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By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
The New Year's fireworks display at Honolulu Harbor
on Sunday night provides a backdrop to two historic
sailing vessels, the Falls of Clyde and the Hokulea.

Permits cut into
fireworks’ pop

In Kaneohe, Pearl City and Ewa,
residents reported there was
not as much bang to the
New Year's ritual

---

By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

Last New Year's Eve, Lance and Anna Kaui rang in the new millennium with four strings of 100,000, two 50,000, four 20,000 and several 5,000 strings of firecrackers.

This year, the Kaneohe couple bought a string of 5,000 firecrackers with their one permit.

"It's dry; it's really dead," said Anna Kaui, describing her Kaneohe neighborhood at 10 p.m. last night. "It's not like last year, not as smoky. But there are lots of sporadic-type firecrackers and lots of shells -- like big bombs that go off."

A new state law required a $25 permit for each purchase of 5,000 firecrackers. A total of 6,150 permits were issued on Oahu by the close of business Saturday, according to Honolulu Fire Capt. Richard Soo.

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
New Year's revelers, from left, Sheree Pascual of Kahului,
Kawehi Peterson of Kailua-Kona, Mannette Pascual of Aiea
and Nicole Kawabata of Kula, Maui, dance the final hours of
the year 2000 away last night at the Pier Bar at
Aloha Tower Marketplace.

"It worked," Lance Kaui said. "Not too many people bought the permits, but there's still a lot of illegal stuff out there. They will never stop that."

"Who wants to pay $25 for the permit only for 5,000?" he asked.

Kaui said fireworks sales should be allowed without permits.

"It only happens once a year," Kaui said. "It's tradition. It's like Hawaii's culture."

Fewer fireworks, however, did not dampen everyone's spirits.

Anna Kaui said lots of tent parties were going on in her neighborhood similar to the one she and her husband were throwing.

"Everybody's just having a ball." She said people were using lots of novelties and just popping 5,000- and 10,000-string firecrackers.

She said people were holding off until midnight to blow off their fireworks.

In Ewa, where fireworks use is traditionally heavy, Al Aleviado said that at 11 p.m. things began picking up.

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Dressed in the style of French King Louis XIV, La Mer Restaurant
manager Jean-Yves Kervarrec greets kimono-clad guest Yoko
Shimura of Urawa-Shi, Japan at the first seating of the
restaurant's New Year's Eve dinner on Sunday night.

"It's not as heavy (with) illegal aerials as in past years," Aleviado said, "I guess because it's been a little harder to get.

"I heard there's been a lot of busts, a lot of raids," Aleviado said. He said people selling might be afraid of selling to undercover police.

Aleviado has traditionally celebrated New Year's Eve with his family in Ewa by roasting a whole pig, which they start in the morning. And fireworks in Ewa normally start then, too, he said.

"But it was dead, pretty much quiet," he said.

Karlton Chong of Pearl City celebrated at a friend's Waiau house.

"It was better last year, more fireworks," he said.

Chong blew off firecrackers but did not buy a permit. He bought extra last Fourth of July in anticipation of a stricter law this holiday and had some saved up from last year.

"It seems like the city did it just for their own interests, for more money to the city instead of trying to cut back on fireworks.

"You could buy more than one permit," he noted.

But Chong said New Year's is not just about fireworks.

"It's about having a good time with family and friends," he said.