THERE were Governors all over the place when 130 graduates of Farrington High School gathered at the retirement party of Police Chief Michael Nakamura, Class of '65. Everyone except Gov. Ben Cayetano, another Farrington alum, in fact. Entertainment for the evening was provided by two '65 classmates of Nakamura's, Karen Keawehawaii Farias, who emceed, and Frank DeLima, who showed up in classic Kalihi attire and had the chief in stitches. Some others on hand to make the affair memorable were Cha & Jack Thompson ('64 and '63 respectively), Keith Kaneshiro ('67) and Rep. Dennis Arakaki ('65). And you can bet there was more than a little chicken skin at the end when everyone joined in singing the school alma mater ... Govs reunite,
save for one
I'M not suggesting that El Nino was causing waters in California streets to rise above mailbox openings, but localite Michael Roth got a birthday card the other day from a pal in San Francisco that arrived stamped with the following: "Received in wet condition at Honolulu HI 96820." Maybe some disgruntled postal worker merely dropped it in the gutter. (Is that where the term for getting nuts, "going postal," came from?) ... And singer Keali'i Reichel was interviewed "live" on the phone by D.J. Kamasami Kong in Osaka, Japan ("OH-sah-kah" to CBS) and when asked if there was a Hawaiian word for El Nino, he shot back in a flash, "El Ninolani." ...
Rank in Manoa
SOME UH athletic teams slip downward and others creep upward in national rankings, but last week there were five UH teams all nationally ranked at the same time: softball, water polo, wahine basketball, men's volleyball and baseball. The latter may drop, as did the UH men's basketball team from earlier in the year, but at least UH is getting some national attention. In addition to sports, Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine ranks UH No. 8 in the na-tion for educational value. U.S. News and World Report ranks Manoa in the top 25 of U.S. public universities, the Richardson School of Law in the top 50 of 180 accredited law schools, and the college of business administration (which turns 50 next year) No. 24 in the nation for international business expertise ...YOU don't suppose new KCCN talk show host Bob Jones has an eye on political office, do you? I mean, he is calling his show "Straight Talk," which is the same named used by Neil Abercrombie when he did a KCCN show years ago before running for Congress ... Retired isle adman Norm Blackburn (ex- of Milici Valenti Ng Pack) has retired to the wine country (and why not?) and is having trouble finding a Hawaiian minister to do a blessing for his new Santa Rosa house. Anyone who might be of assistance, or merely wishes to contact Blackburn, can e-mail him: alohanrm@pacbell.net...
Write away
SOME big names are getting lined up to appear at the Maui Writers Conference Labor Day Weekend at the Grand Wailea Resort. Barring last minute drop-outs, and there may be some based on past history, actress/writer Whoopi Goldberg and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Dave Barry will be speaking. Other authors confirmed for the event are Al Franken, Ernest J. Gaines, Richard Carlson, Nicholas Sparks and Julie Garwood. You may remember Franken from his appearances on "Saturday Night Live" as Stuart Smalley, as screenwriter for "When a Man Loves a Woman" and as author of the wonderfully titled political lampoon, "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot." ...
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.