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Hawaii
HOW many people do you know who've reached 100 years of age? Former Star-Bulletin columnist Jim Becker got to thinking about that the other day (for reasons that will become apparent) and came up with the answer: One, a patron of the arts who died soon after. Now he and wife Betty, laden down with lei, are off to California to help his mother, Mrs. Stella Becker, celebrate her 100th. The party will be held on the Queen Mary. "We wanted the Titanic," deadpans Becker, "but it sank." I don't know if Willard Scott will wish Stella a "Happy 100th" on the "Today," show, but she will be in Washington, D.C., next week. She leaves two days after the party to visit the nation's capitol with her church group ... 100th-birthday
bash for BeckerFLORIDA isn't the only place
where the election is in doubt. Ponder American Samoa. (Sounds like the title of a ponderous book.) Sometime Honolulu resident Gus Hannemann was running to be the delegate to the U.S. Congress for American Samoa, and came in second. Trouble is, the incumbent, Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, didn't win 50 per cent of the vote, so he and Hannemann, who came in second, will participate in a run-off election. And who flew there to help Gus get elected? Brothers Nephi, the entertainer, and Mufi, the would-be mayor of Honolulu who lost to Jeremy Harris ... Ex-Stanford footballer John Wilbur is off to Berkeley to take in the "Big Game" -- the Stanford Cardinal vs. the California Bears-- although, in Wilbur's words, "It means nothing this year." ...
Costly coast
WHEN President Bill Clinton had originally planned to overnight on the Kohala Coast and play some golf, arrangements had been made for him to stay in an ocean-view bungalow at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows. It's the most luxurious accommodations I've seen on the Kohala Coast, but not, as it turns out, the most expensive. A bungalow there goes for either $4,400 (ocean view) to $4,900 per night, ocean front. Now that's not chump change, granted, especially if you're paying rack rate. The Presidential Suite at the Orchid at Mauna Lani is listed at $4,800. But were he to choose the Presidential Suite at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, that would cost $5,265 per night. And the Presidential Villas at the Four Seasons Hualalai run from $4,800 for a one bedroom to $5,475 for two bedrooms. The three bedroom suite goes for $6,150, though not too often. It's all academic now, as Clinton merely stopped over for an iced tea and flew off to Brunei. Now the Sultan's Palace there -- that's expensive! ...THINK of it as a half-way to Father's Day present. Troy Takeshi Kiyabu of Kaneohe won the Hyatt Regency Kauai's statewide "Clubs for Kids" sweepstakes competition -- a trip for two to take in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, three nights at the resort, airfare for two, and golf at Poipu Bay Course on Nov. 23. So who's Kiyabu taking? Why, dear old dad, of course. Troy can consider himself covered come next Father's Day ...
Kakaako Maui?
CHEF/owner Russell Siu of both 3660 on the Rise and the Kakaako Kitchen was both guest and host recently. He was guest chef at the Winter Wine Escape at the Hapuna Prince on the Big Isle. And he hosted ex-isle D.J. Kamasami Kong, helping him fill up on isle favorites before jetting back to Osaka, Japan, where he hosts a radio show. Incidentally, watch for Siu to open a second Kakaako Kitchen in Maui ...
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: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com