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There’s a treasure living in Mililani named Barbara Kawakami, and Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii will honor the historian and award-winning author as one of its five Living Treasures for 2012. The award is based on her body of work to keep the Japanese plantation heritage alive through books, textiles, stories and her interviews with more than 250 aging Issei and picture brides. The mission celebrates its awardees at a Feb. 4 luncheon at the Sheraton Waikiki (522-9200) ...

Ready to become a better parent? Joan Fujita has the answer: The 10-week Parent Project course starts at 6 p.m. Jan. 24 at Leilehua High School (622-6555)... Or maybe you’re hungry. Derek Kaapana can tell you about the benefit Hawaiian dinner set for Feb. 4 in the Mililani High cafeteria to help the Trojan band program (627-7747, ex. 2363) ... More food. Hawaii’s Cacao Festival promises sweet concoctions by Turtle Bay’s executive pastry chef Ben Tabious as well as Waialua farm tours with Derek Lanter and music to eat chocolate by from Dayton Watanabe this and much more from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at the Haleiwa Farmers Market (388-9697) ...

Those with less chocolate intake people with diabetes can start the new year by listening to Wahiawa eye doctor Christopher Tortora. He advises a thorough eye exam, good diet, exercise and consistent use of medication to control all the factors that may contribute to vision loss ... The Royal Order of Kamehameha I elevated former Hawaii supreme court chief justice and “Wahiawa boy” Ronald Moon to Knight’s Companion in ceremonies Dec. 11 at Mauna’ala ...

Wahiawa Lion Donald Sagara notes that many of the eyeglasses collected Saturday by clubs across Oahu (and at Wahiawa Longs and Mililani Walmart) will be donated to needy Afghans, because of damage that high elevations and UV ray damage can do to their vision ...

Finally the 1970 Waialua High football coach returns home. Welcome back, Norman Chow, and good luck ... Former North Shore lawmaker Michael Magaoay has joined the board of directors for Hale Kipa, a nonprofit serving at-risk Hawaii teens ... Ariana Yanagihara (Mililani 2011) has graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas

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Dr. Sheryl Gardner retired last month from her gynecology practice in Mililani, but area patients need not worry. Taking over her office is full-time midwife and OB-GYN nurse practitioner Kristen Howard, as well as Dr. Lynette Tsai, who will be available part time. Sheryl says the practice has come full circle since the 1990s when Dr. William McKenzie had his midwife corps serving the fertile community. The new team is located at 95-1249 Meheula Parkway #127 (625-5277) ...

Take heart, Waialua Bandstand fans, John Cutting says the monthly Sunday entertainment will return the first Sunday in March bowing out of its Feb. 5 concert date because of competition from some game called Super Bowl ... Oregon State may not have been a hit on the football field this past semester in Corvallis, but Central Oahu students scored well on its honor roll: Earning a 3.5 or higher gpa were Haleiwa’s Joli Johnston, Waialua’s Gasandria Mae P. Perdido, and Mililani residents Danielle Aio, Shawna Fujita, Jason Iwasa, Brett Kakugawa, Wendi Kobayashi, Lauren Luke and Andrew Thomas ...

Congratulations also to the community’s Fernandez Fun Factory Scholars Jane Au and Julie Au, both 2011 Waialua High graduates. They were awarded $1,000 each plus one-year tuition grants to UH Manoa ... Adam Shimizu, grandson of Wahiawa’s Atanacio Tolentino, has graduated with distinction from Army Reserve basic training at Fort Sill, Okla. ...

Waialua Library has announced its art contest winners, which include first-place entries in their grade level from Sunset Beach Elementary School’s Sofia Buenrostro (grade 1), Moe Johnson (grade 2) and Preeya Galea’i (grade 5) ...

Downtown Las Vegas is a bit poorer since Central Oahu slot players hit the casinos this fall: Mililani’s George Makio won $10,000; Wahiawa’s Jane Oda won $8,656; Mililani’s Rose Frando won $4,655; Wahiawa’s Regina Gagalac won $4,500; and Mililani’s Lila Suzuki and Thomas Yano each won $4,000 ...

Central Oahu residents are cooking up some business success lately. Mililani resident Cheryl Sakihara (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) has become an independent consultant with Tastefully Simple Inc., a national direct sales company with easy-toprepare food items. And Wahiawa’s Heather Klemp (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) has been promoted to team leader with the company, based on sales and recruiting

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Haleiwa teenager Samantha IhaPreece is one of four winners in the New Faces of Paul Brown model search, presented by Honolulu Pulse. A senior at Myron Thompson Academy, Samantha will participate in promotions and public appearances as part of the salons’ 40th anniversary celebration. As Hawaii’s Miss Teen Hawaii, Samantha also turned heads at the national pageant last summer, winning the Miss Congeniality and Oprah Winfrey awards ...

Mililani author Eric Chock of Bamboo Ridge Press had his piece, Allowance, read in a recent taping for HPR’s Aloha Shorts. The show airs at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday on KIPO 89.3 ... Members of the Miami Marlins’ National League team were at Schofield Barracks for a baseball clinic Dec. 11 that featured budding slugger Mike Stanton as well as mascot Billy the Marlin ...

Mililani’s Anthony Bethel has woven a tale of villainy, hatred and jealousy in the self-published novel Memories of the Lake a tangled, small-town story involving Tori and Jessica and Chris and don’t forget Will the sheriff. Anthony says this story picks up on his earlier saga of Heart in the Window from five years ago. When he’s not writing, Anthony plays golf and spends time with the kids. To find out more, look him up at xlibris.com, amazon.com or bn.com. Guess what? He has a master’s degree in IT management ...

Wahiawa’s new transit center already has a complaint (in the Honolulu StarAdvertiser‘s Kokua Line) from a customer with a fullsized car: “too narrow, too steep” ...

Think of your child’s eyes when buying Christmas toys. Wahiawa opthalmologist Christopher Tortora says to avoid those with sharp edges or that shoot objects. Hear more sensible tips like this on his Hawaiian Eye show at 8:30 a.m. Saturdays on 830AM ... New at Laie’s biggest attraction: Polynesian Cultural Center has introduced daily, do-it-yourself outrigger canoe rides through the lagoon ...

Haleiwa’s Dec. 9 parade had a great theme: “Waialua Complex Schools Succeed,” featuring Waialua Elementary principal Scott Moore as grand marshal

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Freshmen and cross country runner Jessica Kawana of Mililani High School and bowler Jasmin Ash of Waialua High made the first round of Hawaii finalists in the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award Program for 2011. The program honors students who “embody the Heisman spirit of hard work and dedication through their outstanding achievements in athletics, academics and community/school leadership.” They won bronze medals, a Heisman patch and $25 Wendy’s gift cards ...

The Hanalani Schools’ Royal Choir and String Ensemble will entertain at Waipio Shopping Center from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday following the 10 a.m. community parade ... Haleiwa resident Bill Deuchar has joined Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties as a Realtorassociate. When he’s not showing homes, you’ll find him sailing, surfing, hiking or woodworking ...

David Howle is now officially executive director and dean of the Mililani campus of Wayland Baptist University and its six military sites on Oahu. His years with Wayland have taken him to the main campus in Plainview, Texas, where he portrayed Dr. James H. Wayland himself on stage and also on mission trips to Kenya, Belgium and Australia. The versatile dean also is the school’s first full-time webmaster ...

Richard Hung and Marco Cervera and the gang at Flagship Fast Lube on Cane Street in Wahiawa have earned high marks from a happy Whitmore customer, Jane Carlson. “They have two new young fellows and they’re very friendly,” she tells me. “The waiting room is gorgeous and the bathroom is so beautiful.” I believe they also fixed her car ...

Wahiawa’s new transit center already has a complaint (in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser‘s Kokua Line) from a passenger with a full-sized car: “too narrow, too steep” ... The Mililani Lions have awarded $1,000 scholarships to Mililani High graduates Kellie StephensonPino, Chelsea Kimura, Bethany Kanda and Kristoffer Raymundo ...

Renowned surf photographer Clark Little marks his Haleiwa gallery’s first anniversary from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday with sales, prizes, calendar signings and a silent auction to benefit the Kelly Slater and Kokua Hawaii foundations, and Waialua High School (6265318)

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The North Shore Chamber of Commerce will honor Aunty Betty Jenkins at its annual Christmas Party and Auction, set for Dec.1 at Turtle Bay Resort. Betty has been a leader, teacher and cultural adviser to the community for decades ...

Wahiawa actor Aaron Roberge plays Billy in the surprise hit comedy The House of Blue Leaves, playing now through Dec. 4 at Hawaii Pacific University’s theater in Kaneohe. Fans are returning to see it twice (375-1282) ...

Joining Coldwell Banker is Jennifer Jerviss-Apo, who grew up in Wahiawa. Jennifer will work out of its Leeward office as a Realter associate ... Spotted recently on Oahu streets were these conflicting license-plate messages: NONVME and YUJLUS ...

It’s good to have an experienced banker in the community. Central Pacific Bank has appointed Terry Tanaka vice president and manager II at its Mililani branch. Terry has 20 years in the industry, including time at manager of Bank of Hawaii’s Wahiawa branch ... Hale Kula Elementary has stepped into the green movement. The school on Schofield Barracks just blessed a new outdoor classroom that includes raised planter boxes and a large tank to harvest rainwater ...

Mililani Lions Club’s continuing vision screenings at local schools are anything but routine. This fall they tested 45 pre-kindergartners at Hanalani and recommended seven for further evaluation by their doctors. Then at Mililani Waena they referred 28 out of 169 students for further hearing checks ...

Director Derek Ka’apana and his Mililani High band will be on their feet all day Dec. 3 first at the Mililani holiday march and later in the Honolulu City Lights Parade. The next day is their winter concert (see Highlights) ...

And you can catch Na Kamali’i O Iliahi singing at 7 p.m. Dec. 7 at Pearlridge Center Uptown ... Kekoa Yoshinaga (Mililani 2009) has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C. ... Mililani High School graduate Jason Uza has won a 2011 Hui Makaala Scholarship to support his studies in business, currently under way at UH Manoa

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It’s no surprise that Wheeler Middle School special education science teacher Meghan McCormick is the Central District’s Teacher of the Year. The woman always finds ways to engage her kids in learning. She started the Furlough Friday Adventure Club, leading expeditions around the island; she got a grant to cultivate an organic garden on campus; she heads the environmental club and directed a schoolwide recycling drive. And that’s just part of it ...

After 20 years at Mililani Shopping Center, dentists William and David Lum have moved their practice to a state-ofthe-art clinic at the entrance to Mililani Mauka. Call “A Caring Dental Office” at 623-2871 and open wide ... Congratulations to Oceanic Time Warner Cable and Pizza Hut’s 2010-2011 Outstanding Educators, which include Leilehua’s Denise Okouchi, Mililani’s Claire Gearen and Waialua’s Mary Chun ...

Mililani actress Jo Pruden reads Gail Harada‘s A Question, and Mililani’s Kat Koshi reads Violet Harada‘s The Shell Gatherer in HPR’s next Aloha Shorts series, taped recently for broadcast ... Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl has a new book out titled Murder Leaves its Mark. It’s set in the old Haleiwa Hotel of the 1930s, where beach combing and horseback riding can turn deadly ...

Texas native Loren Michael Small, now of Mililani, has joined Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties as a Realtor associate in its Windward office ... Though we’re between illegal fireworks seasons, here’s a tip about pyrotechnic-related eye injuries anyway, just in case. Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora says don’t rub your eye or attempt to rinse it out, as this can cause further damage. Just cover it without putting pressure on it and seek immediate medical attention ...

Miguel Riveira (Leilehua 1997) has graduated from Army National Guard basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. ... Top picks of state library borrowers in September were James Patterson‘s Kill me if you can: a novel and the DVD of The Closer: The Complete Fifth Season

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Hawaii’s Latin community has honored Mililani resident and ubiquitous emcee Ray Cruz as 2011 Hispanic Media Advocate of the Year. Ray is HPR assistant operations director and host of Sabor Tropical ... Jessrey Leary (Mililani 2009) has graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ...

Making the Top Four winners in the library system’s Teen Summer Reading Finale prize drawing was Jesse Buenrostro (from host library Waialua) who won a 24-inch LCD television (does this mean the end of reading?). Toni Marie Reyes (from host library Mililani) and Hannah Barros (Wahiawa) also won prizes ...

Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora says the Lady Gaga look with circle contacts is not safe for the Halloween masquerade: “If buying contact lenses to wear as part of a costume, purchase legal ones to ensure quality and safety.” Besides, he adds, the singer’s doe-like eyes in the Bad Romance music video “was actually digitally altered to look bigger than they really are” ...

Leilehua and Mililani bands will play at 5 p.m. Nov 1 in the annual Oahu Marching Band Festival at Aloha Stadium (4545655) ... Mililani artist Corinne Gallardo Mata is coordinating a new exhibit, “Figures & Portraits,” at Cafe Che Pasta downtown, which features 20 artists, including 19-year-old Adam Medeiros of Wahiawa. You can vote for your favorite artist there until Nov. 1. The show is up through Nov. 26 (271-1344) ...

Fran Corcoran has left the building. Kahuku Library’s manager since 2005, Fran bid farewell to the community to resettle in Arizona. Mahalo for the revived bookmobile, too, Fran, and happy reading. Acting manager is Lea Domingo

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Acrew member at the Wahiawa McDonald’s, Jane Guillermo, is a national semifinalist in the Voice of McDonald’s global singing competition, which means she needs your vote. Between now and Nov. 1, the public can vote for Jane at voiceofmcdonalds.com to get her into the top three. Final goal is a $25,000 grand prize and world dominance, of course ...

UH Manoa will screen the updated short film, The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little, at 7 p.m. Friday in the art building auditorium, with the North Shore photographer himself there to share how he gets those great shots (956-8244) ...

Mililani Mauka’s Victoria Zeuner had a busy first year in college. She was named Chemical Engineering Freshman of the Year at Northeastern University and is on its women’s varsity rowing team, which won all three events at the Colonial Athletic Association championships this year.

Victoria also paddled on the USA Jr. Canoe Kayak Team before hitting the books in Boston ... Central Oahu’s garden of talented artists continues to grow. Only 28 of the 1,500 entries in the Regional Scholastic Art Awards show here were picked for the U.S. Department of Education’s rotating exhibit in Washington, D.C. and five of those 28 are right here in Mililani and Wahiawa. View their works through Oct. 31 in the nation’s capitol: Ryan Gibbs and Chavez Moala of Leilehua High, Ariana Hirata of Mililani Middle School, and Michelle Barit and Bennet Cariaga of Wahiawa Middle School ...

Shawna Fujita, a junior from Mililani, made the summer term scholastic honor roll at Oregon State University in Corvallis. She’s studying animal sciences ... Janelle Acain of Wahiawa has graduated from Air Force Reserve basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ...

Latest lucky slot players in downtown Las Vegas: Wahiawa’s Jane Oda $8,650, Wahiawa’s Stephen Tessier $4,171 ... To cut down on pedestrian slaughter on the highways, Koolauloa’s MaryAnne Long suggests a “Get a Light” campaign: “Just put something reflective, or a light, on yourself,” she says. A cheap light from the hardware store does the trick, and give one to a friend, too, when you walk at night   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

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Because it has backed up its high school teacher Betty Squatrito-Martin so well, Ho’ala School was honored last month as a Patriotic Employer by the Hawaii Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. “From the moment I joined the Hawaii Army National Guard,” says Tech. Sgt. Betty, “Ho’ala has supported every move I have had to make as an airman.” Her latest move was in January to a yearlong assignment at National Guard headquarters in D.C., where she’s working in public affairs with its counterdrug program. “It’s really hard to walk away from Ho’ala, even if for just a short time,” she adds. Betty has taught at the Wahiawa private school since 2003, off and on ...

Funeral services are at 9 a.m. Sept. 13 at St. John Apostle & Evangelist Church for “Mr. B,” longtime Central Oahu principal Gervacio “Harvey” Buenconsejo. He died Aug. 16 at age 70. He led Mililani Waena and Kunia elementary schools, and was a vp at Wheeler Intermediate and Waialua High and Intermediate ... Thomas Rapine is now executive director at YMCA Camp Erdman in Waialua.

He oversees operations at the camp, which already is planning a Halloween Family Camp for Oct. 28-30 ... Two distinguished Central Oahu women are among four honored with the 2011 Ho’okele Award for outstanding leadership in the nonprofit sector and dedication to the community. They are PBS-Hawaii CEO Leslie Wilcox of Waialua and Leilehua graduate Lea Hong, Hawaiian Islands program director for the Trust for Public Lands. Each of them received $10,000, which they are urged to spend on themselves for a change for professional and personal renewal ...

Brianne Imada of Mililani made the spring dean’s list a Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. ...  Mililani High’s Colby Benson and Rachel Look won a $1,000 savings bond this summer for placing third in the nationwide Ford Driving Skills for Life song contest (on the dangers of distracted driving). Colby’s not distracted from her music dreams, however. She’s been in Hawaii Stars, American Idol, was coached by local talent Kristi Kashimoto-Rowbottom, and now does local gigs with her own songs and own band

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Congratulations to UH Regents Scholars William Gaul and John Sandvig of Mililani High and Daniella Reyes of Leilehua. As outstanding incoming UH students they have won full-tuition scholarships for four years plus a $4,000 yearly stipend and a one-time travel grant of $2,000, based on their “extraordinary achievements” in and out of high school ...

Mililani state Rep. Marilyn Lee was elected this month as president of the executive board of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Women’s Legislative Network ... Networking in Spain were three dozen Central Oahu pilgrims, most from St. Michael‘s in Waialua, who attended World Youth Day Aug. 16-21 in Madrid with Hawaii Bishop Larry Silva. The international gathering is held every three years in a different country so the pope can meet with half a million young people as they share religious and cultural experiences ...

Tyler Werle (Hoala 2005) and Jonathan Smoot (Mililani 2005) have graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ... Bulletin: Waimea Valley has reopened its famed waterfall for daily swimming after completing repairs ... Western Governors University in Salt Lake City has awarded an elementary ed degree (including its Post Baccalaureate Teacher Preparation program) to Megan Hawkins of Wahiawa ...

It’s James Patterson again at the most-checked-out author at Hawaii libraries in July (for Now You See Her: a Novel). Hottest DVD is the Korean drama Kaul Tonghwa ... Mililani High student Jessica Kawana attended the

Congressional Academy for American History and Civics this summer in Washington, D.C. The unique crash course in history included day trips to Gettysburg and Philadelphia as the 111 selected high school juniors studied the pivotal times of 1776, 1863 and 1963 with the nation’s top scholars ...

Three Wahiawa residents are in the cast of Paliku Theatre’s ambitious musical Phantom of the Opera, playing Sept. 9-Oct. 9 on the Windward Community College campus (235-7310). They are Jaime Craycroft as Carlotta, Jay Flores in the ensemble, Kelly Pohl as auctioneer and ensemble member; and Mililani ensemble/dancer Chevy Martinez

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A design by Scott Kaneshiro is on the Spam can on Hawaii store shelves for a limited time as the company once again celebrates the Islands’ love affair with the pink meat. The Mililani artist’s creation has a shaka hand, a Spam musubi, palm trees and “No Ka Oi.” There’s a related video contest on through Aug. 12. Details at hawaiispamcan.com ... New kings of the local jungle: Former state Sen. Ron Menor was installed recently as president of the Mililani Lions Club, and Jim Hatfield now heads the Wahiawa Lions ...

As chairman of the Western Legislative Conference, state Rep. Marcus Oshiro helped bring more than 500 lawmakers and their families from 13 states to Waikiki last week ... William Joseph Richard Stewart (Joe) graduated from U.S. Marine Corps boot camp last month in San Diego. The 2009 Mililani High graduate is on track to complete weapons training this summer at Camp Pendleton and move on to Pensacola to become an aviation electronics technician ...

Further west at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Wahiawa’s Kekaiku’imauloa Nu’uhiwa has entered basic cadet training to get ready for his freshman year there ... Kayla Richie (Mililani 2001, Missouri Valley College 2007) has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Sill, Okla. ...

Trees need names at Wahiawa Botanical Garden, and volunteers can label them with the park’s computer and special rotary engraver (6215463) ... Evan Kau (Mililani 2006) has graduated from Air National Guard basic training at Lackland AFB,

Texas, and Dylan Maglinti (Mililani 2010) has graduated from basic and advanced Army infantry training at Fort Benning, Ga. ... BYU-Hawaii is very proud to announce that it has digitized 120,000 records of Filipinos coming to and settling in Hawaii during the early 1900s for sugar plantation work. This should make family history searches much easier.

BYUH archivist Matt Kester explains that in 2004 before students and missionary couples had the means to digitize them the records were “freeze-dried” and rehoused in acid-free boxes to preserve them for the huge project ahead. For a look-see now, call 675-3669 for tips on how to get it online

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Army families got to see the Harry Potter movie for free, and in advance, at Schofield’s Sgt. Smith Theater. Hawaii Army Weekly says nearly 1,500 fans lined up for the July 9 screening, sponsored by Warner Bros. and the AAES as a military appreciation gesture ... Mililani’s Bridget Rhee has earned her BFA degree in graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City ...

Jenna Clark of Creatrix Solutions plans a fundraiser in August when 20 percent of her profits from back-to-school photos will go to “a local charity to prevent child abuse.” The Mililani photographer does similar benefits every month (203-4661) ...

Speaking of photography, Mililani’s Cheryl DeAngelo has joined the board of directors at ProjectFocus Hawaii, a nonprofit that helps at-risk children and youths gain confidence via creative work behind the camera lens. Cheryl and husband/chef Fred also own Turtle Bay’s Ola restaurant ...

Iris Suzuki led the pack of lucky slot players this past spring in downtown Las Vegas. The Mililani woman won a whopping $104,738, followed by Wahiawa’s Josephine Chargualaf $13,981, Wahiawa’s Jane Oda $10,602, Mililani’s Garrett Suzuki $10,050, Wahiawa’s Yuki Miyashiro $10,000, Wahiawa’s Felicia Souza $6,867, Mililani’s Josephine Ponce $5,247 and Mililani’s Seichi Sakihara $5,000 ...

If Vegas gamblers happen to leave the casino and stagger into the sun, they should listen to Christopher Tortora, Wahiawa ophthalmologist: “Sunglasses are your friend as they are the best defense against the sun for your eyes and wearing a hat helps.” Shop for 100 percent UV protection, wrap-around frames and added lens coatings ...

Mililani Waena Elementary first-grader Morgan McKinney won the Academic Progress Award for her grade in the fourth quarter, making her family proud. Mother Mika says principal Dale Castro has made “huge improvements” at the school, and this is just one sign. Maybe Morgan will grow up to be a writer like her dad, local author Chris McKinney ...

The busy North Shore musical group Abrigo Ohana has released its first CD, Ekahi, and began selling it July 16 at the Haleiwa Arts Festival

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Bo Wen of Mililani has graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College’s management school ... Jesse Bielmann of Haleiwa and Clifton Lowrie Jr. (Leilehua 2008) have graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ...

Anthony Weingartner, a Kipapa Elementary thirdgrader, had his “The Art of the Messiest” painting on display in Washington, D.C., in June before it joined a two-year tour of museums throughout the country. A co-sponsor was VSA Hawaii, part of the UH Center on Disability Studies ...

Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation (the original Hawaiian Host chocolates folks) awarded a $3,000 scholarship to Mililani High’s Kimberley Pugliese, and $1,000 grants to Shannon Amuro of Leilehua and Kylie De Wilde of Waialua for 2011 ...

Mililani High’s Erin Momono won a $2,500 scholarship from McDonald’s Hawaii. Erin, who works at the Mililani Mauka restaurant, was selected for her academics, community service and performance on the job ... Mililani Lions Club awarded $1,000 scholarships to Mililani High School seniors Kellie Stephenson Pio, Chelsea Kimura, Bethany Kanda and Kristoffer Raymundo ...

Matthew Murakami (Mililani 2008) and JaysonTsukayama (Mililani 1998, HCC 2001) have graduated from Air National Guard basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ...

