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November 16, 2002 - Saturday
FYI--Sunday will be a travel day, so I don't expect post another until Monday morning.
From a West Coast reader comes another "where are they now" story....
Former KGMB reporter Jerry Drelling has moved to the Bay Area and is the new manager of corporate communications for American President Lines (APL - www.apl.com) and its sister company, APL Logistics (www.apllogistics.com).
Freedom of Information Alert! There's word going around here at the American Society of Criminology that Ashcroft & Co. are pulling the plug on much of the federal government's primary data relating to crime and corrections. Apparently plans are afoot to abolish the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which for years has published authoritative primary data on crime issues and imprisonment. Some of the functions would be privatized, and there's a lot of fear here that the stress will be on avoiding disclosure that is inconsistent with administration policy or which puts the administration in a bad light. This is grim news for reporters as well as criminal justice professionals, and it's being done in the now-familiar Bush way--mostly in secret until it's too late to stop.
"Feathers on the front porch are never a good sign." That's one of the bits of cat wisdom sent this way by a former islander now living in Texas. Click here to read the rest of these "things I have learned about cats".
Here's another reader suggestion for a kitten name:
Okay, I'll bite.
Should be Hawaiian.
Something orange and nice.
I offer Puakenikeni (the fragrant "10-cent" flower) - cuz he's a pretty little orange flower, small as a dime, and you can call him "Kenny" for short.
Speaking of October's kitten, he's staying with friends in Kaaawa who used to have five cats but had recently been cat deprived. When I called yesterday (yes, I broke down and phoned for a status report), they said he's been gaining rear-end stability and running around the house, generally making himself at home.
I don't know how people with kids or animals go on extended trips. Just a few days and I start getting symptoms of cat withdrawl.
November 15, 2002 - Friday
We stumbled onto the arrival of the Christmas season Wednesday night. What appeared to be city of Chicago trucks dropped off piles of Christmas tree branches, all cut neatly into 18 inch lengths. Crews then moved along the major streets, ripping out whatever happened to be in sidewalk flower beds and replacing them with these tree stubs. They smell good, and could be laid out nicely. By morning, all were in place
Yesterday I had the odd-person-out experience. I was heading back to our hotel from a visit to CompUSA, walking along Michigan Avenue, past the long stretch of trendy stores, when it started raining. I was prepared with my UH umbrella, green and white with the big rainbow. I didn't think anything of it until I looked up and saw the crowds coming towards me on the sidewalk. They were all dressed in charcoal or black, uniformly black umbrellas, as I walked towards them in my bright blueberry coat (from a long past Company Store mail order sale) and my rainbow umbrella. I tried to find a place to get a picture, but I couldn't find a good reflection anywhere. I'll just have to hold the memory.
Richard Halloran provided the following correction to comments published here on Sunday. Halloran says:
1) I did not begin working for the Advertiser while still on the Star-Bulletin payroll. I have still not begun working for the Advertiser. Had you checked, you would have discovered that I am a free-lance columnist, not a staff writer.
2) I did not fail to deliver my last columns to the Star-Bulletin. My last column for the Star-Bulletin ran on Nov. 3. My last day as a part-time employee of the Star-Bulletin was Nov. 8, a date set by Don Kendall, publisher of the Star-Bulletin. My first column as a free-lance contributor to the Advertiser was on Nov. 10.
3) The Star-Bulletin's policy, according to Rebecca Stolar, the personnel or human resources officer of the publication, is to keep departing employees in the medical program until the end of the month in which he or she departs. I then become eligible for what is known as COBRA, the details of which I don't have at his time except that I begin paying for medical insurance myself. As a free-lancer, I have no medical benefits from the Advertiser.
4) It is true that the current management of the Star-Bulletin and I did not see eye to eye on many things, one of the reasons I resigned as editorial director. It is not true that my journalistic standards were scoffed at and ridiculed by the owner, David Black. I continue to have the highest respect for Mr. Black and have no reason to believe that he does not reciprocate.
November 14, 2002 - Thursday
| It was a different kind of morning walk yesterday, which took us along Michigan Avenue's "Miracle Mile" in downtown Chicago. We got a glimpse of the Chicago River for our water feature, and as an added bonus yesterday wasn't terribly cold. Today's forecast is for falling temperatures.
We're here on a quick turnaround trip to attend the American Society of Criminology.
