May 7, 2005 - Saturday

I'm still digging my way through boxes of assorted papers that I've managed to accumulate over the years. This one caught my eye after the recent attention to the Massie case. It's a 1932 Navy report on "Vice conditions in the city of Honolulu, T.H.", and reports that as many as 1500 beer joints or speakeasies could be found in Honolulu, along with 39 houses of prostitution.

Click to read

Attached to the report is a letter written by an unnamed Honolulu resident decrying the influence of Honolulu's Japanese population and what it describes as the betrayal of the "supposedly decent White Americans" who openly supported the rights of their Japanese neighbors. It rails against the University of Hawaii ("a training school for pacifists"), the Star-Bulletin, Princess Kawananakoa, and even Central Union Church. Very interesting reading.

May 6, 2005 - Friday

Reporter Rick Daysog, who provided detailed coverage of the former Bishop Estate Empire and the long unfolding investigation of illegal campaign contributions by the state's Campaign Spending Commission, is joining colleague Rob Perez in moving over to the competition. Daysog confirmed his move in an email yesterday, although it's been an open secret in the S-B newsroom.

Another staffer added: "This is no consolation whatsoever, but for what it's worth, the paper promises to hire experienced reporters to take their place."

Meanwhile, another voice from the S-B newsroom took issue with my characterization of declining morale and resources.

I have no clue where that idea comes from. It's not the S-B I work at. Morale around me isn't sinking, we're all having fun at our jobs. Some of us work in journalism because we love it. Not to get rich. Maybe I'm naive, maybe I just love what I do... whatever. I'd venture to say people wanting to get rich are those with sinking morales. As for diminished resources... notice we sent two photographers to two outer islands recently for the Through The Roof series? Also, take a look at our photogs next time you see 'em on the street. They're switching to Canon (not an inexpensive feat -- I won't name numbers, but it's big bucks), and each photog is getting decked out with stellar set-ups custom-tuned to their individual shooting styles/needs. I hate to disappoint the naysayers, but the Bulletin is humming along quite nicely, thank you.

So there may still be more down there at Restaurant Row than meets the eye.

Hawaii's journalism community is praying, literally and figuratively, for Lee Cataluna and her infant daughter, who have reportedly been in intensive care since Monday when Cataluna suffered a rare amniotic fluid embolism during her daughter's birth. News was circulating privately before KHON ran a story last night. No word on the prognosis.

May 5, 2005 - Thursday

Another score for Gannett: The Advertiser has snagged yet another of the Star-Bulletin's award-winning reporters. This time it's Rob Perez who will be moving up the street where he plans on continuing his investigative stories under Gannett auspices. His departure is another unfortunate blow to the Star-Bulletin, already suffering from sinking morale and diminished newsroom resources. Rob has been a newsroom leader for years and his absence will be felt in more ways than just his fine reporting.

The transition from Verizon to Hawaiian Telcom could be rocky if my experience is any indication. After wondering how the billing transition would work, I discovered that my last online payment to Verizon hadn't been made. Then, when I tried to make April's now overdue payment via the Verizon web site, a notice popped up saying that any payments scheduled after April 1 would be skipped due to the Hawaiian Telcom takeover.

So I went over to the new Hawaiian Telcom web site and found the first confusion. The new company is Hawaiian Telcom, but their web address is HawaiianTel.com, not HawaiianTelcom.com. And although they've registered the latter domain name, it hasn't been set up to take you to the primary site. It looks like this transition hasn't been carefully planned.

But when I did get to their web site, it seems their online payment system is still under construction. According to an explanation provided by the new company:

No worries. Your phone number will remain the same and any services you have now will seamlessly switch over to Hawaiian Telcom. Verizon will continue to be the ISP temporarily. That said, there will be a slight transition period for online services & account management. Here are some things you should know:

1) We're currently building our online account management system, so it will soon be available for business and residential customers. [Note: This means there's no use clicking on the prominently placed "My Hawaiian Telcom" link. It just returns an error message with no accompanying explanation.]

2) Online customers were notified of the transition via e-mail on February 24, 2005 advising them that effective 4/01/05, Verizon will no longer be processing payments for Hawaii customers. [Note: Although I can't find any email of that date.] All online payments scheduled on Verizon.com for 4/01/05 and beyond will be cancelled. You will need to mail your payments to:

Hawaiian Telcom
PO Box 9688
Mission Hills, CA 91346-9688

[Note: So if you're like me and arranged an online payment in advance, you might be surprised to find that it has been cancelled without further notice.]

Hawaiian Telcom has an additional notice that payments by credit card can't be made with a phone call, but have to be made in person at one of their stores. And the only other payment option is to send what you think you owe off to the address in California.

And I only found this out because of personal curiosity. No billing yet from the new entity nor any update from Verizon before its exit.

All this could spell trouble for the new company.

Hey, I wonder what the folks at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs did to upset the Legislature? This item is tucked away in this year's budget bill to impose a $10,000 a day "late fee" on DCCA if it's tardy in submitting a report on the plan to lower fees.

Provided that the department of commerce and consumer affairs shall submit a detailed report each year on how the department’s expenditures will be aligned with their special fund revenue collections; provided further that this report shall include a discussion of plans to lower its fees to appropriate levels; provided further that the report shall be submitted to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2006 and 2007 regular sessions; provided further that the department shall be assessed a fee of $10,000 for each business day beyond the date that the report is due; and provided further that the director of the department of commerce and consumer affairs shall deposit all assessments to the general fund.

