3, and I called the Judicial Selection Commission to find out whether he has applied to serve another term. Commission vice-chair John Edmunds called back to say that they expect to make a public announcement on Monday.

Antitrust papers, continuing. On the same day that Antitrust Division attorney Tom Horton requested Dept. of Justice authority to open an investigation into Gannett's plan to grab a monopoly in Honolulu, Deputy AG Jack Rosenzweig faxed him a cartoon by John Pritchett that appeared in Honolulu Weekly. It's nice to think that Pritchett's pointed comment on the antitrust implications of Gannett's move may have played a role in kick starting the federal investigation.

Feeling old. I found a little gem tucked away in a box of old negatives--a pocket menu from Pizza Pete's, the favorite pizza place back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and Meda and I were students at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. I'm usually not too aware of time passing, but the first look at this menu was a bit dizzying.

Submarine sandwich, four meats, pizza sauce, cheese, all for the whopping sum of 65 cents. Large "Hawaiian" pizza (ham and pineapple), $2.60. And so on. Ouch.

July 5, 2002 - Friday

We were just a block from home at the end of our walk early yesterday morning when we passed this family hoisting an American flag onto a post tied to their fence. It was a wonderful scene, and they were glad to share the moment with us. From New Zealand came this message: Well, count me in as one who reads your page first thing in the morning! Wouldn't miss it. Since this house is missing a flagpole (on the wish list), I have Old Glory draped along the bannister. Long may she wave . . . American patriotism is alive and well in Kiwi land.

July 4th flag raising, Kaaawa (click for larger version)

Is the Star-Bulletin going to introduce an online registration system? Someone pointed me to this registration page, which I hadn't stumbled onto before. It's got some problems, perhaps indicating it's still a work in progress. An indication of the future?

And while checking on that, I stopped at islandhomes.starbulletin.com, the S-B's muchbragged about real estate listings. The search engine doesn't work (try searching for a condo downtown, or a home in Kailua) and it really acts as a portal to individual real estate firms that advertise there. All in all, either a basic failure or extremely premature to have online.

Yesterday's lasagna drew this reaction from across town:

"Lovely entree entry. I for one appreciate your culinary adventures. However, habanero on everything? Thank goodness for raisins, I suppose!"

And this one from Japan:

We who are not in America (and for whom it is already July 5th anyway) appreciate your inability to break out of your journal writing routine. However, we do not appreciate the picture and scintillating description of your low-fat lasagna without being able to taste test it ourselves...

July 4, 2002 - Thursday

What in the world am I doing up early on a holiday morning to write this, which no one is likely to read today? I guess it's something about routine and habit. Not worth fighting against.

The antitrust papers, day 5. Just a snippet today. It only took Department of Justice attorneys a week to decide there was enough to the Hawaii case to open an investigation into violations of federal antitrust law by Gannett plan to close the Star-Bulletin. Here's the memo requesting authorization to proceed with the investigation, dated September 23, 1999. Approval came just a few days later.

Has the Rock heard about this? Honolulu Weekly editor Curt Sanburn, in a brief note, reminded readers last week that same sex relationships were part of traditional Hawaiian culture, and were obvious to members of Captain Cook's expedition, who commented on the young chief Kamehameha's open sexuality with young men in his entourage. I asked Curt about the reference, and he pointed to an article he wrote back about eight years ago for more details. He said there was a rivalry among Hawaiian chiefs to count the most handsome teenage males among their aikane. With the talk about the Rock starring in a Hollywood film on the life of Kamehameha, do you suppose he'll be portrayed diddling teen warriors?