Pregnant women can experience temporary changes in their vision dry eyes, more near-sightedness, etc. Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora says artificial tear drops and healthy doses of carrots, eggs, spinach and kale can help. On a more serious note, he points out that eyes are the “second most commonly injured body part when it comes to fireworks.” Hope you had a safe July 4

 

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Mililani High School teacher and Waipio kumu hula Kaha’i Topolinski was honored for his cultural leadership recently by the state Senate as well as the Halau ‘o Po’omaikelani chapter of a royal benevolent society (Hale o Na Ali’i o Hawai’i) ... Mililani actress Addie Gibson plays Marina in the interactive comedy/dinner play Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, on stage (with the audience) through July 17 at Manoa Valley Theatre (988-6131) ...

Even in retirement, Susie Peterson (of Peterson Upland Farm) can’t get away from her feathered friends. When she resigned from the Wahiawa school board of directors last semester, they presented her with a chicken banner in her honor for supporting Ho’ala for 20 years. Ho’ala also points out that she’s grandmother to our new Miss Hawaii, Lauren Cheape. Please, no more chicken jokes! ...

Central schools are masters of the ‘bots again this year. Hanalani’s team took first May 7 at Hawaii Botball Regional Robotics with Wahiawa Middle as a runner up.

Hanalani competes in July at the Global Conference on Educational Robotics in California ... Marine Cpl. Ricardo Chavez of Wahiawa was an assistant platoon leader for African Lion, a recent joint exercise between the U.S. and the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces in the Moroccan desert ...

Mililani Mauka’s distinguished performer Loretta Ables Sayre will reprise her Bloody Mary role on the London stage come Aug. 15, getting even farther away from the real South Pacific ... Equally familiar, Mililani High graduate Maggie Q recently starred as a warrior priestess in Priest with Paul Bettany ... President David Seeholzer, Rose Baysa and Betty Akiyoshi and the gang from the Rainbow Seniors Club sure know how to turn out leis for special events. Facing a flower shortage, they made 1,094 ti leaf leis for Schofield cemetery graves, 80 leis for an “aloha” to military couples at Kaala School plus hundreds more Memorial Day floral leis and sprays ...

A dozen Wheeler Army Airfield soldiers recently deployed to Laniakea Beach for a cleanup mission. “Most of the beach wasn’t too bad,” Staff Sgt. Keith Mobley told Hawaii Army Weekly, “except for the smokers. There were a lot of cigarette butts” ...

Most popular with Hawaii library borrowers in May were James Patterson‘s 10th Anniversary and the Korean drama DVD (again!) Iris

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Aswimmer and shooter for the Veterans team, Marine Master Sgt. Dionisios Nicholas of Mililani won a gold medal during the Shooting Finals at the 2011 Wounded Warrior Games May 19 at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Winners will be considered for the U.S.

Paralympic team. Though Dionisios suffered three disabling back injuries during his military career, he now is active with the Wounded Warrior program and volunteers at the USS Arizona Memorial ... Care packages for overseas troops are always welcome at Club Asoka at Wahiawa Hongwanji Mission.

Member Donald Sagara says the National Guard enjoys the local snacks and phone cards from area residents. “As long as Hawaii troops are there,” he says, “we’ll be sending things to them” (621-0115) ... Maj. Philip Lum of Mililani will direct the new leadership team for Salvation Army’s Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, set to open later this year in Kapolei with a dorm, fitness center, classrooms, gym, computer labs and much more ...

Junior golf goes on largely because of the behind-the-scenes dedication of people like Mark DeCastro. The real estate broker teaches it for free at Mililani Golf Course and also is volunteer head coach of the Trojan golf team ... Future UH Manoa engineering student Jordan Bayang, recent Hoala High grad, won a $100 cash award as Hawaii Champion of the National Trigonometry Competition, and his math teacher Maggie Pulver also was honored ...

Mililani nursing major Desiree Talavera made the spring dean’s list at University of Evansville in Indiana ... Making the spring dean’s list at University of Montana Western (in Dillon) were Mililani scholars Kekoailikea Perbera and Jarren Pestana ... Congratulations to singer Paula Fuga and Brandon Botelho of Pupukea. The couple married May 7 in Waimanalo amid good music, good wishes and good friends

 

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High School Principal of the Year for Hawaii is Leilehua’s Samiaan “Aloha” Coleman, who made a firm push to fuel a passion for learning among her 1,900 students. Aloha & Co. also set up numerous support systems and interventions for teens, especially military dependents, affected by the turmoil of war and the economy. (Her son served Army deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.) In October she flies to the MetLife National Association of Secondary School Administrators’ institute and awards banquet in Washington, D.C. Aloha has led the school since 2007, with previous posts at Waialua High and as Leilehua vice principal. She’s is now working on her doctorate ...

Soldiers from the Army’s 523rd Engineer Company Bulldogs with shovels and wheelbarrows, did a splendid job at Mililani Uka Elementary’s recent beautification day, according to coordinator Norma Tamsey. As she told Hawaii Army Weekly, “I am always amazed at what a few people can accomplish when they work together” ...

It may be his 15 minutes of fame, but every time you look at the Hawaiian Tel phonebook cover this year, you’re seeing Haleiwa boy Kapono Zukevich tossing his net into the North Shore waves. Kapono’s mom Bernadine gives this account: “Five years ago, he went to Mokuleia to throw his fishing net and a stranger approached him and asked if he could take some photos. That person made some kind of agreement, and I’m guessing that he submitted the photo to Hawaiian Tel”...

Mililani’s Laurie Tomooka won $750 as a finalist for UH business school’s Student Employee of the Year. A senior, Laurie is a graphic publications specialist in the Academic Affairs office ...

Haleiwa’s Kerry Germain is very proud now that her Island Paradise Publishing firm has won awards for three out of its four books. The latest is Plenty Saimin by Feng Feng Hutchins with artist Adriano Abatayo II. It won Hawaii Book Publishers 2011 Po’okela for Excellence in Children’s Literature and honorable mention for Excellence in Children’s Illus-trative/PhotographicBooks

 

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Congratulations to Jared, Lester and Gordon Kane-maru. It’s no surprise that the longtime dental practice in Wahiawa won the city’s Small Business Administration’s 2011 Family-Owned Business Award. Nearby, Henry Cashen directs Schofield’s busy Soldier & Family Assistance Center, which won SBA’s Veteran Small Business Champion award ... Brandon Millare (Leilehua 2010) has graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ...

Announced previously, Kaala Elementary reading coach Yuuko Arikawa went to D.C. this spring to accept a $25,000 check for winning the 2010 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award ...

The Honolulu Police Community Foundation honors Wahiawa native and retired Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Moon at a May 20 gala for his work with Kick Start Hawaii as its vice president and head of the education committee. Kick Start helps keep kids out of trouble through martial arts and other supportive programs ...

North Shore photographer Clark Little has added two more honors to his resume. This time it’s the Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Award in the category of Oceans Photography (an underwater tube) and also Highly Honored Photographer in the Endangered Species (green sea turtle) category. Ceremonies were May 3 at the Smithsonian, where his works are on view until Sept. 25 ...

Mililani actress Jo Pruden has a lead role in Manoa Valley Theatre’s dark comedy, August: Osage County, May 19-June 5 (933-6131) ... Mililani Waena Elementary principal Dale Castro is one of two top semifinalists for the Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School Leadership Award, earning $2,000 from Island Insurance Foundation (plus $1,000 more as a nominee) for his outstanding work in the public schools ...

North Shore resident Terry Thompson, who head the Kua’aina burger franchise, opened the London version of his popular Haleiwa and Honolulu eateries just in time for William and Kate‘s wedding guests to drop by ... April’s favorite Hawaii library check-out items: Toys by James Patterson and the Korean Iris on DVD

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Mililani High 1999 graduate Robin Crisostomo has earned the Air Force Commendation Medal for meritorious service while assigned to the 352nd Special Operations Maintenance Squadron in the United Kingdom. It appears that Staff Sgt. Robin’s talent as a mechanic and troubleshooter has saved the day many times: He replaced a faulty engine generator on a cargo plane to get the U.S. ambassador and 96 civilians out of war-torn Chad. He fixed a switch on another aircraft to complete the rescue of an injured sailor off the coast of Ireland.

And much much more. Maybe we’ll all see Robin’s story in a movie someday ... Top picks among land-locked civilian library patrons in Hawaii during March: Tick Tock by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, and that popular Korean drama Iris on DVD ...

Kahuku Library offers a doubleheader at 6:30 p.m. April 19. The tireless Suzanne Frazer of Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii will brief North Shore residents on how they can help her and B.E.A.C.H. free area beaches of plastic and other debris. (Suzanne also talked to Mililani Girl Scouts, Haleiwa Farmers Market shoppers and Sunset Beach Elementary students this month.) And in another room state Rep. Gil Riviere and Junior Primacio promote buying local produce (293-8935) ...

Raised on the North Shore, Tanoa’i Reed took his muscles and tattoos to the big screen as the stunt double for his cousin Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and others in dozens of films, then as Toa on TV’s American Gladiators and more recently in a guest role on the

Hawaii Five-O episode, “Ko’olauloa” ... Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has tapped Tonya Coutsourakis for its new team for its Leeward office. Tonya, a Waialua resident, specializes in the North Shore and Hawaii Kai areas. She also studied at LCC and HPU. When not working as a Realtor associate, she gardens, spends time at the beach and on the water, and loves her dogs ...

E kale mai. Omitted from the winners’ list of Central Oahu students in the April 6 column was Hale Kula fifth-grader Madelyn Wiggins, tops for her grade in the digital media contest associated with the recent Nene Awards

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Professional puppeteer Tom Lee (Mililani 1991) has landed a key position in the play War Horse, opening next month on Broadway. Tom helped design the life-sized horse puppets, and will also support the back end of one of them himself. Parents Sam and state Rep. Marilyn Lee plan to take in the show this summer (check out warhorseonbroadway.com) ...

North Shore musician Jack Johnson does what he can for the world. He and his son planted a kukui tree at First Wind’s dedication ceremony March 24 in Kahuku and, following the March 11 earthquake in Japan, he donated $50,000 to Global Giving’s Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. The Johnsons were in Osaka for a concert that day and Sendai was their next tour stop. Several shows were cancelled, but again, Jack is donating all proceeds from his To The Sea world tour to charity ...

The Wahiawa Community and Business Association marked its 75th anniversary recently at its annual dinner at Dot’s, installing its board of directors and new president Bill Putre, vice presidents Walter Benavitz and Dan Nakasone, secretary Stacie Sasagawa and treasurer Barbara Awo ...

Central Oahu students made their presence known at the state library’s annual Nene Awards, held last month at Ward Theatres, through excellence in various literary competitions. Hale Kula Elementary’s Daylie Smith earned honorable mention (Persuasive, digital media), Brent Sohn and Matthew Molinari won for their grade levels (Persuasive, essay). Emily Kurth of Mililani Ike was tops among fifth-graders (Persuasive poster) ...

Vince Victorino (Mililani 2007) has graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas. Following his example were Army recruits at Fort Sill Luaafe Talaeai (Leilehua 2007), Shantell Wilson (Leilehua 2004), Gregory Coleman (Leilehua 2010) and Wahiawa’s Dayora Moore (at Fort Jackson, S.C.) ...

Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora warns athletes to think about their eyes when they compete or practice their skills, and the best protection, he says, is 3-mm polycarbonate lenses, which are high impact-resistant, but still thin and light. And don’t stare at laser pointers either, no matter how weak the beam. “Looking directly at a laser beam, even briefly, means the energy could be intensified by the eye’s natural focusing system, thus causing more damage”

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The Friends of the Library of Hawaii picked State Rep. Marcus Oshiro as its Legislator of the Year. As chairman of the House Finance Committee, the Wahiawa lawmaker was instrumental in restoring nearly $3 million to the library budget - which meant no more furlough days and filled vacancies ...

Mililani architect Dean Takasato has joined RIM Architects as a senior associate and healthcare architect - which is a good fit, since Dean has 17 years experience designing and renovating medical facilities here and on the mainland ... Just by swiping their debit cards, Mililani’s Von Baron and Wahiawa’s Marie Lobitos won $250 Ala Moana gift cards in a promotion by Hawaii State FCU ...

TV’s New York CSI star Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band were a hit as usual during a recent tour of Schofield Barracks and other Oahu installations - just of few of the 40 concerts they do each year since 9/11 with the USO. “The least I can do as somebody in the spotlight is to make sure your sacrifice is not forgotten,” the bass guitar player told local media. He also played Vietnam veteran Lt. Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump ...

Jason O’Neill (Hanalani 2004) and Kennisa Rafanan-Reynolds (Mililani 2010) have graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ...

Mary Jean Fischer of Wahiawa has received her master of arts (for teaching science education) from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City ...

Victoria Gail-White of Haleiwa was the director/chef of a unique staging last weekend of Tea with Emily Dickinson. Victoria directed Janice McGrath in the TAG play at Dole Cannery Square, which was followed by high tea and gourmet treats. She once played Jan’s daughter in a 2003 play and has called her Mom ever since, despite telling her what to do in five shows already ...

Leilehua student Chavez Moala won a silver medal for the drawing Helping Hands in the 2011 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national competition, which comes with special recognition May 31 at Carnegie Hall in New York City

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Upcoming North Shore talent Elyssa Turnbull stars as Blossom - “a hard-headed little fairy” who has only one night to learn how to be good and earn her wings - in Hawaii Theatre Center’s production of Wishes & Wings, A Musical Quest from the Mountains to the Sea, playing Saturday and Sunday downtown (528-0506) ...

When the Army goes shopping in Hawaii, it’s not for the little stuff. Its Compatible Use Buffer program recently put more than $2.6 million toward the purchase and preservation of the Honouliuli Preserve (visible from the Kunia plain), plus more toward Waimea Valley earlier. For that the Mililani-Waipio-Melemanu Neighborhood Board recently honored the program. “This is the best act of Army philanthropy I’ve seen yet,” board member Ann Freed told Hawaii Marine ...

More good guys: Mililani Middle School eighth-graders. Social studies and service learning teacher Carolyn Ozaki said they’re contributing their 2011 walkathon funds (and their hands-on labor) to a preschool program at two Leeward homeless shelters. The students recently spent time there weeding, painting, gardening, preparing lunches and helping with keiki activities ...

Josue “Sway” Nunes of Wahiawa is a semifinalist for a national service award for his innovative fundraising approaches in support of rehabilitation programs for individuals with mental illness. A UH graduate student in social work, Sway led a campaign for Hale O Honolulu Clubhouse called “Miles for Mental Health” ...

Mililani resident Chaz Curet, a senior at Damien, has been named a National Merit Scholarship finalist, making him eligible to compete for more than $36 million in NMS scholarships. He also runs cross country and works on the school newspaper (yea!) ...

Tops with borrowers at Hawaii libraries in February were James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge‘s bestseller Tick Tock and the Korean drama DVD Iris ... Michele Spacek seeks a few good men and women to volunteer as football or cheerleading coaches for the Mililani Pop Warner season, which starts Aug. 1 at Mililani District Park. E-mail her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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Carly Button of Waialua is one of two Hawaii youth volunteers to be honored with a $1,000 Prudential Spirit of Community Award for 2011. She will attend ceremonies in May in Washington, D.C., where the nation’s top volunteer will be announced. An eighth-grader at Hawaii Technology Academy, Carly co-founded the nonprofit Dream of a Better World that has raised more than $35,000 to help disadvantaged children worldwide.

She started with garage sales and lemonade stands with her siblings, after they helped their mom go through a battle with breast cancer. “We wanted to help people who were going through a tough time,” she explained. So far, the group gave a scholarship to a child whose mother died of cancer, bought school supplies for homeless Hawaii kids, paid for riding lessons for children of deployed parents, bought a van for a Ugandan orphanage, and donated books and a solar water heating system to a Mexican orphanage ...

Matthew Pollard (Mililani 2007) is an honor graduate of Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ...

Mililani High freshman Viola Mocz, who attended the Pacific Symposium for Science and Sustainability in December, is one of five students picked to attend the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in April in San Diego. Her paper: “A Fossil-Fish Model for Robotic Fish: Learning from Evolutionary Hydrodynamics to Design Better Underwater Vehicles” ...

The granddaughter of Samoan High Chief Tuanaitau Tuia has joined Coldwell Banker as branch operations administrator. Qwilan Tuia of Mililani took the job last month, following work with the U.S. Census Bureau ... A busy mother and community volunteer, Mililani’s Sandra Yoro also is executive director of Special Education Center of Hawaii, which recently rebranded itself, launching it with a party at Kemoo Farm (check out secoh.org). The nonprofit agency has several service centers, including adult day care at 634 Kilani Ave. #2 in Wahiawa ...

State library patrons checked out David Baldacci‘s bestseller Hell’s Corner more than any other book in January. Ditto for the DVD Iris

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Wahiawa has benefited from the efforts of Tyler Suwa and Sean Watase, who earned their Eagle Scout rank with community projects. Tyler and his crew built a recycling shed for teens in the Wahiawa Store Front High Core Program, and Sean’s group works to improve the Helemano Elementary campus in Whitmore Village …

Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora has tips for computer users (which is almost everyone): Don’t forget to blink, look away from the screen for a few seconds, take a 20-second break every 20 minutes and look 20 feet or more into the distance. Viewing angle matters, too, as well as good lighting …

Sage Brandner (Mililani 2010) has graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB …

Mike Moses has gone to the girls — La Pietra School for Girls, that is. The Mililani resident has been hired as the private school’s director of development. He most recently had a similar job at his alma mater, Iolani …

UH Manoa student Charles Feldman is spending his spring semester as a legislative intern for state Sen. Kalani English, thanks to a UH scholarship that covers full tuition for 15 intern credits …

Gervin Lincoln of Mililani has joined Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties as a Realtor-associate, switching from a retail career with Liberty House, Duty Free, Hilo Hattie and Borders …

Thanks, Mililani Shopping Center, for repaving your parking lot.

Grateful shoppers have spoken … Moses Smythe of Mililani has completed the Army advanced course Basic Field Artillery Cannon Crewmember at Fort Sill, Okla. …

Lucky slot machine players in downtown Las Vegas this season include Lance Higa of Mililani, $10,821; Balerio Piano of Wahiawa, $10,000; Lisa Keliikoa of Mililani, $7,722; Geraldine Wabingo of Haleiwa, $6,000; Kathleen San Augustine of Mililani, $5,647; and Kerry Koide of Mililani, $4,176 …

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If you’re not among the millions who already know it, Haleiwa sparkplug Jalee Fuselier won $20,000 (for her HPU master’s degree) and second runner-up honors at the 2011 Miss America pageant Jan. 15 in Las Vegas. The audience learned a little bit about our Miss Hawaii’s volunteer work here and abroad, her special bond with her sister who has cerebral palsy, and the fact that she’s eaten termites in Africa. I can add that she’s a very friendly wahine who made at least a dozen trips to the roof of our MidWeek offices to model clothes for the Jan. 12 Style pages. Congratulations, Jalee …

Garrick Ferreira (Waialua 2006), an automotive mechanic with the Air National Guard, has deployed to Iraq. Garrick is assigned to the 154th Logistics Readiness Squadron out of Hickam …

Among the 16 hula troupes paying tribute to the late Aunty Sally Wood Naluai Jan. 15 at Polynesian Cultural Center was Halau Kawaipuhilani (Keith Kalanikau Awai) of Haleiwa …

Congratulations to Mililani Mauka residents Stephenie Kunz (Hanalani 2007), who graduated summa cum laude from HPU last month with a BS in business administration …

Versatile local actor/costumer Nara Cardenas is rehearsing to read from fellow Mililani resident Eric Chock’s Meeting Old Friends Downtown by Accident and Lee Cataluna’s Folks You Meet in Longs at the Feb. 6 live taping of HPR’s Aloha Shorts at Atherton studio (For seats, call 955-8821) …

Hawaii public library patrons had time in December to check out plenty of bestsellers and DVDs. Topping the list were Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci and The Closer: Compete Second Season …

Hungry for McFood? The Mililani McDonald’s restaurant reopened last month, and it’s completely rebuilt with a contemporary look and many green features. More important, it has a new double-lane drive-through so customers in two separate cars can order at the same time. Fast, fast food ...

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Two Mililani Mauka Elementary students are among the top four winners in HECO’s New Year’s Resolution poster contest on saving energy. Second-grader Matthew Ogawa suggests “turning off the light when I don’t need it,” “closing the refrigerator door right away,” and “play outside instead of playing video games.”

Fourth-grader Cassidy Silva endorses CFL lights: “Make It Right, Change Your Lights!” They both have won a Mad Science show (very energetic, however) for their classrooms …

Army Spc. Jeremy Haas made four nifty book stands for Wahiawa Elementary School, and Bronco Brigade soldiers delivered them earlier this month from Schofield, complete with the unit’s mascot engraved in the wood, which the children loved. “What makes it even more special,” principal Troy Tamura told Hawaii Army Weekly, “is that someone cared enough to make something for these kids” …

Armand Gahol (Waialua 2010) has graduated from Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas …

 

This year’s Operation Aloha, hosted by Armand Gahol NCTAMS staff on Thanksgiving at Waialua Community Center, served about 450 area residents, and Capt. Patricia Cole presented a check and thousands of pounds of food the sailors collected to WCA president Kathleen Pahinui and Pastor Ron Valenciana …

State library borrowers liked John Grisham’s The Confession, the DVD Iris and the Michael Jackson CD HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I best in November …

Wahiawa-Whitmore Village Neighborhood Board recently recognized its “living treasures” from the city: Fred Sohl with Parks and Rec. and Patty Dukes with Emergency Medical Services, as well as retiring state Sen. Bobby Bunda and the Wahiawa Bobby Sox champions …

Oregon State U. is growing a big crop of area scholars. Making the fall term honor roll in Corvallis were Joli Johnston (straight A’s) of Haleiwa, and Mililani’s Lauren Kaina (straight A’s), Marissa Arakaki, Brett Kakugawa, Nicole Chun, Melanie Inouye, Jason Iwasa, Zachary Kaneshiro, Wendi Kobayashi, Lauren Luke, Abigail Tapawan and Thomas Watanabe …

Wahiawa’s Jane Oda topped the lucky list last fall in downtown Las Vegas, taking $7,455 from the slots,while Wahiawa’s Roxanne Reyes and Mililani’s Danny Matsunaga each won $4,000 …

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Mililani native Seth Ching left last week to join the private hospital ship Africa Mercy, where he’ll serve as an Able Seaman, working on the journey’s technical preparations. The ship will serve thousands of patients for free in Sierra Leone in West Africa ...

Congratulations to adviser Jason Tamura and his Mililani High team, which took second in the Road Runner High School High Speed Video Contest. The team (Zachary Lee, Taliya Hayes and Brandon Tacadena) won three notebook computers for a 90-second piece on What Does Road Runner Do For You?, sponsored by the Mililani-based Oceanic Time Warner cable company ...

New Mayor Peter Carlisle has appointed Army veteran Gary Cabato to direct the Department of Parks and Recreation - a job the Mililani man knows well since he’s been its executive assistant for a decade. Gary also was 2002 city Manager of the Year and has worked under eight department directors ...

North Shore’s Clark Little has a 2011 calendar out with 13 of his favorite shorebreak shots. Clark also won the 2010 Windland Smith Rice International Award for oceans photography and will exhibit his winning work at the Smithsonian for six months starting in April ... Trojan freshman Viola Mocz is the sixth-place alternate (out of 96 competitors) to the National Junior Science & Humanities Symposium in San Diego next spring, following the Pacific Symposium for Science and Sustainability Dec. 3-5 at UH Manoa. A member of Mililani’s family science dynasty (older siblings Philip and Lucia are student scientists at Harvard now), Viola also speaks Hungarian and performs in the Hawaii Youth Symphony - on the viola, of course ...

Crowds attended a celebration of life last Sunday for colorful mural-ist, musician and family man Ron Artis, 61, who made Haleiwa his home (and his newest canvas) in recent years with wife Victoria and 11 keiki. For a look at his life, go to http://www.ronartis.com. He died Dec. 8 at Wahiawa hospital of an apparent heart attack ...

The Oahu Arts Center 2010 Art Show at Pauahi Tower Gallery downtown is open through Jan. 8 and has 30 artists, including Marie Kinchla of Haleiwa, and Marcelino Baniaga, Rafal Cholodzinski and Nicole Woo, all of Mililani. Call show coordinator Corinne Gallardo at 271-1344

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Coach Glenn Lee‘s Waialua High robotics team is at it again. This time the students paired up with Waiakea High to win the American School in Japan VEX Robotics Tournament Nov. 9 in Tokyo. The Bulldog team also won the Best Build award there. The next VEX tourney is Dec. 3-5 in Honolulu ...