That's one way to get on-time reporting, just dock the agency's budget for every late day. A trend?

Oops. Almost forgotten in the morning rush--Kaaawa photos from the month of April. Just click on this one to see the full batch.

May 4, 2005 - Wednesday

Well, apparently it's official. Honolulu Weekly is expanding its reach to the Big Island. The Weekly's purchase of the 22,000 circulation Hawaii Island Journal has gone through as rumored, according to a brief item today in Editor & Publisher.

According to a press release by Honolulu Weekly Publisher Laurie Carlson, the sale was effective on Monday.

"Hawai'i Island Journal's editorial and advertising departments will remain on the island of Hawai'i, while production and administrative functions will move to Oahu. Lane Wick will continue as editor for the time being," according to the release.

"The Official Brian Schatz Blog" notes: "Binding arbitration under Governor Lingle (and since the legislature tweaked the rules in favor of management) has rendered smaller raises than collective bargaining." If true, you certainly wouldn't guess it from the news coverage. Perhaps some follow on this issue would be appropriate.

The recently negotiated contracts do stagger raises so that they only kick in for part of each contract period, reducing current year costs to the state and counties. I haven't looked closely enough to see how these have been reported. For example, a 3.5% increase that only applies during part of the year would result in an actual increase to the employee of only a prorated portion of that amount in the current year. After the increase, an employee's monthly salary would kick up the full 3.5%, but the boost to their actual annual wage would lag behind. The unions accept less up front in exchange for the longer term boost.

By mid-afternoon Tuesday, we were kittenless. Kitten #3, the black female named "Lucy" by her rescuers, was carried off to her new home, already equipped with new cat bed, food dish, litter box, kitten food, etc.

Just click for more

Actually, she's going to be living with two of the rescuers for a while before, if things go as planned, moving in with their grandmother. We'll see.

I cleaned up the kittens' room after Lucy was gone. I felt their absence pretty keenly for a while, a post-kitten letdown that will eventually pass. It did, though, spur me to process a few more photos. Just click on Lucy and the girls for more.

May 3, 2005 - Tuesday

Dexter Suzuki, the Honolulu Advertiser's director of "new media", has had a rough couple of weeks. On April 22, he spent a long day on the witness stand testifying in former webmaster Scott Yoshinaga's lawsuit against the Advertiser. Yoshinaga alleges that he was illegally terminated for complaining about the Advertiser's reliance on illegally pirated software for their web site.

Just a week later, April 29, was Suzuki's last day at the Advertiser after apparently resigning from his post, according to several other employees.

An article in the Washington Diplomat includes Sen. Dan Inouye in a select group of 14 senators "who help to shape America’s security and foreign policies."

If you're so inclined, you can watch a live video feed from the Bachman Hall protest, part of a well organized web presence by protesters.

May 2, 2005 - Monday

When students occupied the University of Hawaii president's office last Thursday, reporters quickly converged on the scene. Noticeably absent, though, was the Honolulu Advertiser, which had no one on site several hours after the protest started. And the next morning, the Advertiser relied on an AP story by Jaymes Song for its coverage of the sit-in.

The Star-Bulletin's package on housing issues that started yesterday is impressive on first read with its broad sweep of the impact of the booming real estate market.

Hearst-Argyle Television, parent of Hawaii's KITV, reported earnings down 25 percent from last year, but the drop appears to be accounted for by the election year boom in political advertising which was absent during the recent quarter.

Two of the rescued kittens went off to a new home yesterday. The litter mates will be inside cats, joining two parrots, two people, and various other critters. The kittens, and their new people, all seemed extremely happy when they left Kaaawa Sunday afternoon. Now we're left with one lonely kitten while arrangements for her pickup are pending.

Oops. Out of time for writing, time to post. Blame it on feeding and cuddling the lonely kitten.

May 1, 2005 - Sunday

Here's an interesting piece from the Online Journalism Review proposing an alternative future for the Associated Press based on a web core.

You'll have to take a few minutes to experience this animated history and timeline of the spread of humans from Africa through the rest of the world. It's fascinating to see us all unfold. "Journay of Mankind" comes from something called the Bradshaw Foundation. It adds something substantive to this Sunday morning.

As I was wandering the web, I was surprised to find that our friend and late Star-Bulletin colleague, George Steele, lives on, or at least his "Whiskers N Paws" web site does. I'm not sure just when he profiled the "Pride of Kaaawa", then just five cats, but it was a shock of sorts to see that our cat count has increased to nine and none of those original five are still with us. Neither is George, of course, except in spirit and cyberspace.

Now there's good news and bad news.

The good news is that we've got new homes waiting for all three of the rescued kittens. The bad news is that we've got new homes waiting for all three of the rescued kittens. Feeding them by hand and watching the development of all the fledgling cat behaviors and individual personalities quickly creates a bond. And then there's the simple "kittens are really cute" syndrome to get past.

But they may start heading for their new homes as early as today. We'll see.

This is a self-portrait taken yesterday with the little boy, the last to find a good home. Kitten in one hand, camera in the other. Not an easy moment to capture.

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