January 7, 2006 - Saturday

What's the real story?

Honolulu Advertiser:
"Skydiving duo killed after landing in sea"
"...both died yesterday..."
The Advertiser's web site carried news of the two deaths in its first "breaking news" report yesterday afternoon just hours after the accident, and the story was expanded in today's morning edition.

According to the Advertiser story: "The two skydivers were taken to Wahiawa General Hospital, where Mueller was pronounced dead soon afterward and Takahashi hours later."

Honolulu Star-Bulletin:
"Sky-diving accident leaves 1 dead, 1 hurt"
"A veteran sky-diving instructor died yesterday and his tandem passenger was taken to the hospital in extremely critical condition..."
The Star-Bulletin cites unnamed paramedics for the information that both victims were in "extremely critical" condition, and then quotes a Wahiawa Hospital representative confirming the instructor's death, but there's no update on the condition or death of the passenger, a Japanese visitor.

A direct conflict like this is unusual. The Advertiser account appears more definitive, although it appears there was plenty of time for other media to attempt to confirm its initial report of the two deaths. The conflicting accounts this morning are difficult to explain.

And, on a different note, thanks to Howard Dicus last night for his segment giving credit to the crew that makes the PBN Friday broadcast possible. He got up off the set and proceeded around the studio followed by a camera, and spoke with all the technicians and directors. It was an unusual move and came across very well. I imagine the crew enjoyed the recognition as well.

The segment ended with a long scrolling list of PBS Hawaii "alumni" now working in other media jobs. It went by too fast, so hopefully that list is available online somewhere.

January 6, 2006 - Friday

The way that this child support dispute spilled out onto the Internet seemed about the worst way for a relationship to end when I first saw it several weeks ago. But it was easily trumped by the "scorned woman" reportedly behind the indictment of Jack Abramoff and partner Michael Scanlon.

If you're still alert, check out Abramoff's plea agreement which is quite illuminating about how Washington has been doing business.

Speaking of Abramoff, KITV reported this week that U.S. Senator Dan Inouye received a total of $6,000 from the lobbyist's tribal clients during the 2002-2004 period. The station initially reported that Rep. Neil Abercrombie had received several donations totalling $2,000 from the Agua Caliente Band, an Abramoff client, but later rewrote the story after learning the money came before the tribe retained Abramoff.

Several members of Congress are seeking further details of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program, including: "Any and all records identifying any members of the U.S. press, other U.S. media or Members of Congress for whom communications to or from them were intercepted." In other words, were communications of reporters and elected officials being tracked? Good question.

For those who have asked, I'm working in the office of Rep. Lyla Berg. I grew up in one end of Berg's 18th District, my parents still live there, and I've got lots of ties to the district which will hopefully come in handy. In any case, it's bound to be interesting.

January 5, 2006 - Thursday

One reader rightly took the occasion yesterday to specifically recall George Helm, who was one of the "Kahoolawe Nine" who was lost at sea returning from another landing on the island just over a year later:

Thank you for the remembrance of the Hawaiian movement to reclaim Kahoolawe. I recall amongst those lost to the seas but never forgotten is George Helm. I had the privilege of travelling with George on travel promotions to Japan and really got to know his love of Hawaiian music as a composer, performer and representative of his heritage. He would be pleased to know his and others efforts helped to open Kahoolawe to those wanting to practice Hawaiian traditions. Recordings of George's music are rare to find and cherished when heard again and again.

If you're not familiar with George's musical legacy, stop by mele.com without further delay and order the cd, "The Music of George Helm: A True Hawaiian."

And from the Star-Bulletin's Burl Burlingame:

Lovely pix of the Kahoolawe landing. Dean Sensui and I went in the early '80s and you're right, the island has an interesting presence. Also good to see Ol' 367 in action, the hardest-workin' helicopter in local Coast Guard history.

From Baron Sekiya in Kona:

Not to cause alarm but are you sure the guy stuck in the sand (photo in Tuesday's entry) was just sleeping?

I once saw a new pickup truck with heavy tinted windows slow to the shoulder of the road and clip a rock wall once in Kona and it came to a stop during the day. I figured it was someone who fell asleep or was drunk or something similar as I whizzed past in my car. Later when I passed by the same spot on the way back home there was an ambulance there. I later surmised that the guy probably had a seizure or heart attack and that's why he drove onto the shoulder damaging his car, he just couldn't drive it any farther.

I felt kind of bad that I didn't stop and had just though the guy fell asleep but I really couldn't see a darn thing in the truck cab. Though it's just my guess that the medics got there fairly quickly as it's just a block or two from the fire station they responded from. Still, as a former CPR instructor I felt bad.

Just a thought for the future.

In this week's case in Kaaawa, I didn't wake the guy up but he certainly appeared to be settled in the seat and asleep. It also looked like he had been collecting driftwood to put under the tires for some traction in the deep sand. But the advice is well taken.

And I did start work this week as a session worker for this upcoming legislative session. I've been sitting through most of the training sessions for new staffers, largely geared to neophytes who need to be reminded that there are three branches of government and that the budget committees wield a lot of power.

