February 4, 2006 - Saturday

5:38 a.m. and I can hear the truck beeper as the city's finest back up along this short stretch of Haahaa Street for the regular Saturday garbage pickup. The weekend has officially begun.

Arriving home last evening was unsettling, with the flashing lights of four police cars parked along the beach park as you enter Kaaawa and what appeared to be a search taking place in the waters along that end of the beach.

The background buzz at the capitol yesterday had wasn't generating by the hearings taking place around the building. It was about those paychecks...House staffers hired just for the session don't get paid until the annual legislative budget is adopted and signed into law. The bill came to the House floor for a final vote yesterday after getting Senate approval, and everything seemed to be on track, but by late in the day those paychecks were still being held up because the governor still hadn't signed the bill. There were quiet suggestions to call the governor's office, and some staffers were said to be heading upstairs to make their unhappiness known in person. But a story in the Advertiser this morning explains the bill finally arrived in the governor's office only after she had left for Maui.

At least one reader liked the new word coined earlier this week:

Great word, your greediocy. You're right about it covering a lot of ground, like for instance, the entire globe.... it is amazing that Asian stock markets are rising in near unanimous euphoria even as their "golden goose," the American consumers, have borrowed themselves into a hole deeper than a Wahiawa cesspool (you know, all that topsoil is easy to dig and doesn't drain well). It also covers this Administration, the Abramoff affair, the Kenny Lay and associated greedheads' trial, the stripping of the oceans by subsidized fishing fleets, you name it.

This could be one for the ages--

Ah, but applied to a system of government in which such motives are so deeply entrenched, one could perhaps refer more generally to "Greedocracy", government of, by, and for the greedy.

If you find yourself wandering on the UH Manoa campus with a few minutes to spare, you might try to find your way to Gallery 721, tucked back in a corner of the of the 7th floor of the monolith now known as Saunders Hall, just a few steps beyond the Women's Studies office. It's a small space at the end of the hall devoted to displaying student art, and the current show of fiber art is worth taking in. I wandered in late one afternoon this week to meet Meda and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to browse through the students' work. Good stuff.

February 3, 2006 - Friday

Advertiser photographer Deborah Booker got this great shot of workers getting the news of Del Monte's closing at Kunia, and it told the story so well that it ran across the full width of the front page, above the fold. It was a front page that grabbed your attention, the best Advertiser front page I've noticed in a while. The S-B didn't even get on the same field. It's always fun to see such good work.

Advertiser front page photo, February 2

Anchor Joe Moore has been giving a prime time play-by-play on the wave of resignations at KHON, including straightforward statements expressing the opposition of each staff member (or former staff member) to the announced policies of the new station owners.

Are those comments rolling on Moore's teleprompter or is he inserting them on his own?

Each time Moore has started into one of these carefully crafted commentaries, I've had to wonder whether he's ready to announce his own resignation. And, if not, I wonder how strong his contract really is?

If the new owners cutbacks aren't enough to drop KHON out of its leadership position, the company's heavy handed and obviously very unpopular style will apparently accomplish the same thing.

It's terrible when that quasi-legal Emmis duopoly starts looking like the "good old days".

And it's Friday again, time for another brief cat fix. I'll share a bit of Mr. Toby's favorite greeting, captured digitally last weekend. He runs towards you, then throws himself to the ground and rolls over on his back. He may even let you scratch his stomach, a bit of dog-like behavior. But it's all part of the routine.

February 2, 2006 - Thursday

Monday night's PBS Hawaii program, Island Insights, featured back to back interviews with Rep. Ed Case and Sen. Dan Akaka. Useful, but flawed.

The interviews were done by Star-Bulletin reporter Richard Borreca and UH West Oahu professor Dan Boylan, respectively. Their interview styles are very different. Borreca is respectful, soft spoken, sometimes probing but not aggressively so in eliciting information from his subject. Boylan is negative, caustic, almost whining in his questioning, using phrasing that necessarily puts his subject on the defensive. Borreca puts his subjects at ease, Boylan has his on edge. The result was an unbalanced portrayal of the candidates, more flattering to the polished Case who was given a platform than the natural Akaka responding to a series of critical questions.

One thing jumped out. While Akaka was pressed on his vote in favor of oil production in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which angered environmentalists, Case wasn't even asked a question about his support for the war in Iraq, a very sore point among much of his Democratic constituency.

But it's going to be a long and active campaign, and we'll see a lot of both candidates before it's over.

The Hawaii Supreme Court Blog has an interesting entry about a case decided last week which rejected Hawaii County's "we've always done it this way" defense for why it failed to enforce requirements of state law when approving developments.

