Forecast cloudy for MLKJ rites
TODAY is the birthday of the late Martin Luther King Jr., but it'll be observed officially this Monday for people who get to take the day off work. But yesterday was when the MLK Jr. "Holiday Celebration & Proclamation Ceremony" was held at Washington Place. The invites to the ceremony indicate it was cohosted by Gov. and Mrs. Ben Cayetano, but both explained that while their residence could be used, a previous commitment would keep them from being in attendance. The other hosts were the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission in association with the National Weather Service Pacific Region. Say what? Organizer Faye Kennedy explains that Ed Young, deputy director of the NWSPR, is the only black in the weather service, hence his involvement. Nalani Olds did the invocation and the proclamation was presented by Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono. Entertainment was by Jimmy Kaina, Karen Dickenson, a dance troupe called "A Band of Another Beat" and the Spencer Brothers, two singing and dancing youngsters about to be signed by Sony and who may have been making their last free appearance anywhere. There's no more funding available, explains Kennedy, so this was probably the last such celebration ...
DANCE fans have some choices to make Saturday. The West Hawaii Dance Theater is presenting "Meeting of the Spirits" at Mamiya Theater featuring principals from the Moscow Chamber Ballet, the Bolshoi and the Beijing Ballet with the Maui Symphony. That same night, "Lord of the Dance" unveils its Celtic dance spectacular at the Blaisdell Arena. The ballet troupe will proceed on to Maui (Jan. 23) and Kauai (Jan. 25), while the Irish troupe will continue at the Arena with both matinee and evening shows on Sunday and Monday ...
Nonsmoking guns
FORMER National Women's Soccer team gold medalist Mary Harvey is in town helping kick off a "Smokeless in Hawaii" program in a talk called "Smoke-free Kids and Soccer." The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii is sponsoring her presentation tonight at Punahou's Thurston Chapel. She'll also autograph free National Team posters and other items. The "Smokeless" conference for parents and educators begins tomorrow at the Ala Moana Hotel. Call the American Cancer Society at 595-7500 for more details ...MEANWHILE, local diving instructor Jim Lauderdale is back from S.F. where he watched his 49ers lose to Green Bay ("and six guys without helmets") and did some research into California's new "No Smoking in Bars" law. Most downtown bars are smoke-
free, reports Lauderdale, but on Union Street and in North Beach the sidewalks were crowded to excess with people stepping out for a drag. In various other outlying districts, he says, it was "Cigars as usual." Bars received official signs in ten languages with the international sign of a bar across a burning cigarette, but many bar owners chose to put up signs that were printed in Vietnamese. That'll teach them! ...
Thinking ahead to Hawaii?
TORI Richard V.P. Josh Feldman got a surprise call and reorder from Jacobson Stores in icy Michigan. It was a buyer with the hopeful name Jim Suntag and an order for some more Tori Richard aloha shirts. "In January?" Feldman thought. Suntag explained that the shirts were selling great right through the winter, adding, "This is the only spring merchandise I haven't had to mark down to move." Perhaps from people with visions of a future isle trip? ...
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.