It might not look like much, but this attempt at a low fat lasagna turned out pretty good. The approach was to substitute low fat ingredients for the traditional. So we shopped for low-fat ricotta, nonfat cottage cheese, low and no fat mozzarella, low fat chicken and turkey sausage, my own hot tomato sauce with habanero. Some raisins, mushrooms, garlic, Italian spices, compiled and baked. It was better the second night. It was actually quite good. I've taken the same approach to building a pizza without the whopping hit of fat and calories that come with the commercial products. I still wonder why there isn't a chain of restaurants boasting such guilt-free versions of favorite meals. It sounds like a moneymaker, but what do I know? And how about those plates? I found the first few of this pattern at the Kalihi Savers store for next to nothing. As I was standing in line at the cashier, a couple of guys in line behind me gave me a once-over, spied my find, and cooed, "nice plates," the words drawn out for emphasis. I took it as a great compliment.

click for larger view

July 3, 2002 - Wednesday

The antitrust papers, day 4. Less than a week after Rupert Phillips' 1999 announcement of plans to close the Star-Bulletin. a Washington, D.C.-based attorney representing the Newspaper Guild wrote to Joel Klein, then head of the Antitrust Division with the Department of Justice. Drawing on the division's previous actions, and inactions, the writer--Donald I. Baker, of the law firm Baker & Miller--spelled out a case for why the federal government should intervene to keep the Star-Bulletin alive. It's the letter that apparently started the ball rolling in Washington. Click here for Baker's letter.

Several people responded yesterday pointing out that the person who emailed the White House and DOJ about the S-B situation sent the missive via AOL. Not much of a clue.

So, your letter writer is a semi-articulate independent newspaper vendor, possibly a (self-appointed?) spokesperson for all such vendors, who believed raising the subscription cost of the paper 10 cents/day would have saved it.

Good hunting.

Indeed.

There's a rumor going round the Star-Bulletin that Gannett is inviting the Advertiser's top 25 to 50 ad clients on a fall cruise, as in cruise ship. It's said to be a European cruise, although that seems quite extravagant for an employer pleading poverty and seeking major concessions in current contract negotiations with the Guild. Please tell me it's not so!

There's always something new along our morning walks in Kaaawa. This week we took to the back roads one morning in an effort to race home before the rain hit, and there was a baby llama at the Nozawa's. What do you call a baby llama? A calf? Down the road a ways, there is a batch of ducklings in retired postmaster Jarrett Pang's yard. The adult ducks are all white, the ducklings yellow. No puppies yet, at least that I've noticed, but several homes have kittens.

Kaaawa Llama

Mr. Silverman came back yesterday morning, and spent several hours sleeping on a chair on our front deck. Then he wandered off, and we didn't see him last night. Who knows what goes on in the tiny brain of a blue-eyed gray cat?

July 2, 2002 - Tuesday

We celebrated, if only briefly, last night. The reason: Mr. Silverman.

We were on the way home, just before turning the corner onto our street, when we spotted a big gray cat crossing Olohu Road and heading for a house on the other side. We immediately stopped, I jumped out, and called a few times. Mr. Silverman answered! It didn't take long to figure out that he seems fine. I carried him home, only four houses away, and we fed him dinner. Then I walked back and checked with the folks in the house, who we know only casually. They confirmed that he showed up there about the time he "disappeared", perhaps three weeks ago. He's been eating over there since. I explained about his background, and told them we're just glad that he's safe and sound.

Mr. Silverman returns.

When I first brought Silverman back into our house, he was growling and upset. After eating his way through several sittings, he mellowed right out and took a long rest in my bathroom.

I got up around 1:30 a.m. Silverman was back again nervous and growling at our other cats, who were of course curious, so I carried Silverman outside, then walked him down the street to where we first saw him last evening. He went the whole way, then walked back with me, purring and rubbing my legs until we got back to our driveway. Then he disappeared into the darkness.

We didn't know if we were ever going to see Mr. Silverman again, so this was an incredible treat. I have no idea what happens next, but it's wonderful to know that he's okay, even if living elsewhere.

And this gives us some hope, however slim, for Ms. Lizzie.

The antitrust papers, day 3. This memo was perhaps the first attempt to generate a federal investigation. The same email was sent to President Clinton and to the Justice Department on September 19, 1999, just a few days after Rupert Phillips' announcement, and showed up several times in the DOJ records. The identity of the author, a Kaneohe resident, remains unknown.

