![[text]](http://ilind.net/images_2010/maka082810.jpg)
It was terrible news on this Saturday morning.
Ms. Maka didn’t run out to greet us with the other dogs in her household this morning. Then one of her people came out and, sadly, announced that she was hit by a car and killed early this morning in front of the house.
It’s very sad. Maka was one of our daily regulars, always there to greet us each morning.
She’s going to be a noticeable absence in the days ahead.
Our thoughts go out to our friends as they deal with this loss in the family.
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I wonder if local officials, elected and appointed, are paying attention to New York Governor David Paterson’s latest woes.
An independent counsel appointed to investigate Paterson’s receipt of free World Series tickets concluded the governor lied when he testified that he had always intended to pay for them. She has now referred the question of whether Paterson should face perjury charges to the district attorney.
The basic story. A 2008 state ethics ruling made clear that officials are not permitted to solicit or receive event tickets under most circumstances, although the practice has been common in New York and elsewhere. Paterson got World Series tickets for himself, his son and a friend, and two aides, and later gave conflicting accounts of how they were obtained.
The case has drawn more attention to the question of free event tickets, which have raised ethics and political issues in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and elsewhere.
An earlier story about Paterson and the tickets noted that the ethics questions go beyond whether the tickets are free or not.
Political access to tickets, even when the recipient isn’t involved in official business and is willing to pay for the tickets, is also problematic. A politician can get through to the Yankees; the average citizen cannot. Doesn’t that give a politician an advantage? Is that ethical?
And, as the Yankees did in this case, teams have little choice but to acquiesce. Can you imagine the Yankees telling the Gov to get lost, like they do the media or critics of the government handouts that were used to finance the construction of their new stadium?
When politicians purchase tickets directly from the club – or Major League Baseball, which makes a number of tickets available to political mucky-mucks – they do so at face value. Try that if you’re the average citizen. Paterson will reimburse the Yankees $425 each, the face value of his seats behind home plate. For those of us without a direct line to the Yankees, there’s ticket reseller StubHub, which, according to the New York Post, had tickets to Game 6 of the World Series available for $5,000 each.
Here in Hawaii, the State Ethics Commission has ruled back in 1996 there must be a valid state purpose before anyone can be given free tickets, and that the provision of additional tickets for friends or family members would generally not be allowed.
The issue came up again recently over tickets to athletic events given to UH administrators and members of the Board of Regents.
So our Ethics Commission was ahead of its time in setting down a policy. The problem is that the policy isn’t always being applied, and the commission’s ability to enforce is constrained by budget and staffing issues. But with all the attention being given to the issue elsewhere, it’s sure to blow up again here sooner or later.
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[Click on either photo for more pictures]
This is Batman, one of three kittens looking for good homes!
They are living with a friend of mine, now unemployed, who says she’s having trouble covering her own expenses plus more cats.
They are now five months old, have just been “fixed”, and, as you can see, like each other and people.
She explains:
It was an accident that my Mom cat, Pamela, got knocked up – I was low in dough and had not found the inexpensive neuter place….(I have quotes of a couple of hundred dollars for neutering of Pam).
They were all born in March (mid March) when i was in California….all neutered, about 3 weeks ago. All litter box trained…
Thank you for helping me get homes for them –
Please email me to arrange a visit or with any questions!
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Yes, the cats are coming, but they’re behind schedule.
Please check back later today.
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Another day, another report about street fights, this time in the neighborhood across from Castle High School in Kaneohe.
KHON’s Brianne Randle reported yesterday on groups of kids going off campus for fights attracting dozens of onlookers, blocking the narrow streets. Videos of some fights can be found on YouTube.
It’s just another sign of the rising level of youth violence. Is any of this tied to local youth gang activity, directly or indirectly? And what’s the official response here, Waikiki, and elsewhere?
Castle High School Principal Meredith Maeda says the school has been alerted of fights taking place off-campus. But says the school doesn’t have jurisdiction. The Administration is working to find out which students are involved.
“They can say it’s not on their campus, but you know it’s their kids,” says Bianchin.
My question: What has happened to the Youth Gang Response System, a state initiative that brought together state and county agencies, public and private, to share information and coordinate responses to youth violence.
Here’s how it was described by the Office of Youth Services:
YOUTH GANG RESPONSE SYSTEM (YGRS)The YGRS was created to address youth gang behavior and related issues through a comprehensive and coordinated effort. The YGRS builds and maintains partnerships between public and private sector organizations to provide meaningful and positive opportunities for youth engaging in emerging or more serious gang behavior.
This statewide network of organizations meets regularly to foster the development of on –going strategies that incorporate the following critical elements: (1) law enforcement and gang intelligence; (2) information sharing; (3) training and community awareness; (4) school and community-based prevention and intervention programs; and (5) research and evaluation.
As a result of this collaborative effort, youth, schools, and communities benefit from a range of YGRS services that include school-based gang/violence prevention programs, community-based mobilization projects, gang awareness presentations and campaigns, truancy intervention services, community-based gang/delinquency intervention programs, anti-gang law enforcement sweeps, gang prevention/intervention training, gang-related informational forums, and on-going research on youth gang and delinquency trends. The YGRS is confident that, when working together, these programs are better able to plan and implement strategic approaches that empower youth to make healthy and responsible choices.
