Fingers pointed
after smoke obstructs
laser light show

Star-Bulletin staff

As far as the Hawaii Millennium Commission is concerned, the laser light countdown did go on Friday.

But because of the dense fireworks smoke at Diamond Head, some are questioning the wisdom of spending money for the show.

"We just received a videotape that documented the whole thing," said Isaac Hokama, Millennium Commission program manager.

The game plan was to project the laser light show and countdown at two locations. "One (was) on a screen at Kuhio Beach and that same projection was going also onto Diamond Head," Hokama said.

He acknowledged visuals on Diamond Head weren't too clear because of smoke. "Kuhio Beach was really good," Hokama added.

"The budget for the laser show was I think $40,000," he said when asked.

But the actual cost is still unknown. "We're waiting on the invoices now," he said.

Why wasn't the smoke difficulty at Diamond Head foreseen?

"That question was asked of the promoters and they kind of assured us it wasn't a problem," Hokama said. "I'm not a laser light expert. I think the commission took the word from the promoters that it wouldn't be a problem."

Is the Millennium Commission asking for money back?

"I'm not sure if we're going to do that," Hokama said. "We're going to do a debriefing meeting pretty soon, once we pull all the invoices together."