November 5, 2005 - Saturday

Star-Bulletin reporter Nelson Daranciang added key pieces of the puzzle to his story yesterday on the sentencing of former journalist and candidate Dalton Tanonaka. His story makes clear that the case wasn't simply about failing to report campaign cash. It was also about the selling of influence.

Tanonaka had failed to disclose a $10,000 per month "consulting" contract, plus a 5 percent kicker on any sales over $5 million, from an individual and company pushing to obtain timber harvesting rights from the state. They were identified in court documents only by their initials. But Daranciang adds important information:

IDB is Incentive Design Builders and its owner is Kyle Dong. Dong also owns Koa Timber, which was to do the logging, and Hawaii Forest Preservation, LLC, which owns koa and ohia forests on the Big Island.

In 2004, the state fined Koa Timber and Hawaii Forest Preservation $149,430 for illegally harvesting koa and ohia trees on land in the state conservation district. The companies later withdrew their application.

Now the underlying issues are much clearer and the case against Tanonaka more understandable. This was way more than one of those bookkeeping errors gone bad. Good reporting.

Today's Honolulu dailies note the September 14 death of Sam Peters, Jr., with simple obituaries. Peters, of course, was a colorful figure on Molokai, a convicted drug dealer, and live-in boyfriend of Linda Lingle when she was a 22-year old newcomer to the islands. She moved to Molokai with Peters and became editor of the Molokai Free Press. That base in Molokai, of course, launched Lingle's political career. A quick Google search turned up this article from Haaretz. in which her relationship with Peters is described.

November 4, 2005 - Friday

Ilima Loomis reported in yesterday's Maui News that the proposal to exempt the county councils from the sunshine law has been derailed by the Maui council. Acting as a Committee of the Whole, the council deferred action on the resolution, effectively killing not only their version but the attempt to include the proposal in the legislative package of the Hawaii State Association of Counties. HSAC requires unanimous backing from the four counties in order to proceed.

The move also makes it unnecessary for the Honolulu City Council to take action on its version of the sunshine exemption resolution, scheduled for a vote next week. I suspect they'll take the hint and let the issue die for now.

The action by the Maui council comes amid questions about whether the public was being misled about the proposal's origins.

The resolution being considered by the Honolulu council includes this attribution: "Whereas...the Maui county council has requested the county councils to include in the 2006 legislative package of the Hawaii state association of counties (HSAC) a proposal to (1) make the sunshine law inapplicable to each county council...."

My reference to that clause yesterday brought a quick objection from a Maui reader:

For the record, neither Councilmember Kane, nor the Maui County Council, proposed to exempt the Maui County Council – or any other Council – from the Sunshine Law.

Instead, the proposal to amend the applicability of the Sunshine Law was offered by a single Councilmember - Council Chair Hokama.

Council Chair Hokama submitted this proposal to the Committee of the Whole for consideration as part of the 2006 Maui County Legislative Package. Council Chair Hokama also submitted this proposal to the Hawaii State Association of Counties (HSAC) Executive Committee for consideration as part of the 2006 HSAC Legislative Package.

At its meeting on Oct. 14, the HSAC Executive Committee recommended that the four counties consider including the proposal, as amended, in the 2006 HSAC Legislative Package. Because Councilmember Dain Kane serves as HSAC’s President, he simply transmitted the proposal to the Committee of the Whole for consideration in HSAC’s Legislative Package.

None of the documents considered by the Committee of the Whole or by the HSAC Executive Committee attribute the Sunshine Law proposal to Councilmember Kane or the Maui County Council.

Loomis quotes Maui council member Michelle Anderson:

She said Maui had been a “champion” of openness compared with other county councils, which have been involved in legal wranglings over alleged violations of the Sunshine Law, and that Maui should keep that position.

“It’s the City and County of Honolulu and the County of Kauai that are having the problems, and they want us to come and back them up,” she said. “I’m sorry. I think they should be following our example.”

So the question lingers as to why the Honolulu council resolution makes it appear that Maui is leading the charge for a rollback in sunshine provisions, with Honolulu just considering offering support. Did that language come directly from HSAC or was it inserted by someone here in Honolulu? It would be most interesting to know.

I just ran across a few negatives from a stroll through Honolulu's Chinatown dating back to the summer of 1967. I was just back from a second year of college in the state of Washington, and reconnecting with Honolulu. The photos look ancient, a combination of the original film and processing, age, poor storage, and, well, passing time. I should claim they were taken by my father. In any case, click on this photo for the full set.

