Kiwi shop is
amply blessedTHEY anticipated a sweet opening of their home-made candy shop in Kerikeri, New Zealand, but for former Big Islanders Jimmy and Debi Makaweao it was that and more. As the two were preparing for the ribbon-cutting, who should walk in but Bobby Hons, Makaweao's lifelong pal from Willocks Construction in Hilo, with wife Pam. As the Makaweaos were getting over the shock of seeing Bobby and Pam in their shop, yet another Big Isle couple strode in. And another. And another, all at ten second intervals. Last to make an appearance in this well planned assault was Big Isle Mayor Steve Yamashiro. The Kiwi public relations lady had already arranged to have the ribbon cut by the Kerikeri mayor, but Makaweao convinced her it should be a joint effort. Having picked up the Down Under lingo, he convulsed Hons by noting that the p.r. woman "really had her knickers in a twist" ...
NOWHERE else in America would it be front page news that the 10 o'clock news on TV is starting at 10 p.m. At least on a couple of stations it is, but my guess is the others will have to follow suit or see their ratings drop even further. This, of course, would mean that I can no longer program my VCR to tape the Jay Leno show at 10:40 p.m. as I now do. We endured the "day old news" syndrome in pre-satellite days, welcoming the "Hawaiian time" start. But it's taken until 1999 to actually start the news on time. Maybe that's why it made page one ...
Milestones
THERE was a surprise party at the Academy of Arts Monday that beggared my paltry 30 years of three-dotting. Executive Secretary Litheia Hall was feted by nearly 200 friends, Academy staffers, volunteers and board members for her 50 years (!) of service. The former wife of late artist John Young has seen plenty of changes at the Academy over the years, including three directors, the construction of new buildings and the acquisition of the Academy Art Center across the street. Bedecked with a mountain of leis, the honoree could only comment, "It's been a nice place to work -- otherwise I wouldn't have lasted this long." ...WHEN cartoonist Corky Trinidad took a sabbatical, his slot on the editorial page fell to young Clay Jones. When Corky returned, Jones moved on to the Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance-Star, but far from a come down, his cartoons are now syndicated to more than 170 publications by Scripps Howard News Service and can be found on the Internet ...
IT may have been overlooked in the list of $6.7 million in federal grants announced by Rep. Neil Abercrombie this week, but $18,209 went to UH for a research project called "colonization of epithelium by symbiotic vibrio fischeri." And about time, I say ...
Return of the Burgi
SEEMINGLY ageless promoter/ disc jockey Tom Moffatt isn't ageless after all -- he's simply not saying which birthday he celebrated last week. He and wife Sweetie had dinner with actor Richard Burgi, wife Lori and young son Jack at Don Ho's Island Grill Sunday night and Burgi, who'd heard on the radio it was Tom's birthday, gifted him with a shirt emblazoned with radios. Burgi is starring in "Sentinel," though he got to know Moffatt when filming "One West Waikiki." And both Moffatt and I attended his wedding when he and Lori had a humdinger of a ceremony containing both Jewish and Celtic (fiddler and bagpiper) traditions at Frannie Morgan's Nuuanu Estate a few years ago ...
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.