July – September 2009 Mixed Plate of Talk Story

On Friday 8/21/09 Hawaii celebrated 50 years of statehood to far less hullabaloo than I would have expected. Rather than a grand parade, bonfires or block parties, the state had a group of speakers talk to an all-day crowd of some 2,100 attendees at the Convention Center about the future of tourism, education, the economy, energy, the native Hawaiian community and preservation of Hawaii’s natural resources. The conference ended with a 1950s-style concert by the Platters, the Coasters and the Drifters. Various protesters, mostly native Hawaiian splinter groups, did their usual thing at various city locations including cutting out a 50th star on the flag and burning it. The Native Hawaiians have been unable to present a united front, as there are too many small, splinter groups that cannot agree on major issues.

Hawaii made national news in August as Hurricane Felicia, a category 4 hurricane and the strongest storm seen in the Eastern Pacific for several years was directly headed our way. The Air Force Reserve’s “hurricane hunter” flew into the state along with a 10-person team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. With several days of advance notice, civil defense officials mobilized to clear streams and drainage areas and to activate an emergency operations center. Hurricane Felicia fizzled out as it got close to Hawaii, which was fortunate as it passed directly overhead several islands as a tropical depression bringing some heavy showers but no major damage. It provided a good drill in what is expected to be a busier than average year for tropical storms, as this is an El Nino year. Local stores did a brisk pre-hurricane business as residents stocked up on bottled water, flashlights, toilet paper, etc.

KGMB9 (CBS), KHNL (NBC) and K5 (UH Sporting Events) will merge their newsrooms, eliminating about one-third of their staffs while simulcasting news programs and continuing as separate channels for non  news programming. This move was announced in mid-August and is being taken to cut costs and ensure the stations survive the current economic decline. TV ad revenue is down $20 million or 30% in the last three years. Prior to the consolidation, there were 198 employees at the three stations; it is estimated that 68 jobs will be lost.

The SAT scores of college-bound Hawaii students this year were relatively unchanged from last year and still lag the national averages according to College Board information released in late August. The College Board, which administers the test, cautions against making comparisons between schools, as students don’t have to take the test and demographics and other non-school factors such as access to expensive test preparation courses can have a strong affect on scores. Having provided that caveat, the following 2009 test scores reflect: Hawaii private school students/Hawaii public school students/nationwide averages: Math (574/474/515); Reading (537/454/501); Writing (535/441/493) . . . About 51% of Hawaii’s 2008 public high school students continued on to college according to a study that appeared in the August 28th issue of The Honolulu Advertiser. Kalani High School sent the most students at 79% while Waianae High School sent the fewest at 30%.

Father Damien DeVeuster will be declared a saint in Rome on October 11th. As we near that date, there have been various parades, festivities and activities throughout Hawaii. Perhaps, the best feel-good story occurred in July. A small group of organizers planned a relatively low-key dinner at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel to help raise funds to send 11 of the 19 residents of Kalaupapa to Rome for the canonization. They expected about 200-300 people to attend the fundraiser and were completely overwhelmed when over 1,000 people requested tickets. Father Damien dedicated his life to victims of leprosy ostracized on Molokai. His life inspired paintings, poetry, plays, songs and sculpture including the famous bronze one fronting the state Capitol as well as one in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. At least five English-language movie/TV productions as well as a one-man stage show starring Terrence Knapp honor the years he spent at Kalaupapa.

In late August, U.S. Media Group released its first annual listing of “America’s Best Places to Find a Job,” an expansion of its “Best Places” series. The editors assessed factors such as unemployment rates, job growth and career opportunities in a broad spectrum of industries in 2,000 cities. The 10 best cities, listed alphabetically were: Anchorage; Arlington, VA; Columbus, OH; Honolulu; Houston; Oklahoma City; Salt Lake City; Shreveport, LA; Tallahassee, FL; and Wichita, KS. The report noted that the most in-demand jobs in Honolulu over the next ten years are expected to be in retail, higher education and nursing.

One of the top tourist attractions on Oahu is the USS Missouri or “Mighty Mo.” 12% of all visitors to Oahu visit the “Mighty Mo.” In October, for the first time in 11 years, the ship will be released from its moorings at Ford Island and placed in drydock for three months at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for $18 million of repairs and upgrades. The bulk of the funds will be spent grinding off the Missouri’s old paint from top to bottom and putting on fresh coats.  The Department of Defense is providing a $10 million grant with the balance paid by the non-profit USS Missouri Memorial Association via funds raised through admission fees and fundraisers. In the summer of 1952, I spent a couple of months on the “Mighty Mo” during my “Youngster” or “third-class” midshipman cruise along with other midshipmen from the Naval Academy and NROTC programs. We rotated through various ship divisions; for about two weeks, I was assigned to the first deck division where one of our jobs was to polish the WWII surrender plaque.

Mauna Kea has been chosen over a site in Chile as the location for the world’s most powerful telescope. Mauna Kea is blessed with superb atmospheric conditions for astronomy . . . good access to a high mountain, low average temperature and very low humidity. The Thirty Meter Telescope or TMT Project will be the largest optical telescope ever built, reaching further in space and seeing more clearly than any existing telescope. The telescope will be more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, capable of producing images 12 times sharper by using sophisticated adaptive optics systems. The TMT is expected to be able to see 13 billion light years away, a distance so great and so far back in time that researchers predict they’ll be able to watch stars and galaxies in the universe forming. Housed inside a 180-foot-tall dome, the primary mirror will have nine times the collecting area of the 10-meter Keck telescopes, now the world’s largest optical/infrared telescope. The telescope will be the 14th to be built on Mauna Kea, further enhancing its reputation as the premier spot on the planet for astronomy.

Three major steps in life are getting married, having a child and buying a home. In Hawaii, the getting married step often lags the other two. However, having said that, it is noteworthy that the divorce rate in Hawaii is lower than all but three states according to recently released Census data. 9.1 percent of isle residents are divorced placing HI in a tie with MA and behind ND (8.1), NJ (8.2) and NY (8.4). At the other end of the spectrum are NV (14.2), ME (13.6) and OK (12.9) . . . Hawaii motorists are buckling up at a record breaking level. During the “Click It Or Ticket” statewide campaign held earlier this year, seat belt use increased to 97.9%, the highest level any state has ever achieved according to state transportation officials . . . A Navy Captain will be the first commander of the joint base formed by the merger of Naval Station Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base to be known as Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

University of Hawaii enrollment is up almost 9% from last year to an all-time high of over 58,000 students. Our economic problems have resulted in many students staying home vice going to Mainland schools. Plus, the lack of jobs has encouraged many students to continue their education . . . The last of the discount movie theatres on Oahu has closed as Hollywood Theatres at Restaurant Row has shut down to be replaced by an outpatient surgical center . . . One in eleven people in Hawaii are getting food stamps.

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