i L i n d . n e t

Bret Yager at the Hawaii Tribune-Herald should get the credit for this great opening line in a story last Thursday:

The coqui “bounty hunter” campaign appears to have croaked.

An AP rewrite made it into the Star-Bulletin but without that great lede.

I should perhaps note that coqui could be heard along Banyan Drive where our hotel and several others are located. Not having heard these little creatures before, we at first wondered what kind of bird was singing as the sun went down. But as they got lounder later in the evening, we realized this was a not-yet-critical gathering of coqui. In small numbers, the sound is not bad, but I gather that the decibal level rises as the localized population grows.

We heard another interesting story when we stopped in to visit the new Hilo Art Museum, which opened over the summer. It’s in the wonderful industrial space formerly occupied by the “Art in the Ironworks” gallery.

Director Ted Coombs said he had mistakenly thought the daily arrival of a different cruise ship and its passengers would translate into visitors to the new museum, located along the main road between the dock and downtown Hilo. He even spent a good sum of money to be listed in a “walking tour of Hilo” advertising brochure given to cruise passengers. No such luck. He has found that cruise passengers are not interested in art, and that only a handful have even stopped in. He also has the impression that they don’t spend much in Hilo at all, but are wisked from the dock in tour buses for sightseeing runs before rejoining the ship for the regular afternoon departure.

Makes me wonder how much the economic impact of the Superferry will vary from local business expectations?

Planet Kauai gives one first-hand view of what happened at yesterday’s public hearing on Kauai which seems quite consistent with the Advertiser’s description this morning. What isn’t yet clear is whether, in fact, this is really anything short of a done deal. A lot of people are obviously quite skeptical.

My friend Chuck took off from a recent comment made here and developed a reading list for those who want a better understanding of the issue of torture as anti-terrorism policy.

Meda has to attend a conference next month in Atlanta and so we’ve been watching news of the city’s water crisis with keen interest. News reports indicate available drinking water could be exhausted within just a few months. In what was apparently supposed to be a reassuring column today, an Army Corps of Engineers official had this to say:

The second issue receiving a lot of attention is the prediction that Lake Lanier will be out of water and metro Atlanta has only 90 days of drinking water left. As part of our efforts to manage the system and to ensure all interested parties are fully aware of the situation at all the reservoirs, we make modeling computations based on a “worst case scenario.”

This modeling looks at what could happen in the future if current climate and hydrological conditions — rainfall, inflows, required outflows, consumption — remain exactly the same. That modeling scenario indicated Lake Lanier would be at the bottom of its conservation pool within 120 days. Being at the bottom of conservation pool does not mean there will no longer be water available or that metro Atlanta drinking water needs cannot be met. In fact, there will enough water available below the conservation pool in Lake Lanier to support the needs of metro Atlanta for several additional months, even if there is absolutely no precipitation.

Oh, good. They won’t be without drinking water in just 90 days. It could last for five or six months. Reassured? Sure.

Finally, I did want to share a couple of photos of the roadside memorial that grew last week for the Kailua teen who drowned in Kaaawa last weekend. Take a moment to share the things and the messages his friends have left.