Army National Guard Pfc. Billie Vogt of Wahiawa has graduated from One Station Unit Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and has also completed the military police specialist course ... Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora warns that “it’s never too late to start protecting your eyes,” and sunglasses can be your friend year-round in Hawaii, especially for those over 60, who are vulnerable to cataracts ... Mililani’s Melissa McIntyre, a UH Manoa senior majoring in nursing, is the first recipient of the $1,000 Gordon & June Ito Foundation Scholarship, set up to support “the next generation of nurses.” The foundation liked Melissa for her academic record, nursing awards and community involvement ...

Borrowers at state libraries liked these best in September and October: James Patterson‘s bestsellers Postcard Killers and Don’t Blink (with co-authors); DVDs The Closers: The Complete Third Season and Next; CDs Neil Diamond‘s 12 Greatest Hits and The Beatles’Revolver ...

Kathy the Waialua Plant Lady has finally run out of pots to put her plants in. She grows ‘em and gives them away to church fundraisers, St. Michael’s School and other good causes. “I just pot and pot and pot,” she admits. If you’ve got any pots “of all kinds” to spare, give her a call at 637-0488 ... Haleiwa harbor gave Australian long-distance swimmer Penny Palfrey a good send-off Nov. 9, as she sailed from there to Kaena Point and then swam out into the Kaieiewaho channel under her own power. Alas, the jellyfish got her again, halting her second try for the Garden Isle about halfway through her swim ...

Haleiwa’s Kerry Germain runs Island Paradise Publishing, which recently released its first children’s picture book: Plenty Saimin by Feng Feng Hutchins. “Although we’ve received many (submissions) over the years, nothing touched us with its message quite like this one has,” explains Kerry. Find out for yourselves at your local bookstore

 

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Hurray for Chloe Meyer, the very enthusiastic little nymph who won the 2010 Meadow Gold Healthy Baby Contest. Besides her crown, the Wahiawa tot won a $2,500 savings bond and other gifts. The milk company’s People’s Choice photo contest honors went to Jayci-Ann Kuromoto of Mililani ...

Wahiawa natives Leslie Hayashi (author) and Kathy Bishop (illustrator) have partnered on yet another book, Celebrating Holidays in Hawaii from Mutual Publishing, released this fall. According to Kathy, the women friends used to be in 4-H Club together as kids ...

Congratulations to 2010 Longs Drugs $1,000 scholarship winners Christian John Racachot of Leilehua, Jordan Tansiongco of Mililani and Kristian Castellanos of Waialua High School ...Mililani Mauka’s Sandra Tsujimura is a new leasing and sales associate for Coldwell Banker Commercial Pacific Properties.

Sandy graduated from Heald Business College and completed other specialized real estate programs ... In the military: Steffan Shade (Leilehua 2006) has earned his 2nd lieutenant’s commission after graduating from University of Pittsburgh and its Army ROTC program. Keke Moala (Leilehua 2009) has been promoted to Private 2 in the U.S. Army Reserve. She’s assigned to the 1st Battalion,

19th Field Artillery Co. at Fort Sill, Okla. Also at Fort Sill, Richard Aquino (Leilehua 2009) graduated from Field Artillery Automated Tactical Data Systems Specialist training. Wahiawa’s Gary Nagy (Kahuku 2007) is an honor graduate of Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas. ...

Mark Cunningham, being honored by the Surfrider Foundation this weekend (see story) also splashed through some exciting scenes in a recent Hawaii Five-O episode

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Mililani resident Joe Hunkler was recognized Oct. 9 as the 2010 Oahu Red Cross Volunteer of the Year during its Heroes Breakfast. A retired engineer, Joe reports daily to Red Cross headquarters on Diamond Head Road. He helped deploy 41 volunteers to the Gulf Coast during the 2008 hurricane season, prepared 20 Hawaii volunteers to go to American Samoa after the tsunami struck, and has created a mentor program for retaining new volunteers ... Chloe Chang of Mililani took second place (and $100) in HFD’s Fire Prevention Week poster contest for firefighter employees and their families. “Smoke Alarms: a sound you can live with” is the theme ...

The Billboard Touring Awards Humanitarian for 2010 is North Shore singer/environmentalist Jack Johnson and his wife Kim, who have devoted the past seven years to “effecting change in their home state of Hawaii and worldwide through involvement in many social and environmental issues.” Besides all the projects of Kokua Hawaii Foundation here, Jack’s lucrative music tours incorporate green practices, and he gives 100 percent of tour profits (via the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation and its All At Once campaign) to local and national groups who can make the world a better place. The couple will accept the honors Nov. 4 in New York City ... Kimoli Thomas from Team Lally at Re/Max Honolulu urges residents to bring donations of Hawaiian goodies (and leftover Halloween candies) to her office before Nov. 3 for shipment to our Schofield troops in Iraq. Call her at 687-8933, ext. 5, for details ... On a recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery, MidWeek columnist Rick Hamada saw that the wreath-laying part of the changing of the guard ceremony was dedicated to Mililani Middle School. “Our experience was richly enhanced by the participation of such an engaged group of Hawaii students,” he recalls ...

Leilehua’s team took third, not fourth (as reported in an earlier story), at the national Health Occupation Students of America competition in June ... Mililani High senior William Gaul has been named a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program for his “exceptional academic ability and potential for college success.” Stay tuned ... Army National Guard Pvt. Arthur Kiyabu (Mililani 2008) has graduated from Fire Support Specialist training at Fort Sill, Okla.

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Hina Mauka will honor Wahiawa’s Mark Patterson at “Rebuilding Hope,” the drug rehab center’s benefit dinner Oct. 28 in Hilton’s Coral Ballrooms (236-2600). Mark is warden of the women’s prison, where he champions Hina Mauka’s therapeutic treatment for the inmates as well as other innovations like hydroponic gardening. The prison’s hula halau will perform in tribute ...

Bella Pietra has promoted Aolani Esene of Wahiawa to purchasing and outside sales manager. She previously worked at Halau Ku Mana public charter school and has management degrees from Chaminade ...

Scott Saville of Haleiwa is the new commercial and residential project developer at RevoluSun. Scott has plenty of experience in environmental work and belongs to the North

Shore Chamber of Commerce ...Xavier Imperial was a finalist from Mililani Library in the Teen Summer Reading Program. He won one of the three grand prizes - an Apple iPad - in a drawing last month at the finale. Other prize winners included Ikaika Magno from Waialua Library and Tamika Wright from Wahiawa Library. Hurray for reading ...

Mililani’s John Jepsen has joined Hawaiian Properties as senior property manager and vice president of its condominium division, including The Tropics at Waikele. The retired Navy CPO also has 10 years of experience in the industry ...

Matthew Lai (Mililani 2010) is now at Concordia University in Portland, helped by a $4,000 Cavalier’s Award scholarship.

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The state Judiciary - and 300 special guests - honored retiring Chief Justice Ronald T. Y. Moon last month by officially naming the new Kapolei court complex after him. A Wahiawa boy now 70 years old, Ron had to retire because the law says so, and he’s not one to ignore it. The Moon family - especially his father Duk - has had its name linked to many Wahiawa landmarks, past and present: a pool hall, a Korean church, a barbershop, a military tailor shop that grew into Duke’s Clothing, Wahiawa Korean Businessman’s Association, plus Rotary and Lions club memberships over the years.

In addition to CJ Ron’s work to build the Kapolei and Kaneohe courthouses, he also earned the Conference of Chief Justices’Harry L. Carrico Award for “innovation or accomplishment of national significance in the field of judicial administration” ...

Mililani’s Grace Bell directs and choreographs Honky Tonk Angels, playing now through Sept. 26 at Manoa Valley Theatre (988-6131). The musical is loosely based on the lives of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette ... New work by North Shore artist Heather Brown is on view in the show High Tide, now through Sept. 25 at Chinatown Boardroom on Nuuanu Avenue (585-7200) ...

Mililani’s Shanton Antolin won a scholarship from Hawaii State FCU (for credit union members or dependents) to study architecture at UH Manoa ...

Mililani’s John Dailey was promoted from property sales manager to director of sales for both Pacific Beach and Pagoda hotels, proving his leadership after only one year with HTH Corp. ... Mililani’s Vena Funtanilla is a new business partner in LifeSuccess Consulting of Hawaii, offering personal development and recipes for economic success (258-4391) ...

Most-borrowed items by category from the state libraries in August: Sizzling Sixteen, novel by Janet Evanovich; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl DVD; and Keola and Kapono Beamer‘s Honolulu City Lights CD ...

Recent lucky slot players in downtown Las Vegas: Mililani’s Garrett Suzuki $10,000, Wahiawa’s Jane Oda $11,241, Wahiawa’s Alex Takayama $10,276, Mililani’s Teana Vann $10,000, Haleiwa’s Kaena Apana $5,700, Mililani’s Janis Anzai $4,500 and Mililani’s Marilyn Kunukau $4,000

 

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Happy 100th birthday to Petersons’ Upland Farm. According to one of its biggest fans, Wahiawa boy (and chef) Alan Wong, “The U.S. loses a little over one family farm per hour.” Yet manager Sharon Peterson Cheape and her team are working to produce more eggs at the Wahiawa Heights farm, while supplying neighbors, longtime customers, Wong’s Pineapple Room and Dot’s in Wahiawa with their regular stock of carefully monitored, homegrown white and brown eggs.

Stay tuned for the winners of Chef Wong’s “Eggscellent Recipe Contest” Sept. 21, when he’ll put the best concoctions on his Pineapple Room dinner menu for a month. On the farm’s website you also can check out his video demonstration of the difference between Mainland and local eggs (This is not a political statement!) ...

Kevin How (Leilehua 1997) has graduated from Air Force Reserve basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas, and Shannon Apostol (Leilehua 2003) has graduated from Air National Guard basics, also at Lackland ...

Congratulations to Michelle Colte of Hale Kula Elementary, recently named Central Oahu District Teacher of the Year. Michelle will be honored Oct. 7 when the BOE announces the state’s top teacher ... In addition to human actors, Annie director Kristi Kashimoto-Rowbottom is looking for a medium-sized, well-trained, mixed-breed dog to play Sandy in the play (see Highlights on page 5) ...

Speaking of drama, “Hawaii 5-0” is the theme of HPR’s Aloha Shorts show, set for 6:45 p.m. Sept. 12 at Atherton Studio, and Mililani actress Jo Pruden has a grizzly assignment. She’ll read from The Murders of Lisa Au and Diane Suzuki,a chapter in the book Honolulu Homicide: Murder and Mayhem by Gary Dias and Robbie Dingeman (955-8821) ...

Singer Paula Fuga, now a Pupukea resident, has released her new CD, Misery’s End, which is produced by Jack Johnson and including collaborative songs with Jack and Ziggy Marley. Paula also joined Jack for part of his To the Sea tour. Download her amazing voice at iTunes, Amazon, etc. ...

Another North Shore voice, Haleiwa musician Otis Schaper, is back at First Friday (Sept. 3) at the courtyard of the Mendonca Building in Chinatown (262-5930)

 

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Hanafuda is back. You can meet Helen and Jason Nakano (a mother-and-son team) and check out their new card-game gift set and booklet at the Mililani Hongwanji bon dance Friday and Saturday (see Highlights). Their mission is to bring generations back together through this cultural treasure of a game ... Dee Mayr found a UH medical school class ring in Haleiwa a year ago, and she still hasn’t located the owner. The inscription reads “M MacKenzie.” Call her at 428-4846 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ...

Wahiawa singer and guitarist Otis Shaper performs with the blues-rock band The Strangers in concert at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 28 at HPR’s Atherton studio (955-8821) ... Cadet Grayson Ballard of Wahiawa completed the George Marshall Foundation ROTC leadership seminar in Lexington, Va., where he and 274 other award-winning cadets discussed the Army’s role in national security issues. He has just graduated from James Madison University in Virginia with his commission as a 2nd lieutenant ...

Angela Marie Falvey of Mililani has earned her BFA in sequential art from Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia ... Wahiawa’s Kristen-Ashley Mitchell has won a scholarship from Kiewit Building Group to study civil engineering at Seattle University ... Finally, I got to hear Wayne Yoshioka, politics reporter for Hawaii Public Radio, interviewing Wayne Yoshioka, director of transportation services for the city.

I once interviewed marine mammal trainer Carol Chang at Sea Life Park - just for the heck of it. I bet the Waynes never met Fat Fred the penguin up close and personal ...

Still following Kristen Shay Ashpole‘s college career - the Wahiawa woman has graduated cum laude from Seattle Pacific University ... Philip Lund of Mililani has claimed his bachelor of fine arts degree in design from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University in Cambridge ... Heather Demers-Keller of Wahiawa earned her teaching degree this summer from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City ...

Mililani’s Brooke Jones is on stage and Carlynn and Rose Wolfe are backstage (costume design) for Hawaii Shakespeare Festival’s Henry VI, playing through Sunday at the ARTS at Mark’s Garage (800-838-3006)

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Mililani High students Bryson Yogi and Kara Nyuha have earned certificates for outstanding work in Job Interview (Bryson) and Bulletin Board (Kara) at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City. Skills USA assesses hands-on employability and academic skills in our future work force ... “Have it your way” means more than just freedom to choose hamburger trimmings. Burger King’s Have It Your Way Foundation gave $1,000 scholarships to 32 local 2010 high school graduates, including Qiana Quinn and John Racachot of Leilehua High ...

The Wolfhound kids are in town again. Four orphans from Holy Family Home in Japan, sponsored by Schofield’s historic Wolfhounds unit, arrived in Hawaii July 27 for some visiting and fun, without knowing a word of English ... Casey Del Rosario (Leilehua 2008) has graduated from Army National Guard fire support training at Fort Sill, Okla., where he learned to set up communications equipment for intelligence operations ...

Kasey Dukes of Leilehua and Kailey Davis of Mililani High each have won $1,000 scholarships from Hawaii Self Storage, which gives grants yearly to worthy high school seniors in communities served by the company ... Jayson Fujimoto has moved up to distribution manager for Meadow Gold Dairies where he’s worked since 1987. Does that mean he’s a milk-man? Sort of. The Mililani resident is in charge of assuring a cost-effective distribution system for a century-old local firm whose website is the name of a cow ...

UH Art Gallery can thank Mililani resident Kelli Ann Harada yet again for her fine work on the design of its specialized catalogue, Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities - all 430 pages of it! It won Honorable Mention in the national American Association of Museums competition ... William Duck (Mililani 2006) earned his Air Force ROTC commission at UH Manoa and joined pilot training at Hickam ...

Wahiawa resident Darwin Phillips (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) has become an independent consultant selling easy-to-prepare foods for Tastefully Simple Inc. ... What do state library patrons think are hot for July (via a survey of borrowers)? Stieg Larsson‘s book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Alice in Wonderland DVD and Taylor Swift‘s Fearless CD

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Mahalo, sailors. USS Bonhomme Richard’s crew took time from RIMPAC exercises to do restoration work at Waimea Valley and other Oahu sites… Speaking of ships, Mililani machinist Porsche Yogi is one of three Pearl Harbor shipyard trades workers to win an Apprentice to Engineer scholarship. It pays her salary as well as tuition, books and expenses at UH Manoa as she pursues her mechanical engineering degree - and will hire her when she graduates. Get the message? Study engineering! ...

Cody Sullivan of Mililani has entered six weeks of basic cadet training at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs to prepare for his freshman year there ... Mililani High’s Marissa Okazaki received the $300 Eddie Tangen Award at a June 8 forum at the East-West Center, sponsored by Pacific and Asian Affairs Council. The scholarship honors the pioneer of Hawaii’s labor movement and champion of social justice ...

Mitchel Camille Dumbrique, who works at McDonald’s in Mililani Mauka, has won a $2,500 grant from the chain’s employee scholarship fund. She was picked for her on-thejob performance as well as academics and community service. Mitchel plans to attend San Francisco State ... This spring Washington State graduated Mililani’s Liana Moore (hospitality business management) and Wahiawa’s Mapuana Antonio (psychology) and Ruth Gerola (nursing, cum laude).

Ruth also made the spring dean’s list, along with Ryan Kim, Maxine Koyanagi and Janelle Ohtani of Mililani and Lauren Daima of Wahiawa ... Mililani goes literate at 7 p.m. Sunday for the Aloha Shorts taping at HPR’s Atherton Studio (955-8821). Stephanie Kong is a reader (Lois-Ann Yamanaka‘s Momi’s Kitchen), and author Eric Chock‘s Working Construction is featured ...

On Oregon State’s spring dean’s list: Joli Johnston of Haleiwa and Mililani’s Shawna Fujita, Marissa Arakaki, Nicole Chun, Brett Kakugawa and Wendi Kobayashi ... Wahiawa-born Rev. Danette Kong is currently serving as chaplain at Pohai Nani Retirement Community in Kaneohe ...

Field artillery specialist Chase Acohido (Leilehua 2009) has graduated from Army National Guard Fire Support Specialist training at Fort Sill, Okla., where he learned skills to help set up and operate radio and wire communications equipment in a war zone

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Mililani’s Casey Sugihara is PacWest’s Scholar Athlete of the Year for softball. With a .331 batting average and 47 runs for the HPU Sea Warriors, it’s no surprise that HPU also claims her as Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year. Also named to the 2009-10 PacWest Academic All-Conference Team were softball player and former Trojan Dana Lee (UH-Hilo) and soccer player Raechelle Pereira (Chaminade) from Waialua High ...

Manoa Valley Theatre is reviving the late Lisa Matsumoto‘s Once Upon One Time July 8-Aug. 8 with Mililani actor Chevy Martinez in the cast (988-6131) ... Hawaii Pubic Radio’s Tim Vandeveer (Full Nelson host on KIPO) will man the HPR table at the Haleiwa Arts Festival this weekend ...

North Shore carpenter and cabinetmaker Lucas Urtiaga has joined Graham Builders as a finish carpenter who “completes the final interior home touches” on company projects.

Lucas previously worked for GavinWood and Wholesale Cabinets Hawaii at Waialua Sugar Mill ... Versatile state Sen. Michelle Kidani (MililaniWaipio) has joined temporary City Councilman Lee Donohue‘s temporary staff as a temporary research analyst. The former city police chief’s council position (filling U.S. Rep. Charles Djou‘s seat) lasts through December ...

Ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora of Hawaiian Eye Center in Wahiawa has some tips for saving your eyesight: First, eat plenty of spinach, broccoli, peas and tangerines. Second, blink a lot while at the computer and take a 20-second eye break about every 20 minutes. And get your eyes checked regularly (621-8488). He also had the foresight (pun!) to promote three of his staff recently: Mary Ann Rambuyan, Marie Polendey and Maylanie Martinez and to hire Rachelle Tavares ...

Leilehua graduate Christian John Racachot has won a $2,500 grant from the McDonald’s Hawaii employee scholarship fund for his job performance, academics and community service. Christian works at the Wahiawa restaurant and plans to attend Hawaii Pacific University

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Teacher of the Year for 2010 at Wahiawa Community School for Adults is Ronald Gutierrez, who conducts the competency-based high school diploma courses. The school says Ron’s students know and respect him as a caring man, and they can count on him to be their strongest advocate ...

Congratulations to Haleiwa woman Jalee Fuselier. She went into the Miss Hawaii pageant June 12 as Miss North Shore and came out with the ultimate crown ... Mililani’s Rene Mansho spoke on behalf of Schnitzer Steele’s “Fishing for Energy”

partnership at the Sustainable Ocean Summit, held June 15-17 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It’s considered the only international, cross-sectoral industry conference in business leadership and sustainable development of the marine environment ...

 

The votes are in, and patrons seem to be into fiction and pop. Topping the list of Hawaii public library system’s “most-borrowed” items for June are fiction and pop: The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (book), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (DVD) and HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I - Michael Jackson (CD) ...

Wahiawa surfboard shaper Otis Schaper (perfect name!) also plays classic rock, and you can hear him and his artistic wife Jules at First Friday in Chinatown from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. July 2 at Mendonca Building courtyard (262-5930) ...

When Wahiawa Lion Jack Kampfer was voted second vice district governor for 2010-2011 at the state Lions convention in Hilo last month, he did what every self-respecting big cat does - dressed up as a Civil War cavalry office with saber and led a march around the room. Lions know how to have fun ... Speaking of which, the Mililani Lions gave scholarships to Mililani High’s Angelica Buenconcejo, Kailey Davis, Samantha De Leon and Alexandra Unpingco ...

He’s a poet, and we all know it. Mililani Ike fourth-grader Justin Shimazu‘s Great Grandma’s House won for his grade level in the 2010 Star Poets competition, which drew more than 2,300 entries statewide. Check out Justin’s poem online soon at windward.hawaii.edu/poets ...

Being No. 10 is not bad in a field of 2,400 secondary school students at the national Science Olympiad in Illinois. Mililani High School students Chad Uyehara and Tru Dang ranked 10th in the Elevated Bridge competition, and schoolmates Arielle Ujo and Cyrus Takahashi ranked 10th for Technical Problem Solving. Their adviser is Namthip Sitachitta

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Teacher Janise Kim knows that not all teens are clueless about managing money. Her Mililani High students collected both top prizes in the High School Marketing Plan and Business Plan competition held recently at the Sheraton Waikiki: Kayla Caliboso and Taylor Oyama (marketing) and Justin Bongco and Lowana Lunasco (business) ...

Wahiawa’s Romeriza Miguel has deployed to Southwest Asia under the U.S. Central Command “at a forward operating base” supporting operations in Iraq and the Horn of Africa. She is an Air Force chaplain assistant normally assigned to Beale AFB in California ...

Uilani Forgione (Leilehua 2006, Montgomery College 2009) can now add “honor graduate of the Air Force basic training course” at Lackland AFB, Texas to her resume ...

Healthcare Association of Hawaii gave Diane Canon its Distinguished Service Award in May. A Haleiwa resident, Diane works in the long-term care unit at Wahiawa General Hospital. HAH Legislator of the Year is state Rep. Michael Magaoay (Schofield, Kahuku) ...

Thumb through to page 14 in this month’s National Geographic and you (along with 9,000,000 other readers) will see an eloquent wave image captured by our own North Shore photographer Clark Little. It’s in the magazine’s Visions of Earth section. Way to go, Clark! ...

Jordan Acosta (Leilehua 1999) was promoted to Air Force master sergeant in May ceremonies at Yokota AFB, Japan ... Hanalani senior Daniel Moore has won a four-year Air Force ROTC scholarship to a college of his choice (that offers ROTC) ... To see how well that works, just ask Christina Sears (Mililani 2006), who got her U.S. Navy commission following graduation in May from University of San Diego and its ROTC program ...

Another Mililani alumna, Maggie Denise Quigley (Maggie Q), is set to star in Nikita, an action TV series this fall on the CW network ...

Hawaii Rotary Youth Foundation gave $5,000 scholarships to Kacie Lundy of Leilehua, and Andrew Miyasato and Jenna Maligro of Mililani High. Kacie will attend University of Richmond, Andrew plans to study at UC-Berkeley and Jenna will go to University of Washington.

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Sharing the role of Mowgli in Jungle Book are Robbie Denzer of Waialua and Robert Serna of Waipio Gentry, cast in the musical directed by Kristi Kashimoto-Rowbottom, who runs Applause! Performance Academy in Wahiawa. Robbie will do the matinees, and Robert will cover the evening shows. The play is being staged June 11-13 at Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College in Kaneohe by Kristi’s new “community theater-type” company, Diamond in the Rough. For ticket information, call 622-1272 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ... Far away from the jungle, hardworking Wahiawa student Kristen Ashpole made the winter dean’s list at Seattle Pacific University ...

Stefan Morales (Mililani 2004) has returned to Fort Richardson, Alaska, after serving a year in Afghanistan with the Army’s 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team. A metal worker, Stefan helped improve infrastructure, schools, medical clinics and courthouses in three eastern provinces ... The energetic partners in the one-year-old Haleiwa Farmers Market, Pamela Boyar and Annie Suite, just opened a second one in Hawaii Kai on May 22 ...