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I've been trying to keep up with the surprising events in the Gary Rodrigues' trial via computer. I was stunned by the defense decision to rest without putting on a case, and instead immediately send it all to the jury. The jury is probably pleased, because it means their extended task will finish up several weeks early.
What does this mean? Defense attorney Doron Weinberg told Advertiser reporter David Waite that it was a tactical move designed to focus the jury on whether the government met its burden of proof. It also denies the government its chance to use witnesses previously lined up for rebuttal of defense claims, and eliminates the chance that defense witnesses could disclose damaging information when cross examined by prosecutors.
I will be very surprised if the jury finds the defendants not guilty on all counts, given the wide array of evidence, but I've obviously been surprised before.
There's still time to make a reservation for a Nov. 19th lunch sponsored by the Honolulu Community-Media Council featuring Rick Blangiardi, General Manager of EMMIS Hawaii television stations KHON and KGMB on the multitude of issues surrounding the company's ownership of two of the top four television stations in Hawaii. For more info, check the Media Council's web site.
Here's more feedback on the newspaper online issue from a former islander now living on the East Coast:
I agree with the comment that, "The reader also discounts the huge worldwide audience who couldn't buy an Advertiser (or Star-Bulletin) if they wanted to."
I read both web issues daily and the Advertiser really has the jump on the Bulletin regarding posting news-of-the-day. It's a shame the Bulletin won't post earlier because I really like their product versus the Advertiser. The Bulletin's .com issue usually updates around 9:30-10pm EST and by then I've already been through the Advertiser's site.
This is certainly obvious here in Chicago. I can get up in the morning, even get up early, and today's Advertiser is already online. But today's online Star-Bulletin won't be available until tonight, some 16-18 hours after the competition, making it a distant second choice for Hawaii news.
November 13, 2002 - Wednesday
Here's a couple from the "where are they now" file.
| I noted when this 'for sale' sign went up several weeks ago in front of a house next to Swanzey Beach Park.
I'm guessing that this Richard Seto-Mook is the former nominee for the fire chief's position, who failed to garner the votes at the City Council necessary for confirmation. Now he's got his own real estate firm.
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And Peter Wong, the founder of Pacific Group Medical Association who has been accused of transferring millions of dollars out of the company for his personal use before PGMA collapsed in 1997, filed for personal bankruptcy in California earlier this year.
A statement of personal property filed in the bankruptcy case lists only a few remaining assets. There's no indication of the status of Susan Wong, his wife and former business partner, or even whether they are still married.
And from the hush-hush tones when his name came up in federal court recently, I would guess that Mr. Wong has more to worry about than his bankruptcy.
Here's a reader comment on last week's elections which hopefully will spark some discussion. I haven't had a chance to examine the data he refers to, but hopefully I'll get to it soon.
What was the single most important factor in the Lingle victory?
In my view, there is only one correct answer to this question, and except for a small mention in Jerry Burris's article yesterday, it has been entirely ignored in the media. It's not money, it's not organization, it's not voter disaffection, and it's not the democratic screw-ups. It's shifting demographics.
Take a look at the 1990-2000 census information from the Hawaii Data Book:
You will find that, between 1990 and 2000, Hawaii's median age increased by about four years and the numbers of Japanese-Americans in our population declined by almost 25%. If you go back twenty years, you find an even more significant greying of population (in 1980, Hawaii had one of the youngest populations in the country). The reasons for those shifts are obvious. The tech bubble and the "brain drain" of the 1980s and 1990s caused thousands of well educated local kids to pursue opportunities on the mainland after college. The problems at the University of Hawaii didn't help. Life expectancies increased nationwide. More and more caucasian retirees moved here from the mainland.
People vote with their feet, not with their hands.
But these data don't speak without interpretation, so head for the Data Book and let me know what you think.
Name that cat? One friend voted to name the orange kitten, Survivor.
Then he reconsidered: "wait -- make that Sir Vivor."
November 12, 2002 - Tuesday
The debate over the relative merits of the online approach taken by the Star-Bulletin and Advertiser continues with this reply to yesterday's entry:
"...so i agree with the honolulu star-bulletin management: online readers probably won't buy the paper."
Aaaah, but my main point wins: In the end, the Advertiser still captures the reader. The reader couldn't or wouldn't buy the paper, but would visit and read the site. They didn't make as much on that one reader, but they didn't spend as much to service him, either. He was fed a steady diet of brand and ads while visiting their site. It's a pair of eyeballs that would have been missed if not for the online site.
