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September 21, 2002 - Saturday
Primary election day. As far as I know, this is the last primary in the country, meaning we also have the shortest general election campaign period in the country. It's going to be an interesting night watching the returns as they come in.
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I stopped at First Circuit Court yesterday to check a few files, and came away with a couple of images worth sharing.
First, one of my favorite warning signs, the flower warning: "Caution--Sidewalks slippery when trees shed flowers and leaves". I'm not sure if this is uniquely Hawaiian, but it might be.
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| Inside the court building, visitors are greeted with multiple reminders of deferred maintenance caused by agency budgets cut to the bone and beyond. Displays like this scattered around the ground floor. There's an area cordoned off just outside the main entrance. Looks like security, but it's actually where a leak in the roof makes it dangerous to walk. Inside, there's at least one current leak that has a cardboard box covered with a plastic garbage bag set out to catch the drips. It's in the middle of the main floor. Then the yellow tape and cones mark former leaks which have left floor tiles buckling or broken. |
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The last time I was called for jury duty, several ceiling tiles in the main jury lounge were missing, the result of leaks in the roof that damaged the tiles.
It's a sad state of affairs.
Here in Kaaawa, Duke is sick. It's the first time he's been sick, and he seems confused by the experience. I'm not sure what kind of bug he's got. On Thursday night he was less active than usual, and by yesterday morning just wanted to eat and crash in front of the cat door. Same thing last night and this morning. I started him on some antibiotics yesterday morning, and we'll just see if it makes a difference. He's already scheduled to visit our vet tomorrow, and I'm hoping he'll be okay until then.
September 20, 2002 - Friday
It must be the full moon. The cats have been acting up for several days. Yesterday it got to the people.
| It was a crazy day in Kaaawa. The day started with the season's first campaign sign waivers greeting early morning commuters (before 6 a.m.) on behalf of state senator Bob Nakata. This is a rare sight in Kaaawa, although commonplace elsewhere.
Then there was an absolutely awesome sunrise, with the haze on the horizon diffusing the golden glow across half the sky.
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And then, it seems, somewhat set us up the bomb. This time for real. We heard a snippet on the news while driving towards Kaneohe, then ran into some neighbors when we stopped for Thai food and heard their version.
Apparently another neighbor, Alika Anixt, was eating breakfast at the little place next to the Kaaawa Post Office. He went to pick up something to read from two display racks of free papers at one corner of the building, and that's where he spotted what appeared to be a pipe bomb. One thing led to another, and the bomb squad eventually dispatched the device.
Gender bending trouble got in the way of reporting this story. There's a small mention in this morning's Advertiser "police beat". They report: "Postal workers were evacuated at 9:15 a.m. after an employee noticed what he thought was a pipe bomb..."
Of course, both employees of our post office are women, including our new Kaaawa postmaster.
The Star-Bulletin also has a story this morning on the incident which mistakenly refers to Alika (a well known local surfer and surfboard maker) as "she".
September 19, 2002 - Thursday
Thanks to Jim Romenesko's Medianews for pointing out Gannett's little problem at the Lansing State Journal. It seems the paper printed a notice to subscribers that they would be charged an extra 15 cents for a special September 11 commemorative insert. The were given the opportunity to "opt out" and avoid the charge by contacting the paper. The problem, spotted by the state's consumer protection office, is that consumers in Michigan can't be bound by a contract they do not affirmatively enter into. According to a description appearing in the Journal, the charge was illegal but not likely to draw further legal action by the state.
Could this have been the test run for a new revenue stream? Add-on charges for special sections through the year? Interesting.
It also makes you wonder about all those arbitrary transfers of Star-Bulletin subscribers to the Advertiser last year. Letters informed them that their subscriptions would be moved unless they chose to opt out. Should this offer have raised similar red flags here?
More on the September 11 cover photo issue from readers:
I think one of the points of discussing the AP picture used by both papers is that while both papers would like to differentiate each from each other, sometimes news coverage gets in the way of being unique. It was simply the best photo of the day, and both papers used it.