Honolulu's Chinatown 1967

November 3, 2005 - Thursday

I'm told that Gov. Lingle had positive things to say yesterday morning about my recent article on the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility during her appearance on the Rick Hamada radio show. If you missed the story (cover story for last week's Honolulu Weekly), it's now available online, as is testimony prepared by my wife, Professor Meda Chesney-Lind for this week's legislative hearing on problems at HYCF.

Some friends have wondered whether I'm uncomfortable getting kudos from the Republican side of the world. Actually, the answer is "no". I'm a follower of the adage popular around Common Cause when I was on their staff--"No permanent friends, no permanent enemies."

In other words, play it straight and let the chips fall wherever they may. I may not always succeed, but that's the goal.

At the capitol, though, there's always a temptation to approach situations like this HYCF scandal in partisan terms and to try to use them for partisan advantage. Given the decades long evolution of the problems at the youth facility, however, this situation does not seem to lend itself to such a politicized approach. Hopefully that will become clearer as these legislative hearings proceed.

The Maui News editorialized against a proposal to seek an exemption from the Sunshine Law for county councils and the Advertiser reports the Maui council remains "undecided" on the plan, although it is cited for putting the idea on the Hawaii State Association of Counties' agenda in the first place.

The animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is urging vigorous prosecution of the teen killer of Simmy Bird, a 25-year old parrot killed in the course of a Kona burglary.

The PETA press release notes the relationship between violence against animals and later violence crimes against human victims.

“Young people who harm animals are a threat to society, and Hawaii County authorities must send a strong message that violence in the community will not be swept under the rug,” says PETA Cruelty Caseworker Daniel Paden. “Given the strong connection between cruelty to animals and other forms of violence, it is imperative, for everyone’s sake, that this case be taken seriously.”

Agreed.

November 2, 2005 - Wednesday

Sunday nights heavy rains created a major mess in the ocean and on the beach in Kaaawa, with debris washed down from Kaaawa valley floating offshore and piled a foot deep on the sand.

click for larger photo

Lee Cataluna had the best comment on the resignation of Rep. Galen Fox: "This wasn't a crime of freaky-but-mutual consent. The woman was sleeping. How uji is that?!"

The Star-Bulletin has more details from the court record today, while the Advertiser reports that Lingle's office was informed of Fox's arrest "almost immediately after it happened". What? The governor's office had this information and successfully kept it under wraps? Impressive indeed.

Memo to file: I think we can agree that the "Oops, I didn't mean to unzip your jeans and put my hand in your pants, whatever was I thinking?" defense just doesn't cut it.

And as Meda said this morning, preparing for a short mainland trip: "I'm glad it's an afternoon flight."

Top off the morning with some of our great Kaaawa dogs. That's Ms. Mocha, who seems to be emerging from puppyhood just fine. We haven't seen her for several months, so her new 40-pound look was a bit of a surprise, as was her interest in a visiting kitten. Just click on her photo for this weeks batch of dogs.

November 1, 2005 - Tuesday

The amazing thing is not that Rep. Galen Fox resigned yesterday, it's that the charges against him went unreported for 11 months and even his conviction was apparently not picked up by capitol news hounds until yesterday. That's more secrecy than the Bush White House can manage, and this was a case in federal court. Can it be true that no one in Hawaii knew? How about law enforcement circles? The United flight crew? How do you keep this kind of thing so totally under wraps? What about after the incident but before charges were filed? Hard to believe that there was no gossip anywhere to be picked up by the usual sources. Should reporters have been doing something different in order to have caught wind of this sooner?

Big Island peace activist Jim Albertini filed this report on last weekend's "talk story" meeting with Rep. Ed Case, who represents the 2nd Congressional District. It sounds like Case had better prepare to be challenged on his position on Iraq.

The Ed Case meeting this evening (10/29/05) was routine, mostly boring like the last talk story one I attended back in March or so.  It started with a big monologue by Ed, in which he didn't even mention the war. It came alive when a few people, including an unknown to me very middle class looking woman, and a friend, Jesse Dawn, pressed him on the war, saying he sounded just like Bush and if he wanted to get re-elected he should start acting and sounding like a democrat. Jesse got good applause and I think it surprised Case.

Meanwhile, I stood at the entrance to the meeting up in front near Case in a Grim Reaper outfit complete with American Flag on the scythe topped by an oil can . Grim's sign said: War --More Deaths & More Dollars. On the backside: I support Ed Case, Bush, Cheney, Rummy & Scooter! When Ed sounded just like Bush, which was often, I gave him the shaka sign, a few taps of the scythe on the floor, and shook my "I support Ed" sign.

