Hawaii
THE WEEK THAT WAS
The Week That Was is a Sunday feature
recalling events culled from Dave Donnelly's
three-dot columns over the past 30 years.
Donnelly continues to write his Hawaii
column Tuesdays through Fridays
in the Star-Bulletin.
Mayor Frank Fasi broke his own ban about talking to Star-Bulletin reporters by telling us that if the City Council doesn't allocate money to tear down the Queen's Surf, "We'll hire Guido Salmaggi to go down and put a match to the place." The mayor, flush with victory on the Queen Surf issue that afternoon, was never in better humor. (April 6, 1970) ... 1970: Fasi celebrates
a victory at Queen’s SurfMcKinley High's Class of '24, is holding its 55th reunion at Wo Fat's on May 9. Some of the illustrious alumni of that class were financier Chinn Ho, Former U.S. Sen. Hiram Fong, former State Supreme Court Justice Masaji Marumo, former UH Regent Hung Wai Ching, former Postmaster George Hara and many more too numerous to mention ... John Craven, just back from the U.N. Law of the Sea Conference in Geneva, says it's tied up debating whether it has made any progress toward eventually making progress. As of now, says Craven (who appears at the Press Club tonight in a "hot seat" session), the on-going meeting, which lasts into next month, is little more than a good excuse for a lot of people to go traveling. (April 4, 1979)
A BIG Islander who apparently was unaware that vehicles have carburetor problems at high altitudes, bought a Bronco from Honolulu Ford's Ben Cabalo ... The other day he called Cabalo to complain that the Bronco doesn't work at 13,000 feet. "Sir," deadpanned Cabalo, "I didn't sell you an airplane." (April 4, 1983) ...
At the Honolulu Advertising Awards banquet the other night, the field in the "sales promotion" category was narrowed down to two finalists for the coveted Pele Award. One was designer Clarence Lee's brochure for Simpson Paper and the other was a package created for Duty Free Shoppers by his wife, Elsa Carl Lee. Clarence told a colleague he hoped his wife would win. Quipped Elsa, "That makes two of us." Sorry, ma'am, but Clarence copped the Pele. (April 2, 1986).
YOU'VE got to hand it to KGMB-TV news reporter Stacy Loe. While interviewing Mayor Jeremy Harris on the steps of City Hall, Loe suddenly realized she was about to faint. She'd not been feeling well, and suddenly her legs gave way and as she began falling, says Harris, her last words were, "Excuse me, Mr. Mayor." Harris suddenly turned paramedic and showed he has good hands, too, catching Loe before she hit the ground. He got her some water and stayed with her until she recovered. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation wasn't needed and a good thing, too, because the whole scene was all caught on tape. According to the good-natured Loe, it looked "hilarious" on replay ... (April 6, 1995)
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