Hawaii
SOMEONE has a very expensive new artwork in his or her collection, thanks to the ConTempo 2001 auction. The superstar artist is Deborah Butterfield, whose bronze sculpture of a horse went for $220,000. In all, the Neiman Marcus fund-raiser for the Contemporary Arts Museum collected more than half-a-million dollars from the auctioning of 25 art works ... Also on the equine front, Jock Ruddock, former husband of singer Rhonda, is now a "horse whisperer." Move over, Robert Redford. Ruddock and his veterinarian wife, Dr. Ivana "Iwi" Ruddock, have been doing workshops in horse therapy across the world, including in Hawaii. The Ruddocks are headquartered in the Czech Republic ... And while we're horsing around, the Honolulu Polo Club celebrates its 15th anniversary in Waimanalo with matches getting underway April 29. Chairman emeritus Bob MacGregor, who has been involved in polo in Hawaii since it was played in Kapiolani Park, will be honored at matches throughout the year ... Bronze horse gallops
into gold for museum
Milestones
NO notable births to report, but there were some milestones of late. Chamber of Commerce president Stanley Hong celebrated his birthday with family and friends at L'Uraku. His birthday choice? Island Papio Filet in a caper-soy butter sauce ... There were no wedding bells ringing at Liliuokalani Park in Nuuanu, but two veterans of the newspaper wars, Barbara Hastings and Mike Middlesworth, tied the knot there and then celebrated with friends at Ninniku-ya on Waialae Avenue ... And we scattered the ashes off Waikiki of legendary UH basketball player Arnold "Kelly" Kalesewski. Kelly played an admitted six years at UH, and some say more than that 40-plus years ago when the NCAA didn't keep such close track ...WITH a deal at hand for UHPA, professors faced a moral dilemma. The Maui Film Festival had its screening of "Blow Dry" at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center and offered complimentary admission yesterday to striking HSTA and UHPA members wearing their strike T-shirts. How to avoid the moral contortion within themselves? Stay away or cough up $10 or plead a technicality ...
HAWAII Youth Symphony conductor Henry Akina has been named distinguished honoree of the year by the National Society of Arts & Letters, which noted his artistic work internationally as well as locally. The award will be made at a benefit dinner May 21 at the Pacific Club ... Connie Wright's poem, "Odyssey II," won an award at HPU, netting her $500 and inclusion in the Hawaii Pacific Review, Volume 15 ...
Neer hit!
YOU'VE heard of near misses? Well, what we have here is a Neer hit. Ed Neer's MLT Worry-Free Vacations Co., a Northwest Airlines subsidiary, has Las Vegas charter service with lots of extras thrown in, such as a choice of 30 hotels. The deal has been an immediate success, but Neer wants to sweeten things, so is throwing in a 1-cent inter-island trip via Aloha Air to any of the neighbor islands with a Vegas roundtrip. Neer worked for Northwest in Hawaii more than 20 years ago. Now Worry-Free is enabling him to return and get out of flooded and/or frozen Minneapolis, the airline's HQ ...
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