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Kokua Line
Question: Who can I talk to about getting those new license plates with the arts and Bishop Museum decal? Special car license
plates available soonAnswer: So far, the city is issuing "organization license plates" with a special decal only for the Bishop Museum.
Contact the Hawaii Alliance for Arts Education for information on the arts plate, which is expected to be available in the next few weeks. (Call 941-2787, e-mail haae@aloha.net or fax 942-9440.)
The museum plates, featuring a honu (turtle) decal, became available Feb. 1 at all satellite city halls and the city Division of Motor Vehicles and Licensing.
The city also has approved the issuance of the organization plates for the arts alliance, said Dennis Kamimura, city motor vehicle and licensing administrator.
It's now a matter of producing the plates/decals and distributing them on all islands, he said.
The museum and arts alliance are the only two organizations approved thus far for the special plates, which present a new fund-raising source for nonprofit groups and were approved by the Legislature last year.
The Bishop Museum, for example, hopes to raise $40,000 the first year, said Ann Wharton of the Bishop Museum's development office.
On top of regular registration fees, it will cost a purchaser $25 to get an organization plate, of which the city will get $5 and the organization, $20.
Initially, however, there will be an extra $5.50 on top of that, for a total first-time cost of $30.50: $5 to replace the plate (instead of a three-letter/three-number identification, there will be only two letters and three numbers to make room for the decal) and 50 cents to replace the registration emblem, Kamimura said.
The license plates will still have the rainbow design.
Only groups that can certify nonprofit status with the IRS and guarantee a minimum 150 orders will be considered for the plates, Kamimura said. After that, the decals have to be approved by his office and the police chiefs in each county.
These "organization plates" are different from specialized plates issued for various military-related activities: veteran's plate; combat veteran; Pearl Harbor survivor; World War II, Korean War or Vietnam War veteran; Purple Heart recipient; POW.
For these groups, special plates, with no decals, are issued for an extra $5.50 each. Applicants must have some document to prove the appropriate military service.
Q: Regarding the recent Junior Miss contest: What or who determines the questions? Are they picked at random? They seemed to be assigned.
A: The questions were determined by "a couple of people" on the Junior Miss board and "were randomly asked," said K. Mark Takai, executive vice president of Hawaii's Junior Miss Inc.
Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication, he said.
The script called for a stack of cards printed with each question and pulled from an envelope to be placed on the podium. The contestants then were to pick one card, he said.
Nonetheless, Takai said, "Every effort was made to assure that the questions, because they were impromptu, were equally challenging. (It was) because of a slight miscommunication that the contestants were not able to choose the questions physically."
Corliss Chang, who was on the judges committee, said if anyone has a question, to call her at 547-5677 and she will gladly explain the process.
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com