Hawaii
Dave Donnelly
THIS is one of those classic good news, bad news stories. Dr. Bill Yarbrough and some buddies elected not to play golf in the member-guest tournament at Waialae the other day, and instead went to Luana Hills. Dr. Yarbrough was thrilled when, on the 11th hole, he carded the first hole in one he'd ever had in 38 years of playing golf. Needless to say, he was ecstatic. That was before his playing partners, Gene Axelrod, Mark Bratton and Stan Souza informed him the ace meant he had to buy lunch for all of them. Oh yes, then the gleeful Axelrod mentioned that had they played in the Waialae tourney and he'd carded his hole in one there, he'd have won a new car. Yarbrough's probably still kicking himself ... Hole in 1 also means
a hole in the wallet
How Sweetie it is
SURE, the twosome of Michael W. Perry and Larry Price enjoyed their trip to Las Vegas for their sixth annual "Hanohano Room Traveling Show," but enjoying it even more was the show's producer, Sweetie Pacarro. The superstitious Sweetie spotted the Blazing 7 machine in the California Hotel she wanted to play, and while she went to the show, her mom had sat at the same slot machine and by the third pull had raked in $6,000. When Sweetie returned, mom won another $1000 on the same machine. She tried to act happy for mom, but then happiness hit home for her -- literally -- when her mother handed over all the money to Sweetie so she could buy furniture for her new home. Nice mom, what? ...WHEN Alan Miller was a master's degree grantee at the East-West Center back in 1976, he wrote for Impulse, a student magazine. Well, he's moved on and is now a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Not only that, but this week it was announced that Miller has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting (along with colleague Kevin Sack) for an examination of the harrier military aircraft that was linked to the death of 45 pilots ...
IT was a full house at Compadres this week when Vik Watumull, chairman of the Susan G. Komen Hawaii Race for the Cure for the past eight years, was installed in the eatery's Wall of Fame. One person not at the luncheon, however, was Compadres owner Rick Enos. What could be important enough to keep him from this ceremony? Well, it was opening day for the San Francisco Giants, so Enos joined his taqueria crew to serve up goodies at the S.F. ballpark, and cheer on his team ...
Irish wake
A FEW weeks ago, pals of Eddie O'Toole gathered at the downtown pub the owners had named for him, and helped him celebrate his 80th birthday. This Sunday, they and many others will again gather at O'Toole's to further celebrate that birthday, his last, and hold a proper Irish Wake. O'Toole, who despite his advanced years continued working at his job at Honolulu Ford daily, would cackle at the old Irish adage about a proper wake: Just another grand gathering of the faithful, but with one less fellow to challenge the pub's inventory ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
The Week That Was runs Sundays and recalls
items from Dave's 30 years of columns.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com