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August 21, 2004 - Saturday

What struck me about the UH Board of Regents/Dobelle documents is how early in his tenure serious issues arose between the president and the board, and what a poor job was done reporting on them. No wonder Dobelle can publicly complain about being ambushed by a hasty and unfair board. The public had been left in the dark, with little opportunity to learn about the problems as they were building over time, despite signals which, it appears in retrospect at least, should have raised red flags for the reporters covering the university.

Emails released along with other UH documents included an exchange between Dobelle and Advertiser reporter Bev Creamer which offered grist for newsroom gossip this past week. The emails prompted Malia Zimmerman, writing in Hawaii Reporter, to raise a question of media bias (scroll down to the bottom of Zimmerman's column of August 13 for the section on bias).

Speaking of UH, I was wandering the new books in Borders this week when I spotted Rift Zone displayed among the new fiction offerings. It's a first novel which is earning strong reviews for its author, Raelynn Hillhouse, who was on the UH faculty in Political Science for several years not too long ago. After that experience, Hillhouse reportedly gave up her academic career and is working in the social service world on the Big Island. And, of course, writing.

Click for more info

August 20, 2004 - Friday

The United Public Workers, the state's second largest labor union, has formally apologized to hundreds of members who had been publicly identified in 1999 as friends of the "Pilau Bulletin" and this pilau reporter, and accused of being anti-labor.

For folks outside Hawaii, "pilau" means stinking, rotten, putrid, etc.

The apology was initiated by UPW's Oahu Division Executive Board, which adopted a resolution calling for an apology on May 13, 2004. The union's State Executive Board followed on May 23 by unanimously approving the apology.

Writing in the current issue of the union's internal newsletter, Malama Pono, UPW State Director Dayton Nakanelua says the 264 union members "were proven right".

"They had the courage to stand up to Gary (Rodrigues) and demand answers to the finances of the Union. Instead of being responsive and responsible to the membership, Gary attacked these members in their own Union newspaper, Malama Pono. It was wrong."

The original attack was contained in a special March 1999 issue of Malama Pono, which was mailed to all UPW members just a week after I reported on a petition submitted to UPW's parent union seeking an investigation of then-UPW director Gary Rodrigues. The union newsletter included a list of the 264 UPW members who had signed the petition and charged their actions "could jeopardize the funding of the Unit 1 and 10 Agreements and encourage politicians to pass legislation to steal our jobs or take away our benefits."

The union's apology did not extend to the Star-Bulletin or to myself, except perhaps by implication.

The apology resolution passed by the Oahu Division and Nakanelua's statement can be viewed in pdf format, but proceed with caution if you're using a dial-up connection because the files are large, but here are the links: The UPW apology (464K file) and Nakanelua's statement (708K file). I'm actually not sure why these files are so large, but...it's too early to fuss with them.

August 19, 2004 - Thursday

I spent most of Wednesday sifting through the documents released last week by the University of Hawaii Board of Regents relating to their firing of former president Evan Dobelle.

There's certainly lots of interesting material there. Irony abounds. One of my favorites was this three-way email exchange between Dobelle; his assistant, Kristen Blanchfield; and Lois Manin, director of media relations for UH athletics.

These are dated June 14, 2004, one day before the Regents gave Dobelle the heave-ho. Was Dobelle spending his time dealing with the issue of the Regents pending evaluation? Nope. He was worried about something apparently more important--his demand that the UH football media guide by rewritten to give a page with his own welcoming statement the same prominence as that of the governor.

Manin provides a low-key description of the media guide and its use as a recruiting tool, and reviews the protocol that put the governor's message up front, followed later by the legislature, regents, the UH president, Manoa chancellor, athletic director, and other staff, in that order.

The reply from Dobelle, who often ingenuously described himself as a "bottom-up" kind of manager: "tell herman (athletic director Herman Frazier) to change it...i do not care what she (Manin) says."

The next morning, June 15, as the regents began their marathon meeting that ended in Dobelle's firing, Blanchfield dutifully forwarded the president's demand to Frazier: "Even feels very strongly about making the changes to incorporate him following the Governor...Please advise."

Blanchfield's June 15 email came a day after she reportedly turned in her resignation.

For those craving detail, here is the BOR evaluation covering Dobelle's 2nd year, which was made public in April 2004 following an opinion by the Office of Information Practices.

August 18, 2004 - Wednesday

Local writer Glenda Chung Hinchey sent along this reaction yesterday:

Thanks for the Harold Marshall picture. That's me on the left side, sitting against the wall, right behind the guy with the raised hand. I was a senior, 22 years old, and graduating in June 1968. I remember professors begging me to attend classes and take my finals. Although I was among the 150 who were arrested at Bachman Hall and thrown in jail, I still managed to pass all of my classes and graduate. Do you have pictures of the march to the governor's office? I was there.

Months later, I was teaching English at Thammasat University in Bangkok. To liven things up, I'd hold debates on topics like the pros and cons of wearing mini-skirts, and the pros and cons of the American military presence in Thailand. Many Thai students felt Americans were destroying Thai culture.

Please post this letter in your diary and invite others to share their memories of Bachman Hall in 1968.

Thanks.

Does anyone else want to take the bait and offer up other recollections?