Several other Kaaawa residents responded to yesterday's note about the theft from our car while parked here at home. It appears that there have been several similar incidents in the past week or so on this end of Kaaawa. There are at least a couple of suspects, and in one case a suspect was recognized leaving the scene.

One reader in Kaaawa reports:

Today, our neighbor informed us that there were two break-in's just down the road from us, I don't have too many details on that one. 

From what I gather, they are taking just what they can carry.

Like you, I am now locking the doors, battening down the hatches and sleeping with my heavy mag light by the bed. 

I guess it's still a good sign that this kind of petty theft is considered unusual, even shocking, in Kaaawa.

February 1, 2006 - Wednesday

We don't get to delay our daily walk long enough to actually see the sunrise during the week because the sun doesn't appear until about 7:09 a.m. We're already back home these days at that time. But the weekends still deliver the goods. It will be another month before our schedule coincides with the sun once again. As far as I'm concerned, it can't happen soon enough.

The Contra Costa Times reports today on a court appearance by Francis "Bill" Reimers, owner of Plan Compliance Group, the company that disappeared with millions belonging to teachers and professors in Hawaii, as well as school districts and individual investors on the mainland.

I coined a new word yesterday morning as we made our early walk:

Greediocy: The foolish decisions made pursuing promises of easy riches.

For example, lured by our real estate bubble (yes, I believe in the bubble theory), someone bought the lot next to the Kaaawa Post Office and built two homes within feet of each other, each looking squarely into the other. Greediocy.

Or the realtor who is trying to leverage profits by finding homes sitting on lots just barely over 10,000 feet and then subdividing into barely legal properties to be sold separately. So although this part of Kaaawa was designed for "country" living with large lots, the whole feel that has made it a desirable area is being eroded by this thoughtless and overly aggressive real estate style.

Greediocy. It's a word that will cover a lot of ground.

It will take a while to digest the latest round of candidate filings with the Campaign Spending Commission, but one thing is clear: Governor Lingle has carefully refined the art of fundraising.

Here's just a quick intro: A list of the 121 people and companies that contributed $5,000 or more to the governor's campaign during the last six months of 2005. I've got it in two versions, sorted alphabetically or by state & city.

Mr. Silverman showed up last night with a torn ear. He stayed around long enough for me to smear the wound with antibiotic cream. But I worry about the other cat, since Silverman didn't seem to have any other significant injuries. I hope his rival can say the same. This is the bad side of being intimately involved with an outside cat, as we are with Silverman.

Crime scene but not seen. Someone went through our car as it sat out in front of the house sometime Friday or Saturday night and stole a bunch of CDs, some coins, one of those small Leatherman tool kits, and Meda's current favorite jacket. They also went through two small closets in the garage, but didn't seem interested in the garden supplies. After discovering that the items were missing, we've been having to revise our country attitude and start locking the car and our doors, something we haven't always done. Well, have rarely done. We've also spread the word to neighbors, raising the alert level on Haahaa Street.

Meet Ms. Pua. She lives across the street and has learned that we're (a) soft on dogs and (b) have dog biscuits. She's willing to pose for handouts. Anyway, she's featured in the latest round of our Kaaawa morning dogs. Just click on her photo for more.

January 31, 2006 - Tuesday

State Judge Sabrina McKenna last week upheld a decision by the Hawaii Labor Relations Board that could put an end to the decades old practice of displaying political endorsements by public employee unions and other campaign materials on bulletin boards in state and county offices.

The case dates back to the final weeks of the 2004 election campaign, when the Lingle administration was urging voters to back her positions in favor of restrictioning public employee pay raises, rejecting binding arbitration, and turning down an arbitrator's decision giving raises to members of the Hawaii Government Employees Association. The union fought back by blasting Lingle in a series of mailings and urging members to vote for Democrats.

In mid-October 2004, just weeks before the election, Department of Transportation supervisors objected to the posting of several anti-Lingle mailings and lists of candidates endorsed by the union, which had been displayed on the 2nd and 4th floor bulletin boards in the DOT's headquarters on Punchbowl Street.

Transportation officials said they were merely following campaign guidelines issued by the State Ethics Commission which prohibit use of most state facilities or resources for campaign purposes. .

The Ethics Commission has previously made unsuccessfully attempts to pass legislation to block the similar practice of holding union meetings during working hours to discuss union endorsements, a practice which has also been allowed by public employee contracts.

The union responded by pointing out that similar election materials had been posted since 1986 without any objections from the state and citing a provision of the HGEA contract guaranteeing the union will be "provided adequate space on bulletin boards for posting of usual and customary notices."

HGEA then filed a complaint with the Hawaii Labor Relations Board charging the state's removal of union materials from bulletin boards constituted a prohibited labor practice, but in June 2005 the board ruled 2-1 to uphold the state's action.

