Trump jets in for
his pageantTHE man who "owns" the Miss Universe Pageant, Donald Trump, is due to arrive in town Friday to look after his baby. All 81 of them, in fact. Something seems to have gone awry with his private plane, however, because he's flying in on a commercial carrier, and bringing three or four dozen people with him. I had no idea the first class section on commercial jets was that large, but apparently it is. (I, for one, hope his pouty daughter, Ivanka, who did backstage interviews at one of the previous contests, stays far away from the cameras this year.) Before heading to the islands, Trump got booked on the David Letterman show last night to plug the pageant which, like Letterman, will be seen on CBS ...
THE "delegates," as Trump's people like to call the girls in the pageant, had a rare day off yesterday. One, Miss Egypt, 18-year-old Karine Fahny, was interviewed by Ron Jacobs on KCCN and was asked if she'd ever scuba-dived before. She had, she said, in Egypt. Jacobs seemed dumbfounded, unaware that some of the best scuba diving around is in the Red Sea. As for Fahny, she sounded a bit British, using that favorite British word, "actually," about 25 times, actually ...
Victory at Sea
IT'S more than just a song: "Around the World in 80 Days" is also the dream of some maritimers, and one ship is on course to do just that, circumnavigate the globe by water in 80 days. The "Cable and Wireless Adventurer" set sail from Gibraltar and headed off to Japan. Hawaii's senior port pilot (and "Hokule'a" crewman) David "Kawika" Lyman will crew on the Yokohama to Honolulu leg. The ship will stop in Honolulu on May 30 at Pier 8, and that'll be its first U.S. stop. Then it's back to its starting point to claim a record -- and a piece of the rock ...IT was quite a night for the founder and past president of the GAKI Club, made up of past residents of Piddig, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. Rumelia Flores Velasco, wife of legendary and longtime Honolulu barkeep, Tommy Velasco (Palm Tree Inn, Zebra Lounge, Sparkies, et al.), not only was awarded an honor of distinction for her relentless service, she even won the cash grand prize awarded by incoming president Leonard Corsino and his wife. Other GAKI members are the late Rep. Emilio Alcon, former labor director Joshua Agsalud and former Big Isle mayor Lorraine Inouye ...
IN the opening scene of "Home Improvement" on KITV last week, the son of star Tim Allen was thumbing through college catalogs looking to matriculate someplace warmer than Detroit, where the show is based. He spent a long time checking out the clearly visable UH-Manoa catalog with its Jean Charlot mural. The kid never made a decision, though there was some talk of the fictional Tahiti Tech ...
Forget '2001'
L00KS like Stanley Kubrick may have been a year off in his apocalyptic vision. The year 2000 stands to be the real bugaboo. You've heard about impending economic doom when 1999 is over and computers don't know what to do with "00," but now you have credit cards to worry about also. My new bank card with an expiration date of "00" arrived yesterday along with a warning: "In some very rare instances, the cash register or sales terminal at the merchant location may still not recognize the '00' expiration date." A number is enclosed to call should that happen. There's already a lawsuit against a mainland cash register firm that hasn't accommodated "00." Good luck ...
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: donnelly@kestrok.com.