That sounds like an impressive array, but the Office of Youth Services was dismantled by the Lingle administration, and system for coordinated response seems to have been dismantled with it, while the news media and elected officials look the other way.
The last serious assessment of the Youth Gang Response System was done in 2005. I know about it because Meda was the principal investigator. If you’re interested, it is available for download as an ebook in pdf format.
I spent yesterday at Olelo moderating three panels featuring candidates for Lt. Governor, so read Richard Borreca’s latest column about the job with interest (Lieutenant governor’s job has potential — for irrelevancy).
He did a good job rounding up former lt. governors John Waihee and Ben Cayetano for perspective on the job. And his first two paragraphs unintentionally underscore his overall point.
Borreca writes:
How do you decide?
There are six Democrats running for lieutenant governor. I bet you will see every one of the candidates’ signs as you drive to work and by the time you arrive, you will not be able to recall any of them.
I guess they really are hard to recall because although Borreca says there are six Dems running, there actually are seven in the race: Lyla Berg, Bobby Bunda, Steve Hirakami, Gary Hooser, Jon Riki Karamatsu, Norman Sakamoto, and Brian Schatz.
The League’s three candidate forums included six of the Democrats (along with nonpartisan Leo Kama and Republican Adrienne King), and will be broadcast on Olelo several times next week. They will will be available online after they air for the first time.
Insights on PBS Hawaii had all seven of the Democrats on its broadcast last night.
…each week’s episode is rebroadcast on Fridays at 9:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm, and you can also listen to an audio rebroadcast each Sunday morning at 6:00AM on KUMU 94.7 FM. Insights on PBS Hawaii is also available on demand to Oceanic Time Warner digital subscribers by tuning to channel 110.
The program should also show up soon for online viewing on the stations “On Demand” service.
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Here’s some other reading to check out.
“Women and the Economy 2010: 25 Years of Progress But Challenges Ramain”
U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, August 2010.
“NASA/NOAA Study Finds El Niños Growing Stronger”
August 25, 2010
The key finding here is that El Ninos are growing stronger in the Central Pacific, south of Hawaii, instead of in the Eastern Pacific. The summary doesn’t mention Hawaii specifically, but it sure looks like this will have implications for us.
AFTER A THOROUGH BATTERY OF TESTS WE CAN NOW RECOMMEND “THE NEWSPAPER” AS THE BEST E-READER ON THE MARKET
by John Flowers
Sandwich Isles’ funding could be setting precedent for other providers
Connected Planet, August 19, 2010
Missouri Treasurer’s Office Now Accepting Sunshine Requests Online
KSMU Ozarks Public Radio
North Kona councilman withdraws bid to bypass Sunshine Law
Big Island Video News, August 22, 2010
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Former Mayor Mufi Hannemann also has some decades old history making the rounds again this year. Several readers have called it to my attention in recent days.
It stems from an incident during a afternoon matinee showing of the blaxploitation film, “Willie Dynamite: Pimp Counsel“, at Honolulu’s old Liberty Theater on July 31, 1974.
According to news stories at the time, Hannemann and his older brother, Nephi, were arrested for allegedly harassing an off-duty police officer, who was at the movie with his wife.
The incident allegedly started when the Hannemann’s sat in front of the officer and his wife, blocking her view of the screen. Words were exchanged. The officer claimed he was threatened several times, and when the movie ended there was a confrontation in the theater lobby that resulted in the officer holding the Hannemann brothers at gunpoint and placing them under arrest.
The officer filed his own police report describing the incident, which is also part of the record.
The case went to trial, where the Hannemann’s were defended by the late attorney David Schutter.
According to a 2005 Honolulu Advertiser obituary:
Schutter’s reputation started growing in the 1970s, when his clients included reputed underworld figures, victims of police misconduct and brutality and some of Hawai’i's most infamous violent criminal defendants.
With Schutter’s assistance, the Hannemann’s were found innocent. The brothers also filed a false arrest suit against the city. The case was settled, with Mufi receiving $11,000. Nephi Hannemann did not get a pay out from the case, according to published accounts.
Although the Liberty Theater apparently had a murky reputation at the time, and the “Willie Dynamite” movie might have offended some, it actually now gets okay reviews as an example of the blaxploitation genre. A clip from the movie can be found here.
“Willie Dynamite” was shown as part of a double feature. I didn’t see the other movie mentioned in the clips.
Information about the incident surfaced during the 2008 campaign season on “The Liberty Chronicles”, a web site created by Dan Douglass, a Ron Paul supporter, anti-rail activist, who described himself as “neck deep in Hawaii Republican Party controversy”.
The chronicles website lists attorney John Carroll and Libertarian Ken Schoolland as “columnists” who “share a similar philosophy.”
Carroll is a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination this year.
Although the political bias of the source is obvious, the links to new stories and documents are helpful.
Some readers have suggested that, despite being found innocent at trial, the incident raises real questions about Hannemann’s judgement and behavior.
It’s possible, although, like Neil Abercrombie’s letter written 33 years ago (described here yesterday), a lot of time has passed since then and I’m wary of drawing any current implications from it.
On the other hand, Douglas also reported an incident right before the 2008 mayoral election in which Gus and Nephi Hannemann allegedly harassed a group holding signs supporting candidate Ann Kobayashi in front of Honolulu Hale.
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