Portnoy on NBC
on Kimes caseIF you tune in NBC's "Dateline" tonight, you should see Honolulu attorney Jeffrey Portnoy. An NBC crew spent two hours with him Wednesday, interviewing him in reference to the case of Sante Kimes and her son, Kenneth, suspected in the disappearance and assumed death of New York socialite Irene Silverman. Portnoy had represented an insurance company in an earlier case in which Kimes, already convicted of keeping an alien woman in slavery, was suspected of arson when her home went up in flames. He has videotape of Kimes, something all the networks would love to get their hands on, and he provided it to NBC for "Dateline." Producers of "20/20" have been after him to give them a copy of the tape, even offering to have Barbara Walters call him personally, but he demurred that he'd given it exclusively to NBC. That network told him the Kimes' story is the biggest thing at the network since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. One unasked and unanswered question in the case is did the Kimes family know the missing socialite when she and her husband, Sam Silverman, were in Hawaii around the time they lived here? I knew Sam Silverman as early as 1970 when he was the financial advisor and longtime friend of local business tycoon Chinn Ho. I posed the question and Portnoy answered, "It wouldn't surprise me a bit." ...
Hawaii Five-O
LET'S hope the headline doesn't give away what birthday that attorney Jeff Watanabe's wife, Lynn, was marking the other day when he took her out on a ruse. As they were driving down Nuuanu Avenue she saw a group with signs interspersed, Burma Shave style, leading to Havana Cabana, one of her husband's getaway spots. They pulled up and were greeted by a host of friends in the cigar-friendly environs, Lynn still in a state of shock. On hand were Gov. Ben Cayetano, former governor George Ariyoshi, Stanley Hong and Bert Kobayashi, all with their spouses, plus Judge Jim Burns and wife Emme Tomimbang, among others. The uniformed server arrived with a glass of champagne for the birthday girl and she snatched it up without acknowledging the waiter. Host Bryan Uy asked, "Aren't you going to tip the server?" She looked up and recoiled backward when it hit her that the waiter was her son, Mike Watanabe, who'd flown in from Brooklyn for the occasion. And as the band, Daytrippers, went into its rendition of "Wipe Out," which Lynn was doing to her eyes, who should be wielding the drumsticks but TV star Emme. As a wag put it, "She fiddles and Jim Burns." ...LONGTIME Honolulu Press Club Gridiron Show standout Patt Patterson died following a stroke Wednesday, having stopped his last show. There'll be private family services, but his widow, Joy, would love to hear any vignettes or stories about Patt to compile in a book for their three daughters. Anyone with a tale to tell can send to her at 710 Lunalilo St., Honolulu HI 96813 ...
Lynched
THEY talk about "a litany of nightingales," but what do they call a bunch of Lynches. The front page of yesterday's Star-Bulletin business section, Hawaii Inc., contained two stories by writer Russ Lynch, another by Associated Press reporter Sharon L. Lynch, and in a fourth story a quote from the local rep of an Iowa seed corn producer, Francisco Lynch. Star-Bulletin business editor Ed Lynch would like to make clear that all the Lynches above are unrelated, though he is married to Star-Bulletin reporter Christine Donnelly. No, no relation there, either ...
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.