And a reader notes: "hey did you know they have a "rene mansho" special salad ( tofu & chicken) on the menu at the hungry lion restaurant on school st....?? do you think if she gets some (prison) time they'll take it off the menu? "

July 1, 2002 - Monday

Expect to read more of Alex Salkever's Hawaii Scoops. Here's his brief explanation of the hiatus in the fledgling site:

I had to go to NYC for a while. I just got bogged down. I am going to start it up as soon as I can. I really need to build a more customized site, though. Am sick of blogger. Just my day job is killing me.

The antitrust papers, day 2. Rupert Phillips publicly announced the planned closing of the Star-Bulletin on Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999. Just after lunch, Phillips met with union leaders in the downstairs conference room at the newspaper building. The union group met with Gov. Cayetano the same day. Within 24 hours, the Attorney General's office requested those present at Thursday's meeting to provide written statements describing what Phillips said. Several of those statements were then faxed to an antitrust attorney in the US Department of Justice a few days later. The statements dated September 18 are the earliest documents in the box provided to me and are interesting reading. Deja vu.

Meda's friend, Ida, had this solution to the two-syllable cat name requirement: "Duke" can be a two-syllable name if you elongate the "u" when you call him: "du-uke!" So Mr. Kitten is back to Duke, which he seems to wear better than any of the alternatives we considered over the weekend.

Gallery update: June dawn

I did have fun yesterday going through the last week's photos and selecting some for sharing. Both the photo gallery and Cybelle's Saga were updated. Click on these photos, or on the banners at the top of the page, to get to the latest.

Cybelle's Saga: 8 weeks & counting

June 30, 2002 - Sunday

Here's news of the latest deal from Gannett, courtesy of a regular reader:

Just got a call from a phone sales gal, offering me the Advertiser for $1/week for 12 weeks. At the end of the special offer, they will automatically stop the paper.

I bit. When she asked me to spell the simple Hawaiian street name "Kalihi," I asked her where she was. Phoenix, Arizona.  

"And why is the Honolulu Advertiser calling from Arizona?"  "It's cheaper for them to use us, but we always have to ask how to spell your Hawaiian words." After further probing, she explained that they do this once a year for the paper, that it is not a Gannett contract, but only the Advertiser.

$12 for 3 months is a good deal.

Ranks right up there with the 50 cent instant coupon savings if you buy a Star-Bulletin at 7-11 with your Super Big Gulp.

One reader comment on yesterday's riff on the Star-Bulletin's baseball league story:

I walked past a store display or honor box the other day ... can't remember which ... and saw the Winter Baseball headline as the top story on a print edition. So it wasn't just the top story in the online edition. Anyhow, I saw the headline and thought it was one of those papers they change a little and sell as a lineup at a sporting event, and they either mistakenly or on purpose were selling the lineup at a regular sales point. It never occurred to me that it was a real, regular paper and someone was presenting that as the top story of the day. Your alert reader's comment makes it all clear what's going on. Very interesting!

I've been staring for about a month at a box pushed to the side of my small office. It's 2000+ pages released by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division in response to a freedom of information request about their investigation of Advertiser-SB joint operating agreement, and Gannett's effort to end it and claim a monopoly.

I filed the FOIA request a bit more than a year ago, and the records were finally released by DOJ at the end of last month.

I did an initial quick pass, which didn't reveal any smoking guns, and put box aside for closer reading at a later date. Now I'm finally going through the stuff again.

The frustrating thing is that the smoking guns are surely in the approximately 2,000 pages of additional materials that were claimed to be exempt from disclosure. Here's the cover letter that accompanied this batch of documents, which lists the things I didn't get. And it's a long list.

Over the coming days, I'll share some of the documents. As I say, nothing earth shattering, but some interesting bits of background on the battle to save the Star-Bulletin.

I hope to update the photo gallery today, and maybe get the week of Mr. Kitten's photos online. We'll see.

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