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Kamehameha statue
could use a sign

Question: I took a mainland visitor to see the King Kamehameha statue on King Street. I was disappointed that there was no sign to indicate the name of this famous warrior -- not even some information on his great accomplishments. Perhaps some information is at the base of the statue, but there was a "Keep Off The Grass" sign, so you would need a telescope to read this from the sidewalk. Surely our government can do better for this illustrious warrior!

Answer: Yes, it can, and state Comptroller Russ Saito is working to make it happen.

"We all agree that something should be done" to explain who King Kamehameha was and "why we honor him," he said in response to your question.

Saito is head of the Department of Accounting and General Services, which oversees state buildings, facilities and groundskeeping.

He said his main task now "is to speed up the review and logistics" for getting an appropriate sign installed.

"I will be talking to the folks from the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and possibly the Historic Preservation Division to make sure the sign and 'explanation' are historically and culturally acceptable," he explained.

The sign also might have to be made multilingual, he said.

Q: I am paying some other family member's phone bill. I recently paid for the bill at the Verizon Bishop Street office. I didn't realize that I used the wrong credit card until a day later. I was told that Verizon Plus' procedure is that you can't reverse a credit payment from one credit card and reapply the payment to another card. They said they can't reverse a telephone charge because it's a payment. What's the difference between a payment and a purchase if you're using a credit card?

A: Verizon Hawaii acknowledged you presented "an unusual situation as the payment was for service, not a purchase for a tangible item such as a phone."

The difference, according to spokeswoman Ann Nishida, is that transactions for payments are processed differently from purchases.

"Our payment system for service does not allow for payment reversals, as doing so would impact the payment process," for example, creating an "out-of-balance situation," she explained.

That said, if you had returned within hours of the transaction, Verizon could have accommodated your request to switch credit cards, she said.

Auwe

My boyfriend came home for two weeks of R&R from Iraq, just in time for Thanksgiving. He bought a new cell phone for his mom and a Palm Pilot from CompUSA. He left it in the car trunk to do a quick errand, only to discover it was stolen. Not only that, his digital camera that holds precious pictures of family and friends also was stolen. A big "auwe" to these delinquents who don't care that they steal from others, because it's not their hard-earned money. -- Mad in Manoa

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