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Kokua Line

By June Watanabe

Return old
fire extinguishers
to dealers

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Question: How do I get rid of unused fire extinguishers that are five to six years old?

Answer: Fire extinguishers should be returned to a fire extinguisher dealer, according to Suzanne Jones, city recycling coordinator. She said you can just look for a dealer in the telephone book Yellow Pages.

However, you may have to make a few calls before finding one who'll take your extinguisher, and you may have to pay a fee.

One dealer, who did not want to be identified, said he usually handles disposal only for regular customers because it is time consuming. He said his company is "licensed with the trash guys" to dispose of the extinguishers after they've been emptied and punctured.

If the valve has been removed, only then may the extinguisher be disposed at a city landfill, said city refuse collection Administrator David Shiraishi. If not, you'll have to take it to a dealer. He said city employees are not in a position to advise you on how to remove a valve.

Pendant reclaimed

Arlene Hioki Okuda didn't believe it when she read Sunday's Kokua Line about someone looking for the family of E. Hioki. Aki Kimura's family had found a 1929 gold pendant for the champion Azuma team of the Oahu Japanese Senior Baseball League inscribed "E. Hioki ss capt." and wanted to return it to his family.

"I'm the daughter," Okuda said in a telephone call. She noted her father was named Kanari Hioki at birth, but had his first name legally changed to Eichi.

That's because when he worked for the Bishop Estate, co-workers would call him "H-E" for Hioki. That evolved into Eichi, and he was known as E.K. Hioki, Okuda said.

Her father passed away in the '60s, but she remembers he was quite an athlete. In addition to playing baseball, he was a golfer and bowler, bowling a 300 game at the old Honolulu Bowling Center back when there were "pin boys."

"We have pictures of him when he was on the Asahi and Azuma (baseball) teams," Okuda said. "He even had a silver trophy as the 'most valuable player,' but I don't know what became of that trophy."

She had never seen the pendant.

"It's so curious, after all these years," to receive something of her father's past, she said.

Auwe

To the bus driver who ran the light at King and Keeaumoku streets just before 3:30 p.m. on Memorial Day. I was stopped for a red light at the intersection and the driver was in the next lane, slowing down behind me. He or she barely made it across the intersection before the cars with the green light crossed the bus's path. Shame on the driver for putting the lives of his or her passengers and the lives of others in the surrounding area in danger. Is this the kind of bus drivers we want on the road? -- No Name

(We note you passed the bus number and details on to Oahu Transit Services, which is where you should report such incidents.)

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Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com