February 8, 2010
> MAUI TODAY, > mEnvironment, Raphael O'Suna
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by Raphael O’Suna
(Editor’s Note: The following was recently sent to West Coast, Japanese and Canadian newspapers.)
I write to you as a friend and as someone who works in the medical field in Hawaii. This letter comes from the island of Maui, and concerns a very serious health hazard.
With the opening of a new volcanic vent on the island of Hawaii, extremely large quantities of poison gas and toxic metals are spewed into the atmosphere every day. For a long time, only the island of Hawaii, and specifically the Kona Coast was seriously affected. The toxic plumes–thick and nasty–are almost always shrouding that part of the island. But now …
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February 7, 2010
> MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays
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 Wave Your Fingers Day
Day 38 of 2010
327 days left in this year |
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Kopa‘a: Sugar
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Kalenda: Calendar
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY— “Shut the mouth, keep the hands busy.”
HAOLE QUOTE OF THE DAY— “A loving heart is the truest wisdom.” – Charles Dickens
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Project Gutenberg
TODAY: Native Mauian Challenges Wait List for Water Meters in State Court. James Davis, who originally applied for a water meter on his Kula property in the 1970s, is asserting through his attorney James Fosbinder,constitutional claims of uncompensated taking and violation of equal protection and due process. More >
February 7th, 1916: The sugar business and its workers on Maui are dealt a serious blow when the U.S. Government removes all but three Hawaii-America steamers from sugar transportation and moves them to the “Atlantic Trade”, a euphemistic term which really means ships which shuttle supplies to Great Britain in its war on Germany. The three ships supplying Hawaiian sugar to San Francisco cannot carry the sugar available. Workers on Maui are laid off, prices fall on Hawaii, sugar rots in warehouses and costs rise on the mainland. The stress is somewhat relieved in 1917 when two more steamers are added to the fleet.
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February 6, 2010
Raphael O'Suna
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by Raphael O’Suna
I do not scare easily, but the immensity of the universe: the quantity of matter and the aeons of time are intimidating.
I remember once, on a beach on Long Island, when the sky was full of stars, and a woman, speaking, unintentionally drew me out of my body, and unbeknownst to her, I had drifted off into the starry night. She had talked me into relaxing on the sand. Her voice and instructions almost hypnotized me. And out I went, into the starry night.
Quickly, I realized that something was amiss. I didn’t immediately realize that my consciousness had peeled away from my body. When I did and sensed the dark immensity, the loneliness of a speck of light in all of that darkness.
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February 6, 2010
> MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays
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Lame Duck Day
Day 37 of 2010
328 days left in this year |
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Kupua: Demigod
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Kotren: Raincoat
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY— “The gift of knowledge is never diminished.”
HAOLE QUOTE OF THE DAY— “None but ourselves can free our minds.” - Bob Marley
February 6th, 1960: Frank F. Baldwin dies on Maui. One of the most effective leaders of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) empire on Maui, Baldwin began his business relationship with the family fortune in 1906 when he became a manager of HC&S.
During his time, he saw the growth and expansion of the business from a sleepy sugar business into one of the largest property management companies in the U.S. In 1911, when his father died, he became manager and president of HC&S. In 1936, he oversaw the conversion of sugar equipment from steam to gas. In 1948, he oversaw the merger of the Maui Agricultural Co. and HC&S Puunene.
In 1947 his son Asa took over management of the company, but Frank remained president of Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) until he died.
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February 3, 2010
> MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays
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Cordova Ice Worm Day
Day 34 of 2010
331 days left in this year |
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Aihui: Robbery
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Stilim: Steal
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “A thief is also a liar.”
HAOLE QUOTE OF THE DAY — “That’ll be the day when I die” – Buddy Holly
TODAY: The Day the Music Died. Maui Land & Pineapple Co. will cease paying for life insurance and medical coverage for all its non-contractual retirees. About 400 retirees and their survivors are affected by the cancellation of their group life insurance, and a little over 100 by cancellation of medical coverage, according to present CFO John Durkin.
While workers and shareholders have been shafted, management has made out like a bandit. For 2008, under chairman, president and CEO David Cole, ML&P posted annual losses of $79 million. For the same period, Cole was compensated $2.8 million. The previous year he was awarded a $1.02 million bonus. Cole was terminated as of January 2009, leaving the helm with a multi-million dollar severance package. In January 2010, the NYSE cautioned ML&P on possible delisting. Today its stock is selling at just over $3 a share, after a high of $47.12 in the 1st quarter of 2005. Thanks again, David Cole! More >
February 3, 1959: THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED – Fifty-one years ago today, rock ‘n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, along with the pilot Roger Peterson, died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. More >
February 3, 1934: Maui gets another first for Hawaii: the first ever bank robbery in the Territory is committed in Paia. Two men, one armed, steal $976 from a teller – who was the only other person in the bank. They escaped by automobile. The Hawaiian Historical Society reports that: “Although neither robber was masked, one of them sported a large Groucho Marx mustache he had painted on himself with an eyebrow pencil. Captured a few hours later, the culprits proved to be two brothers from Lahaina.” It wasn’t untl 1955 that anyone tried to rob a bank in Hawaii again.
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