December 3, 2005 - Saturday

Former Honolulu Advertiser marketing chief Mark Adkins started his new job on Thursday as senior vice president for advertising of Hearst Newspapers.

The New York Times reports today that the Senate is going to probe American University's handling of its former big spending president, Ben Ladner to determine whether the university's trustees provided proper oversight. After the messy departure of Evan Dobelle, this sort of probe cuts pretty close to home.

We're waiting for news on Leo's condition. So far, though, the prognosis is guarded. He survived the surgery, but did suffer a ruptured bladder. Now we're waiting to see whether damage was done to one of his kidneys, and whether his repaired bladder is going to hold together. This is far more serious than it appeared when we left him at VCA yesterday morning. It's all been quite a shock. I look back at Leo's photo on Thursday and can't believe all this is happening. But it is.

Sunrise in Kaaawa 12/2/05

December 2, 2005 - Friday

Friday update: Mr. Leo is unexpectedly in critical condition and undergoing surgery for a urinary blockage and possible ruptured bladder. We took him in to VCA this morning after noticing repeated trips to the cat box. If you've had cats, you recognize this behavior, symptoms of what used to be called FUS, felline urinary syndrome. He's had a history of nasty crystals in his urine, and this seemed like more of the same.

Not so lucky this time. Today's diagnosis went from bad to worse, the last update in a call to my cell phone about a half-hour after we left VCA. He was being rushed into surgery. All we can do is hope for the best and prepare for...whatever.

• • •

Have you noticed that it's that time of year again? The Christmas trees are going up, holiday lights are glittering along public streets, the numbers of cars on the roads is swelling while drivers are losing all inhibitions and reaching new levels of incivility. Be careful, it's a jungle out there.

Honolulu Weekly news editor Ragnar Carlson has announced his departure from the paper and the state.

I’ll be leaving the Weekly in a couple of weeks to take my chances on the Mainland. I’ve enjoyed my time at the paper very much, and though I am very excited about what’s to come for me, it’s with a great deal of sadness that I leave the Weekly at this moment. This is a fascinating and critical time in Hawai’i, and I regret that I won’t be here to cover it. It’s also an exciting time at Honolulu Weekly, as a new editor comes on board and a number of other changes begin to take shape.

I noted this report of another seasonal occurence, the increase in copier breakdowns caused by office party attempts to make copies of various anatomical parts.

Here are a couple of additional sites to bookmark for routine checks: The Hawaii Supreme Court's Un-official blog, which looks relatively official, and a new blog from the Legislative Reference Bureau library, First Readings. Both are top notch sources up updated information.

For you dog people out there, check out Doggie News, a dog blog with lots of interesting tidbits.

It's Friday, Mr. Leo is pacing the house with an apparent urinary problem, and I'm feeling profundity-challenged. Perhaps I should just say "good morning" and let you move on.

December 1, 2005 - Thursday

I caught up with Mr. Leo on the kitchen counter where he had claimed an empty box which, as cat people know, is considered quite a valued object in the cat world. It was just the best place until, a day or two later, he had to pee it to protect it from others, which of course wrecked it as a sleeping spot. Such is the hard life of household cats.

Mr. Leo

Thanks to Sharene Yoshizaki-Chun, circulation manager for the Star-Bulletlin and MidWeek, for this update on the Manoa Safeway scene:

Goodmorning...

I wanted check on everything that was being said before I responded.  I had one of our managers speak with 5 different people at Safeway Manoa, morning managers, clerks, and a receiving clerk.  All confirmed daily AM delivery is consistent.  (Of course if the press is late then delivery will be delayed)  

2 things I did find.....

1. In the last 2 weeks we have sold out most days at Safeway Manoa.  We have increased our delivery counts to correct that.

2. I spoke with a day shift courtesy clerk.  She said delivery was inconsistent and the PM edition doesn’t always get delivered.  I explained to her that we no longer distribute the PM edition to newsstands. Our afternoon edition newsstand sales have always been limited to only a few select locations and only represented a few hundred copies out of our total circulation. Our PM distribution is limited to home delivery and hawking.  We stopped delivery of the PM edition  to those select newsstands in October.  Maybe she is one of the people our concerned customer spoke with.  

I hope this information helps and we certainly enjoy and appreciate everyone’s continued support and feedback.  

While on the topic of the Star-Bulletin and MidWeek, the latter has also done a major makeover of its web site which is now a wholly different animal than previously. The reader who called my attention to the redesign said: "...man, it's the best newspaper site I've seen in Hawaii. I had to double check to make sure it was local."

So I took a look, and it is attractive and accessible. And I was surprised and pleased to see a story about our neighbor here in Kaaawa, the creator of Kaaawa Soap.