And the final word:
considering i was the one who mentioned the photos in the initial e-mail.... it had nothing to do with gloating or chest thumping. the commentary was regarding how the two papers' front pages played out that day. i preferred the tiser's sept. 11 A.M.er over ours but i liked our PM cover better. just merely pointed out that i thought it strange the tiser used the same photo we had used the day before. Although it was the best photo there was out there.
in the past, the s-b had made a point not to use the same photos as the tiser, back when we were just a p.m. and they only had the a.m. But now, no such thing.
September 18, 2002 - Wednesday
The September 11 anniversary editions continue to stir comment.
I just got around to looking at your Sunday entry today, and was struck by this:
Another S-B source points out that the lead photograph used by the Advertiser on Sept. 12 was only a slight variation of the one appearing the Star-Bulletin's front page in the afternoon edition the day before.
Let me get this straight ... the S-B source is chest-thumping over having used an Associated Press photograph (actually taken by a New York Times photographer, Ruth Fremd, and transmitted by AP) that half the papers in the country, at least, used? Or is the chest-thumping over having used it first? Um, the afternoon Advertiser used the same picture the previous day, too. So, no, the Bulletin wasn't first to use that photo. Heck, MSNBC used that same image on their main page all day long the previous day.
I figured the Bulletin did things worthy of boasting about all the time, but if it's come to suggesting that anyone else who uses a wire photo stole the idea from the S-B, and bragging (incorrectly) over having seen it first ... well, how feeble is that? Maybe the boastworthy content of the S-B is drying up?
The legendary Helen Thomas will be here next week for several appearances, including a free public presentation on Monday night. Here's the blurb from UH with details.
| The cats have been especially photogenic this past week, or I just had a particularly good run of luck. In any case, click on Mr. Duke's photo, or the "cats, cats, cats" banner, for the latest. |
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Speaking of cats, Ms. Harry has been sticking unusually close to home after spending last week in the kitty slammer while we were on Maui. Cybelle's got a little sneeze going, which isn't good news for me. Why? Because she is the absolute worst cat to pill. Even though she's got no teeth, she battles ferociously to keep my fingers and her antibiotic out of her mouth. Maybe it's because she has no teeth. I don't know. Luckily she has an appetite, so pulverizing a pill into a bit of canned cat food seems to work. Appetite trumps suspicion, at least for this plump Siamese.
September 17, 2002 - Tuesday
Another reader comment on the Boston Tea Party reenactment:
I also noticed on TV that the tea party was
preceeded by the traditional playing of the Scottish bagpipes--I know
realize that it wasn't the colonists, but the McGregors and McKenizies who were responsible for this rebellion.
Too bad they couldn't have thrown in Washington crossing Honolulu Harbor to boot.
On the other hand, event organizer Harold Duby obviously enjoys putting on the uniform, which he proudly displays on a family web site. He looks pretty good in it, too, if you're into such things.
And here's additional background from another reader on Torstar, the Canadian newspaper publisher which has purchased a 19% stake in Star-Bulletin owner David Black's company, Black Press.
The Toronto Star is Canada's largest circulation paper and one of the best papers on the continent. The smaller papers in the chain (Hamilton Spectator, etc.) are not in the same class but serve their communities well. Black Press is well served by having such investors.
The National Post's analysis on Torstar is out of date and out of right field. The National Post is the ideological opposite of the liberal Toronto Star, so it's not an objective source. It's ironic that the article calls the Star "a quaint throwback to the days before papers began to shed their ideology so as not to alienate potential readers." The National Post was launched a few years back somewhat as a Canadian print version of Fox News.
Yes the Star is liberal on its editorial pages but that seems to reflect the preferences of Canada's population, where the Liberal Party has been in power for more than 30 of the past 40 years. The Star also tends to be somewhat liberal in its news coverage, if by that you mean covering ordinary people and all the city's ethnic groups (Toronto is probably only second to New York in that diversity).
