Hotchkiss, 48, now a Hilo real estate agent, said the group was eccentric but mellow, and gave no hint of the suicide of 39 of its members that followed two decades later in California.
But after two months with the group, Hotchkiss became uncomfortable when leaders "Bo" and "Peep" asked members to break all contacts with families and friends.
Hotchkiss was told he had one day to give up his girlfriend, also a member of the group. "I was convinced it wasn't for me. I said goodbye and went back to college."
The other members, about 70 at the time, were not upset by the decision he and his girlfriend made.
"They said, 'Goodbye, Nancy and Perry. Have a good life,'" he said.
A wave of UFO sightings took place in the early 1970s, Hotchkiss said. He was among about 500 people who saw strange zigzagging lights in the sky over Las Cruces, N.M.
Later, while attending college in Portland, Ore., he saw a poster inviting anyone who had seen a UFO to a meeting. It was run by "Bo" and his wife "Peep," also known as "The Two."
Hotchkiss didn't learn their real names, Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles, until the recent suicides.
The 11 employees at the clinic, including Howell, yesterday received hand-delivered letters saying their positions would cease to exist June 30.
"This is a very sad day. I feel we have been demolished. This is a hostile takeover," said Howell, who began as a nurse's aide at the clinic 20 years ago and has been the supervising nurse and acting administrator.
"I don't think its possible to replace the level of services provided now."
Howell said she doesn't plan to reapply for a job at the clinic because she wants to continue to work for the state and receive civil service benefits.
She plans to obtain a state job in central Maui, a two-hour commute from her Hana home.
The shift from a state-operated to a nonprofit facility was authorized by the Legislature in 1996, with backing from some Hana residents.
"When you look at the future, you see just how important this region is in terms of economic stability and economic growth of our country," Dalton said in his fifth trip to the islands.
"The trade that we do with countries in the Pacific rim is only going to continue to grow. ... There are projections that show that 10 of our top 15 trading partners by year 2015 and 2020 will come from that part of the world.
"It's the Navy and Marine Corps team that is going to ensure the stability of this region."
New Defense Secretary William Cohen is expected to arrive here Saturday and meet with Adm. Joseph Prueher, Pacific Forces commander and his staff, before traveling to Tokyo and South Korea for a weeklong visit.
Dalton, civilian head of the 575,800-member Navy and Marine Corps since 1993, says he agrees with the assessment made by Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, that more defense dollars should be spent in the Pacific.
Police have opened an attempted murder investigation.
The sailors, both 20, were treated at Tripler Hospital. The taxi driver, 38, was not injured.
The cab was on Ala Moana near Atkinson Drive just before 11 p.m. when a dark pickup truck driven by a man pulled up alongside, police said. Five shots were fired from the truck, shattering the taxi's windows, before the truck sped off.
The taxi driver immediately drove to the downtown police station to report the incident.
The truck driver was described as between 30 to 40 years old, with short, curly black hair.
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