Paper gets a hit
with homer newsIT isn't every day that you can impress a bunch of baseball fans watching a game at O'Toole's Irish Pub, but on Labor Day the Star-Bulletin did just that. Getting hold of a first edition with the headline, "McGwire ties Maris," I sauntered into the Nuuanu Street establishment, tossed the paper on the bar and said, "Today's news today." One patron looked back at the screen where the game was still going on and said, "Wow, it's only the seventh inning." The home run had occurred just a half-hour before deadline, enabling sports editor Joe Edwards to rush the story into the street edition and subsequently the home version. He was thinking ahead, too, for if McGwire hit another homer, with a simple "op" replacing "ie" you'd have "McGwire tops Maris"...
HATS off to Buddy Maertens of Waimea. The 71-year-old paniolo has worn a cowboy hat and lei since he was 6 years old, and many people in Waimea wouldn't recognize him without one. His 40 years of weekending as a rodeo clown was cut short when a bull slammed into him while he was protecting a fallen bullrider, but he kept alive the tradition of wearing the hat. So who better to be honored during the Big Island's Aloha Festivals Paniolo Hat Lei Contest Sept. 19 than Maertens. The contest, coinciding with the annual Paniolo Parade, will be at Cook's Discoveries in Waimea. Maertens wife, Hazel, says he didn't wear a papale on their wedding day 50 years ago, but he has one on in nearly every photo taken since...
Opposite of 'hindquarter'
THE big political sign read "Ben Cayetano West Oahu Headquarter." "What happened," asked one pass-erby, "Ben lose his 'S'?" "I think they left it out so Linda Lingle couldn't kick it," came the reply. Or maybe it's just a small example of downsizing. Or perhaps sign painters in West Oahu "no like make 's'." Your guess is as good as anyone's...WHICH brings us to Jeff Rezents, who's running for the State Legislature on the North Shore. Now, politicians have been known to make lots of promises and set high goals, but Rezents, who's both a businessman and surfer, outdid himself when invited to speak at the start line of the Aloha Joe's Labor Day Paddleboard Race. Before the words were out of his mouth, he was second guessing whether he'd made a mistake by flippantly volunteering to make the race himself. As he was starting out, he recalled that the last time he paddleboarded a few years ago -- for only two miles -- he was sore for days. And now, what with campaigning, he hasn't even been surfing for months. Rezents figures he'll be sore for weeks this time...
Two voices silenced
WHEN ventriloquist Freddie Morris succumbed to a long illness on Labor Day, it silenced not only him but his popular, acerbic dummy, Moku Kahana, as well. Freddie brought a lot of laughs to islanders over the years and both he and Moku will be missed... So, too, will Darlene Yoshimoto, a dear friend who died after being hit by a truck while trying to help another motorist on the mainland. It was no shock that Darlene would meet her death while trying to help others, since that was her credo in life. Who could forget her as Masako, the kimono-clad entertainer who'd surprise show-goers by shedding her traditional garb to belt out tunes in western dress. She gave up her showbiz career to marry Las Vegas hotelman Herb McDonald, one of the real gentlemen in his business. Our sincere condolences to him, their daughter Kimberly, and the rest of her family...
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.