The article was correct to say that Torstar "is hopelessly outclassed in the merger and acquisition game." However, that turned out to be a blessing. The National Post article was written in July 2001, when conventional wisdom was that media consolidators like Quebecor Inc. and CanWest Global Communications Corp. (in the U.S. think AOL-Time Warner) would triumph.
Fast forward to September 2002 and, like AOL-Time Warner, Quebecor and CanWest are struggling while Torstar still has healthy profits without having diminished its products. A variation on the tortoise and hare fable where the good guys won.
It certainly sounds like Black could have done a lot worse. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run.
I'm told it's high anxiety time in the Advertiser's contract negotiations, with strike training being organized by the Newspaper Guild as a contingency. No word on the impact, if any, of the federal mediator joining the talks.
September 16, 2002 - Monday
It was a strange scene in Honolulu yesterday as a group of Freemasons, along with Boy Scouts and members of the Royal Hawaiian Band, got together to reenact the Boston Tea Party.
NBC affiliate KHNL reported: " "Since the events of 9/11, America and the world for that matter, has learned to appreciate their freedom. Everything has changed since then. History comes to life...teaching both children and grown-ups," explained event organizer George Theofanis. "What better way to teach them some history than have a bunch of characters like us playing around in suits like this and firing cannon," asked event co-organizer Harold Duby."
But Massachusetts native Pat Bigold observes:
I'm all for "living history" but if you're going to do it, why not make it at least a little more accurate than what they did at Aloha Tower yesterday?
The participants dressed in colonial garb and marched to the ship in broad daylight with drums.
The real event took place in December (1773), not September, and the raiders dressed as Mohawks and approached the ships at night.
And the article I read in Island Weekly seemed to indicate that Benjamin Franklin was to be represented? Hell, he was still in England until just after Lexington and Concord in 1775.
Also seems like they threw together several different events instead of focusing on why the tossing of the East India tea was important.
I still don't know much about Torstar, the Canadian newspaper company that purchased a chunk of Black Press, the parent of the Star-Bulletin. I did run into this interesting analysis of the company, although it's a year old.
| Ms. Lucy, the little Kaaawa Shih Tsu who had puppies on Labor Day, is doing just fine, thank you. We managed to get a visit with mother and pups yesterday morning. Click on this picture, or the "Mornin' Dogs" banner, for more. |
Ms. Lucy & pups |
September 15, 2002 - Sunday
It's the third anniversary of that bleak Wednesday when word leaked out that the Star-Bulletin's owners had struck a deal with Gannett to close the newspaper. It seems like a lifetime ago, but there are strong sense memories of the whole experience shared by everyone who went through it. It's not one of those moments you can easily forget.
S-B staffers and friends were invited to Murphy's last night to observe the occasion. According to one newsroom observer, " I get the feeling that this will be the last shindig and that it might be poorly attended."
If you were there last night, please send me your impressions of the evening. Folks will be interested.
One thing can be said. Gannett wanted the Star-Bulletin gone, and it's still around. Bravo!
Another S-B source points out that the lead photograph used by the Advertiser on Sept. 12 was only a slight variation of the one appearing the Star-Bulletin's front page in the afternoon edition the day before.
But, a staffer adds:
That's not as bad as what they've been doing lately. They've increased their usage of SB photos that have been held hostage since the sale negotiations and labeling them "Advertiser Library Photos." Technically true since they were allowed to keep the SB photos.
Gannett, after seizing control of the former Joint Operating Agreement back in 1993, also gained full control of the archive of Star-Bulletin photographs along with the story archive. Under the terms of the sale to David Black, the new owner has the right to copy Bulletin materials in the library for several years, but the originals will remain the possession of Gannett. And, apparently, will be quietly used as if they were originally produced by the Advertiser. There's something wrong with this whole picture, but apparently it's a done deal.
| Our brief trip to Maui did result in a few photos of possible interest. Click on this Kahului sunrise, or on the photo gallery banner, to check them out. |
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