It a little hard to remain under the radar with the amount of political history and baggage I'm dragging along. When House Speaker Calvin Say and Vice-Speaker Mark Takai stopped by to greet all the new hires, the speaker was only a few sentences into his greeting when he looked over and saw me in the front row. "Ian! What are you doing here?"

I had crossed paths with the Speaker at UH back in the early 1970's, something we both dredge up when we have met from time to time.

Takai then took over and said he'd seen my note here at iLind.net on Monday about taking a job at the capitol and had been intending on asking who I'd be working for.

It's a little weird, I must say. I've been around the capitol in various roles for 20 years, but never as a staff member, so it's going to be interesting to see how the view from this side compares to my previous experiences.

One of the highlights so far in my view was a presentation by House Clerk Pat Mau-Shimizu stressing the importance of a safe workplace environment and guidelines for reporting disruptive behavior or harassment. I was interested in the emphasis on reporting all kinds of disruptive behavior and each staff member's right to define what they consider harassment.

She then dropped in a story of a lobbyist who was hitting on a young staffer, repeatedly asking her to go out with him. After being turned down a number of times, the lobbyist allegedly cranked up the pressure and offered up a quid pro quo: Go out with me and I'll give $2,000 to your bosses upcoming campaign and raise more money from my lobbyist friends, and if you refuse your boss will lose the election for lack of campaign cash and you'll be out of a job.

Mau-Shimizu said the staffer reported the incident, investigators were called in to confirm the incident, and the lobbyist was subsequently barred from the House premises, apparently a real credit to the House leadership, which she said has two investigators "on verbal retainer" to quickly respond to such incidents.

I haven't had a chance to follow-up and ask whether this was an apocryphal tale used to make a point or an actual incident in the not-too-distant political past. I don't recall such an incident being reported.

January 4, 2006 - Wednesday

Sometimes these milestones just sort of sneak up on you. That's how it is with today's 30th anniversary of the first protest landing by Hawaiians on what was then the "bombing island" of Kahoolawe. It was January 4, 1976, at the start of the American bicentennial year, that several small boats left Maalaea Harbor at dawn and set off for Kahoolawe. Most turned back when a Coast Guard helicopter hovered overhead and warned of possible arrests. One boat continued on and nine people reached the beach. The rest is now part of the history and lore of the island and the rebirth of a Hawaiian political movement.

Kahoolawe January 4,1976 click for more photos

January 3, 2006 - Tuesday

Think your day is off to a lousy start? Pity this poor driver, who is asleep in the front seat while his truck is mired deeper and deeper in the sand. The damage appeared to be done by the time we walked by sometime before 7 a.m., so we just let him sleep.

Someone did an interesting Google search over the weekend that ended up here. The search terms: "plan compliance group" and "suicide". That sent me on an unsuccessful search for any news about a suicide linked to the company that disappeared with millions of dollars intended for retirement plan investments of island teachers. So far, no such news that I can find, so maybe it wasn't a clue after all.

This note came yesterday from reader Robert Ahlstrom:

Long time journalist Larry Nakatsuka died in Straub Hospitsl on Sunday at 3:15PM. I had visited him after church and he was more responsive than any of the previous days since strokes curtailed his activities.

You might remember him as a Star-Bulletin Reporter and as press secretary for Governors Quinn and King plus his stint in Washington with Senator Fong.

He was more than my sudent learning computer literacy because he also became my friend. Ironically he died on the death aniversary of his wife Minnie. He is survived by a lovely family of sons, daughter, newphews and nieces, some of which I met through email exchanges.

He will be missed.

A column by Nakatsuka on Hawaii statehood was published by the Star-Bulletin in 2004.

Here's my selection of photos from December's morning walks, which I pulled together yesterday. I also finally set up a way to order prints and will include an "Order prints" button in future galleries, but if you've got a favorite past photo I can now easily add it to the list of available prints. Just email me any special requests, ian@ilind.net.

click for December's gallery

January 2, 2006 - Monday

Well, I'm finally giving in. The $28.31 earned from those Google ads last month just doesn't help when it comes to paying the vet, or feeding the cats (or the camera/computer habit). With that in mind, over the weekend I accepted a temporary staff position at the legislature and will be watching the session from a different perspective. To tell the truth, I don't really know how or whether I'll be able to write about the experience. I'm just going to proceed one step at a time. But it's been a while since I've done the legislature full-time, so this promises to be an interesting and informative experience.

I noticed yesterday that the new High Technology Innovation Corporation is asking for a blanket exemption from state procurement requirements. It's the familiar refrain. "Special" need speed and flexibility, competitive demands, etc. Same old, same old. Every agency likes to think that it's unique.

There's also an interesting sole source contract for software licensed from ArcSight Inc.

It looks like data mining techniques are being applied to network security courtesy of the Homeland Security folks.

So it goes on this holiday Monday.

January 1, 2006 - Sunday - New Year's Day