Hawaii
By Dave Donnelly
Tuesday, June 18, 1996
Hawaii presence in space and abroad
THREE astronauts with Hawaii ties: Ed Loo, who was in town for a brief visit recently, taught astronomy at UH for three years and coached wrestling at Punahou. He's learning Russian and may be selected to explore the MIR Russian Space Station next year; Mark Polansky, who has family in Kaimuki (the Kim Choo clan) is a cousin to Rudy Choy, the Hokule'a designer. He's been selected as a NASA pilot, meaning he gets to fly the space shuttle; And Rick Linnehan spent five years in Hawaii training dolphins at Kaneohe in the 1980s. He's slated to go up Thursday in a launch from Cape Canaveral. Linnehan asked pal Emme Tomimbang to send him something from Hawaii to take into space and she came up with the perfect item: a photo of Lacy Veach, the Hawaii astronaut who died of cancer last September. Loo told her Lacy always wanted to fly again, and this way he gets to do just that ...
Maurice Sullivan
FORMER City Councilman and mayoral candidate Dennis O'Connor had better watch his step. As he was blithely jaywalking across Queen Street the other day I nearly ran him down ... Matthew Fitzgerald, who publishes the Blatherskite newsletter for the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, was desperately in need of $1,900 to purchase a used copier to put out his publication, and the members were mulling how to come up with the funds. Somebody suggested they ask lifetime Friendly Sons member Maurice Sullivan, and to Fitzgerald's delight, he responded with a check for the full amount. No press release and no fanfare - just a helping hand held out to fellow Irishmen ...
WHAT'S worse than losing a suitcase while returning to Hawaii? How about having one land on your head while dozing. Adrienne Sweeney of Kaneohe was taking a nap when a fellow passenger opened the overhead bin and an old-fashioned, hard-covered carry-on landed smack on her head. That necessitated a stop at Queen's hospital by ambulance on arrival, and can a lawyer be far behind? In any event, Sweeney is now thinking about crash helmets for airline passengers ...
No horsing around
THE Kapiolani Park Trust Centennial Celebration is set for June 30 and all manner of entertainment is being provided free to those celebrating the park's first 100 years. Way back when, there were regular polo games played in Kapiolani Park, at the foot of La Pietra, home of polo enthusiast Walter Dillingham. And organizers thought it would be fun - and historically correct - to stage a game there during the festivities. Mike Dailey agreed to put on the game with all proceeds going to Kapiolani Park Trust, all divots replaced and if further damage was done, the grass would be replaced and re-seeded. Rugby games often cause turf damage, but the Parks & Recreation Department drew the line at horses, saying "Neigh." ...
Terence Knapp
WHEN the Society of Arts & Letters honored Terence Knapp at a dinner last week at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel, one surprise guest was Mary Levine, who flew in from her Seattle home. Knapp was surprised to see Levine, who had been musical director for many island produc
tions before moving to the Pacific Northwest. She reports he was resplendent in his kilt, and surprised many people by singing a medley (accompanied by Donald Yap) of music from many places that had an effect on his life: Scotland, England, Ireland, Japan and Hawaii ...
Can't get away from Hawaii
STAR-BULLETIN sports writer Cindy Luis was in Greece for the centennial of the Olympics, the last place she figured to run into someone with Hawaii connections. But among her fellow trekkers was Babette Andre, a former localite now living in Denver, who asked to be remembered ... And when Jackie Sissenstein, a waitress at Lahaina's Cheeseburger in Paradise, was in Siena, Italy, on a six-week tour of Europe - they must make big tips there - she ran into a tourist from the state of Washington wearing a Cheeseburger in Paradise T-shirt ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968. His columns run Monday through Friday. Contact Dave by e-mail at donnelly@kestrok.com.
Hawaii by Dave Donnelly is a daily feature of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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