Gov. Linda Lingle paid a visit to Wheeler Middle School seventh-graders last week in response to letters they (painstakingly) wrote to her asking about a wide range of issues. She also wrote back to each student individually ... Leilehua students Aiyana Brinson, Johanna Macedon and Sara Scoville earned a first place award and Best Social Health PSA for No Second Chance, their entry in the 2010 HMSATeen Video Awards, winning $2,000 for video equipment or software for their school. Their teacher is Deena Yoneda. You can view their very moving piece about teen suicide at http://www.hmsa.com/tva ...

Mililani resident Mike Parks has won a $1,000 American Express gift card from DTRIC Insurance. The Pearl Harbor shipyard worker was automatically entered in the sweepstakes drawing when he completed a free insurance FastQuote earlier this year. What’s he going to do with all that kala? Buy presents for his wife, of course ... Public School Foundation of Hawaii honored Harry Saunders at its Kulia Ka Nu’u Awards banquet in Waikiki this month for his outstanding community leadership as president of Castle & Cooke. Harry shared a guiding principle from his days on the Kailua High football team: “It’s not how you start, but how you finish” ...

The teenage citizens have voted, and the winner is Kimberly Tatsuyama, new student body president for Mililani High School ... Mililani High senior Nasera Alayon won a national Silver Key from the 2010 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her stencil graffiti entry, Convenience. It’s a multi-layered interpretation of her favorite photographer, Dirk Mai, at a Wahiawa convenience store. Nasera told the Trojan Times she plans to study graphic design at the Art Institute of California in Hollywood ...

Sabrina Lowe is the grand-prize winner of the 2010 UH West Oahu flier contest. The Mililani High School senior submitted the best poster to promote enrollment at UHWO. She won an iPod Video Nano and an Amazon Kindle, as well as getting her design published in the Star-Bulletin and MidWeek. One of the five finalists was Sabrina’s classmate, Alexander Kawamoto. (He got the iPod, too)

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Congratulations to Trojan Times adviser Christopher Sato and staff for their triumph at the state high school journalism awards. Mililani High’s product was named Best in State, as well as first for features, sports and single issue. Staffer Bianca Sewake was named most valuable reporter ...

Meanwhile, back from downtown Las Vegas, here are Central Oahu’s latest lucky slot players at Boyd casinos: Charline Terukina of Haleiwa, $6,464; Kerry Koide of Mililani, $6,182; Belinda Castro of Mililani, $6,000; and Geraldine Wabinga of Haleiwa, $5,000 ...

 

Gary Powell of Mililani has earned his Guardianship certification after passing a national exam to show he meets the standards “worthy of the responsibility entrusted to him.”

Gary is the executive director of the Hawaii-based Caregiver Foundation of America (625-3782) ... Trinity Lutheran School got a makeover in December from former student Matthew Araujo, 15, who assembled a dozen fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 126 to landscape, paint and enhance pathways on the Wahiawa campus.

For that (plus 21 merit badges) Matthew will receive his Eagle Scout badge in June. He’s also a CPR instructor, by the way, and has trained more than 250 people in the procedure ...

As Hawaii’s regional awardee, Mililani High’s Melissa Monette has won a $10,000 Coca Cola corporate scholarship recognizing her leadership potential. (To learn about her tennis potential, turn to page 9) ...

Trojan alumna Shelle Shimizu, now at Macalaster College in Minnesota, has been named a 2010 Truman Scholar, which comes with $30,000 for graduate study. Currently in China, Shelle will be a Fellow this summer in Public Policy and International Affairs at Princeton. Then she wants to join the Peace Corps, get a law degree and a master’s at Columbia. Whew! ...

Anglican priest Michael Lapsley brings his healing mission to Mililani Hongwanji at 7 p.m. May 13 (342-6550). Father Michael was part of South Africa’s liberation movement when one day he received a letter bomb.

As a result, he lost both hands, one eye and was severely burned. He has since share his journey to healing through workshops worldwide. His first Hawaii workshop this May 7-8 in Kalihi Valley (734-7130) ...

North Shore jazz singer Ginai Curti performs with Pierre Grill and Ernie Provencher at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at HPR’s Atherton studio to kick off a summer concert series (955-8821). Look for Ginai July 17-18 at the Haleiwa Arts Festival, too ...

Mililani grad and former Sabrina Starr Dancer of Wahiawa Wendy Calio is back home to share her Broadway, TV and film experience with keiki. On May 1 she opened Pas De Deux, her own performing arts studio in Waipahu (671-0350). She’s also booked for the Pineapple Festival Saturday (see page 3)

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The UH Art Gallery’s exhibition catalogue won a Pele Award for book design this month, and Mililani resident Kelli Ann Harada designed it. A recent UH graduate, she’s an intern under the Watumull Grant for Museum Studies in the Arts. The title is Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities, and you can order your copy for $50 plus shipping from the gallery ...

Baskin-Robbins marks its fourth annual 31 Cent Scoop Night from 5 to 10 p.m. April 28 across the nation and at Omar Dy‘s Mililani Town Center ice cream parlor, where he’ll serve 2.5-ounce ice cream scoops for that low price, plus tax. The promotion supports the chain’s $100,000 donation to National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Customers are limited to three scoops, by the way. Franchisee Omar says he and his staff are excited because “it gives us a wonderful opportunity to show our appreciation to loyal customers and to honor local heroes ...

 

Reyn Tao, 11, of Mililani Mauka Elementary has begun training as an ambassador to Fukuoka, Japan. Reyn will spend 11 days in July there, meeting with 220 students like himself from 44 countries and cities at the Asian Pacific Children’s Convention, followed by home stays, hula performances and cultural tours. Only six Hawaii students were picked this year by the Japan-American Society of Hawaii for the free experience - and it’s without their parents! ...

Iliahi Elementary School’s after-school ukulele and hula group, Na Kamali’i o Iliahi, was a big hit Feb. 26 in the Hilton Hawaiian Village Tapa Ballroom. The keiki entertained for Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties’ awards banquet and were rewarded with a $1,000 donation from CBPP president Chason Ishii. The next day they performed at the school Ohana fair - and you can see them May 8 during the Wahiawa

Pineapple Festival ... Mililani man Paul Apuna has been promoted to station manager of ground operations for Aloha Air Cargo, bringing 30 years of travel and air-freight industry experience into the job. Paul started his career as a cargo agent for Aloha Airlines ... Mililani Girl Scouts and the Easter Bunny hosted an Easter party for homeless keiki at Family Promise of Hawaii’s Honolulu center on April 3, conducting an egg hunt, bean bag toss and arts and craft activities, reports a very grateful FPH executive director Kent Anderson ...

Mililani High School senior Melissa Monette is a semifinalist in the 2010 search for Huggable Heroes, a Build-A-Bear Workshop program honoring young leaders for helping their communities. Stay tuned for more on this rising star. I’m sure there’s plenty ahead for this helpful teenager (see page 7 for her tennis prowess) ... North Shore Jetski lifeguard Mark Dombroski has autographed Eddie Aikau posters for “Nate and his brother Kai.” Nate interviewed Mark for a class project months ago about the Big Wave rider, but never returned for his posters, and Mark doesn’t know how to locate them. Their dad’s name is Brian. Are you reading this, Nate? Call 623-3718

 

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Little Jonah “J-Boy” Kalaikai of Wahiawa got the royal treatment at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam last Friday as Pilot for a Day. Now 7, J-Boy has been fighting acute myeloid leukemia since he was 2 years old. But on April 2 he became an honorary Air Force pilot, donned a flight suit, did a simulated bailout, toured a C-17 and the working dog kennel as well as operated a robot at the base’s explosive ordinance disposal facility…

Hanalani fifth-grader Makaala Perry recently won the 2009 Children’s Album of the Year at the Hawaii Music Awards, and she’s currently recording a Hawaiian CD that will feature the Mililani youngster with her vocal teachers Melveen Leed and Glenn Medeiros, as well as Ken Makuakane and O’Brian Eselu ...

New account executive with Hawaii Pacific Entertainment is Valen Ahlo, a Mililani resident with experience in media production, including startup clothing company linked to the TV show So You Think You Can Dance ... Derek Lanter of Waialua Estate Coffee and Cacao will discuss “Keeping an Old Plantation Green with New Farm Crops” at a luncheon of Hawaii Jewish Seniors Thursday at Temple Emanu-El (595-7521) ...

Several Central Oahu residents are performing in Monkey Waterfall’s unique Celebrity Project across the Leeward Community College campus Thursday through Saturday (483-7123). They are Hillary Bardos, Ikaika Cleghorn, Lucy Dorado and Harold Wong of Mililani; and Danielle Boling of Schofield Barracks ...

Hawaii hospitality for Korea’s new Bagram Hospital continues as the Sagara brothers guide the flow of gifts from Wahiawa to the April 12 opening of the complex in Afghanistan. Sgt. Maj. Cal Sagara just met with a female Afghan-American ob-gyn who wants to volunteer at the new hospital once a week. “This is fantastic,” Cal reports, “since the Korean medical staff is comprised of only male physicians, and the Afghan culture forbids male doctors from treating Afghan female patients” ...

Leilehua graduate DonalynDela Cruz has added a new job to her resume as host of Hawaii Public Radio’s Energy Future, which airs at 5 p.m. Mondays on KIPO. Donalyn also manages government affairs and community relations for Bishop Museum ... Speaking at the Honolulu Pen Women’s writers conference Friday and Saturday at Punahou School are Haleiwa’s Victoria Gail White (print media panelist) and John Wythe White (autobiographical fiction), and Mililani’s Wendy Miyake (Imaginary Friends, the Art of Character Development). It may not be too late to check out all the speakers. Call 254-3271 ...

Primo Brewing & Malting Co. has hired Matty Liu as field marketing rep throughout the state - a perfect job for the former North Shore pro surfer. Matty’s spent 10 years promoting parties and surf brands, fashion shows and movie premieres. “We are stoked to have Matty join the Primo team,” declares its marketing director Kyle Wortham ... Good job by Mililani High Trojans. Their team won $800 in the AlohaCare Healthy Hawaii Teen Video Contest for placing second in the Teen Health category ...

Oregon State University has plenty of student role models from Central Oahu this year. Its winter-term honor roll includes straight-A student Joli Johnson of Haleiwa, and Mililani residents Marissa Arakaki, Dexter Carolino, Nicole Chun, Shawna Fujita and Melanie Inouye

 

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Haleiwa women Melissa Shipman and Kaimalie Colabello have launched ecohashi - small bags used to carry reusable chopsticks. You’ll find them at North Shore shops and in the eco-village at the Kokua Festival April 23-24 at Kapiolani Park. The women point out that 63 billion disposable chopsticks are made yearly, using up 25 million trees. See it at http://www.ecohashi.net, but brush up on your Japanese first ...

Dr. Steven Rhee has joined the ophthalmology team at Hawaiian Eye Center in Wahiawa, specializing in cornea and external disease. Steven has advanced training in corneal transplantation and surgery techniques (621-8488) ... Kristen Shay Ashpole of Wahiawa must have good eyesight - she won a spot on the fall dean’s list at Seattle Pacific University ...

Further along is Nora Sanford of Haleiwa, who has earned her master of science in educational leadership from Western Governors University (Hurry back, Nora, we need you!). WGU is an online, nonprofit university based in Salt Lake City ... Calling herself the “house whisperer,” Mililani Mauka Realtor Yuki Takenaka can add another name now - TV celebrity. Yuki made her debut March 26 on the Home and Garden show Bang for your Buck, in which she evaluated three home-renovation projects. The show airs locally on Oceanic channel 59, and should repeat later on. She’s with Re/MAX Honolulu ...

Paintings by North Shore artist Shana Squier might look good in Yuki’s TV homes. You can see them during First Friday on April 2 at the Mendonca Building Courtyard downtown. Shana also has tie-dyed bandannas and sarongs (262-5930) ... The things adults will do to get children to read! Guess who came dressed as a farmer to read Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type to keiki recently at Wheeler Elementary School? Army Brig. Gen. James Nixon, deputy commanding general of operations for the 25th Infantry Division ...

Bernadette Obregon and her dog Kikou wait once again in Mililani while her husband, Army Sgt. Juan Obregon, serves out his second Iraq tour in five years.

Normally at Wheeler Army Airfield, he’s now a combat medic at Base Speicher near Tikrit on a personnel recovery team. Stay safe, Juan. He should - he’s part of Team Arch Angel ... Speaking of military lingo, Mililani Middle School student Brysen Pasion won the state spelling bee March 14 with the word “commissary.” He’ll go to the national bee in June in D.C. ...

Susanna Cheung has accepted a $5,000 grant from Hawaiian Telcom for ORI at Helemano Plantation, a home and resource for the elderly and developmentally disabled adults. “Our participants come to us with abilities, not disabilities,” she says. “Through their own determination and hard work, along with supportive professional guidance, we enable their positive growth”

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Trinity Lutheran School pays tribute to teacher Kathy Gustine at 8:30 a.m. today (March 10) for her 25 years of service (and still going). As a second-grade teacher for most of her years at TLS, Kathy’s known for her artistic creativity and her love for her students. Principal David Wittig calls her “an incredible asset to our program.” And she’s already taught some of her students’ children ...

Leticia Yacapin of Waialua had a good time in downtown Las Vegas recently, winning $38,324 at the slots. Keeping her company were Jane Oda of Wahiawa ($11,780), Haleiwa’s Geraldine Wabinga ($10,000), Waialua’s Angelita Corpuz ($6,000), Wahiawa’s Josephine Chargualaf ($5,077), Mililani’s Kerry Koide ($5,010) and Wahiawa’s Dorothy Shigeoka ($5,000) ...

John Au, vice president of Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group in Mililani, continues to be “blown away” by the generosity of public school students. In his fourth annual Shoeboxes for the Homeless Drive, he reports that all 10 schools in the Castle Complex in Kaneohe contributed, producing a total of 1,075 shoeboxes full of toiletries, clothes, food and more their needy neighbors ...

According to AhLan Diamond of Waimea Valley, the park had visits by 86 school groups last year, from preschoolers to college students ... Mililani High senior Carol Nordman will attend Rice University in Houston on a $180,000 Navy ROTC scholarship next fall to study civil engineering. Carol credits much of her success to a lifelong association with the Mililani Uka Kumon Math and Reading Center and instructor Amy Uemoto. It was there that she learned to balance a checkbook and prepare for her SATs, and even her driving test. Carol also was the first Hawaii student to complete Kumon’s Level X (matrices, permutations and statistics) ...

Congratulations to Eric Nonaka of Mililani. Sensei Nonaka recently was promoted to 7th dan and assistant chief instructor of Hawaii Ki Federation. He teaches at the Mililani Hongwanji Ki-Aikido Club ...

Mililani High School students Alex Kawamoto and Sabrina Lowe are finalists in the annual flier contest to promote UH West Oahu as a top choice for college-bound students. They are now in the running for an iPod Nano, Amazon Kindle and - best of all! - having their art entries published in MidWeek and the Star-Bulletin ... A tsunami scare postponed the Boy Scouts recycling drive Feb. 27 in Mililani, but Rene Mansho says you can still take your stuff to Mililani Hongwanji’s drive on March 27, in conjunction with another recycling drive there (see Highlights on page 5 of this issue)

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The newly formed Wahiawa Historical Society plans to revive the Wahiawa Pineapple Festival on May 8 with plenty of interesting exhibits and events in store for residents. The group also wants to talk to as many Leilehua High School graduates as it can to record oral histories for its community archives. By now, loyal Mules, you’re probably OK about “talking to the principal,” so go ahead and call former principal James Iha to talk story (621-5411 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) or contact fellow alumna Jo-lin Kalimapou (741-4781, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) ...

U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono has nominated high school seniors Jeni Domingo of Leilehua and Preston MiuraAkagi of Kahuku High to the U.S. Air Force Academy ... Remember Melissa Monette, the Mililani junior who won so many high-profile awards last spring? Now she’s a finalist for Coco-Cola Scholars Foundation honors. Melissa and 252 other outstanding high school seniors will go to Atlanta (Coke’s home base) March 25 where she stands to win a $10,000 or $20,000 grant following interviews, tours of the soda giant’s headquarters, a banquet and a community service project ...

 

The Mililani Middle School team made the MATHCOUNTS top seven at the Oahu competition Feb. 13 and will advance to the state competition March 6 at Iolani School ... Mililani student Cody Kilthau made the fall semester honor roll at Valley City State University in Valley City, North Dakota (3.5 and above, but 8 degrees F), and Wahiawa’s Bradley Laulualo is on the fall dean’s list at University of Montana Western in Dillon ... Waimea Valley field educator Kahokulea Haiku (aka North Shore musician and surfer Hoku Haiku) has created Keiki Fun Book for youngsters as they explore the valley. On sale for $2 at the park’s retail store, Ku’ono Waiwai, it offers 12 pages of stories and activities, PLUS four crayons. You also may special order it by calling Gail Cabalce at 638-5870 ...

Santa Catalina School in Monterey, Calif., has named student Shannon White of Haleiwa to its fall semester honor roll and Gold Cord academic honors. Shannon also has done well for herself on the school’s water polo team ... WahiawaWhitmore Neighborhood Board honors Shawn Murray and his Wahiawa company, Aloha Termite and Pest Control, this week for its decade of support for the community ... Tired after walking from store to store at Pearlridge? Sit down with the Mililani Chess Club for awhile. Members give free classes from 6 to 8 every Tuesday night on the shopping center’s second level, Uptown ...

Mililani Lions Club’s Winston Watarai reports that members collected nearly 100 pairs of used eyeglasses at last month’s drive. Thanks, folks ... Speaking of glasses, Haleiwa author Pearl Giordano‘s latest children’s book is Glasses for George, which promotes eye health in a fun way. George is a near-sighted frog, you see. You can get the book at local bookstores or look it up at http://www.tatepublishing.com ...

Come March, during Women’s History Month, you can tune into HPR radio for Aloha Shorts and hear stories read by Mililani’s Stephanie Kong and Kat Koshi. Stephanie and Kat are among the “Superwomen” in this all-female talent night ... Congratulations to fall semester President’s Honor Roll students at Washington State: Ruth Gerola of Wahiawa and Ryan Kim and Janelle Ohtani of Mililani

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Don’t be coy, just come look at the koi - the beeeg kine. That’s the message from Taro Kodama of Kodama Koi Farm in Mililani. Taro says the farm and Aloha Koi Appreciation Society are putting on “the biggest koi show in Hawaii and one of the major koi shows in the U.S.” Feb. 20 and 21 on the McKinley High School field (623-2997) ...

Congratulations to former Kahuku resident and BYU student Bonnie Siu Lin Von, who was named fourth princess on the Narcissus Festival court last month. The honor comes with a goodwill tour of China.

Bonnie is currently studying at Kapiolani Community College while working as store manager at Peggy’s Picks and waiting tables at Tiki’s Grill and Bar in Waikiki ... Creations by Ria Keltz-Remenar of Mililani are on view now through Feb. 26 at the Corinne Gallardo & Friends Art Show at Cafe Che Pasta on Bishop Street (271-1344) ...

Fans, friends and dance students said aloha to Waialua High graduate Jason Ulep last Saturday in a send-off show at McKinley High School. It was the last Hypersquad Dance Co. concert under his direction. Jason has accepted a job as art director of a hip-hop clothing company in Los Angeles. Younger brother Josh will take the reins here ...

Speaking of dance, Brittnie Aguilar (Mililani 2009) of The Hype 5-0 will represent Hawaii on America’s Best Dance Crew on MTV starting Feb. 11. They need your votes (216-2356) ... Mililani state Sen. Michelle Kidani was named state director for Women in Government and sworn in at the national WIG conference last month in Dana Point, Calif. ... Mililani’s Carole Hochberg is a proud mother-in-law. Her daughter’s husband Jim Young has earned the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve. He’s currently heading up the Military Intelligence Readiness Command at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax, Va. ...

Dr. Stephen Foley has joined Haleiwa Family Health Center (which also has a branch in Mililani). He specializes in obstetrics and gynecology ... Nationally syndicated radio show host Dr. Robert Marshall will be at Haleiwa Farmers’ Market this Sunday. He’s a certified clinical nutritionist whose Healthline program airs at 9 a.m. Saturdays on AM760 ...

Mililani actresses are in the spotlight this month: Maile Holck plays Fujiko “Fudge” Katsutani in Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s The Three Year Swim Club, running Feb. 5-March 6 at Tenney Theatre (839-9885). The play is inspired by real-life coach Soichi Sakamoto and his team in the late 1930s. Meanwhile, Jo Pruden portrays “a grandmother from beyond the grave” in UH Manoa’s Appalachia Hawaii, written by Terri Large Madden and on stage Feb. 24-28 in Earl Ernst Lab Theatre (956-6755).

It depicts two families from different cultures drawn together by common threads - think Southern drawl and island pidgin ... Ben Tabious won the grand prize for his chocolate cake with ginger ganache and caramelized bananas at Haleiwa Farmers’ Market’s Jan. 31 salute to cacao

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Three Mililani High seniors - Edward Birtodaso, Chelsie Mangca-Valdez and Brennan Mata - swept the city’s “Youth for Rail” art contest for individual art entries (Edward), overall winner (Edward again, won an iPod) and advertising contest (Chelsie and Brennan). The mayor was pleased, of course. All winners will take a field trip soon to get educated about mass transit ...

Mililani’s Ethan Hottendorf recently toured Pearl Harbor shipyard to learn about career options there. He’s already working in Shop 67 doing troubleshoot maintenance and repair as well as some nuclear engineering. Ethan also won an engineering apprentice scholarship from the shipyard and has an engineering degree ... Hawaiian Humane Society thanked Kaneolani Elementary second-graders a recent newsletter for donating $154, earned from their Rainbow Reader campaign ...

Gabrielle Gregorio of Mililani is co-winner of the highest award for completing the entire Kumon Reading Program at its Village Park-based site. She had to analyze figurative language, critique passages in literature and complete thousands of worksheets ... Hot photog Clark Little will do a slide show and free talk at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in the UH-Manoa art building auditorium on his spectacular images of the North Shore surf (956-8244) - all from his 2009 book The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little ... Oregon State’s fall semester honor roll lists Dexter Carolino, Kelsey Copeland and Wendi Kobayashi of Mililani, and Joli Johnston of Haleiwa ...

For all you Waialua bandstand fans, there’s no concert Feb. 7. Can you guess why? Super Bowl Sunday. “We can’t compete,” admits John Cutting, chairman of bandstand’s Friends ... But you can hear Wahiawa’s Hope Mayo sing on Wednesday nights at Doraku Sushi in Royal Hawaiian Center ... Bill Howes of North Shore Country Market has earned his organic certification for Kolea Farm, making his vegetables officially healthier ...

A belated congratulations to Pupukea’s Kaliko Amona and Blake McElheny (and son Mala’e) who welcomed, ahem, Leihiwa Meleana Kekapamokihana McElheny into this world Oct. 12 - all 9-and-a-half pounds of her. In their spare time, Kaliko directs ‘AINA in the Schools for Kokua Hawaii Foundation, and Blake champions the area’s amenities through the North Shore Community Land Trust

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The new Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Seeing Is Believing is out, and among the reported details is a photo by North Shore photographer Clark Little of a pet rat on a surfboard built by teenager Boomer Hodel of Haleiwa, who claims he’s taught at least two of his little pink pets how to surf ...

Lisa Gomes of Wahiawa began her new job last month as director of youth and young adult ministries for the Honolulu Catholic Diocese. Lisa brings in years of experience, including working with youths at her home parish, Our Lady of Sorrows ...

Michael Wong of Mililani has joined the staff of KHON2 as an account executive with more than 15 years of sales experience in the industry. As an added bonus to the TV station, Mike’s also a veteran volleyball, football and basketball coach ...

Wahiawa singer Hope Mayo is promoting her new CD, end of the day, by stocking albums at Shige’s Saimin and Hawaii Music Supply in

Wahiawa, Coffee Gallery and Silver Moon Emporium in Haleiwa, and also on iTunes. Meanwhile, just to keep versatile, Hope has acquired four beagles to train for dog shows “and they’re driving me a little nuts these days” ... Mililani actress Stephanie Kong will once again read works by local authors at the Jan. 10 taping of Aloha Shorts at HPR’s Atherton Studio. To hear it before the show airs on the radio, reserve a free seat by calling 955-8821 ...