The Washington Post had quite an engrossing story last week about the young blogger (writing as Washingtonienne) who exposed normally hidden parts of the Washington scene earlier this year. It is quite a read. Well, that's something of an understatement. If you want to check out the blog in its original form, it has been reproduced and is available.

Yesterday was my birthday, but the celebration was a bit forced after our weekend of anniversary activities. Even the search for an appropriate dinner ended up more work than it should have been. The end product was good but definitely not inspired. Click on the photo for more, if you're interested. And, yes, that is Mr. Silverman checking out my meal, which was left undefended while I took the picture.

One discovery yesterday was the Great Harvest Bread Co., a franchise bakery operation that is definitely not your typical local balloon bread factory. Honolulu tends to be a bread desert, devoid of good bread. Great Harvest offers great bread, interesting selection. We have enjoyed Great Harvest stores on the mainland, but didn't know about this local store. It's in a hidden and somewhat difficult to locate spot across the street from Kahala Mall, next to Eric Ako's veterinary clinic and Petland (which explains how we "discovered" it while on a cat-related shopping trip). They had a whole grain 2-for-1 special going on this week.

August 17, 2004 - Tuesday

At least one sharp-eyed reader experienced Sunday's "virtual flashback" and used info there to wish me a "happy birthday" today. Thank you. Coming on the heels of our anniversary makes it difficult for the birthday to make it onto the radar screen. Well, that's not exactly true. It makes it possible to declare August 15-17 a free-fire zone for celebrating.

More than a few folks checked out the flashback with 6,434 page views recorded on Sunday.

Yesterday's National Public Radio broadcast of the Canadian program, "As it happens", featured a telephone interview with a reporter from the London Times, reached at the hotel in Najaf where foreign reporters were gathered after death threats by the Iraqi police chief in the city. It was quite an extraordinary interview, very different from most reports being published by U.S. newspapers which appear to be based on official handouts. At one point, he dismissed U.S. claims that 300 of Moqtada al-Sadr's militia had been killed in the initial Najaf fighting, saying that he and other reporters had been on the scene and there was no way there could have been casualities of that magnitude without their being aware of them. The claim was, he said matter of factly, known by everyone present to be false. Yet the same claim has echoed through our news media without a hint that it might be hollow. Disturbing.

Here's an interesting one from yesterday's mail:

I'm not sure if you remember me (Harold Marshall), but I was happy to discover your "Old kine pictures" site a while back, as it brought back many memories, especially the Bachman Hall pictures. I was surprised to see myself in picture #11. Anyway, right now I'm one of the moderators on the Randi Rhodes Show Message Board (one of the Air America Radio shows) It started off a little shakey, but AAR is gradually expanding their stations. I'm not sure how much is being broadcast in Hawaii (stations in Honolulu, on Kauai, and on Maui carry at least some of the shows), but you can get it on the internet. And click here to reach our message board.

Last night, we added "local" forums to encourage people in various regions of the country to post about local politics and other issues. We've all been trying to put in some posts to get the forums "kick-started" and I decided to post a link to your pictures in a topic about reviving the spirit of the past. I did use one of your pictures as a "teaser"--the one with me in it, of course.

August 16, 2004 - Monday

I crawled out of bed at about 5 a.m. yesterday, a bit later than usual but still plenty early enough to update this page before leaving on our anniversary morning walk. I made my way into the dining room, pausing briefly to respond to the entreaties of cats by adding several scoops of cat food to waiting dishes, then sat down with my Mac Powerbook to create the day's entry. It was about then that I realized our anniversary was not going to start the way I had envisioned. Instead, I launched the search for the unlucky former prey, probably a rat or mouse, now ripening somewhere within olfactory reach. The first pass produced nothing except that not-so-subtle and cloying smell, possible to overlook at first but unmistakable and unshakable once you've made the connection. A second sweep after our beach walk discovered the victim just outside on the deck, hidden in a pile of stuff moved out of the garage before the demolition.

Speaking of cats, it's been a month since the last feline update. So here's another round of the critters. Just click on Mr. Toby for this latest batch.

I haven't seen today's Advertiser yet with it's promo for Gannett's new printing plant, now fully operational. I did, however, see a photo over the weekend of the graphic complete with the "inagural" typo. It's not in a headline, but in small type where it would normally say "Home Final" or "State Edition". The typo was apparently generated by the marketing folks, so was good for laughs in the Advertiser newsroom as well down the street at the Star-Bulletin. And it should make those shirts into instant collectors items.

Another reader reports that today's 'Tiser will be stuffed with deeply discounted ads.

I heard from someone who purchased ad space with the Advertiser that they were giving out special deals for their big issue on Monday.

$4000 for a full-page color ad.

A black-and-white ad used to be about $10,000.

SPJ's local chapter has migrated to a new web address. You'll now find them at www.HawaiiSPJ.org.

August 15, 2004 - Sunday

We're celebrating another anniversary today, one of those big numbers that makes you stop and contemplate the wonders of the universe. Or something. In any case, we're marking the occasion here with a virtual flashback. After all, the first time around in 1969 we only had two friends, along with a small family contingent, at the event. But now we can invite a whole crowd to enjoy the virtual experience. So just click on this photo of Meda and I outside Judge Sidney Feinberg's chambers to launch yourself into the occasion.

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