I mean, the reader might have bought a paper had there not been a honoluluadvertiser.com, but then again, he might not. The reader showed aversion to buying the paper in the first place.
The reader also discounts the huge worldwide audience who couldn't buy an Advertiser (or Star-Bulletin) if they wanted to. And at last check, neither paper offers a braille edition.
The online site provides an outlet for many people who cannot or will not buy a printed newspaper. How the newspaper capitalizes on those readers is up to management, in the end.
The defense takes over today in the trial of UPW director Gary Rodrigues. Defense attorney Doron Weinberg is expected to make a series of motions to dismiss some or all of the charges against Rodrigues and his daughter on grounds of insufficient evidence before they even get considered by the jury.
The confusing thing is that there has been plenty of evidence of the money routed to companies owned by Rodrigues' daughter, and persuasive evidence of cash payments to Rodrigues from an insurance executive. But the question remains whether the evidence was enough to show the crimes charged. That question will be answered by Judge Ezra shortly. The suspense is a killer.
November 11, 2002 - Monday
Here's a reader's bit of participant observation on the online newspaper war:
a telemarketer called recently to offer me the honolulu advertiser at a discount. i declined, stating that i read the advertiser online. why buy the paper when i can read it for free? so i agree with the honolulu star-bulletin management: online readers probably won't buy the paper.
Other news: The Star-Bulletin will score a minor coup with an upcoming 30th anniversary Honolulu Marathon souvenir supplement, which will be published on or around Dec. 4. A marathon supplement hadn't been done in recent memory by either paper.
It could be that only the Pro Bowl has a bigger economic impact as a Hawaii sports event than the marathon.
Says one insider: "with race entries soaring way above last year's total it's looking like David Black's crew picked the right year to invest the effort."
The marathon had 23,513 entries last year but organizers expect that figure will increase by several thousand this year. Honolulu was the sixth largest marathon in the world last year.
With most folks taking a holiday today, cat people can take a little time to check out our most recent kitten.
| He's got a preliminary "all clear" after his first vet visit this morning. He's somewhere in the range of 4-5 weeks, and just now rapidly developing little cat manerisms--initial cleaning behaviors, his first pounce, and, in a most important move, his first working visit to the litter box. Now if he will just start eating on his own, and then let us know what his name is. |
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November 10, 2002 - Sunday
According to a Star-Bulletin staffer, Richard Halloran is the latest writer to move over to the Honolulu Advertiser, and his "Rising East" column starts appearing there this weekend.
"He began working for the Advertiser while still on the Star-Bulletin payroll, and his medical benefits are still being paid by the Star-Bulletin until the end of the month. He failed to deliver his last columns to the Star-Bulletin although he still cashed their paychecks. To be fair, however, Halloran and the current management of the Star-Bulletin rarely saw eye-to-eye, and Halloran's high journalistic standards were scoffed at and ridiculed by the owners."
Another anonymous reader had this to say about the Star-Bulletin online edition, responding to other comments over the last couple of days:
I must agree with the reader that Starbulletin.com election results, in a searchable database, posted within a few minutes of the release of numbers from the Elections Office, is simply the best available. I don't need a talking head to read me the numbers sequentially, in the order they deem most important. I don't need anyone to analyze why one number appears the way it does, or the importance of one person leading another at an early stage of the vote count. I don't need stories to go with the results. I just data, now. Starbulletin.com fulfills this perfectly with all the info I need.
However, the Breaking News section has been gutted over the past year at the behest of upper management, who are afraid that the Web site is cannibalizing street sales. Story postings there at one time did address the timeliness issue very handily, covering most of the next day's main stories, at least with early writes, along with cops, etc. But in its current handicapped state, generally you ge a few cops items and occasionally a brief clip of the next day's main story (Lingle wins). But it's all. The current Breaking News does not even attempt to compete.
The "Web site cannibalizing the newspaper" is an old saw fostered by ignorance among upper managers about the impact, importance and place of the Internet in a modern news delivery operation. Time and again studies by major media organizations have shown the reverse to be true: Newspaper Web sites foster brand awareness and reader loyalty, with many readers perusing both the online and print versions, where available. The online site is generally read by a different audience that is unable to read or uninterested in the print editions. The online site brings in a reader demographic that is long-sought by newspapers: the young adult.
| I did add another round to the Photo Gallery. Click on this shot of yesterday's sunrise to see the whole new batch. |
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