Norman Saruwatari of Mililani was on the Rubber Duckies Senior Mixed 6.0 team that won its sectionals at CORP Dec. 5-6 and will represent Hawaii in the first nationals for this age group (50)

in April in Florida ... Ho Farms on the North Shore does more than raise nearly pesticide-free produce. The family vegetable farm also has donated more than 110,000 pounds of its tomatoes, Japanese cucumbers and eggplants to Hawaii Foodbank over the past two years. (You can often find their harvest on Sunday mornings at the Mililani High School farmers market)

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Former Mililani resident (and Trojan alumnus) Jay Nicolas Sario has been picked as one of 16 contestants for season 7 of the fashion/reality TV show Project Runway, to be filmed in New York City. Jay now lives in San Francisco and works as a visual merchandiser and lead stylist for the Kids division of Gap. The show begins Jan. 14 ... Comedian Andy Bumatai, now a Mililani resident, is opening for the Society of Seven LV this week and next at the Outrigger Main Showroom (923-7469) ...

Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s 2010 calendars are in, and they’re full of youthful talent from Central Oahu schools. Out of 3,500 poster entries and 200 poems, the water people picked only a dozen of each to grace the calendar’s pages on the theme “Ola I Ka Wai - Water Gives Life.” Get yours (738-5369) and look for artwork by Leia Takaesu, Mililani Mauka third-grader (first place); Jenna Saito, Mililani Mauka fourth grader (honorable mention); and poems by Diana Thompson, Mililani High senior (first place); Jamie Tenorio, Mililani senior (fourth) and Max Chenevert, Mililani senior, (honorable mention) ...

Mayor Mufi Hannemann says thank you, Olaloa Retirement Community, for donating your 50-foot tree to the city’s Kapolei Hale tree lighting festivities and general merrymaking out West ... Speaking of the mayor, Helemano Plantation gave him its 2009 Humanitarian Award Dec. 18 for his “long-standing support of ORI Anuenue Hale and other nonprofit organizations” ... Hector Morales Jr., the chef at Turtle Bay Resort’s 21 Degrees North, was likely working in 21 degrees Fahrenheit last week in New York City, where he prepared and served a five-course dinner with island colleagues at the famed James Beard House ...

Mililani’s Nicole Cabral is the new sales manager for the Pagoda and Pacific Beach hotels. The HPU graduate is former membership and marketing director for Central Oahu YMCA in Mililani and a past Miss Island Ilima and Miss Kahala ... Mililani 24 Hour Fitness is giving itself a fitness makeover - on the outside. Great paint job, folks ... Can’t get enough of the caroling sound? Go to the Kokua Hawaii Web site, and you’ll find a cool, mellow version of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer by Jack Johnson ... Speaking of Kokua Hawaii, photographer Clark Little is donating $1 from each sale of his coffeetable book Shorebreak Art to the foundation ...

Here’s a last-minute gift idea: Duke’s Clothing at 723 California Ave. has copies of the WCBA’s 1998 video of Wahiawa’s 100-year history for just $10 ... Congratulations to Ho’ala School senior Audrey Martin, who won the ILH varsity girls bowling title recently with a score of 585 - and this is her first year on the team

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The beloved mother of Hawaii chef D.K. Kodama, the late Sandy Kodama - who grew up in Wahiawa and spent many years hosting at her son’s restaurants - now has a legacy of her own sprouting at Leeward Community College: A culinary scholarship has been established in her memory ...

Speaking of food, Thanksgiving at Schofield Barracks and Fort Shafter was a family affair - just 600 pounds of turkey, 335 pounds of ham, 75 gallons of eggnog, 575 pounds of potatoes, 2,200 pounds of flour for rolls, 150 pounds of nuts and 1,000 slices of pie ... Signed copies of Clark Little‘s new coffee-table book, The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little, are finally available as of Nov. 16. Surf on down to your nearest computer for this North Shore photographer’s ocean action images (http://www.clarklittlephotography.com). Penning the forwards for Clark’s book are Kelly Slater and Jack Johnson ...

If you’re shopping at Pearlridge on Dec. 10, you’ll hear the ukuleles and sweet voices of Na Kamalii O Iliahi Elementary School Choir there from 7 to 9 p.m. (Uptown).

The keiki also perform at 6:30 p.m. this Thursday at Kahala Mall ... Army officer Marty Muchow of Mililani took third place for his division in the Saucony Val Nolasco Half-marathon Nov. 8, a 13.1-mile races through East Oahu ... Shaiw-Mae Schmidt of Mililani (see page 8) was honored recently by RSVP for her volunteer work for The Judiciary. “She is the face of the Volunteers in Public Service office,” says VIPS coordinator Bryan St. Arnault. She helps bar exam hopefuls, schedules proctors and generally keeps the office humming and justice coming ...

In addition to its shoebox campaign (page 5), Mililani-based Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group won the 2009 Outstanding Achievement Award in an Agency from Symetra Investment Services ... Speaking of investments, very lucky slot players on recent trips to downtown Las Vegas include Regina Gagalac of

Wahiawa ($55,040), Terence Amioka of Waialua ($25,000), Jane Oda of Wahiawa ($12,631), Laura Sewake of Wahiawa ($6,907) and Candace Chun of Mililani ($5,800) ... Mililani High graduate Stewart Silva got a job as a power plant operator at HECO’s Waiau plant after finishing LCC’s Process Technology program (its first graduating class). Stewart, who once thought about studying insects, liked the course because “we weren’t just sitting around with a book; we would have hands-on classes (at Waiau),” he says ...

Wanna study music? Wahiawa’s Don Sagara recommends Thursday nights at Dot’s restaurant where Mililani resident Steve Lucas and friends rage on with their old-time tunes. Just last week they played backup there for Bobby Ruffin of the Drifters fame ... You can sure learn stuff in the Army. Army National Guard Col. Keith Tamashiro of Wahiawa has graduated from U.S. Army War College via distance learning at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. The two-year course prepared Keith for civilian and military leadership positions, and earned him a master’s degree in strategic studies. Keith commands Headquarters, 298th Regional Training Institute at Bellows AFB. He also has a degree from DePaul U.

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Fire Capt. Paul Stankiewicz of the Mililani Mauka station was promoted Monday to battalion chief. The 20-year Honolulu Fire Department veteran now will oversee the fire companies in Central Oahu ... Mililani resident Sheri-Lyn Angala and a few good friends welcomed the next Twilight film, New Moon, in style Nov. 19 inside Mililani Consolidated Theaters’ VIP room. Costumed fans flocked to the premiere party prior to the midnight screening ...

Pupukea resident and ‘02 Kahuku High graduate Renee Nobriga is the new Miss Hawaii USA, crowned Nov. 9 at the Waikiki pageant. She works as a sales associate and model, but hopes to run her own boutique and earn a communications degree ... Something else to be proud of: Mililani’s accomplished young actress Brittany Browning was second runner-up for Miss Hawaii Teen US and won pageant awards for Miss Popularity, Academic Achievement and Best Interview ...

North Shore vocalist Ginai sings in Hot Club of Hulaville’s yuletide gypsy jazz show, The Gift, at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 at Manoa Valley Theatre (988-6131) and again at 6 p.m. Dec. 4 for Live from the Lawn at the state art museum (586-0900) ...

Meet the newly certified teachers’ aide at KCAA Muriel Preschool: Lynne Kasaoka of Mililani Mauka. She earned her childcare credentials through online training from Kindergarten Children Aid Association while working full time at its Honolulu school. She’s now working on an early childhood education degree at Chaminade ...

Congratulations to 2009 UH Regents Scholar Ashbea Rose Oyadomari from Hanalani Schools. As an outstanding first-year college student, Ashbea Rose won a full, four-year tuition grant plus a $4,000 yearly stipend and a $2,000 travel grant from the University of Hawaii ...

Renowned Mililani High School alumna Maggie Q (Maggie Denise Quigley) flew in from Los Angeles during the Hawaii International Film Festival to receive the Maverick Award for her work in Hollywood and Asian movies. The award is for a cinema artist who “defies the rules, forging a unique film career, and transcending labels and thresholds to vacil-late between Hollywood and global cinema” ...

The Hawaii Keiki Caucus recognized the 2009 Outstanding Advocates for Children and Youth recently at Washington Place, including Mililani High School student Melissa Monette, who was honored as a “visionary youth leader” for organizing food assistance for needy Oahu residents of all ages ... Kate Nelson of Wahiawa has become a consultant with Tastefully Simple, a direct seller of easy-to-prepare foods. If you’re hungry, e-mail her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ...

Dole Plantation is now selling a Precious Moments hula-girl doll named Makana. Designed by longtime Precious Moments artist Linda Rick, it can be yours for $32 (621-0166)

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Ho’ala principal Nancy Barry had a great birthday present: A trip to Rome for the canonization of Father Damien. And Rev. Clarence Fisher, retired pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Wahiawa, also went. Nancy, who worships at the Newman Center at UH, also claimed a third-row seat for a mass audience Oct. 8 with Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter‘s Square. Her interest in St. Damien was sparked, she told the Hawaii Catholic Herald, by her experience practicing “reiki” on patients at Kalaupapa to reduce their stress and help healing. Father Clarence, meanwhile, was ordained in the sanctuary of the main altar at St. Peter’s Basilica ...

Tickets are on sale now at the box office for Jack Johnson‘s Friday and Saturday concert and documentary screening at Hawaii Theatre. Proceeds go to Kokua Hawaii Foundation, which has sprouted gardens and healthy eating classes at several North Shore and Windward schools. The En Concert film of his latest world tour starts at 8, following by a full acoustic treat from Jack and Zach Gill ... As all of you know, Marcus Oshiro is in the state House, not the Senate, as I wrote in this column Oct. 21…

 

The American Business Women’s Association has named Lee Ann Matsuda of Mililani one of its 2010 Top Ten Business Women of ABWA for career excellence, education and community involvement. Lee Ann belongs to the Na Kilohana O Wahine chapter and works as senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer of Easter Seals Hawaii ...

Veronica Castellanos is looking forward to Waialua Community Association’s Barefoot Boogie on Nov. 21 (see Highlights). The free dance is for dance fans all ages, and it’s the first one they’ve put on, says the WCA office manager. “Come and have fun and just dance to your heart’s content” ... Millicent Cummings, a frequent resident and visitor to the North Shore, performs her original music in “Life is a Gift” (for Thanksgiving) at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 in HPR’s Atherton studio on Kaheka Street (955-8821) ... Another Central Oahu talent, Leilehua teacher Tyler Miranda, will read from his manuscript, The House of Luke, at Bamboo Ridge’s book launch Nov. 23 at UH Campus Center Ballroom (626-1481). Tyler won the Editor’s Choice Award for prose ...

Shannon Taparra, an executive loan officer with Aloha Lending Services in Waipio Shopping Center, wants all Mililani residents to know she will donate a portion of her earnings this month and next to Hawaii Foodbank. Take out a loan and feed the hungry (671-0977) ... Way to go, Nicole Sarrazin of Mililani. She placed second (for women 20-24) in the recent Aloha United Way 5K Run last month at Campbell Industrial Park, followed by third-place Mililani runner Sarah Pacheco of MidWeek. The Tesoro-sponsored race earned $137,000 for AUW ...

Nine-year-old Ryan Cadirao of Mililani, afflicted with mitochondrial myopathy (a disease rendering communication non-verbal) went to Disneyland for the second time last month, courtesy of Make A Wish and UnitedHealthCare. Ryan, his younger brother and parents Ryan and Caroline got the VIP treatment in the Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios. A highlight for him was meeting Peter Pan, riding a Ferris wheel and watching High School Musical III

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State Sen. Marcus Oshiro will read Wahiawa writer Kenneth Lynn Quilantang Jr.‘s immortal classic Peanut Butta Jelly during the live taping of HPR’s Aloha Shorts program at 6:45 p.m. Nov. 1 at Atherton Studio in Honolulu (955-8821). Kenneth is a UH graduate student, whose piece will be published in the upcoming Bamboo Ridge No. 94 ...

Vera Arita of Mililani has authored the children’s book, Can You Catch a Coqui Frog? through BeachHouse Publishing. It’s a colorful cascade of questions presented in a style reminiscent of Dr. Seuss. A teacher at Mililani Uka Elementary, Vera is on a book-signing tour of Oahu, including a 1 p.m. stop Nov. 1 at Borders Waikele, 1 p.m. Nov. 14 at Borders Pearlridge and 1:30 p.m. Dec. 20 at Borders Express Mililani ...

Wahiawa singer/songwriter Hope Mayo officially releases her CD End of the Day this week. You can find it at http://www.hopemayomusic.com, come to her release party at The Pearl Oct. 20, or see her at the REVO show at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Leeward Community College ...

Gina Lum of Mililani was shopping at Pearlridge one day when she decided to enter a “Keep It Local” drawing and promotion sponsored by DTRIC Insurance.

She was the grand-prize winner of $500 cash to spend at the mall: “My children are definitely excited about going shopping,” she declared ... As the Mililani and Wahiawa Lions clubs continue their vision screenings at local schools, they discover that as much as one-third of the children tested have vision problems and don’t know it. Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora says that 80 percent of learning is visual during the first 12 years of life, so get your kids’eyes checked, folks ...

Speaking of Lions, the Wahiawa Leo Club at Leilehua is now 60-cubs strong under new adviser, teacher Amy Sun. Look for them in the Veterans Day Parade Nov. 11 ... Leilehua High School graduate Joseph Morales has joined the national tour of the award-winning Broadway play In the Heights, along with Mililani alumna Christina Black. Both are in the ensemble, and Joe also is an understudy ...

Another former Mule (Leilehua 2009) is Stepphun Gregg, who has just graduated from a four-week Army ROTC leadership training course at Fort Knox, Ky. Stepphun is a student at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell ...

It’s official: Mililani Middle School is the largest intermediate/middle school in the state with 1,752 children in grades 6 to 8 (hey, that rhymes!). Also in the top five for their grade level are Mililani High (2,460) and Mililani Ike Elementary (1,072) ... North Shore photographer Sean Davey will open a new exhibition, The North Shore in Black & White, with a reception from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 2 at Canon U.S.A. in Ward Plaza. So if you’re down in town and you miss your favorite waves, stop in for a fix at Canon’s Honolulu gallery to check out Sean’s version. The show runs through Nov. 25

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Mililani jazz musician Steve Jones will perform with Raiatea Helm, Jeff Peterson, Chino Montero and Capella Williams at The Willows Friday night (941-8939) to give folks a preview of a multi-city tour the group is making to mainland China. The show, “Hawaii Night,“will travel to the Shangri-La Hotels in Beijing, Fuzhou and Shanghai the following week ...

Garrick Paikai is the founder and executive director of the Hawaii Festival of Improvisation, which was held recently in downtown Honolulu. Garrick, who lives in Miliani, coordinated 16 top improv comedy acts for the show’s three days of fun at The ARTS at Mark’s Garage ... Wahiawa’s Gavan Sagara, now a Navy commander, addressed the Wahiawa Lions Club in August following his return from assignment in Bahrain. Gavan told them about his role in counter-smuggling operations against pirates off the Somali coast ...

 

Gina Richardson has joined the breast cancer awareness campaign through her Wahiawa Curves business: For every woman who brings in a mammogram taken within the past year, or who donates $25 to the American Cancer Society, Gina will waive the service fee for joining Curves (during one of the last three weeks of October (638-9443) ... Speaking of the cancer cause, North Shore businesswoman Lori Hess has her sights set on the Fitness America Pageant Nationals in November, and toward that end she’s hosting a silent auction, fashion show and benefit from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 16 at Breakers in Haleiwa. The event also will support her participation in the Komen Hawaii Race for the Cure here on Oct. 18 with “Team Diva.” E-mail Lori at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ...

Hawaii Intermediate Appeals Court associate judge Corinne Watanabe of Mililani has announced her retirement from the bench - by the end of the year, after a long and distinguished career ... Grayson Ballard of Wahiawa has graduated from the U.S. Army ROTC leadership training course at Fort Lewis, Wash. He is a student at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. ... Congratulations to Kristin Wilson of Mililani High School - the only Central Oahu public school student to be selected as a National Merit semifinalist. Kristin is in a select group that represents less than 1 percent of American high school seniors ...

Guest storytellers will visit Mililani Library next week as a special treat during their time off from the Talk Story Festival stage at McCoy Pavilion (768-3032). Award-winning traditional tale teller Michael Parent has come all the way from Maine for the events, and you can listen to him at 6:30 p.m Oct. 12 at the Mililani branch. Alton Chung, a local storyteller now living in Portland, Oregon, will be there at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 19 with a tale for teenagers. Alton also plans a premier show Oct. 24 at Hawaii Okinawa Center ...

Speaking of Mililani Library, Don Chambers Jr. - a chip off the old block - earned a 2009 sustained superior performance award from the state library system for his work as a library technician there

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Haleiwa luthier Jeb Wiemer, who is all of 25 years old, already has built more than 400 instruments for Ko’olau Ukulele & Guitars in Wahiawa. But this weekend he’s taking off for the Windward side to run a stringed instrument clinic at the Bluegrass Hawaii “Pickin’ Weekend” at Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden. Jeb and Bluegrass president Caroline Wright also will lead a rousing gospel sing Sunday morning at the park. Caroline says the fun should return to Wahiawa Botanical Garden in October (206-3459) ...

Getting national mention as celebrity favorites in the July issue of Conde Nast Traveler magazine were Jameson’s By the Sea, Matsumoto’s Shave ice, Waimea Bay, Malaekahana and Kua ‘Aina restaurant in Haleiwa ... Hawaii Public Radio’s Full Nelson host Tim Vandeveer will broadcast “on the road” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at Haleiwa Farmer’s Market (955-8821) ...

Speaking of which, we have the winners of the market’s recent mango recipe contest: Chris Stearns for Mango Wine (condiment category), Noella Monteira for Mango Macadamia Nut Cheesecake (sweets) and Ola Loa Wellness for Mango Tinga on Taro Tostadas (main dish). Yumm ... More food notes: Chef Elmer Guzman, proprietor of The Poke Stop in Mililani Mauka, will be at Queen Emma Summer Palace Oct. 3 serving up his best seafood and local dining specialties for the Daughters of Hawaii festival (595-6291) ...

But after all that, Curves International offers a 30-day diet plan to get local wahine back in shape, launching the program on Sept. 30, which is National Women’s Health and Fitness Day. To check it out, call Carolyn Olomanu of Curves Mililani at 625-9000 or Gina Richardson of Curves Wahiawa at 628-9443 ... Jason Austria of Leilehua High has won a $1,000 scholarship from the Hawaii Education Association, and Longs Drugs has awarded $1,000 scholarships to Ji-yun Arakawa of Leilehua, Arielle Tolentino of Mililani and Sara Jun White of Waialua. (All have expressed an interest in business, which the drugstore chain supports) ...

Nathaniel Hall (Leilehua 2009) has entered basic cadet training at the U.S. Air Force Academy in preparation for his first academic year at the Colorado Springs college ... Mililani resident Gary Powell proudly announces that his Caregiver Foundation of America has earned its official nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service. Its mission is to support caregivers with workshops, publications, planning, cleaning services and much more (625-3782)

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Leilehua High School teacher John Sadowski has popped up as a founder of Save Our Surf and Seals in Ewa Beach. Once a month the group removes trash from the Ewa channel to keep things clean for ocean sports. “This stuff didn’t fall out of the sky,” he declares in the youtube video. Learn more about it from John at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ...

Friends and family honored Jeff Johnson last Sunday with a paddle out from Ehukai Bach Park. The North Shore waterman and father of Jack succumbed to brain cancer Aug. 17. He helped establish Keep the North Shore Country but more important (stated Lucky Cole on the KNSC web-site), Jeff and his wife Patti “raised three exemplary sons who have also built loving families and who help to make the North Shore and the world a better place to live” ...

As Frank Lockwood retires this month after a long career with the Kailua family law firm of Lockwood & Hartley, Elsa McGehee is excited to take his place with partner Steven Hartley. “I love it,” says Elsa, a veteran litigator and UH law school grad who commutes from Mililani. Elsa also is active with American Cancer Society and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation ...

If either attorney needs cataract surgery, Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora assures them - and the rest of us - that it ain’t like it used to be. Now it’s an outpatient procedure, and you’re seeing better in hours instead of days. “It’s quick, painless and provides a rapid return to normal activities and improved vision,” Chris says. There’s also a special lens implant to improve distance vision ...

Reading at 7 p.m. Sunday in HPR’s Aloha Shorts taping at Atherton Studio (955-8821) are notables Stephanie Kong and Kat Koshi of Mililani. Readings are on a food theme, including Tea After Fish by Eric Chock of Mililani ... Polynesian Cultural Center’s new nightly showcase, Ha: Breath of Life, debuted to a sold-out crowd Aug. 14, complete with standing ovation. To find out what it’s all about, call 293-3333 for reservations ... Wahiawa singer/songwriter Hope Mayo performs Sept. 10 during an evening fundraiser at The Willows for Easter Seals Hawaii’s Kailua Early Intervention Program (261-4999) ...

Ceremonies were held Aug. 28 at Schofield to award the third annual Nainoa Hoe Scholarship of Honor to Mikael Anthony Torres, a Waipahu High JROTC graduate and freshman at UH. A soldier with the 25th Infantry division, Hoe was killed in Iraq in 2005. Each awardee must “exemplify the Tropic Lightening spirit” ... Haleiwa photographer Clark Little is hot these days, and you simply cannot avoid his ocean images. Hawaii State Federal Credit Union, for example, begins issuing new Visa debit cards to members this month featuring some of Clark’s amazing waves. You can check your wallet, or go see the photo hanging in the White House, whichever is more convenient ...

Kaylarae Santos-Paglinawan is one of the “Top 3” grand-prize winners in the state library’s Teen Summer Reading Program. Kaylarae entered through Wahiawa Library. The three winners each selected a numbered pizza box that contained cool-butinedible prizes like digital and video cameras. Other local finalists in the Pizza Hut-sponsored program include Kristine Mina (Waialua Library), Kellianna Ward (Mililani) and Chenoa Yorgason (Kahuku) 

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The Kahuku-based company of Alan Akina, called 101 Financial, made the top 500 list of the “fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.” in Inc. magazine. The former BYU-Hawaii basketball star has also helped coach the Mililani Trojans team - and he has five kids. Good enough reason to be akamai about money ... Army ROTC cadet Kevin Allen (Leilehua 2007) has completed a leader’s training course at Fort Knox where he and fellow cadets spent four weeks learning how to lead soldiers in combat through team building, battle tactics and a variety of field maneuvers. Kevin is enrolled at Chaminade University ...

Mililani farmer Daniel Anthony recently brought his taro-pounding skills to the Haleiwa Farmers Market. His booth also offered mixed poi and organic Hawaiian awa. Must have had a few relaxed customers ... Good news for coffee and music fans at Schofield Barracks. Julie Loo opened a Muddy Waters Cafe at Kalakaua Community Center on post. Julie already runs the popular Muddy Waters in Aikahi Park and at Bellows Air Station, so she knows what military customers like ...

Congratulations to Wahiawa Lions Club $500 scholarship winners from Leilehua High School Zachary Akagi-Bustin, Maika Kunioka, Anthony Malabanan and Bret Watanuki. A $600 award was presented to LHS senior Ji-Yun Arakawa in memory of Lion Sheri Bentley, who died earlier this year ... You can watch chef and restaurateur Elmer Guzman in action at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Made in Hawaii Festival at Blaisdell Arena, where he will whip up some dishes to support shopping and eating locally. Elmer does a good job of that every day at his Poke Stop eateries in Mililani Mauka and Waipahu ...

Wheeler Middle School student Gabrielle Fagan was the grand-prize winner (out of 300 inspired young poets) for Oahu in the 10th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poetry Contest for her entry, Take Action. Her prize? An original portrait of The Beatles by Davo, a Maui artist ... Children from New Beginning homeless shelter in Kalaeloa spent time with Kahu Rennie Mau and Liliuokalani Protestant Church members recently to help prepare for the Haleiwa congregation’s annual luau. Together they stacked kiawe wood, set up chairs, smashed banana stumps and watched the imu process in awe ...

All four - count ‘em, four - graduates of Ho’ala School’s Class of 2009 are about to pursue different college goals. Tyler Asato is set on computer animation at Kapiolani Community College; Joey Nacario will study marine biology at Windward Community College; Annie Hoadley intends on going into pre-nursing at University of Nevada-Las Vegas; and Brent White will pursue graphic design courses in Australia. Just keeps the record going on how 100 percent of the Wahiawa’s school’s graduates go on to higher education ... One of the North Shore’s veteran and still-active big-wave surfers, Peter Cole, 76, was honored last month during his second annual surfboard polo tournament at Waimea Bay. Entry fees for the event were donated to the Oahu chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, which Peter helps lead ...