All in all, I'm glad there was dissent, not just quiet nodding in support. About 60-70 people attended the meeting. Case is pathetic on the war. He keeps funding it instead of cutting off the funds and initiating a full fledged congressional investigation on the fraud of it, the criminality of it, the torture, etc. Keep the heat on him....Give him the business! Mahalo.

October 31, 2005 - Monday

It's been a very wet night. Rain started sometime before 11 p.m. and has kept up fairly steadily, heavy for long periods, then slacking off a bit only to come pouring down again. The plants will be very happy. The cats less so. I took the opportunity to get a short video featuring a few seconds of Kaaawa rain.

At 5:30 a.m. the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning which states in part:

* AT 530 AM HST...RADAR SHOWED HEAVY RAIN NEAR KAAAWA...OR ABOUT 16 MILES NORTH OF HONOLULU. THE AREA OF HEAVY RAIN WAS NEARLY STATIONARY. AN AUTOMATED RAINGAUGE NEAR PUNALUU HAS RECORDED 5.86 INCHES OF RAIN IN THE PAST 4 HOURS. RADAR HAS ESTIMATED UP TO 10 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN NEAR KAAAWA OVERNIGHT.

I guess it has been a wet night indeed.

One of the highlights of our weekend was an excursion to watch our neighbors' 6-year old twin daughters in their second to the last soccer game of the season, their first. At their level, scores are not kept and everyone plays. Each period begins with the necessary reorientation--"Okay, Pink Angels, which is your goal?" After a bit of apparent confusion they reach a consensus. All this does not reduce the seriousness with which the game is played. I really don't have a proper lens for such capturing such things, but I took the camera anyway and threw together a rough & dirty batch of photos of the "Pink Angels". Everyone likes to see themselves on the field.

Did you catch the look on Howard Dicus's face during his show Friday night as he asked two guests, "What's an eyebrow kit?" Priceless.

Several union locals of the Communications Workers of America, parent union of the Newspaper Guild, have been on strike since Oct. 10 against Sprint-Nextel over the company's demand for substantial givebacks from union members. Heavily unionized Hawaiian Telcom repackages Sprint wireless service and markets it under the Hawaiian Tel brand.

I last caught up with former Star-Bulletin colleague Vint Blackburn back in June 2003, when he reported being back home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over the weekend I ran across a news story which reports on his successful reinvention as a high school science teacher. The student reviews are glowing. Way to go, Vint! With any luck, you can reach Vint via email at vintblack@mac.com.

From a reader: "I'd never noticed before...Romeo has eyes like the Queen of Hearts in a deck of cards." Well, I just don't know. Here they are side by side. In any case, have a Happy Halloween.

October 30, 2005 - Sunday

Yesterday's mail brought this disturbing message which refers back to a two-year old entry (November 2003):

You have a story about Fernando Matutina. I'd like to point out a couple of facts for you. Fernando "Randy" left his contact information on the holdup notes purposely. You see, he was addicted to crystal meth and could not afford treatment. Getting arrested was his way of saving his life. After the second robbery, he even waited around outside for a little while for the police. Then he got cold feet and ran again. It was not a "duh" maneuver to leave his contact info, he wanted to live.

Obviously the writer has some personal knowledge of the case and I've got no reason to doubt this account. Assuming it's true, it is a terrible indictment of the way we handle addiction and drug services.

"He wanted to live." So he robbed banks and left his name.

I should have been more curious at the time about the reported circumstances instead of trivializing them with my comment about the "Duh" file. I think that flippant attitude is one of blogging's danger zones, a posture that is easy to adopt while rushing through a day's entry. In this case, too easy. And ultimately wrong.

Also in the weekend mail, another query:

While Your Being Curious...maybe you could ask HPD about why the driver of the car that held the alleged perpetrator of the HORRIFIC beating near Ala Moana shopping center earlier this week will APPARENTLY NOT BE CHARGED WITH ANYTHING even though he watched his friend/whatever jump a man from behind and then beat into submission with such ferocity to put him in the ICU and possibly leave him with permanent brain damage....

I believe a justice system that is too weak on the clearly brutal and horrific cases sends a very clear message to criminals that they can act with impunity. What's WORSE, the local daily was too lazy to ask why this person won't be charged. Maybe there is a good reason. But I certainly didn't read it in either (daily) paper.