Here we go again. The Advertiser reported Thursday night:

No one was seriously injured last night in a confrontation between two large groups in McCully in which shots were reportedly fired.
Police are investigating the incident at McCully Shopping Center as an attempted murder of 12 victims — nine males, ages 15-19, and three females, ages 16-19.

It was also reported by KITV, perhaps by others.

A reader who flagged the Advertiser story commented:

All right, I’m officially irritated with the level of reporting on this string of violent local incidents. They are not random and they demand deeper reporting to tell us what is really going on here. Are these gangs? Is this a turf war? Even if the actual incidents are isolated, is there a general pattern behind them? And is there an actual hard-edged solution to this that does not involve self-esteem programs and talking about feelings with a school counselor.

Another reader commented on Gannett’s termination of her USA Today delivery.

As you have often noted, print newspaper seems to be going the way of all flesh. Not only is Honolulu on the verge of being a one-daily-newspaper town, but we’ve lost USA Today, the “national” newspaper. As you’ve mentioned, it printed its Hawaii edition here and those of us who subscribed to it received it on the day it was actually printed. Of course, in November we received a letter stating the paper would no longer be printed here and, therefore, we would be receiving the daily issue (Mon.-Fri.) one day late. To make up for this, they would send those of us with computers an e-mail download of the paper!

Well, for those of us in our area, the last print edition we received came on Friday, Dec. 28th. Of course, this included the holiday weekend. But no paper came Monday, Wednesday or today (Thursday). Our USA Today was delivered with our Advertiser every morning. When I called the district manager this morning, he told me, “They are not sending us the USA Today!” He said when he called “Honolulu” to ask why not, he was told, “They aren’t sending enough copies, so we just distribute here in town.”

I told him I guessed all print newspapers are in trouble and at least he works for the Advertiser and not the Star-Bulletin. (I still subscribe to the Star-Bulletin, but it’s fading away.) He said yes, but the Advertiser is in trouble, too, because of less advertising revenue, and that it has been laying off people. He also noted that the reason the Star-Bulletin has survived thus far is because of Mid-Week. Anyway, I love my computer, but I still want print newspapers.

Noted: According to CGBlog.org, described as “an unofficial Coast Guard Blog”, new command assignments that go into effect next summer were announced early, actually back in October.

According to the announcement from CG headquarters, Rear Admiral Sally Brice-O’Hara, who has had a pretty high profile here over the past couple of years, will move from Hawaii’s 14th Coast Guard District to become Assistant Commandant for Operations, which sounds like a promotion from where I sit. Will she gain another star in the process?

She is scheduled to be replaced in Hawaii by Rear Admiral M. K. Brown.

A few days late, but I finally managed to work out the kinks in the Lulu.com publishing wizard and, as a result, cat people now have a choice of two nifty cat calendars. You can choose the Kaaawa Cats Calendar that features all nine of our current cats plus the two kittens rescued and successfully placed in new homes during 2007. Or, Toby fans will be pleased to know, you can select The Toby Calendar 2008. Either way, you’ll get 13 months of fine cat photos.

Just click below to reach the appropriate pages at Lulu.com.

Here’s some advice on ordering from Cindy in Honolulu, a true cat person and early adopter.

You might want to make sure that everyone knows they don’t need to become a member of Lulu to order Kaaawa Kitty calendars. They just need to register their e-mail address and a password to make the purchase.

And if they registered a password last year and can’t remember it ( like me ) Lulu will send it via e-mail in a matter of minutes.

One thing that I really do remember from my Lulu order last year is that they mail out their orders very quickly. That’s a good thing because I LOVE the picture on the cover and can’t wait to see the rest of it.

Thanks for the endorsement! The cats will be pleased.