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Veteran local achievers leap to new heights today as they're acknowledged by state lawmakers and tomorrow night as they're inducted into Junior Achievement's Hawaii Business Hall of Fame. Junior Achievement’s class
of 2002 not born yesterdayThe JA Laureate Class of 2002 will be honored today at the state capitol; in the Senate at 11:30 a.m., in the House at noon.
Plans for the hall of fame site will be unveiled at the fund-raising induction dinner tomorrow night at the Sheraton Waikiki.
This year's luminary laureates are Jeffrey Bloom, president of Computer Training Academy, Network Resource Center and Select Temporary Services Inc.; Martin & Mac-Arthur President Jon Martin and Chief Executive Lloyd Jones; and Communications-Pacific Inc. Chairwoman and CEO Kitty Lagareta.
This year's Legacy Laureates, chosen for business and community accomplishments surpassing generational boun- daries, are the late Richard S. Miyashiro, founder of Hilo's Cafe 100 Inc.; and the late Roswell M. Towill, founder and chairman emeritus of R.M. Towill Corp.
In business since 1961, Martin & MacArthur is perhaps the most widely known maker of koa furniture and gifts in the islands; it has often shown double-digit year-over-year growth despite downturns in the economy.
Less widely known is its state Labor Department-approved apprenticeship program and the job training and placement services it provides to adults with disabilities through Winners at Work.
"We like to think we might be encouraging people to be getting into business," said Jones.
Helping the disadvantaged receive training and find jobs is another satisfaction, he said.
Of Hawaii's koa furniture makers and woodworkers the company also has the largest retail presence. It operates stores at Whaler's Village and the Shops at Wailea on Maui; Aloha Tower Marketplace, where it was among the first tenants; and last spring it opened a store at Ala Moana Center under a temporary lease.
The lease is to expire "right about now," Jones said, and Martin & MacArthur is soon to move to another location at Ala Moana as the company negotiates a possible long term lease with center management.
MacArthur, whose first name is Douglas and is a distant descendant of the like-named general, sold his financial interests to Jones in 1986.
Already well-branded, the name stayed the same as spelled in its Web address, www.martinandmacarthur.com.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com