Hawaii
UH lawyer sings anthem
at UH-FSU baseball gameGOOD sports: Walter Kirimitsu, chief UH legal counsel and chief of staff to UH President Evan Dobelle, has a singing voice people will pay big bucks to hear. Well, some people, anyway. At the UH baseball opener against Florida State, Kirimitsu was chosen to sing the National Anthem, thanks to a $20,000 donation to the UH baseball program from Verizon Hawaii and another donor who prefers anonymity ... You've heard about Ace Ventura, pet detective. Now say hello to Ace Kinimaka. That would refer to entertainer Iva Kinimaka, who hit a hole in one at the Bay View Golf Course, using an 8-iron from 109 yards. Witnessing the feat were Ace's son, Hale Kinimaka (Duke's Waikiki marketing manager) and Johnny Fernandez of the Society of Seven, Las Vegas ... Incidentally, original SOS leader Tony Ruivivar took in the opening-night performance of Loretta Swit in "The Vagina Monologues" Tuesday night. Unlike at the opening of the show last week, Tuesday's audience gave Swit, Amy J. Carle and Michele Shay a spontaneous standing ovation ...
DR. Harry Huffaker, known here years ago as "the swimming dentist," is back in Honolulu from his Ketchum, Idaho, home, with his wife of 19 years. Top on his list of things to do is attend the ceremony including the scattering of the ashes off Waikiki of Simon Cardew. He and the ex-Sheraton PR honcho were one-time housemates, and longtime water sports pals, though Cardew wouldn't have dreamed of one of Huffaker's accomplishments -- swimming to and from Molokai. The man was tireless ...
The Monk and Elephant
HE'S quite well-known in the medical field locally for the 4,000 successful laser eye surgeries he's performed, but Dr. Carlos Omphroy doesn't limit his practice to humans. He's done cataract surgery on a dog and was the first to do a full eye exam on a Hawaiian Monk Seal ... It was an Elephant Seal that beached in front of the Kona Village Resort. And while its beaching was a surprise to many, Kona Village GM Fred Duerr wasn't among them. It seemed natural to him, since Ka'upulehu, where the seal came to rest after five days in the ocean off the resort, is said to have recuperative, healing powers. The last Elephant Seal sighted in the islands was in 1970 on Midway ...NBC "Today" show co-host Katie Couric recently signed an enormous multimillion-dollar contract, but somehow she seems to feel she has to reach out and seem "hip." Yesterday she asked four teams who were in a pound-dropping competition to give her "the 411." (The information, get it?) And then, Oprah-like, referred to one combatant as "girlfriend." What would her reaction be if co-host Matt Lauer were to call one of the guys on the show, "boyfriend?" ...
Shore Bird flies again
SOME businesses are cutting back in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorism attack, but the Shore Bird restaurant and lounge in the Outrigger Reef isn't one of them. Outrigger GM David Carey will be at the grand reopening of the Shore Bird tomorrow after its $1.3-million renovation of the "turn of the century, plantation style restaurant." And in memory of bikini contests of old, there'll now be an aloha-shirt contest. My, how times have changed!
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
The Week That Was recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com