And I finally managed to dig out a copy of the 9th Circuit decision in the case of Lind v. Grimmer, which was referred to here last week, and a scanned version is now available here in pdf format.

November 30, 2005 - Wednesday

A reader provided this comment on yesterday morning's airport rant:

I strongly suspect that part of the so-called airport improvements include the extension of the runway at both Kahalui and Lihue airports. As you may recall these were both very contentious issues and ultimately killed by the prior administration.

I have been told directly by the Director of DOT that the state is moving forward with both of these projects.

It is interesting that in spite (or because) of the high profile and divisive nature of the prior effort, there seems to be no public outreach with regards to the current plans. You are probably correct that they want to make sure that "everyone is on board" before they go public…everyone except the public that is.

Another reader wonders about the pending appointment of a replacement for Rep. Galen Fox, and says the Republican Party district chairman in Fox's district has not been part of the screening of potential nominees.

Kind of odd that the grassroots person in the district wasn't even consulted or considered in this process that directly affects the Republican Party's stronghold districts.

If true, it would appear a significant oversight, but one that underscores that the strategic aspects of the appointment overshadow the interests of the district and constituents.

From the Star-Bulletin newsroom, another (final?) comment on distribution questions:

Another possible explanation -- the Star-Bulletin's press runs are VERY tightly monitored, since the press isn't large. We can't run off thousands of extra papers to choke the honor boxes and supermarket dumps. So supermarket sales are watched closely and "just enough" papers are distributed there and elsewhere. Sometimes it just isn't enough, however.

For the record, returned Star-Bulletin webmaster Blaine Fergerstrom posted the following notice on Monday regarding the disappearance of the newspaper's web site that morning:

STARBULLETIN.COM SERVER OUTAGE:

The Starbulletin.com web server went off-line around 2:00 a.m. today and did not return for four hours, 45 minutes. Technical support specialists at our Internet Service Provider brought the site back online at 6:45 this morning.

We humbly apologize to our readers who may have been looking for Starbulletin.com overnight and this morning.

Blaine Fergerstrom
Webmaster

I've heard that frantic telephone calls to tech support at the the Internet provider went unanswered for over three long early-morning hours.

Finally, if you have a chance, check my contribution to the "Honolulu Diary" section of today's issue of Honolulu Weekly. When I finally realized there would be no mainstream follow-up on the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of dollars from local teachers retirement accounts, I got up Monday morning and started calling mainland school districts that have contracts with the same California company, Plan Compliance Group.

It didn't take long to find out that teachers' retirement contributions have gone missing in all of the Texas school districts serviced by the company, as well as one in California. I didn't have time to track down several others in Michigan. My guess is that the total that's gone walkabout is something above $1.8 million. Complaints have been lodged with the FBI in all three states.

And I'm at a loss to explain why none of the corporate media did this basic check as soon as the news of Hawaii's losses emerged more than 10 days ago.

November 29, 2005 - Tuesday

Hawaii Tribune-Herald reporter and editor Hunter Bishop now gets to hang a new modifier onto his name--"former". Welcome to the club.

He describes his firing and the union-busting tactics of the Stephens Media Group, owners of the Tribune-Herald, in a column in the current issue of The Guild Reporter. Staffers at the paper are still working without a new contract and the company seems bent on provoking a strike, but Bishop's view is still optimistic and upbeat.

I'm still bothered by Mike Leidemann's story in the Advertiser last week on efforts to do a makeover at Honolulu Airport.

First, Leidemann mentions "a comprehensive new airports plan set to be released later this year" while noting "details aren't being released".

Okay, let's say it. The state is developing a secret plan which is being withheld from the public, apparently via some as yet unspecified confidential and nonpublic process.

Then, after reporting comments of the state's Economic Momentum Commission, Leidemann writes:

Meanwhile, a separate group composed of government officials, airline leaders and other airport users is putting the finishing touches on a redevelopment plan for airports across the state, said Marsha Wienert, the state's tourism liaison.

"Historically, we've dealt with all these problems piecemeal, and the result has been that the airport always has the highest level of dissatisfaction among Japanese tourists," Wienert said. "Now, we're trying to take a larger view of our needs and come up with a comprehensive plan to address them."

Although it is not exactly clear in Leidemann's story, it appears that the group developing the secret airport plan is this "ad hoc" group apparently formed by the the state's tourism liason in cooperation with the Airports Division of DOT.

Leidemann gets the critical info into his story but stops short of making the criticial point. That is, why in the world is the state using a secret process to develop a secret plan that will commit the probably billions of dollars of public expenditures and, as the story says, effect everyone using the airport?

