Bitter Sweet Good-Bye
March 31, 2008 > MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays No Comments |
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Clam on 1/2-Shell Day
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Panakalupa: Bankrupt PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Balus: Airplane HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “Deny the gods, deny their power.” HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” (Thomas Jefferson)
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Maui Culinary Academy – Class Act WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Iraq War Veterans Speak Out PODCAST OF THE WEEK — Tekzilla.com BLOG OF THE WEEK — Daily.Mahalo.com
TODAY – March 31st 2008: Today is the last day that Aloha Air will fly. After 60 years, the airline cites “unfair competition,” meaning go! airlines and its $39 (and at times $19) one-way fair between islands. The latest information is being posted here.
If you are a tourist, you will probably make your way to the mainland via United Airlines, if there is room. If you fly between islands, right now you’ve lost your money. That may change, if Aloha can get another airline to honor its tickets. Time will tell.
The airline first flew in 1948, just after the World War II and a good ten years before statehood. It was known for the DC model of planes it flew. (The DC line became the most popular aircraft of the 20th century. It is estimated that more than 100 of the planes are still in operation. Aviation Week once called the DC-9 the “finest aircraft ever assembled.” It was a prop, would go too fast, but come hell or high water, it would get you there.)
Only time will tell if Aloha is correct. That is, if the go! ticket prices were set solely to drive competition out of business. If the interisland prices go up soon, we’ll know the airline was right. Read more …
March 31st, 1993: The 110-year-old Hamakua Sugar Co. closes (think Hamakuapoko). The company had been dormant since the previous August. The last 31 workers are laid off. Today the area is best known as the restoration location of the Old Maui High School.
HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — March 31st
- 1831: Quebec & Montreal are incorporated
- 1917: The U.S. pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands
- 1918: The first daylight savings time in U.S. goes into effect
- 1933: Congress authorizes Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- 1966: 25,000 Vietnam War anti-war demonstrators march in New York City
- 1967: Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar for the first time (London)
- 1982: The rock group Doobie Brothers splits up
- 1999: Four New York City police officers are charged with murder for killing Amadou Diallo
- 2004: Four American civilian contractors are killed in Fallujah, Iraq;
- 2004: Air America, a liberal alternative to conservative talk radio, debuts on 5 stations
- 2005: Terri Schiavo dies at a hospice in Pinellas Park, FL, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed in a right-to-die dispute that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House.
BORN ON THIS DAY — March 31st
- 1596: Rene Descartes, philosopher
- 1809: Edward FitzGerald, writer
- 1809: Nikolai Gogol, father of 19th-century Russian realism
- 1811: Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen, chemist
- 1844: Andrew Lang, author
- 1903: Arthur Godfrey, TV host
- 1915: Henry Morgan, comedian/TV panelist
- 1924: Leo Buscaglia, psychologist
- 1926: John Fowles, novelist
- 1933: Shirley Jones, actress
- 1935: Herb Alpert, bandleader/trumpeteer
- 1935: Judith Rossner, writer
- 1935: Richard Chamberlain, actor
- 1938: John Jakes, Chicago, writer
- 1939: Liz Claiborne, fashion designer
- 1940: Barney Frank, (Rep-D-MA)
- 1940: Patrick J Leahy, (Sen-D-VT) (68 years ago)
- 1943: Christopher Walken, actor
- 1946: Gabe Kaplan, comedian/actor
- 1948: Albert Gore Jr, Vice President/Senator (D-Tenn, Nobel Peace laurreate
- 1948: Rhea Perlman, actress
- 1953: Valerie Curtin, actress
- 1959: Angus Young, rock guitarist
- 1971: Ewan McGregor, actor
- 1976: Josh Saviano, actor