The majority ruled election materials cannot be considered "usual and customary" union notices, and public employees are "duty bound to comply with the campaign restrictions" as intepreted by the State Ethics Commission.

The commission's position was spelled out in confidential a letter from executive director Dan Mollway to Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Keating, later disclosed in the labor board hearings.

In a dissenting opinion, labor board chair Brian Nakamura said: "For a public worker union, the ability to communicate with its membership regarding electoral activities goes to the heart of the right to engage in 'concerted activity for mutual aid and protection.'"

The union then appealed to Circuit Court. Attorneys Herb Takahashi and Rebecca Covert argued the labor board ruling had exceeded its authority, violated the free speech rights of union members, and improperly changed the conditions of work without union approval, contrary to the contract.

But last Monday, January 23, 2006, Judge McKenna ruled in the state's favor.

"The court thanked counsel for their excellent arguments, however court agrees with the decision of the board. Accordingly, the decision is heareby affirmed," McKenna ruled, according to court records.

Although this case involved the HGEA, it will likely have more general application in light of similar provisions in other public employee union contracts.

An appeal of McKenna's ruling is expected.

January 30, 2006 - Monday

Adventures of a two newpaper town, the continuing saga...What really happened to an ill-fated hiker on Maui?

Honolulu Star-Bulletin (1/29/06):

"The man, who was hiking with friends, was either crouching or laying down at the riverbed in the Lelekea Gulch at about 2:30 p.m. when the boulder moved about a foot and crushed him, Fire Department acting Batallion Chief Jeff Murray said...

"The stream was running but it was nothing out of the ordinary," Murray said. "It just moved."

Honolulu Advertiser (1/29/06), reporting the same incident:

"A landslide sent a boulder careening downhill, trapping the man beneath it."

Clarification comes from the Maui News:

Murray said the boulder was about 4 feet across. Although an initial report suggested there had been a rockslide, he said the rock had only rolled over the victim.

In this instance, it appears the Star-Bulletin and the Maui News got it right.

Advertiser reporter (and former Star-Bulletin colleague) Gordon Pang takes a look at the 1976 landing on Kahoolawe, which took place 30 years ago this month. Perhaps my note about the anniversary back on the 4th gave him the idea, at least that's the way the news food chain is supposed to work.

It's a bit off the normal topics here, but I ran across some awesome photos from New Orleans which grabbed my attention and are worth sharing.

Thanks to the Advertiser for profiling Joey's Feline Friends and Tedra Villaroz, who stepped in last year when we sought help in catching the cat that had taken up residence under our house just after New Year's Eve. She loaned us a trap when the Humane Society couldn't help, on the condition that we would have the cat neutered and returned to this area. Well, the story had a happy ending, Mr. Romeo has become part of our household, and much of the credit goes Tedra's way. So if you've got a few extra dollars, please consider sending a contribution their way.

Somehow last week just got away from me and I missed noting the 8th anniversary of Kili and Wally's rescue and adoption. This is Ms. Kili at 8 years. It just doesn't seem that long, but the calendar speaks. Just click on the photo for the latest from our Kaaawa household.

January 29, 2006 - Sunday

If you wondered why a link to Michael McPherson's book, All Those Summers, was added to this page last week, here's the answer.

Cousin McPherson (actually, we're second cousins but who's counting), a fine writer, poet, and occasional attorney living on the Big Island, sent this illustrated poem which I had intended to use a week ago. I'm finally getting around to it.

All Those Summers got a good review in the Star-Bulletin last year at this time, so do check it out. If you can find a copy of his earlier novel, Rivers of the Sun, it's worth a read as well.

Temple of the Sea and Stars


These stones erect near ocean's edge
between them map the long way back,
tell the ancients' path across black sky.
Here on this hill those master navigators
schooled apprentices their secret heavens,
this seafarer's almanac hidden under night.
Each rock a hand placed here upon an altar
speaks beyond our human need for mystery
a body of knowledge and its craft bestowed.
Across centuries these tall stones call names
of winds among the constellations, directions
through endless unrelenting swift black waves,
a diary of spray days their only horizon ocean.
Gathered side by each these seeming perhaps
small nephews and nieces of Rapa Nui's giants
bend together as if engaged in jovial conversation,
mirth among themselves while humans are away.
Crawling strands of pili grass tell time in isolation
broken on occasion by visits from land birds at play
along the rounded green hillsides of greater Kohala.
This semblance of silence among sturdy messengers
gives welcome respite from an everyday cacophony
of mechanical urban sounds where thought drowns.
Voices in stone talk of places we scarcely can know.

-Michael McPherson