Weinert, the tourism liaison, then jabs a sharp stick in the public's eye one more time:

Wienert said the group wants to make sure "everyone is on board" with the recommended changes before announcing them. The improvements could range from rearranging the gates used by major airlines to adding more places to shop and eat, industry officials said.

Translation: "Everyone", in this case, doesn't really mean what is says, since "everyone" would presumably include the public. Instead, "everyone" refers to the unnamed members of an insider group which wants its plan to be a done deal before any of the extensives changes are known to the public. And, since the group apparently includes all the corporate insiders, including DOT officials, its plan will become the blueprint.

Does the sunshine law apply to the deliberations of this group? How about to the records of its discussions and its draft recommendations? Its list of members? The criteria and process for appointing those members? The list goes on and on.

I don't understand why Gannett's Advertiser, which has jumped on other sunshine issues, let Leidemann's excellent description of the problem pass without further comment.

November 28, 2005 - Monday

5:15 a.m. and Starbulletin.com is "down" and the site is not responding. Not a good way to start the week.

More on the Star-Bulletin's problem at Manoa Safeway, beginning with a follow-up from the reader who originally raised the issue:

I did contact circulation. I e-mailed them and had no response. What in fact I sent you was a forward of my e-mail to the SB " Contact Us" e-mail address. 

Still no response.

The Safeway management and staff tell me it is a SB delivery problem, not theirs.They also say it has persisted for weeks. 

This am I went in for the Sunday paper and there were about 4 Sunday SB and dozens of Advertiser Sunday Papers.

Another readers added this observation: "I often pick up the S-B at the Pali or Beretania Safeway @4:15AM. Never noticed any problems."

And a friend in the S-B newsroom offered this example:

An example: The two Safeways near us have the Star-Bulletin. But the Advertiser/USAToday delivery people are allowed to walk through the front door to deliver papers, while the Star-Bulletin delivery person has to drop off papers around back, and rely on the store or the Advertiser delivery person to arrange them in the racks.

I'm sure this is not a Safeway-wide policy, but it's also neither helpfiul nor fair. Gannett locked up Safeway even before the split.

And so it goes. 5:30 a.m. and the Star-Bulletin web site is still not responding.

Here are a few photos taken last Wednesday afternoon as we were driving home around 4 p.m. The view is across Kaneohe Bay towards Kualoa. There was no wind, the ocean was like a sheet of glass, and the clouds filtered the afternoon sun. Despite the distance, this commute is rarely a chore.

click for more

November 27, 2005 - Sunday

A friend in the newsroom had this straight forward response to yesterday's mention of problems getting the Star-Bulletin at the Safeway in Manoa.

The Star-Bulletin has had an ongoing problem getting stocked in Safeway since the separation. The problem is with Safeway, not the newspaper.

But the discussion angered another reader:

The glaring question here - did you or your reader even bother to call the SB's circulation department?

And why is that person complaining to you? Because they know you'll go ahead and blog about it without hesitation?

There are a number of different explanations. And it's ONE store, with ONE rack. Don't try to stir the pot with your "anyone else noticed Star-Bulletin's (sic) missing from their favorite racks?" inquiry.

My reply:

I'm sorry that you're so up tight about this. No need to be.

Fact is, the person who raised the question is someone I know. Someone who has been a Star-Bulletin booster. So his question is legit. Not a put-up job by a Gannettoid.

Did he call circulation? I don't know. I tend to doubt it. You normally think of calling when your paper isn't delivered at home. Not when you find an empty rack. That's a problem the newspaper has to deal with. At least that's what I would think.

But this was not the end. My reply triggered this:

Not "up tight" by any means. Just getting sick of the uninformed swipes you take, while at the same time expecting others to be held to a different standard.

Maybe you think of home delivery exclusively when you talk about calling a newspaper's circulation department. I don't.

Instead of complaining to a buddy with a blog, your "Star-Bulletin booster" could have called the paper and spoken with someone who could actually do something to solve the problem.

And again: There are a number of different explanations. It's ONE store, with ONE rack. Don't try to stir the pot with your "anyone else noticed Star-Bulletin's (sic) missing from their favorite racks?" inquiry.

I'll only stir the pot a couple of additional times. First, whether this one store reflects a broader problem is a fair and open question, like it or not. So far, I haven't heard of similar problems elsewhere, so it may be, as this reader says, one store.

But I sure hope the writer isn't a Star-Bulletin staffer, because any newspaper that relies on its customers to monitor sales and keep track of distribution problems, then blames the customers when problems occur, is going to be in serious trouble sooner rather than later.

In any case, it's Sunday and a good time for another bunch of Kaaawa dogs. This is Bear, who posed for a few photos during an unusual afternoon walk the day after Thanksgiving. Just click on his photo for more.