OK, folks, remember: Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbors’ Winnings. A recent run of luck on the downtown Las Vegas slots produced smiles from the following Central Oahu gamblers: From Wahiawa, Jane Oda ($18,319), Regina Gagalac ($12,250), Josephine Chargualaf ($9,409), Blas Tugaoen ($7,200), Malbun Higuchi ($4,500); from Haleiwa, Katherine Kawaguchi ($3,234); and from Mililani, Janis Anzai, $17,600) ...

State Rep. Gene Ward and his Shark Task Force will convene a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 18 at Hahaione Elementary School to help craft legislation related to protecting Maunalua Bay from shark tours. Speakers from Hawaii Shark Encounters of Haleiwa and Carl Meyer, author of a research paper on Haleiwa sharks (see above story on Pupukea), are among those invited to swim in to the turbulent Hawaii Kai waters and discuss this issue (586-6420)

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Mililani High School student Lauren Grippo participated in a Student Research Project Symposium last Saturday at Windward Community College, where 14 youths presented their project findings as part of the college’s annual Summer Environmental Science Program. The mission of Lauren’s team was “Exploration of sewage-indicator bacteria at Maunawili, Kapena and Jackass Ginger swimming sites.” All of a sudden, summer doesn’t seem like so much fun, does it? ...

Mililani social worker Terry Martin has published Journeys Through Life: Tales of Change,offering insight into the effect of addiction, abuse and other emotional traumas. It’s fiction but instructive and seeks to “demystify the therapeutic process.” Find out more from Terry at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ... Wahiawa girl Crystal Pancipanci (Leilehua 1999, UH 2003) launches a new line of party dresses, shoes and accessories for ACID DOLLS Urban Street Couture with partner Cindy King Aug. 20 at Honolulu Design Center (489-4869). A single mother, Crystal is consultant to local TV fashion shows, among many other endeavors, and already owns PANCI Style, which has a new New York office. “Yes, I am a coconut girl trying to make in the high fashion world,” she admits ...

Mililani’s acclaimed actress Jo Pruden will perform in Aging Is Not for Sissies Aug. 15 and 16 in Paul and Vi Loo Theatre on Hawaii Pacific University’s Kaneohe campus (375-1282). Jo also won a 2009 Po’okela for Featured Female in History Boys, produced by The Actors Group. Also, Mililani High’s Tri-School Productions director Jamie Rolfsmeyer claimed a Po’okela for herself as Leading Female in Army Community Theatre’s Curtains...

Kaanoipono Cabrinha (Kahuku 1999) has graduated from Army National Guard basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. No surprise there, Kaanoipono is already the HIARNG Soldier of the Year out of Wheeler ... Sometimes called “the Bob Dylan of Haleiwa,” musician and master surfboard shaper Otis Schaper will perform with the Oahu Songwriters Group at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at Hawaii Public Radio’s Atherton Studio on Kaheka St. (955-8821). Otis lives in Wahiawa and has just released the CD Meet the Strangers with Michael Scherr ...

Mililani’s own child star Maxim Knight recently guested on A&E’s show The Cleaner with Benjamin Bratt. The episode, An Ordinary Man, airs Aug. 4, according to mom Laura Knight, who lives with young Maxim in Los Angeles while dad Stan Bacon holds down the fort here. His next project: a lead part in a Steven Spielberg film with Noah Wyle. And Maxim isn’t even 10 years old yet ...

Mililani student Kimberley Nicole Ching has graduated summa cum laude from Washington State University with a degree in biological science ... Director Susan Luehrs is pleased to announce that her Hawaii Fi-Do Service Dogs agency has received a grant from Hawaii Community Foundation to repair and improve its youth training site on the Kahuku hospital grounds ...

Everyone knows how green the Haleiwa Farmers Market strives to be. The latest suggestion from directors Pamela Boyar and Annie Suite is to bring your own cup and plate: “Start a green revolution and see who follows your lead!” ... James Bowne-Ikeda (Mililani 2005) has completed the Army’s nine-week infantryman unit training at Fort Benning, Ga. The course includes reconnaissance operations of all kinds ... Thanks for the french fries on a busy Friday, Ron Nagasawa. He’s my boss and the most famous Mighty Mule of them all. Has his own column, even

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Mililani High School’s Sarah Nishioka was Hawaii’s Outstanding Senior Entry at National History Day June 14-18 in Washington, D.C., for her study of “James Longstreet: Confederate Traitor, Republican Patriot.” Sarah’s fellow Trojan historians Macie Chun and Anne Uruu took second place nationally in the Senior Website category for “Henry David Thoreau: Actions for Reform and a Worldwide Legacy of Peace” ...

Distinguished Leilehua High School graduate, chef Alan Wong, cooked up a special luau menu full of seafood for the Congressional Picnic at the White House last week. He was invited by a fan named Barack, and Honolulu’s Tihati Productions provided the entertainment ... Allison Chung, graduate of Mililani High School and University of Southern California, is now the marketing manager for Mobi PCS. Allison moved home to take the job after doing similar work for Universal City Studios Credit Union (a banker to the stars?) ...

Mililani Ike Elementary students did well in the 2009 Nene Award contests. (Students statewide vote for their favorite author and also compete on the good book theme.) Naomi Nakasone won for grade 6 in the poster contest. Also honored at the state library ceremony last month at Paliku Theatre were her school-mates Blythe Ballesteros (tops in grade 5), Keri Togami, Kianni Martinez and Lauren Mooney for their digital arts entries, and performing talents Elizabeth Baker, Vanessa Roybal and Dayni Wada ...

Dylan Morden (Mililani 2009) has received a $4,000 scholarship from Hawaiian Cement, which supports outstanding students who are children of the company’s employees. Take a bow, Mom (Lori Morden). Dylan plans to attend BYU-Idaho in Rexburg ... Speaking of scholarly achievements, Oregon State University’s honor roll for spring term includes Haleiwa student Joli Johnston (psychology) and four students from Mililani: Nicole Chun (animal sciences), Kelsey Copeland (computer engineering), Zachary Kaneshiro (computer engineering) and Chelsea Kang (business administration) ...

While we’re at it, Mililani’s Kristin Lea Kahealani Akana made the dean’s list at Saint Martin’s University in Washington state, where she’s studying accounting ... Something to bat your eyes at: Dr. Christopher Tortora of Hawaiian Eye Center in Wahiawa is introducing a novel new treatment that’s supposed to grow longer and fuller eyelashes. He calls Latisse “a blockbuster in medical aesthetics” ...

Manoa Valley Theater’s 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee plays July 1-19 in Honolulu, and in the cast are Mililani actors Joel Libed and Jennifer Oyama Harris (988-0098). I hope I spelled their names koreckly ... Instructor Mara Pike of Jasmine Yoga on the North Shore was part of a special yoga promotion May 30 by Haleiwa resident and pro surfer Rochelle Ballard at Ala Moana Center’s center stage. Rochelle has a new DVD out called Surf Into Yoga ...

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Acouple of things you may not know about the earth-friendly Haleiwa Farmers Market: Makani and David Clarke whip up solar-powered smoothies at the Universe Juice booth every Sunday, and even the market’s entertainers are amplified by solar panels from 21st Century Technologies ... Speaking of greenies, Wahiawa artist Brian Sato has his photo essay on recycling bins on view through July 17 at the Japanese Cultural Center in For our Children, for our Planet: Going Green in Japan and Hawaii (945-7633) ...

Wahiawa singer song-writer Hope Mayo has finished her new album, End of the Day, and is eager to get out of the studio and sing up a storm. Hope was at Higher Ground last week, and she will play at Kumu Kahua’s annual benefit this Saturday and at an Easter Seals fundraiser Sept. 10 at the Willows. You can hear samples of her new work at www.hopemayo.com ...

Mililani Mauka Elementary principal Carol Petersen was one of 12 public school administrators honored this spring for outstanding leadership. Carol received $1,000 and a commemorative plaque from Island Insurance Foundation ...

Bryson Espresion of Mililani will have his creations on view July 13-28 at Honolulu Hale in the annual National Arts Program exhibit by city employees. Bryson was a 2007 best in show winner ... James Nakamura (Mililani 2002) is returning to the U.S. from duty in Iraq as an aircraft repair technician. James is normally assigned to the 4th Infantry out of Fort Hood, Texas ... Meanwhile Matthew Howard (Mililani 2009) has received an Air Force ROTC scholarship to attend a selected host college or university ...

When Steven Snow stepped to the podium at the BYU-Hawaii graduation, he addressed more than 200 students from 34 countries. Elder Snow is part of the Presidency of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ... Wahiawa’s Christian Manzo plays for the Schofield Outlaws and recently qualified to attend the Major League Baseball Pitch Hit and Run competition, held June 21 at San Diego’s PETCO Park. Stay tuned ...

In honor of the Army’s 234th birthday June 17, state Rep. Michael Magaoay read this year’s “Army Birthday Story” to keiki at Helemano Child Development Center on Schofield. The kids also tour Army bases and museums and make care packages for soldiers in Iraq

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Mililani native David Kurashige, a student at Patrick Henry College in Virginia, was on the National Model United Nations team that won Outstanding Delegation at its New York City conference. David also took first place on his own at the National Christian College Forensics Invitational at Biola University in California ... Heald College’s Honolulu campus awarded a $11,550 Merit Academic Scholarship to Jane Digap of Leilehua High School for her high GPA and academic excellence ...

The YWCA of Oahu will honor Anna Elento-Sneed and three others as 2009 Hawaii Women Leaders at its annual Leader Luncheon June 19 at Hilton Hawaiian Village. Anna, a Mililani resident and attorney with Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing, “works tirelessly to improve a workplace culture where fairness, responsibility and respect are the norms.” She also has raised two smart and accomplished daughters ... The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale sanctuary folks held a contest for children recently to test their understanding of the environment. Among the winners are Waialua Elementary’s Jornedex Alidon (art) and Sunset Beach students Dylan Lipps and Oliver Hanley (poetry) ...

Heide & Cook has hired Wahiawa resident Melissa Sekigawa as sales and marketing coordinator. It plans to expand its air-conditioning business across the state. Prior to this, Melissa was a credit counselor for Hawaiian Community Assets ... Observed on car license plates while driving carefully on Oahu streets, obeying all laws and not texting: BIG OPU, 4U2T, WEEHA, ALAS, KILLN-ME, JNANDN ... Did you know that Kilani Avenue in Wahiawa is the Hawaiian version of Killarney in Ireland? See how educational this column is? ...

Melissa Monette, the Mililani High student making headlines for her many honors, just added another one: She is one of the top 10 youth volunteers in the country, courtesy of the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards ceremony. It comes with $5,000 and a gold medallion for her, a crystal trophy for MHS, and a $5,000 grant for a charity of her choice. She also earned a Girl Scout Gold Award for improving the condition of the Trojan tennis courts. Melissa and her project team patched cracks, resurfaced the courts with acrylic, built three benches, repaired the gated fence and even raked leaves and pulled weeds ...

Recent Mililani High graduate Robert Lau soon heads to Santa Clara University with help from a $1,500 scholarship for his prowess in chess. Robert was named one of five nationwide winners of the 2009 Scholar-Chessplayer Outstanding Achievement Award. He has won more trophies than pawns on a chess board since he first picked up the game at age 4. And guess what he plans to study? Psychology ...

Lucky students at Wahiawa Community School for Adults. Ted Enoki is one of seven Hawaii Adult Education Teachers of the Year, recognized June 3 for his “dedication to lifelong education and excellent contributions to community schools.” He teaches in the competency-based high school diploma program at WCSA, and that’s only his nighttime job. By day, Ted teaches fourth grade at Mililani Mauka Elementary

 

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Working in the burger trade can be beneficial to your academic health. Merry Collado of the Mililani Walmart McDonald’s and Kayla Kawamato of the Mililani McDonald’s have each received a $2,500 scholarship from the restaurant chain. They are among 10 of McDonalds’ top student employees in Hawaii who are planning to attend college next fall. Kayla also is a senior at Mililani High ...

Wahiawa’s own “chanteuse extraordinaire,” Ginai, will join the Hot Club of Hulaville at 7:30 p.m. June 5 and for two more shows June 6 at HPR’s Atherton Studio in Honolulu for an All Hapa-Haole Experience (955-8821). Fasten your seat belts ... Oahu Arts Center’s artistic director Kristi Kashimoto-Rowbottom - that busy lady with the long name (see page 4) - took on one more chore last week. In under 15 hours she gathers 272 statements of support for the OAC to meet a federal application deadline for that scarce, coveted commodity: grant money. Quick, it might not be too late to add your name. E-mail her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ...

Here’s another idea, Kristi. I just got back from a week in Chino, California’s fading dairy capitol east of L.A., where a school band boosters staged their second annual fundraiser, Cow Chip Bingo. It could work here, if you’ve got a large-enough flat field. People bet on the first, second and third plops. Then they let the cows out on numbered grid and let the chips drop where they may. Instant “green” money for a good cause ...

 

Former Mililani High student Christopher Petersen gets his high school diploma this week from the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. The boarding school gave him a “very generous scholarship,” according to his dad, MHS vice principal James Petersen.

Chris studied cello there as well as college prep courses and plans to pursue music performance studies at UH next fall ... The Wahiawa Lions Club saluted its favorite local heroes May 6 at Dot’s for keeping the town safe: firefighter Simeon Pihana and police officer Troy Richards. Both men were named the best in 2009 by their city departments ...

Schoolteacher Kelley Sumner‘s second-graders at Furry Elementary School in Ohio are eager to get postcards from Hawaii for their “Picture America” project. Send ‘em to her at 310 Douglas Drive, Sandusky, Ohio 44870 ... So you think Lei Day in Hawaii is colorful, did you know that it will take a minimum of half a billion lei to repair the parliament and presidential office in the nation of Moldove?! Actually, that’s what Moldovans call their monetary unit, according to James Hargreaves, a family friend now a consultant to the government there. He says the exchange rate is $1 = 11 Lei ...

Gail Cabalce, store supervisor at Waimea Valley, sets aside the first Thursday morning of each month to review arts and crafts by local producers for possible display and sales. If you’ve got some good stuff, call her at 683-7766 ... Wenhao Harold Sun has a good product that you can eat, and it’s good for you, too. He’s growing sea asparagus in North Shore salt ponds for fine restaurants in town - and for humble everyday folks. You can get Marine AgriFuture’s tender tips at farmers markets, Times Supermarkets and other outlets ...

Spotted recently in a slick magazine aimed at Kahala readers: an ad for North Shore beachfront lots in “peaceful Mokuleia.” Eight acres for $8 million

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Congratulations to the Mililani High’s Trojan Times newspaper staff, which earned the Best in State award for editorial writing in the 2009 Hawaii State High School Journalism Awards program. (They also got free lunch at the Pagoda Hotel.) Written by Cyrus Takahashi, the MHS entry bemoans the “inundation” of valedictorians and pleas for some standards that would produce just one special student rising to the top of the class.

This June, Cyrus predicts, Mililani may have at least 28 valedictorians. The Board of Education has introduced a Senior Project standard for the Class of 2010, but with little fanfare. “The issue is not that it has been added as a requirement,” Cyrus writes, “it’s that this information is so ridiculously inaccessible to the public that the hardest thing about becoming a valedictorian is trying to figure out how to become one” ...

Rudy Ortega of Haleiwa has graduated from the Plumber Utilities Apprentice Course at Sheppard AFB, Texas ... Michelle Ballard of Schofield Barracks and Molly Gowen of Kunia are in the Women’s Chorus for the Army Community Theatre play Children of Eden, opening May 7 at Fort Shafter (438-4480) ... Craig Togami of Mililani has been appointed vice president of client services for Qmark Research, where he will help clients learn and conquer their marketing challenges.

Craig was previously with American Saving Bank during its successful “kalo” branding period ... Hey, jocks, Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora wants you to take care of your eyes. Protective eyewear for athletes, he says, “is 20 times stronger than typical lenses and can withstand the impact of a ball or other object hitting them” ... You can catch Wahiawa Middle School’s performing arts troupe at 1 p.m. May 16 at Pearlridge Center Uptown ...

The new vice president and controller at Finance Factors is from Mililani. George Nip was promoted recently to supervise and manage the money side of the company, which specializes in real estate loans. George is a CPA and avid volunteer with American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life every year ... Haleiwa tot Kailah Faye MaliuAulike Herron-Souza has a pretty long name for all 2 feet and 30 pounds of her. But us common folks can just call her “Your Highness.” She was crowned Miss Pretty Little Princess 2009 at the Hawaii Convention Center recently. Kailah Faye also picked up prizes for winning the category of Miss Personality and Prettiest Hair ...

Island Air is proud of its first graduating class of 18 who completed the Aviation Student Explorer course last month. (It revived the program after Aloha Airlines bowed out). Central Oahu graduates are Mililani High School students Punahele Dalde and Breanne Naone

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Mililani resident Natalia Cardona attended a George Marshall ROTC Seminar in Lexington, Virginia in mid April to discuss national security matters with senior military leaders. She earned the opportunity when judges selected her as the top Army Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet (out of 35 seniors) in the University of Hawaii’s ROTC program. According to Natalia’s military science professor Rod Laszlo, she’s “an incredible example of a leader” ...

Direct sales department: James Lee of Wahiawa is a business partner in Symmetry, a direct sales company that has health products to relieve stress (351-2223), and Wahiawa women Shirley Ellington (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) and Tanya Hume are now independent consultants for Tastefully Simple, a direct sales company for gourmet foods. Tanya has the intriguing e-mail address .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ...

In his after-school life, Mililani High math teacher Edward Sawada is a rock hound and a photographer. You can check out his excellent botanical and landscape photos in a one-man show on view through June 14 in the lecture room at Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden in Kaneohe (623-3140) ... Good news from the market (Haleiwa Farmers Market, not that one in New York): The April 19 market day brought in $1,200 for the Hawaii Pubic Radio pledge drive. I personally enrolled my dog Max as a new HPR member last week. I hope he enjoys the Brother Noland CD he’s getting for it ...

Some say Leighton Tseu‘s voice could have turned judges heads at the Miss USA pageant last week in Las Vegas. While there, Leighton sang to an ohana gathering of about a hundred Hawaii supporters for his daughter, Miss Hawaii USA Aureana Tseu of Mililani. You can see Aureana, daughter of Iwalani Tseu too, any time you want on the front cover of your Paradise White Pages ...

Speaking of singers, Mililani High’s Michelle Motoda is looking forward to a national competition in the fall. She earned the opportunity by winning the February teen singing contest at Don Ho‘s Island Grill ... Mililani resident Budd Lauer is the new development office assistant for the Battleship Missouri Memorial. Budd is a Pennsylvania native who previously worked as a police officer with the Department of Defense ...

Congratulations to the Mililani High School Trojan Times staff. They earned the Best in State award for editorial writing in the 2009 Hawaii State High School Journalism Awards program ... There’s nothing like a Ford. Ford Nakagawa took first place for grades K-5 at the chess Supernationals tournament this month in Nashville, Tenn. Ford belongs to the Mililani Chess Club ...

Kathy is nearly out of flower pots, and you can help. For more than a decade now, the Waialua resident has been growing plants, potting them and giving them away to churches like nearby St. Michael’s to help them raise funds. ‘I just pot and pot and pot. Now I’m running out of pots.” Got pots? Call her at 637-0488

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Remember Dallas Carter, the Mililani father who shed 190 pounds so he could hug his little daughter? He won $250,000 as a grand prize from Beachbody.com (diet products) for his “most exceptional transformation.” Watch out, money is heavy, but there’s plenty of fiber ... When dedicated teacher conflicts with dedicated daddy, it helps if everything works out on both sides once in awhile. Glenn Lee, who is behind the robot renaissance at Waialua High and Intermediate, was overjoyed to welcome his baby daughter into the world a few weeks ago. “She was born right on her due date -right after we shipped our robot to the Oregon regionals, and three days after Gov. Linda Lingle came to our open house,” Glenn says. “It was perfect!” ...

Jennifer Harris of Mililani performs in Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s Goodnight Moon musical, opening April 17 at Tenney Theatre (457-4254) ... Jo Pruden is not, repeat not retiring from the theater. The veteran Mililani actress is merely stepping down from working at the Army Community Theatre box office. Still, ACT will honor her during a $100 per person benefit Easter brunch aboard the Holland MS Zaandam cruise ship at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. You board at Aloha Tower (438-1980) ...

Writing essays has its perks for two Waialua Bulldogs, Charmaine Gaoiran and Keanne Prehn. Charmaine took the top prize in the Hawaii Leader for a Day essay contest, winning a day to “shadow” Gov. Lingle and have lunch with her. Keanne gets to shadow schools chief Patricia Hamamoto. And three other Waialua students, Laurianne Manera, Tyler Smith and Melanie Woods, did their shadowing at the Legislature ...

Speaking of winners, the Mililani High Mock Trial Club took the state title and will represent Hawaii next month in the nationals in Atlanta. That is, if they can raise $11,000, says coach Amy Perruso (herself an award-winning social studies teacher). Send donations to the club care of the high school, 95-1200 Meheula Parkway, Mililani HI 96789 ... Mobi PCS has promoted Tyrone Bartoli of Mililani to retail sales manager of the locally operated wireless network. One of the company’s eight retail outlets is at Mililani Town Center ... Mililani High senior Colton Hironaka has earned a great opportunity. He will attend the National Symphony Orchestra’s four-week Summer Music Institute this summer in Washington, D.C. His music instructor at MHS is Curtis Hiyane ...

Parent Mane Futo discusses how you can help your autistic child at 6:30 p.m. April 7 at Kahuku Library. (293-8935) ... Three area residents - Natasha Strasser of Waialua, William Murry of Haleiwa and Daniel Griffin of Mililani - in the LCC Lab Theatre drama A Queen for Romancia, are playing this Thursday through Saturday (455-0380) ... Leilehua’s Daryl Sanbei is a finalist in the UH West Oahu flyer contest - a fun and artistic way to promote the college ...

Making the winter term honor roll at Oregon State University were Jeremy Lozano of Wahiawa, Joli Johnston of Haleiwa and Mililani students Dexter Carolino, Nicole Chun, Kelsey Copeland, Lauren Kaina and Bryson Kamisato

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Well, it’s decided, folks. Leilehua High School’s ace runner Bryce Jenkins signed a letter of intent with the Bengals of Idaho State University, where he’ll run cross country and indoor (it’s cold there!) and outdoor track while studying on a full scholarship at the ISU School of Nursing. Bryce won three state individual titles, two team titles and two Gatorade Hawaii Runner of the Year Awards - among many other honors. He gives many thanks to coaches Shawn Nakata and Mike Akagi ...

Mililani Mauka Elementary student Logan Takeda was picked to be one of eight Junior Ambassadors who will represent Hawaii at the Asia-Pacific Children’s Convention in Fukuoka, Japan this summer ...

ProService Hawaii has named Sam Vaughs of Pupukea as associate business development manager for Oahu ... Leilehua High’s Daryl Sanbei was a finalists in the contest to create a promotional flier for UH West Oahu, touting it as a choice for four-year college students ... Sorry to hear of the Feb. 26 death of Sheri Bentley, longtime Wahiawa resident and volunteer who was very active on the neighborhood board ...

From more than 60 Division I and II colleges, Hawaii Self Storage has promoted Joe Kino to office manager of its Kapolei store. The Mililani resident was praised by boss Shaun Salvador for his “innovative thinking and friendly personality.” Joe graduated from UH and has a master of fine arts in cinematography from the University of Art Institute in San Francisco. He can artfully help you store your stuff ...

Leinani Hashida of Mililani has become an independent consultant with Tastefully Simple Inc., a direct-sales company for easy-to-prepare gourmet products (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) ... Warren Aoki (255-4103) is looking for golfers to play in the Mililani Project Grad tourney, set for April 17 at Mililani Golf Course ...

Calling them “the cream of an exceptional crop,” Castle & Cooke recently named its outstanding employees for 2008, who include Mililani’s Michele “Mitch’Yamashiro, customer service award; Mililani’s Edna Gomez, Realtor of the Year (for $13 million in new home sales); and Wahiawa’s Lisa Souza, Outstanding Service Award for establishing the company’s homeowner service center ...

