• A weekend we’ll never forget • Tsunami response • Bicycles rule • Making a change A weekend we’ll never forget The Mid-Pacific baseball team spent this past weekend on your island of Kaua‘i and I would like to express
• A weekend we’ll never forget • Tsunami response • Bicycles rule • Making a change
A weekend we’ll never forget
The Mid-Pacific baseball team spent this past weekend on your island of Kaua‘i and I would like to express our deep appreciation to all who provided us the unbelievable hospitality.
To the Koga ‘ohana and friends for our lunch and unreal poke the day we arrived and to Hank Ibia (Kaua‘i Baseball Team) and his parents for providing us a super dinner following our game on Friday.
Next to Michael Rita (Waimea Baseball Team), his friends, his baseball parents, and to Jon Kobayashi, Glenn and Jean Ogawa, thank you so much. First for setting us up at the Hanapepe Recreation Center and providing cots to sleep on, the dinner following Thursday’s game and even having a birthday cake for my dad who celebrated his 88th birthday that day. My dad really appreciated that (he told me so).
But more importantly on the day of the tsunami, thank you for the support we had that day. We were helped to evacuate from the Hanapepe Recreation Center to the Kalaheo Recreation Center at 5:30 a.m. Michael Rita and his friends cooked our team, including the parents and friends, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mike and his buddy even took us to see the tsunami (from a safe place).
And finally to Dennis Fujimoto who is always there covering our team and thank you for worrying about us, but we as you can see we were in very good hands.
Our Mid-Pacific baseball team and parents are so grateful for everything that all of you did for us on this special weekend, a weekend that we will never forget.
Dunn Muramaru, Mid-Pacific baseball coach
Tsunami response
When we received news Friday night of the devastating earthquake in Chile and the resulting tsunami waves that were approaching Hawai‘i, emergency response personnel across the state sprang into action. The outstanding coordination resulted in a well-executed operation to keep the residents and visitors of Hawai‘i safe.
State and County Civil Defense officials, scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, lifeguards, police officers, firefighters and other first-responders were well prepared to carry out their duties, and they worked together calmly and efficiently.
Military leaders at Pacific Command on O‘ahu and officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were standing by in case we needed their help. Hawai‘i tourism leaders worked closely with state and county officials to make sure our visitors were safe and well informed. The media ensured residents and visitors received accurate and timely information.
Our residents did their part by evacuating from danger zones and stocking up on emergency supplies – and they did so without panicking and without losing their aloha spirit.
Fortunately, the tsunami waves were much smaller than predicted and no damage was reported on any island. We were very fortunate.
Looking back at the events of this weekend, I come away with an even deeper appreciation of how extensively our state has prepared for emergencies, and how professionally everyone responded when the time for action arrived.
This gives me great confidence that our state will be ready for the next emergency, be it a tsunami, hurricane, earthquake or other natural or man-made disaster. At the same time, it is critical that we continue to prepare for emergencies and work to improve our response capabilities. Mahalo to everyone who played a part in keeping Hawai‘i safe.
Linda Lingle, Governor
Bicycles rule
Given the widespread disregard of posted speed limits, might we significantly increase the penalties for speeding?
Whenever I ride my bicycle (frequently) or drive (rarely) I am passed by people who are in such a hurry! A hurry to get stuck behind a lot of other people who feel their time is more important than anyone else’s life.
The current fines apparently don’t have enough of an impact on peoples’ wallets. Increasing the fines might generate some serious revenue for the state.
And, pilau noni on the person who threw a full water bottle out the window at me the other day (you missed). Get a life and act your age and not your shoe size.
I long for the day when gas gets expensive again so everyone really has to think before they drive. Bicycles and the bus will rule!
Ann Leighton, Lihu‘e
Making a change
We are desperately in need of many more jobs to be created. Also, the minimum wage needs to be done away with.
The reason for this is because the minimum wage is unfair. I believe the minimum wage is $8.25 because it’s fair for everybody. Now you all can say whatever but I’m from Hilo and nothing will stop me from “making a change.”
Troy Abraham, Hilo
