Maybe this latest group of monarchists should forget the occupation and concentrate on the screenplay. It’s a definite winner: A hapless band of would-be monarchists, led by the bumbling but charming ex-con, leave their base on Maui to launch an assault on the palace he has previously claimed as his own during a coronation ceremony ignored by virtually everyone. What he really wants now is to chain himself to the throne but has no idea where to find it once they’ve broken into the building. Their ambassador arrives in a taxi and hurriedly puts on a cast-off United Nations jumpsuit. They’re able to make substantial progress towards their goal because of a simmering political dispute between city and state law enforcement officials. Palace employees huddled in a locked room call 911 to report they are under seige only to be told that they are out of the Honolulu Police Department’s jurisdiction. It could be a hilarious “Viva Max” redux without Davy Crockett and the Alamo, or perhaps something more along the lines of Peter Seller’s classic, “The Mouse that Roared”.

Meanwhile, a reader emailed this comment:

It seems to me that these local people who want to be kings and queens are totally missing the point, just between thee and me. If they really knew their own history, they’d know that being a king or queen here wasn’t always a wonderful thing. The best people were the every-day Hawaiians, the so-called “commoners,” who did all the hard work and developed the islands.

Honolulu Advertiser publisher Lee Webber sent an email to all employees on Thursday which clarified that the recent layoffs are not included in the 1,000 job cuts nationwide announced by Gannett last week.

Aloha

As you all know we are facing difficult times in our industry coupled with a weakening economic forecast for Hawaii and the nation. We are not immune from these changes and will continue to face numerous challenges on a daily basis both in our business and personal lives as we navigate through these times.

Here at the Advertiser we are keenly aware of the impacts of these issues as we have already seen reductions in our workforce driven by these economic forces and we continue to work diligently toward more efficient operations in an effort to avoid more in the future. That said, the combination of economic, industry and efficiency factors combine to create the winds that fill our sails. While we do not control the wind, we do set our sails toward the future as we navigate these troublesome times.

Also, because of these continued shifts and the ensuing economic erosion within our industry I wanted to personally inform you of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing Division decision to reduce its workforce across all levels of operations. While no one at the Advertiser will be directly affected by this new round of reductions, it will mean 1,000 fewer positions in that workforce, which could require approximately 600 layoffs company-wide. This is difficult news to deliver and there are no good times nor easy ways to do so. Moreover, I wish I could tell you this will be the end of it, but that is not possible, given the current state of the economy and the newspaper publishing industry.

These overall company job reductions are not a reflection of individual effort but rather one of the times in which we work and live in this industry. At this time every effort has been made to minimize the impact on content creation and sales capacity.

As we at the Advertiser continue to navigate these turbulent times future economic conditions will dictate the possibilities of any further staffing reductions. I will keep you informed of any and all changes that affect our products and our people.

Lee Webber
President & Publisher

In newspaper news elsewhere, former Advertiser reporter and assistant city editor, Karen Peterson, has been named executive editor and senior vice president of news at the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington. Dave Montesino, also a former ‘Tiser editor, has been Assistant Managing Editor/Visuals at the News Tribune since December 2005.