Nov. 22 won’t
be forgottenDID you stop yesterday, just for a moment, and recall where you were on that date 35 years ago? Many of those who were around in 1963 did, and nearly all can remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the fateful words on the radio, "President John Kennedy is dead." I was a D.J. on the air at K-POI Radio and my newsman was Don Robbs, now G.M. of KHET. He'd heard the bells go berserk on the Associated Press machine and went over to find a rare "FLASH" saying the President had been shot. We ran the bulletin immediately, and when my shift was over a half hour later, Tom Moffatt came on and we switched to doing all news separated by sacred music. It was a day none of us who were there can ever forget, and we shouldn't. You never know what you're going to experience next ...
THEN there's Candy Bahouth, who's moved her Kauai public relations agency back to Oahu as a P.R. arm of Jim Loomis' ad firm. She recalls sending me a hand-written note from the Garden Isle right after Hurricane Iniki -- handwritten because there was no electricity -- telling how she and her late husband, hotelier Nick Bahouth, had celebrated their anniversary the next day with candlelight (by necessity) and room temperature champagne -- also a must ...
THE November/December issue of Coping Magazine contains a poem written by Mike Sweetow, the former isle labor negotiator who's a lung cancer survivor. Now living in State College, Penn., Sweetow brings new meaning to the word "Coping" in that he has to lug around canisters of oxygen in order to breathe. Still, his poem, "Tears," is strangely upbeat and a positive encouragement to other survivors. Incidentally, in the photo accompanying the poem, Sweetow is wearing a T-shirt reading "CAZ." ...
Senior seniors
THE OLDEST participants to date signed to compete in the inaugural Hawaii Senior Olympics next weekend are Aileen Soule, who is 92, and Erwin Jaskulski, 96. Soule, who won a gold medal in diving during the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, will participate in the swimming event, and Jaskulski will attempt to break the world record in the 100-meter dash in his age category ...I'VE been complaining forever about the overuse of sports cliches like "level the playing field" and "raising the bar." Now, after a veritable bombardment in football games over the weekend, I'd like to add one more that began with football playbooks: "They're not on the same page," or "They've got to get on the same page." Enough already. ...
Trash with Flash: Those attending the Ihilani Resort's "Partnership for the Environment" recycling conference were treated to music from the Honolulu Trash Band. It was made up Ihilani G.M. Michael Kueffer on bass, Grand Wailea Maui manager Lance Gilliland on ukulele, Island Demo owner Mike Leary on keyboard, congas and drums. Backed by State and City recycling coordinators Carrie McCabe and Suzanne Jones, they recycled other groups' hit songs with Henry Kapono ...
Old timers meet
EACH year Ted Sturdivant makes up the list of invitees to the "Old Timers Reunion," to be held Dec. 10 at Murphy's Bar & Grill. And each year he gets a few names in the wrong place. A couple of years ago he listed H. Van Beazlie in the "Gone -- But Not Forgotten" list. Beazlie showed up to thank him, but allowed he wasn't gone as yet. This year Sturdivant, determined not to make the same mistake, listed Beazlie among those invited. Sorry, Ted, but Van is now truly "Gone." ...
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.