Trinity Lutheran School has it all for its Spring Fling from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 4.

Entertaining at the Wahiawa school will be Da Nuuanu Brothers, Na Papa Hula o Noelani, Kumu Malia & Students, the Chinese Lion Dance Association and more. Besides the song and dance, expect food, rides, games, a bake sale, book fair, silent auction and crafts - and the Mobile Gamer Guys (621-6033) ...

Surfboard shaper Kimo Greene is looking for his two beloved Rottweilers, Bear and Lilly. They’ve been missing from Haleiwa for about three weeks now, and he’s offering a $1,000 reward. Both dogs had two collars on them and computer chips (778-5466)

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Three Mililani residents - Daniel Lee and Lucia Mocz of Mililani High, and Christopher Nagashima of Punahou - have been named candidates for the 2009 Presidential Scholars Program, based on their college board test scores. Ultimately, two high school students from each state will be invited to Washington, D.C., for official honors. So far, these four are among 3,000 students who made the initial cut from 2.8 million nationwide in the Class of 2009 ...

Pamela Susan Pettyjohn of Wahiawa earned her bachelor’s degree in social sciences at the end of fall semester at Washington State University in Pullman ... Susanna Cheung of Helemano Plantation will be inducted into the 2009 Hall of Fame Laureates by Junior Achievement next week at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for her contribution to free enterprise ... Wahiawa’s James Lee has been promoted to new senior marketing manager with Symmetry, a direct-sales health-products company (351-2223) ...

 

The Mililani financial group Chinen & Arinaga, spearheaded by vice president John Au, was able to collect more than 1,200 shoeboxes full of practical and welcome items for homeless families on Oahu last month. John did it through a network of generous schoolchildren in Kaneohe, and the firm awarded cash prizes to the three top schools ... The Leilehua Zonta Club and its president Bernadette Pigott are looking for “pre-college” women students ages 16-20 for the club’s annual $1,000 grants for Young Women in Public Affairs. To apply, call Rene Mansho at 306-1876 ...

Feng shui consultant Mia Chen, who celebrated Chinese New Year at Mililani Shopping Center’s festivities, sees special meaning in Barack Obama being the 44th president. The double fours, she explains, “symbolize twice as much work needing to be done by Obama, resulting ultimately in greater power, wealth and prosperity for the country” (239-0602) ... Ho’ala School and its art teacher Tina Markel are supporting Nigeria’s art ambassador Ibiyinka Olufemi Alao in his school visits around the state. He’ll be at the Arts at Mark’s Garage at 6:30 p.m. March 3 (621-1898) ...

Melody Lee of Mililani took third place for ages 12 and older and won $10 for her Valentine card in Waipio Center’s annual contest. The entries all went to cheer up residents of St. Francis Hospices and clients of its adult day care ... Sad but looking forward to some leisure time - finally - Charles and Myrtle Sakai and their family bid farewell to their customers in mid-February by closing the century-old Haleiwa Supermarket with a grand sale. Said they: “A special mahalo and fond aloha to our staff and the community for the many wonderful years of heartfelt friendship.” Now it’s a Longs Drugs store ...

Mililani’s Jasmine Trias is back with the Society of Seven Las Vegas show (at the Waikiki Outrigger) for a five-weekend run March 6-April 4. You can see her as Beyonce, Britney Spears, Natalie Cole and Shakira - and as her sweet self (923-7408) ... Personal license plates spotted recently (from behind) on Oahu streets: LDYVIP, MZBHVN, NTE MGK and GIZ-BIG

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Leilehua High School 1970 graduate Joshua Morales has just established a can’t-miss fundraiser for his alma mater. A loan solicitor with Legacy Mortgage with ambitious goals, Joshua explains: “I will donate to the school $300 to $500 from fees generated per second mortgage loan in the name of our client. It’s a triple win - for the customer, the school and me.” He says he’s got the OK from the principal and student activities coordinator, and loan rates aren’t bad right now. “One loan would make more than a car wash for the Mules!” he figures. Call him at 342-9625 ...

Among the artists picked for the Youth Art Month Showcase in March at the state capitol is Kahuku High junior Makana Mozo, son of the late, famed North Shore surf photographer Jon Mozo. Makana is being recognized, naturally, for a photograph as part of the 2009 Scholastic Art competition. Look for his Wailua Sunset ...

HPR will tape its next Aloha Shorts show Feb. 16 in Atherton Studio on Kaheka Street, paying tribute to the Neighbor Islands. It features music by Kupa’aina at 6:45 p.m. to warm folks up. Also in the spotlight that night will be Mililani’s Kat Koshi, reading Big Island poems by Juliet Kono and cate cable (that’s how she writes it.) Call 955-882 ...

Hanu Racoma of Mililani Uka Elementary and Reyn Tao of Mililani Mauka Elementary are two out of the four poster artists singled out for special honors in Hawaiian Electric Co.‘s Home Energy Challenge campaign. First-grader Hanu’s poster advises: “Instead of using a leaf blower, you can use a rake.” Fourth-grader Reyn pledges to “turn off the TV and play outside.” For these wise words and drawings, they each won a performance by Mad Science at their schools. “We wanted to show that everyone, including children, can make a resolution to help protect our environment by using energy wisely,” said HECO’s Kai’ulani de Silva ...

Carol Davis, a Mililani resident and designated Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter, has joined Atlas Insurance as vice president, client consulting group ... Central Oahu talents are involved in Army Community Theatre’s musical whodunit, Curtains, opening Feb. 26 at Fort Shafter (438-4480). They are Shanan Colvin of Wahiawa, Jamie Rolfsmeyer of Mililani, Jaime Craycroft of Wahiawa and Grace Bell Humerickhouse of Mililani (choreography) ...

And Wahiawa artist Bennie Flores has his paintings on display through Feb. 28 at the Louis Vuitton Creative Art Program exhibit at Rehab hospital (531-3511) ... Exerciser Sarah Pacheco has spotted a rooster she calls Buddy, who regularly strides around outside the Mililani 24-Hour Fitness. He probably needs to build up those skinny legs to impress the chicks ... James Rose (Mililani 2008) has graduated from a Army petroleum supply specialists course at Fort Lee, Va. ...

John Au has been promoted to vice president of Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group in Mililani ... North Shore master surfboard shapers Jeff Bushman and Kyle Bernhardt won the Governor’s Innovation Award for Individuals for December 2008, based on their use of earth-friendly foams and resins in their biodegradable boards at Country Feeling Surfboards ...

Steve Kitazaki of Mililani is the new branch manager of American Savings Bank in Liliha, and Mary Antonio has been hired to head up the Haleiwa bank. Some may already know her for her involvement with the Wahiawa/Waialua Rotary Club and other community groups ... Speaking of which, fellow Wahiawa Rotarian Saxon Nishioka reports he enjoyed attending a Rotary “make up” meeting - in Paris, France ...

These folks can probably pay for a trip to Paris now, thanks to the lucky slots in downtown Vegas: William Anana of Mililani ($15,189), William and wife Ginger Anana ($6,559), Mary Scharsch of Mililani ($13,786), Stephen Tessier of Wahiawa ($6,000), Rodney Anzai of Mililani ($5,400) and Jane Oda of Wahiawa ($5,229.50) ...

Not so lucky was a man who lost $300 in a Jan. 6 scam at a Wahiawa convenience store. “Two haole guys in a champagne-colored Jeep Commander, license plate PTU-427” posed as sound system technicians and tried successfully to sell him an “extra set” of surround speakers for a great price. Be careful out there

 

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A Wahiawa Middle School eighth-grader, Kenny Kusaka, took third place statewide (and got $50) in the annual District 50 Lions Club Peace Poster Contest. Kenny’s entry rose up steadily through the contest levels, starting with the Wahiawa Lions Club competition ... It looks like Mililani resident Michael Dahilig will be the next member of the UH Board of Regents, as Gov. Linda Lingle was compelled to choose him from a politically diminished list of candidates. A UH law school graduate, Michael also is a former student member of the panel that sets policy and direction for the university system ...

If you were planning to go to the monthly Waialua bandstand concert on Feb. 1, forget it. It’s been canceled because of the, you know, Super Bowl. (The U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Band is set for 4 p.m. March 1) ... Musician Mac Catania will perform for free on Super Bowl Sunday, however - at 1 p.m. on the Ward Warehouse stage with the Mahealanis (596-8885). Mac lives in Wahiawa and graduated from Leilehua

High School. He studied slack key with kupunas Wally Hanaoe Kaokai and Billy Kahele, as well as Uncle Al Baang ... Stromberg Gaditano has joined Bella Pietra as purchaser for the natural stone company. Stromberg lives in Mililani and previously worked in management for Wal-Mart and Aloha Beach Resort. He’s currently studying for a BS in finance from the University of Phoenix, which should come in handy at his new job ...

Michael Johanson succeeds the retiring Duane Roberts as director of communications and marketing for BYU-Hawaii. He and wife Katrina and their three daughters now live in Laie ... North Shore artist and surfer Heather Brown is mounting her own solo show Feb. 4-28 at the Chinatown Boardroom on Nuuanu Avenue (585-7200). Saltwater and Feathers reflects

Heather’s love of nature and the beauty of the Islands. You can also see her work at four Haleiwa shops: Wyland’s, Global Creations, Deep Ecology and Strong Current ... Butch Helemano, musician and former cultural guardian at Waimea Valley Park, has self-published The Adventures of Popo the Hawaiian Surf Dog: The Sleeping Giant - the second in a series on Hawaiian values for keiki.

A Malama loan from OHA helped cover Butch’s costs. Look for it in local bookstores ... Food news: Darlene Pololu has been promoted to general manager of the Haleiwa Pizza Hut restaurant, and Sue Gascon of Wahiawa (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) has joined Tastefully Simple Inc. a direct-sales company with easy-to-prepare gourmet products ...

Wahiawa actress Stephanie Kong will read Jennifer Lim‘s Ten Cents at 7 p.m. Feb. 1 during the live, free taping of HPR’s Aloha Shorts program in the Atherton studio on Kaheka Street (955-8821) ... Washington State University in Pullman has announced that three Central Oahu students made the President’s Honor Roll for Fall 2008. They are Cassie Caitlin Kealoha Chun of Haleiwa, and Mililani residents Kimberly Nicole Ching and Ryan Gary Kim

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Congratulations to Hawaii Fi-Do, the North Shore-based service/therapy dog training agency now marking (and barking?) its 10th year of service. According to spokes-woman Judy Suan, the group also has acquired three breeder females and looks forward to many more “mini doodles” come spring. That’s in addition to its standard Labradoodles (a happy cross between Labrador retrievers and standard poodles) ...

In its quest to give away turkeys and holiday cash, Waipio Center mailed more than 3,000 entry forms to neighboring homes. Now the results are in, and two Mililani residents, Therese Gagarin and Candace Chun, were among a dozen winners of $25 Foodland gift cards to buy their gobblers ... In another part of the forest, the Beavers (of Oregon State University) are doing as well in the classroom as they have done on the football field during fall semester.

Among those on the fall scholastic honor roll are Joli Johnston of Haleiwa, a psychology major, and four Mililani students: Dexter Carolino (exercise and sport science), Nicole Chun (animal sciences), Bryson Kamisato (general science) and Zachary Kaneshiro (computer engineering) ... American Savings Bank recently hired two Mililani men:

Kenneth Kirton (as a financial adviser) and Taylor Kirihara (as business relationship manager at the main branch). Kenneth, a member of the United Okinawan Association, was previously with Merrill Lynch. Taylor comes from Bank of Hawaii where he was a business banking officer for Wahiawa and Haleiwa ... At last report, Whitmore Village boy Gene Villiatora was still in the running in the Top Chef-New York contest, airing each Wednesday on the BRAVO Channel. The self-taught chef and Leilehua High School graduate has found a home in the Las Vegas casino restaurant scene and has gained many friends and fans among the reality show’s viewers ...

Another Whitmore/Leilehua product, Ron Aoki of Mililani, has won the Summer 2008 Responsible Coaching Award for Hawaii from Liberty Mutual. The honor comes with a $250 gift card and trophy for his volunteer work with Junior Olympic ASA Softball and the Island Ladies team for grades 9 and 10 ... Nolie Diakoulas of Haleiwa has joined Suntech Hawaii as a project engineer. He will manage project integration of the local company’s solar panel installations ... Wahiawa ophthalmologist Dr. Christopher Tortora warns that diabetes is a very real threat to your vision, but “it develops slowly,” so you need to have it checked out early on before blurred vision, light flashes and floating spots appear ...

At least three Central Oahu college women have completed ROTC specialized training recently at mainland Army posts. Natalia Cardona (Mililani 2005) and Shannon Killian (Leilehua 2005) graduated from Operation Warrior Forge at Fort Lewis, Wash. Shannon attends the University of South Alabama at Mobile. Robyn Mateo (Leilehua 2005) completed a four-week leader training course at Fort Knox, Ky.. Robyn is a student at UH-Manoa ... Also, Kaleo Andersen (Waialua 2001, Universal Technical Institute 2008) has been deployed to Iraq. The Army National Guard sergeant is a light-wheeled vehicle mechanic from Haleiwa

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Following in the footsteps of his late father Paul, Kaeo Gouveia has been promoted to CEO and general manager of Ho’ala Landscape & Maintenance. (Paul was vice president and director of Maintenance for Mililani Memorial Park.) “I remember Dad hiring my brothers and me when we were younger to dig ditches and perform other laborious work at his landscaping job,” Kaeo recalls. “But it was that value of hard work that he instilled in us that brought me back full circle to this field” ... Central Oahu’s young voices are spreading their cheer to Pearlridge Center soon: Iliahi Elementary School choir at 7 p.m. Dec. 4, Wahiawa Middle School choir at 1 p.m. Dec. 6 and Wheeler Elementary School choir at 7 p.m. Dec. 10 ... One of your neighbors is now out on DVD in the local award-winning film, All for Melissa: Chloe Amos of Mililani ...

Foster “Mike” Afalava of Mililani has been promoted from pickup driver to field supervisor for Hawaii Self Storage. Company spokesman Shaun Salvador says since he joined HSS three years, Mike “has developed into a respected leader and manager” ... Two more reasons to get your tree at Helemano Farms in Whitmore Village: 1) Norfolk Island Pines stay green longer that cut fir trees, and 2) You can return it to the farm after Christmas for composting (622-4287) ... Hoku award-winning island jazz star Ginai Curti is happy to be called a Wahiawa Lion these days, after realizing all the good deeds they perform. And the club is glad to have her in the den as well. At a multiple-club Halloween party at Dot’s, for example, Ginai won the karaoke contest, and the Wahiawa club gets to keep the trophy for a year ...

A retired DOE educator now living in Las Vegas, Barbara KimYamashita was raised in Wahiawa by her Korean immigrant mother, who had plenty to say and teach her young daughter. Now Barbara, who was Leilehua High’s first female student body president, has written a book in tribute to her hard-working seamstress/mom, which you can order through the Hawaii Education Association. It’s called Mama & Me, Words to Uplift (949-6657) ... Robert Hayashida wants all former Hawaii boxers (like himself) in Central Oahu to know that the Old Timers Club will meet from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at the Oahu Veterans Center by Radford High School to talk story about the glory days. Cost is $10, and you can call him at 677-4501. (Two such boxers are Mililani’s Calvin Chang from the 1940s era and Benny Quiseng of Wahiawa from the 1950s). Though Calvin’s no relation to me, my grandfather-in-law was Chang Kau, a colorful figure who invented the portable boxing ring in the 1930s ... Mililani High graduate Ann Yoshida (and her service dog Echo) write that her graduate studies are going well at Utah State in rehabilitation counseling and speech pathology. After an accident left the active athlete a paraplegic, Ann set about reversing all of those “can’t do” perceptions through her surfing, racing, tennis, kayaking, swimming, skiing, rock climbing, hand cycling and horseback riding. She also was featured in Women’s Surf Style Magazine for November. “The snow is starting, and I think the winter is going to be a good one for skiing and snowboarding,” she writes ... Time for more license plate sightings: AYYOLE and ISK8R .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

Waha Nui

Honored recently for his outstanding safe driving performance is Mililani trucker Wayne Koga, who has achieved 15 years of driving without a preventable accident. Wayne works for FedEx Ground out of the company’s Honolulu facility ... A Class A certified PGA golf pro, Ron Huffman, has joined Mililani Golf Club as general manager, moving over from Waialae Country Club. Ron has also been director of golf at Coral Creek and head pro at Turtle Bay ...

Andrew Garrett is the youngest member of the Mililani-Waipio-Melemanu Neighborhood Board. But now you can also call him account supervisor for Communications Pacific. Andrew also champions Read Aloud America and Special Olympics ... Willie Ganiko wants Leilehua sports fans to know that the school also stocks women’s tank tops for $14. Go Mules! ...

Speaking of animals, the rabbit show this Friday at Wahiawa Library (see Highlights) will feature a 14-pound rabbit - and this is before its heavy holiday eating time ... The late John Vollrath of Haleiwa has received a posthumous award from the National Weather Service for faithfully monitoring rain gauges in Pupukea Heights for 30 years. His son Doug accepted the John Campanius Holm Award for outstanding service in the Cooperative Weather Observer Program, which assists in a variety of climate studies. John died in February ...

Young Brothers has hired Nalani Say, a Mililani High grad who still lives in Mililani, to head its documentation and customer service department. Nalani previously worked in the same field for Aloha Airlines. She helped the airline wrap up operations and was recruited by Young Brothers two weeks later. They say they are confident she will take care of her new customers “effectively and with aloha” ...

Warren Aoki and Mililani Project Grad volunteers invite you to eat a Papa John’s Dec. 3, when a portion of the night’s receipts will go to the cause ... Atlas Insurance has appointed Mililani resident Sharon Hodson as vice president, commercial lines. Sharon has three decades of experience in the industry ...

Mililani’s Dr. John Corboy, retired from Hawaiian Eye Center in Wahiawa, is busy these days coordinating humanitarian missions overseas with the Hawaiian Eye Foundation. For 25 years, the foundation (which he leads) has operated out of his Mililani office (627-0824), sending volunteer doctors and mentors to the South Pacific and Asia. The latest effort in June saw 30 eye specialists from five countries meet in Vietnam to train surgeons there in modern techniques. Dr. Corboy was there at his own expense to lecture and conduct lab training. “The Vietnamese eye doctors are very smart and eager,” he says, hampered only by lack of equipment and instructors. “I am honored to have led this remarkable international faculty.” He’s already planning a return in two years ...

Monthly tip from Capt. Terry Seelig at the Honolulu Fire Dept.: Consider putting up a fire-resistant artificial Christmas tree this year, use noncombustible materials to decorate it, approved lights and extension cords that aren’t overloaded ... When Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s A Christmas Carol opens Dec. 5 at Tenney Theatre, Central Oahu will be well-represented with Mililani actors Jeremy and Matthew Oh in the cast (457-4254) ... Latest license plate sighting. Think about it now: GA2SRF

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Mililani residents Gavan Abe and Shaun Mitsui are scheduled to share the Big Island TV stage with Vanna White and Pat Sajak next Monday (Nov. 17) in our tropical version of Wheel of Fortune, filmed recently at Hilton Waikoloa Village. If you tune in Nov. 18, look for yet another ambitious and daring neighbor, Barbara Bonura, who gets her turn to match wits and yuck it up with the game show hosts ...

Colby Benson of Mililani will play the role of the diva Sharpay in Army Community Theatre’s version of the popular show High School Musical 3, opening Nov. 20 at Fort Shafter (438-4480) ... Tips to prevent eye injuries in your active children from Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora (621-8448): “Make sure they are equipped with proper safety glasses, goggles or face shields before participating in sports” ...

Leilehua and UH graduate Tammy Nakamatsu, who still lives in the area, has been promoted to senior vice president and senior human resources manager at Bank of Hawaii ... Mililani artist Elsha Bohnert has tons of crafty materials stored in her house, along with the usual furnishing. But now she and her husband Phil are moving to Bali, renting out their house, and none of it can go with her. So the queen of recycled art is auctioning it all off at a “house-cooling” party, by invitation only, complete with poetry and music. If you are simply dying for an unpainted door, mannequins and other wacky things, e-mail her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ...

Veteran Mililani actress and teacher Kristi Kashimoto has added -Rowbottom to her name by way of marrying Sean Rowbottom, whom she met while she was performing on a national tour and he was running sound for the show. Well, Sean is still running sound for Kristi’s shows (see page 1) and also works for NEP Broadcasting. “I’m so happy to be married to a wonderful man,” she says - and she’s not acting. Kristi also gets her sister, niece and mom onto the stage in Sound of Music. I guess that’s enough to form the Von Kashimoto-Rowbottom family singers ...

Enid McKay of Mililani has become an independent distributor for Reliv International, which sells nutrition products (625-7445) ... Speaking of food, Turtle Bay executive chef Hector Morales has created a recipe for “Idaho Potato Crusted Kahuku Prawns,” which won a top award in an Idaho competition. Hector’s recipe will be featuring in culinary magazines around the spud-eating world next year ... KUMU radio personality Mandy Suganuma -the lady who survives Frank B. Shaner every morning by laughing a lot - did a great job emceeing the recent gala at KEY Project in Kahaluu. The mother of a 2-year-old boy, Mandy commuted from her Wahiawa home, and then had to move on to emcee a late-night gig at Rumours in Honolulu ...

Pro football players Ty Detmer, Vai Sikahema and Chad Lewis will speak at BYU-Hawaii’s international business conference, going on this week in Laie (675-3780) ... Mililani’s Cliff Hunter will perform with the Honolulu Symphony Chorus in a free Thanksgiving concert at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26 at Blaisdell Concert Hall. Cliff is a tenor in the chorus, which invites all ages to come to Ho’omaika’i - A Celebration, which also introduces its new artistic director Esther Yoo (524-0815, ext. 257) ...

Don’t laugh at money won in Las Vegas. Every bit helps these days. Lucky winners of recent downtown Vegas slot machine adventures are Janis Anzai of Mililani, $9,000; Peter Sebala of Wahiawa, $5,000; and Mary Scharsch of Mililani, $4,000

 

Waha Nui

Little Joanna Nakasone is now a calendar girl. You’ll find the Mililani 2-year-old on the April page of the 2009 Hawaii’s Miracles Calendar, selling now at Foodland and Sack N Save. The $15 calendar supports Kapiolani Medical Center during its 100th year. Now thriving, as you can see, Joanna was born prematurely and spent time in the hospital’s newborn intensive care unit ...

Give a hand to two North Shore role models who claimed Whose Keeping Hawaii Green? awards for 2008. It’s no surprise that Jack Johnson won in the Celebrity category for “living what he sings.” In addition to all the good that Kokua Hawaii Foundation has done, Jack records his music in a solar-powered studio with recycled shingles, insulated with blue-jean scraps. (Jack also was featured recently for his stewardship efforts in his UC Santa Barbara alumni magazine.) And North Shore resident Denise Antolini won with Aviam Soifer in the Nonprofit Resource category for the contributions made by the UH Environmental Law Program. Denise directs the program, which led to the UH law school putting up a LEED-certified library. The second annual awards were announced last month to honor those “who have gone beyond the everyday effort to preserve or enhance our environment”...

Leilehua High graduate Kristine Ayson is the new algebra teacher at St. Francis School, but she could probably teach many things. Fluent in Tagalog, Kristine also has degrees in physics and biology from UH, took four years of Japanese and is a black belt in karate ...Another former Mule, Russell Park, is now senior vice president of the Atlas Insurance Agency’s client consulting group ...

Darlene Rodrigues of Mililani is booked as one of “six of Hawaii’s emerging Filipino-American poets” for the Flippin’on Poetry reading set for 2 p.m. Oct. 25 at the state library building (first floor, 728-4620). Darlene’s poems have appeared in anthologies, and she’s read at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, StudioBe’s Rant and Rave and Mark’s Garage. She’s also produced several shows on ‘Olelo ... Mililani singing sensation Jasmine Trias is performing with the Society of Seven Las Vegas through Oct. 25 at the Outrigger Main Showroom (923-SHOW) ...

Many Central Oahu steak-eaters and friends applaud a recent honor bestowed on the managing partner of the Outback Steak House in Waipio. Julie Uyemura has received the Presidential Award for Volunteer Service - earned from her dedication to Mililani area anti-drug campaigns. For more on Julie’s good deeds, see the Good Neighbor story by Sarah Pacheco on page 16 in the big MidWeek that you pulled this insert out of so quickly ... Breast cancer survivors don’t just survive; they survive with passion, and Iwalani Tseu is a great example.

