[Taking Notice]

NEW JOBS

>> Katherine Park has joined Starr Seigle Communications Co. as a vice president and account supervisor. Also joining the company are Arnold Yew, Heath Hemmings and Stephanie Roberge. Yew was named assistant creative director. Hemmings and Roberge were named account executive and assistant account executive, respectively. In addition, the following individuals were awarded promotions at the company: Mei Jeanne Wagner, vice president, StarrPR; Heidi Gutgesell, director, Print Production; Tonie Chong, media buyer/planner, Starr Seigle; and Jack Foltz, account executive, Starr Seigle.

>> Donna Wheeler has been named assistant director of marketing at Aston Hotels and Resorts Hawaii. She is a 22-year veteran of the tourism industry. In addition, Cara Okawa has been named director of sales for Waikiki at the company. She joins Aston after serving as assistant vice president of sales at Castle Resorts and Hotels.

>> Julie N. Oba has joined Abe Lee Realty as a Realtor associate. She will serve in general brokerage and also as a development coordinator. Oba previously worked at Prudential Locations. In addition, Terri Saito has also joined the company as a Realtor associate. She will specialize in HUD and VA properties. Saito previously worked at Eric Watanabe Realty.

>> Sheree Moffat has been named vice president of sales at Castle Resorts and Hotels. She joins the company after serving for 18 years at Hilton Hotels, most recently as general manager at the Turtle Bay Hilton.

PROMOTIONS

>> Minnie Pang, Jonn Ragle, Carl Linden and Stramer Reeves have been promoted at Diagnostic Laboratory Services Inc. Pang and Ragle were named vice presidents of technical operations. Pang will oversee the company's main laboratory and its patient service centers statewide. Ragle will oversee laboratory operations at hospitals in Hawaii and Guam. Linden was named toxicology manager. He will manage and develop the company's forensic toxicology laboratory. Reeves will serve as logistics manager, responsible for all dispatch and courier employees at the company.

>> Easter Seals Hawaii has promoted Norman Kawakami to senior vice president of operations. He will be responsible for daily operations of all Easter Seals programs. Kawakami has been with the organization since 1999. He is also a member of the Easter Seals Hawaii Presidents Council.

>> AT&T Wireless Services has promoted Sharene S.K. Urakami to district sales manager for Hawaii. She will be responsible for all sales and operations oversight at 24 AT&T Wireless stores in Hawaii. Urakami was a retail store manager at AT&T Wireless before the promotion.

ON THE BOARD

>> Dennis Y. Teranishi has been named chairman of the board of directors at the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research. He will work closely with the president and chief executive of PICHTR in execution of applied research, technology development and transfer, and commercialization initiatives.

>> Patrick Yamada has been elected chairperson of the Rental Housing Trust Fund Advisory Commission for the 2001-02 term. Joining Yamada as officers and board members are: Betty Lou Larson, vice-chairperson; Ronald Lim, secretary; Norman M. Noguchi; Stephen Kawahara; Leslie Kurisaki and Alice L. Lee. The seven-member commission reviews affordable housing and rental development proposals and advises the board of directors with regard to the awarding of loans and grants.

>> Dorothy Pung, Patrick S. Saka and Edward S. Van Lier Ribbink have been elected to the Hawaii Employers Council Board of Governors for three-year terms. Members re-elected to the board include: Roger Drue, Eric S. Fukunaga, Yuri Giga, Signe A. Godfrey, Barry W. Marr and David W. Patton.

>> Mark Polivka has been named chairman of the board of directors at Bishop Museum for 2002. Other officers include: Bert A. Kobayashi, vice-chairman; Donald Horner, vice-chairman; and Jennifer Goto Sabas, secretary. In addition, Haunani Apoliona and Robert Morgado have been named board members and will serve three-year terms.

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[Letters]

It's time for the state to close antitrust nets

By Steve Raynor

Your article in connection with the gas fixing trial of the oil companies was balanced, objective and to the point.

The desire to maximize oil profits beyond reasonableness has existed in Hawaii for over 3 decades. When these companies can refine oil in the islands and sell it in California for much less, as they have done for over 30 years, it just seems something is fishy.

I just hope the government's attorneys net this oily Jaws. Imagine the economic drag on the local economy through higher prices caused by the oil companies taking constantly larger bites out of each citizen's wallet.

My Southern Methodist University economics degree empowers me with certain knowledge when put together with plain common sense dictates that the nationwide recession was caused in part by sharply higher oil prices. Hawaii residents have always paid too high a price for their gasoline, which keeps the local economy in a perpetual fragile state. Now that 9-11-01 has put much of the state's economy underwater, it's time that the state close the hole in its antitrust nets permanently -- before more island business is savaged.

Steve Raynor is a former Hawaii resident now living in Dallas, Texas.

Cruise liner Independence will be missed

By Fran Carnes

It is not uncommon for cruise lines to just stop, look for the nearest port, and send folks on their way. At least the wonderful reputation of the S.S. Independence was not tarnished in this way.

It is such a great old ship. Built here in Quincy, Mass., it holds special meaning for New Englanders. The crew was always top notch and never hesitated to fill your every need. You always felt like you were part of their family.I don't think we'll see her sail again.

(Her sister ship the Constitution sank several hundred miles off the coast of Hawaii while be towed to the Pacific rim for scrap.)

As one of the few ships sailing without stabilizers so you really "feel" the sea, she will be greatly missed.

