By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
One of the plaques along the time line at Honolulu
Community College.

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HCC
drawing line
on history

1,275-foot time line
may be a Guinness
book candidate

By Cherie Chun
Star-Bulletin

As our planet gets more crowded and resources are being stretched, Keith Krueger believes it is important that youngsters be exposed to Earth's natural history so that they may become "responsible planetary citizens."

Community volunteer Krueger, 48, remembers how holding a 500-million-year-old trilobite fossil in his hand as a boy in New Jersey helped him realize that humanity is only part of a larger picture in the evolution of life.

"It just stuck in my head," Krueger said of his experience with the extinct sea creature. "I said, 'Wow, life has been around for a long, long time (before humans).'"

That consciousness is something he especially hopes will be instilled in city-dwelling youths who might be less connected to nature as they walk down a newly created time line at Honolulu Community College.

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Rick Ziegler, left, discusses the time line with Keith
Krueger, John Shen, Phillip Nguyen and Seymour Martin.

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Completed last month, the time line is a painted yellow stripe that runs 1,275 feet -- almost a quarter of a mile -- down the campus mall in two sections, according to Rick Ziegler, an HCC history professor who came up with the idea of laying out the line on campus grounds. Because the time line is the longest in the state and possibly the world, Ziegler wants to enter it into the Guinness Book of World Records. A 60-foot time line already exists on the wall of the school's Natural History Center, but it doesn't quite compare to the new one.

The new line marks 50 biological, geological and historical events over the past 4.5 million years since Earth's creation, as well as some that are pertinent to the Hawaiian Islands. Events such as "Oxygen in Air" and "Oahu Appears" are fixed to the line on engraved, stainless steel plates. The time line is much like one that students might study in a science book and can be used by visiting groups and HCC students for classes such as biology, geology, geography, history and philosophy.

"It's one thing to see numbers in a table. It's another thing to walk it and see what actually happened," said Mark Schindler, a physics and astronomy professor involved with making the line.

The first section measures 1,021 feet. In it, each foot is equivalent to roughly 4.5 million years, and each inch is equivalent to 370,000 years. The second section resumes for 254 more feet, but the last inch and a quarter have been expanded so that one inch equals 150 years. This allows for marking of events on a human scale, like the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492.

"It's amazing how human life is just very short in this time line," said HCC student Seymour Martin, 22, as he previewed the line in June.

A narrative brochure explains the events in more detail for faculty and visitors who view the line. The time line will be formally dedicated on Aug. 20 to the late Stan Andrychowicz, an HCC professor who died in 1995.

Viewing facts Honolulu Community College also has a dinosaur exhibit, natural history center, Berlin Wall Freedom Monument and Hawaiian collection open to viewing by school groups and the public during the fall semester from October to mid-December and the spring semester from February through April on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Admission is free, but reservations are required. Call Ziegler at 845-9253 or the continuing education secretary at 845-9122 to make reservations.