Perhaps some enterprising group will purchase her and moor her in Honolulu as a floating hotel/restaurant. A great tribute to the boat days of the past. One can only hope we will see her again in some fashion.

I just wish I knew a crew member who could get me a sugar bowl before they left ... they were all original to the ship.

Hawaii will be in my thoughts today, as always.

Fran Carnes is a frequent traveler to Hawaii.

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Fidelity investments executive stepping down

BOSTON >> Fidelity Investments confirmed last week that Robert Mazzarella, who led the company's institutional brokerage group until last year, is leaving the firm to pursue outside interests.

Mazzarella, 55, took over the division in 1997. He was succeeded by David Denison last year and has been pursuing business development projects at Fidelity since then, company spokesman Vin Loporchio said.

"It's his decision to leave -- absolutely," Loporchio said.

Last month, Boston-based Fidelity announced it would lay off 760 workers due to the slowing economy and slumping markets.

Microsoft top lawyer to quit, replaced by deputy

SEATTLE >> Microsoft Corp. said its top lawyer, who led the software giant's defense in the government's antitrust lawsuit, will step down in July.

Executive Vice President and General Counsel Bill Neukom, 60, will pursue personal interests after 22 years of handling the sometimes stormy legal affairs for Microsoft. His deputy, Brad Smith, 42, will replace him, the company said.

Neukom's resignation came less than a month after Microsoft settled antitrust lawsuits with state and federal officials and one day after a proposed settlement to a raft of private antitrust cases.

Neukom was credited with -- and criticized for -- Microsoft's confrontational strategy during the federal government's antitrust case, which he once compared to a poker game.

Home Depot names CEO Nardelli as chairman

ATLANTA >> Home Depot Inc. announced that Robert Nardelli, the home improvement retailer's chief executive officer and president, would become chairman of the company next year.

Nardelli, who joined Home Depot last December after nearly 30 years at General Electric Co., will replace current Home Depot Chairman and co-founder Bernie Marcus Jan. 1, the world's No. 1 home improvement retailer said in a statement.

Home Depot added that Nardelli would give up the president's position when he became chairman. Marcus will continue to serve on the company's board of directors until May 2002, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 72.

In other news ...

WASHINGTON >> The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission named Alan Beller, a partner at the international law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, the new head of its corporate finance division.

Malaysia's economy shrinks 1.3% in quarter

Kuala Lumpur >> Malaysia's economy shrank more than expected in the third quarter as exports of electronics and other goods tumbled. It was the first contraction in more than two years.

The economy shrank 1.3 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said. That compares with economists' expectations of a 0.5 percent decline and growth of 0.5 percent in the second quarter.

Companies such as Unisem Bhd. and Motorola Inc. are cutting production and slashing jobs as exports to the United States, the country's biggest market, and other destinations drop.

Portugal cuts 2002 GDP growth forecast

Lisbon >> Portugal cut its economic growth forecast for next year by a quarter percentage point, as it expects consumer spending to slow more than previously thought.

The government now expects gross domestic product to grow between 1.5 and 2 percent next year, compared with its previous estimate of 1.75 to 2.25 percent. The earlier forecast was announced in October with the 2002 budget proposal and is the same as the government's latest estimate for this year's growth.

The European Commission said last week it expects the Portuguese economy to expand 1.5 percent in 2002, less than half last year's rate. The slowdown is in line with the rest of the 12-country region using the euro, whose combined growth for the second quarter was 0.1 percent, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 1995.

EU gives nod to $3 billion steel merger

PARIS >> European regulators gave conditional approval to a plan to create the world's largest steelmaker, putting the onus on France's Usinor and its two partners to patch up a last-minute dispute to save the $3 billion deal.

The tie-up between France's Usinor, Luxembourg-based Arbed and Aceralia of Spain would create a pan-European manufacturer with annual sales of 30 billion euros and output of 46 million tonnes.

Their goal is to oust Japan's Nippon Steel Corp as the world number one in steel while producing cost savings and greater scale in an industry struggling with falling prices.

Overcapacity and a global economic slowdown, made worse by trade barriers, has sent steel prices to 20-year lows, hammering profits and forcing manufacturers into each others' arms to help slash operating costs.

In other news ...

Mexico City >> Mexico's unemployment rate rose in October to its highest level in 32 months as slowing exports to the United States and sagging consumer demand at home forced manufacturers and retailers to lay off workers. The jobless rate rose to 2.9 percent from 2.5 percent in September, higher than economists' expectations of a drop to 2.4 percent.

PARIS >> The first sales of U.S. wheat to Cuba in four decades sent a shudder through the French grain trade last week, which fears that its lucrative wheat-for-sugar deal with the island may be in jeopardy. U.S. firms Archer Daniels Midland Cargill and Riceland Foods announced they had sold a range of U.S. food, including at least 20,000 tonnes of hard red winter wheat, to Communist-ruled Cuba.

Lima >> International Monetary Fund officials said they would recommend the agency's board approve a new standby credit for Peru to support the country's economic program for the next two years. IMF Deputy Managing Director Eduardo Aninat said in a statement that the IMF team holding talks with Peru would recommend to the board "approval of a new two-year stand-by arrangement" in January.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina >> Several dozen drum-beating Argentine protesters stormed the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange Wednesday, interrupting floor trade for about 20 minutes in a sign of flaring social tensions.