The Mililani hula instructor has created a foundation and pet project for awareness of the disease, Pink Ohana Project. And from 5 to 9 p.m. Oct. 26 she’s staging a gala at Chai’s Island Bistro with top entertainment, food and fashions. To support her cause, call 699-1888. Tickets are $120 ... Designer David Wheeler of PMI Builders will proudly present his project - a home at 1748 Walea St. in Wahiawa - during the Great Kitchen & Bath Tour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. It’s one of 11 residences on the tour, which costs $15 and benefits Honolulu Habitat for Humanity (538-7070)

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Hawaii government departments have turned the spotlight (in a good way) on several Mililani employees lately. The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs honored its outstanding staff Sept. 23, including its chief budget analyst, Lance Hirano.

He was named Manager of the Year for his leadership and success in monitoring and analyzing the financial health of our domestic insurance companies. And over at the Department of Agriculture, Dexter Cho was named Employee of the Year, and Dean Yoshizu earned a Sustained Superior Performance Award.

Dexter is a pest control technician in the plant industry division, whose support of the staff entomologists is well-known. He also helped identify an insect that has been successful in controlling the glassy-winged sharpshooter. You didn’t know that, did you? Dean is an environmental health specialist in the same division. He manages the grants that pay for safety enforcement of pesticide use, among other achievements ...

John Uson of Mililani has joined the CB Richard Ellis asset services team in Honolulu as a project manager. John previously worked as a design consultant and project manager for an architect firm and was a quality assurance rep for Castle & Cooke Homes ...

We’re not a restaurant review column, but Mililani resident Dennis Bernard tells me he highly recommends Just Tacos in Mililani. “I really enjoy seeing families there having a good meal and enjoying themselves,” says Dennis, who frequents the place with friends for his favorite lunch and dinner choices. Ole! ...

Kristen StephensonPino of Mililani won the Miss Young International Hawaii crown in a pageant Aug. 27 at Cirque Hawaii Theater in Waikiki. She will represent the state this month in pageants in the Philippines and Taiwan. Kristen also won her photogenic, swimsuit and evening gown categories, and got the Supermodel with Style Award ...

Sponsored by the Locations Foundation, some 37 youngsters with cancer are going on a picnic to Waimea Valley, among other activities this week. The Sunshine Kids came from all over the Mainland for some fun in Hawaii ... The things you learn by reading the Wahiawa-Waialua Rotary newsletter. Such as how Camp Erdman got its name. Walter Dillingham’s nephew, Harold Randolf Erdman, was injured while playing polo in 1931 and later died. Shortly after that, the Dillingham and Erdman family gave the property to the YMCA and asked that it be named after Harold. (Now the camp provides fun and good memories for more than 20,000 people each year) ...

With all the excitement about recycling, Suzanne Jones, the city’s recycling coordinator and a Mililani resident, reminds everyone to remove the plastic caps from your plastic bottles, because they are made of a different type of plastic, and they prevent the crushing of the bottle

 

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Na Loio Immigrant Rights & Public Interest Legal Center marks its 25th anniversary this Friday by giving its Keeper of the Flame Award to Wahiawa native Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba (Ret.) and to the Pacific Survivor Center. Antonio, a Leilehua graduate, authored the 2004 U.S. Army report documenting the horrific abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The award recognizes those who “serve the under-served with integrity, honor and an unwavering commitment to justice, dignity and equality for all” ...

Keoki Surfboards in Whitmore Village was to host 7-year-old Mikael Estopier on Sept. 11 as part of the Texas youngster’s trip here, sponsored by Children’s Wish Foundation International. Mikael is battling acute myelogenous leukemia, but his dream is to battle the waves in Hawaii on a surfboard he made for himself. After Keoki Ching helped him make that board at the factory, a surf lesson was to follow ...

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Preserve America have named Mililani High social studies teacher Cynthia Tong the Hawaii History Teacher of the Year, which earns her $1,000 in cash and an archive of books and materials for the school library. Cynthia, a 17-year teaching veteran, was praised along with her colleagues for “creating one of the most dynamic History Day programs in the state while developing outstanding historical research and interpretation lessons for the classroom.” She’s won numerous awards for her teaching and perpetuates it by serving as a mentor teacher for the UH College of Education along with other contributions to her profession and to her favorite subject ...

Brian Christensen of Mililani Mauka has joined Pint Size Corp. as its CEO, bringing 30 years of experience in the food industry. Brian also serves on the boards for Hawaii Foodbank and the Hawaii Food Industry Association. Specializing in ice cream and frozen pizza, PSC grew from its Hawaii beginning in 1979 and was purchased by San Francisco-based Fundamental Capital last January ...

Susan Luehrs of Hawaii FI-DO is hoping for more player teams to make the North Shore nonprofit agency’s first golf tournament a success. Set for Oct. 17 on the Hawaii Prince course, proceeds from the benefit tourney will help Susan and her human and canine volunteers continue to make life better for handicapped clients and at-risk youths (222-1264) ...

Eduard Lizabet has returned to Solomon Elementary School this fall, vowing to earn $2,000 for the American Heart Association. Last year as a fourth-grader, Eduard ranked fifth in the entire state for bring in $1,013 during the school’s Jump Rope for Heart campaign ... No, OMPO is not a sound coming from the tuba section, it’s the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, which coordinates transportation planning for the island. And this year the rotating chairman-ship has fallen on City Councilman Nestor Garcia (Mililani Town to Makakilo) and vice chairwoman, state Rep. Marilyn Lee (Mililani, Mililani Mauka) ...

Castle & Cooke has promoted Lisa Souza of Wahiawa to manager, homeowner service center, helping buyers to customize their homes. Lisa joined C & C in 1988, working her way up from junior host at Mililani’s model homes ... Congratulations to lucky slot players in downtown Las Vegas this summer. At Main Street Station: Mililani’s Mary Scharsch ($11,326), Mililani’s Janis Anzai ($4,500), Wahiawa’s Raoul Dela Cruz ($4,000). At the California Hotel: Wahiawa’s Fannie Guerrero ($9,700), Wahiawa’s Jane Oda ($6,441), Mililani’s Catherine Peavy ($5,400). At the Fremont: Waialua’s Marge Rego ($5,000) ...

Robert Camello of Waipio-Gentry is the new site development manager for Reynolds Recycling. He previously worked in the hotel industry ... HFD’s tip of the month from Fire Capt. Terry Seelig: Check your home for fire hazards, have and rehearse an escape plan, and know where to meet outside ... BONUS FACTS: Two names in the news, in case you want to address them formally: Fannie Mae is the Federal National Mortgage Association; Freddie Mac is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation

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One of the first six recipients of the city’s Honolulu Forever Young award is longtime North Shore community leader Bill Paty, 87, who “exemplifies successful aging and how to live life to the fullest.” He’ll be honored Oct. 7 at a Waikiki luncheon. Wahiawa-Waialua Rotary Club also recognized Bill last month to mark his 60th year in the club. Special guests from his “past,” like fellow Rotarian Linda Coble, paid tribute to a man who has served Hawaii in many ways for many decades.

President Rick Price compiled a history revealing his many good sides: Army paratrooper and one of the first to jump during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, president of Waialua Sugar, president of the 1978 Con-Con, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, chairman of the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council, oversight chair of the Rural Economic Transition Assistance program, current chair of the Turtle Bay Advisory Working Group, and, of course, Eagle Scout and leader of the Aloha Council of Boy Scouts.

There’s more. The club newsletter reports that after accepting a crystal plaque and a piece of cake, Bill donated $300 to Rotary causes. And he apologized later for being late to the surprise program (dead battery) ... After bringing 100 colorful koi to the East-West Center pond July 3 with his brother Hidenobu, Taro Kodama returned to donate 200 more on Aug. 8. He says the Kodama Koi Farm in Mililani “dreams this beautiful Aloha state to be filled with beautiful Japanese koi, and more people will have chances to enjoy Koi known as living jewels” ...

Haleiwa native Christopher Cole has rejoined the Carlsmith Ball law firm as a partner specializing in civil litigation. An avid waterman, Chris graduated from UCLA where he lettered in rowing, and has his law degree from UC-Hastings ... Marian Harada of Harada Enterprises, Marian’s and Dot’s Drive-Inn in Wahiawa will be inducted into the Hawaii Restaurant Association 2008 Hall of Fame for dedication and commitment to growth of the industry prior to 1970 ...

Dole Plantation has promoted Waialua resident Michael Moon to director of operations. Michael will oversee retail, food and beverage, garden, train, carts and landscaping, plus catering and special functions at the visitor attraction ... State Rep. Marcus Oshiro, chairman of the House Finance Committee, has been elected vice chairman of the Council of State Governments-West, which promotes cooperation and professional development among 13 states ...

For those of us waiting for better parking at the airport: deputy DOT director Brian Sekiguchi is pleased to report that the new 1,800-stall parking garage is 50 percent done and should be open “by the end the year” ...

Tracy Yamamoto of Mililani plays four roles in Army Community Theatre’s in Dante’s Inferno, a free Reader’s Theatre program set for 2 p.m. Sept. 7, 14 and 21 at Richardson Theatre on Fort Shafter ... UH West Oahu honor student Yafen Wang was mentioned in an earlier Waha Nui column, but not with her photo. Meet Yafen now - she’s a Wahiawa resident, named Outstanding Senior by the Hawaii Association of Public Accountants

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Pupukea artist Bill Braden is a good landscape oil painter to have in your corner. He’s donating half of the proceeds from his beautiful Kawela Bay triptych to the Campaign to Save Turtle Bay (524-8564), an effort directed by the Trust for Public Land to buy and conserve five miles of shoreline and hundreds of acres near the Turtle Bay Resort. The triptych will be on view from Aug. 23 to 31 as part of his lobby exhibit at Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki. Bill previously designed the limited-edition T-shirts that promoted the successful acquisition of Pupukea-Paumalu ...

Speaking of art, the new Paradise white pages feature Mililani hula dancer Aureana Tseu holding leis while surrounded by the natural amenities of Waimea Valley (and photographed by Linda Ching) ... Mililani High School graduate Jaqui Dureg plans to attend Pacific University with the help of a McDonald’s of Hawaii scholarship. Jaqui, who works at the Mililani Mauka restaurant, is one of 10 student employees statewide to receive a $2,500 grant from the fast-food chain for their outstanding performance in academics, the community and on the job ...

Mililani landscaper Steve Dewald puts his money where his plants are. The owner of Steve’s Gardening Service is teaming up with other sponsors to offer a $20,000 Extreme Xeriscape Garden Makeover as the grand prize from Halawa Xeriscape Garden’s recent open hour and plant sale. Winner of the makeover will be announced Sept. 2 ... HFD safety tip for August from Capt. Terry Seelig: If you’re going to light a fire, make sure it’s authorized and in a safe location with safe conditions. Wear proper protection and have a responsible person supervise it. And if you’re doing an imu, call HFD at 523-4411 at least 10 minutes before starting it ...

Congratulations to Central Oahu’s District Teacher of the Year for 2009. Waialua High School physics teacher Glenn Lee will be honored Oct. 16 by the Board of Education. Glenn also has coached his students into the national spotlight in robotics and electric car competitions ... Mililani’s podcast blogger techno guru, Ryan Ozawa, has landed a talk-show spot on Hawaii Public Radio. Every Wednesday at 5 p.m. on KIPO 89.3. Ryan and Burt Lum talk up a storm on Bytemarks Cafe ...

Wahiawa Neighborhood Board chairman and military veteran Ben Acohido has been named to the Hawaii State Adult and Community Education Advisory Council ... A Mililani resident now directs public affairs for UH-West Oahu. An experienced PR man, including a stint at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Ryan Mielke also will be the liaison between the growing campus and its chancellor on legislative and strategic communication issues ... Don Olden, who knows a thing or two about the cost of health care, will be guest speaker at the Wahiawa-Waialua Rotary lunch Thursday at Dot’s. Don is Wahiawa Hospital’s CEO, coming there in early 2007 after working at Kahuku and St. Francis hospitals ...

Give a pint of blood any Monday this summer and you get a coupon for a large Zippy’s chili and rice (845-9966) ... When you pau the chili, chase it down with persimmons, yellow squash, spinach, corn and tangerines. According to Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora, they contain antioxidants that can slow the growth of cataracts ... Direct your eyes to Mililani actor Devin Kawamua in this Sunday’s production of LooChoo nu Kwa, Children of LooChoo, an elaborate staging of the Okinawan experience, set for 2 p.m. at Mamiya Theatre in Kaimuki (550-8457). Music, dance, costumes, culture, all in one afternoon

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Amusician with the Saloon Pilots, Kilin Reece also is a luthier and just-plain-handy repairman for those of you with broken or weary instruments. At your service with Kitakis Stringed Instruments at Hawaii Music Supply in Wahiawa (622-8000). He’s also playing Saturday at HPR’s Atherton Studio ... Earning his master of public administration degree at the University of Oklahoma at Norman is Wahiawa’s Stan Kazuo Takehara ...

Devin Kawamua of Mililani is in the cast of a unique cultural treat for all Hawaii residents with Okinawan blood, LooChoo nu Kwa, Children of Ryukyu, playing at 2 p.m. Aug. 24 in Mamiya Theatre (550-8457) ... One of Lucia Mocz‘s many awards for her science projects while at Mililani High School is the Harvard Book prize, which was presented personally by Harvard alumnus, Mayor Mufi Hannemann ...

Bella Petra, a natural stone company here, has hired Cara Ishizaki as executive assistant to founder and owner Layla Dedrick. A Mililani resident, Cara has a degree in exercise science and sports science, with a minor in Japanese, from Oregon State University. A woman of varied talents, she’s also a licensed massage therapist and notary public who previously worked for Barnwell Industries and aio Group ... Mililani’s veteran actress Jo Pruden has won a 2008 Pookela award for Leading Female in a Play, for her role as the doubting nun in Manoa Valley Theatre’s Doubt ...

Hawaii Women’s Political Caucus will honor state Rep. Marilyn Lee (Mililani-Mililani Mauka) at a candidates reception Aug. 12 as “a progressive female office holder who serves as a role model to other women interested in seeking office” ... North Shore resident Mark Healey beat out 21 other divers to win the La Paz World Cup Invitational Spearfishing Tournament last month in La Ventana Baja California Sur, Mexico. Mark, a pro surfer and free diver, caught the only two Yellowtail in the competition and 11 fish overall in his tournament debut. He also got a check for $3,200. Among the sponsors was Hawaii Skin Diver magazine ...

Sunset Beach Elementary’s Kalani David, 10, won the Surfer Hot 100 Air Invitational July 12 at Kuhio Beach (the youngest surfer there) after completing two aerial maneuvers on the same wave ... Latest license plates relieving traffic boredom: DBLDT, UNKO, HRD HD, ITUNEM, OHWELL, 4DTUDE, LOOOVE and on a tow truck RESQNU

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Mililani-raised Jennifer Hoof is now helping Farrington High students appreciate Kalihi - right down to the littlest microbes in the stream. Jennifer was one of 15 to receive the 2008 Crystal Apple National Teacher Award last month in Washington, D.C., from Time Warner Cable. The company honors projects that make creative use of cable TV in the classroom. Jennifer took her sophomore science class to study, measure and test stream quality in the Kalihi Ahupua’a. She won $2,000 cash and a $3,000 technology grant for her school.

Noted president Nate Smith of Oceanic Time Warner (based in Mililani): “This is the sixth year in a row that a Hawaii teacher has been recognized with this national award, which is a testament to the quality and dedication of our Hawaii teachers” ...

Oregon State University in Corvallis has several brainy local folks on its spring honor roll: Mililani sophomore Nicole Chun, who is studying animal sciences, earned straight A’s, for example. Others who made the cut are Dexter Carolino, Bryson Kamisato, Tracie Kobayashi, Rorey La Puente and David White, all of Mililani; and Tiffany Ruiz of Wahiawa ... Wahiawa eye doctor

Christopher Tortora says: Wear shades. July is Ultra Violet Awareness Month, declare his colleagues in the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “Ultraviolet light from the sun can permanently damage your eyes,” he cautions, “and that light is much more intense at this time of year.” Buy and wear sunglasses that say UV 400, wear wide-brimmed hats, etc. ...

Martin Arinaga of Mililani has been named Financial Advisor Professional of the Year by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors for his 25 years of experience, commitment, education and success. In addition to his many professional activities, Martin co-chaired his Leilehua High School reunion committee and was Junior Achievement adviser at Mililani Waena Elementary School. Martin is founding partner and senior vice president of Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group, which is based in Mililani ...

Three recent UH-West Oahu graduates went out with a bang. Nicholas Kimokeo of Mililani, who graduated last fall with a 3.94 gpa, won a Humanities Writing Award; Yafen Wang of Wahiawa is the Hawaii Association of Public Accountants Outstanding Senior; and

Kamoa Quitevis of Wahiawa is the Outstanding Social Sciences Student. Kamoa is an intern at OHA and teaches at Halau Lokahi charter school ... Latest tip of the month (July or any month) from Honolulu firefighters: Childproof your home against electrical shock, falls and poisoning; secure your swimming pool and put an alarm on the door that will tell you when a child is heading for it outside; hide the matches and lighters in a safe place ...

Charlie Duncan recently told his fellow Wahiawa-Waialua Rotarians about a trip he never could have taken without the Hawaii SuperFerry. He and his motorcycle club were able to cruise all over Maui and Haleakala, not to mention the ocean cruise there and back ...

Speaking of the Valley Isle, Turtle Bay chef Fred De Angelo (of Ola restaurant there) could be crying in his soup next month, when he and other celebrity chefs will demonstrate their wizardry with the sweet, mellow Maui onion. It’s the 19th annual Maui Onion Festival Aug. 23 at Whalers Village

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UH medical school student Marcus Kawika Iwane has won the $10,000 Minority Scholars Award from the AMA Foundation, recognizing achievement and promise among first or second-year students in “historically underrep-resented” groups. He is the first Native Hawaiian to receive the award, and one of 12 across the country to be honored this year. Marcus went to Mililani Waena Elementary before attending Kamehameha Schools ...

Central Oahu is sending Glen Hayashida and Karen Settlemire off to the U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh, Penn. July 11-16 with Team Hawaii, which is fielding athletes in six sports plus a support team of living donors and donor families, sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation. Karen is a Waialua resident whose late husband was an organ donor. Glen is CEO of local chapter of NKF ... REHAB hospital has promoted Audrey Torres to vice president and chief nursing officer. A Mililani resident, Audrey also belongs to the Association of Rehabilitation Nursing and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology ...

Speaking of REHAB, the hospital has appointed Erin Bigler, a clinical neuropsychology professor at BYU-Provo, as its Morita Distinguished Fellow for 2008. Erin will be teaching at BYU-Hawaii while he’s here and studying how patients adjust to brain injuries at both REHAB and at Queen’s ... Congratulations to Mililani Mauka Elementary, which won the $10,000 grand prize from HECO for its performance in the Home Energy Challenge. (Islandwide, school families saved nearly $46,000 on their home electricity bills) ...

Brittany Atiburcio of Mililani was honored at her Maryknoll High School graduation with the Mother Mary Joseph Rogers award, which recognizes her “good will and sensitivity toward the needs of fellow students and the Maryknoll community.” Brittany plans to attend HPU ... North Shore master shapers Jeff Bushman and Kyle Bernhardt have launched Country Feeling Surfboards, featuring boards made with “environmentally friendly materials,” such as soy- and sugar-based foams, plant-based and solar-activated resins, and hemp, silk and bamboo cloth.

For more, call them at 638-7192 ... Scott Ishikawa of Mililani Mauka is now vice president of Bright Light Marketing, after years as a journalist (including the Sun Press and MidWeek) and very visible spokesman for the state Department of Transportation ... Susan Fujita was promoted recently to director of inpatient therapy services at REHAB hospital. The Mililani resident specializes in speech therapy and has been assisting patients at the hospital for 15 years ...

The Healthcare Association of Hawaii’s Home Care and Hospice Division has honored state Sen. Marilyn Lee, who is also a registered nurse, with its 2008 Community Service Award for her “significant contributions” to the industry ... Waialua High (42.5 percent) and Mililani High (40.2 percent) were among the six public schools with the highest percentage of graduates earning the more-challenging BOE diploma. It requires additional credits and a 3.0 gpa ...

The Hawaiian Humane Society’s “Be Kind to Animals Week” promotional contest attracted many vivid posters, including winning art from Sunset Beach Elementary student Zoe McDougall and Mililani High’s Kristi-Ann Lee

 

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Mrs. North Shore, Lehua Sandbo Nahina, won the Mrs. Hawaii-USA pageant June 6 and will compete for the national crown in Las Vegas. She and her carpenter/pro surfer husband Kapono have a little girl and live in Haleiwa while Lehua studies to be a nurse ... Leilehua High School 2008 graduate and award-winning artist Tabitha Taraya has won another prize for her work - the $500 Tadashi Sato Living Art Scholarship for Death Paint, her portrait of a girl looking in a mirror. It’s said to exemplify Sato’s belief “that emotional and spiritual influences flow through the artist, creating a living work of art” ...

Stephanie Kong of Mililani will read from Bill Teter‘s Riding the Koi, at 7 p.m. July 6 for the next taping of Aloha Shorts at HPR’s Atherton Studio ... Mililani High graduate Aleina Hammonds is now an intern for the Art in Public Paces Program of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Aleina is studying art history (surprise!) at UH-Manoa ... One brave area talent enters “a castle of mad science and mass seduction” June 25-July 27 as a cast member of Manoa Valley Theatre’s Rocky Horror Show (988-6131). ‘Tis Cassie Favreau-Chung of Mililani Mauka ...

Instead of relaxing, Wahiawa Elementary teachers Henry Kitagawa and Karen Shimomura are attending workshops this week with Research Experiences for Teachers at UH-Manoa. Participation boosts their own knowledge and supports curriculum, computer laptops and lab equipment for their students’ lessons in science, technology, engineering and math ... Kay Nagata of Mililani has joined the UH West Oahu staff as a student services clerk, moving over from a position at the medical school ... Leilehua High’s Jason Austria has won a $3,000 scholarship from the Honolulu chapter of Executive Women International. The group selected seven high school juniors for its 2008 grants ...

Sylvia Van Velzer of Mililani has her digital art work, Camera to Canvas, on view starting this Friday at the Elks Club in Waikiki ... Honolulu Fire Department Tip of the Month: During these dry summer days, be careful with fireworks, matches and lighters when you’re around wildland vegetation. And go to the Schofield fireworks show instead of creating your own pyrotechnic display at home ... Five Central Oahu students made the President’s Honor Roll for spring semester at Washington State University in Pullman. They are Andrea Brizee, Kimberly Ching and Irene Shimabukuro of Mililani; Mapuana Antonio of Wahiawa, and Cassie Chun of Haleiwa ...

Lita Endaya of Mililani and Heather O’Malley of Haleiwa are among five First Hawaiian Fellows selected recently by the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific Foundation. The honor comes with funds to pay for their further study anywhere in the world. Lita is a physical therapist at Rehab’s Aiea clinic, and Heather is a PT at its Mililani clinic ... Which came first, the chicken or the worm? Those hungry wigglers that Mindy Jaffe uses in her composting business, Waikiki Worm, come from Peterson‘s Upland Farm in Wahiawa. It took Mindy months to locate a good source for the little critters, also known as Perionyx excavatus, but all that rich chicken manure has proven to be a winner ...

Mililani’s Eugene Son earned an honorable mention (for ages 6-8) in the Aloha International Piano Festival June 14 at the Convention Center ... Wahiawa native Julie Moon has won praise from radio personality Sweetie Pacarro for her caring personality and the “feeling of comfort” at her Moon Physical Therapy “endless” aqua pool on Ward Avenue (597-1005)

 

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McDonald’s of Hawaii has distributed $2,500 scholarships to 10 of its top student employees, and that includes recent Waialua High graduate Chelsea Marie Balon, who works at the Mililani restaurant. Chelsea plans to attend Hawaii Pacific University ... Congratulations to Leilehua students who competed in the Samoa High School Cultural Arts Festival at Polynesian Cultural Center. They placed first in four events: banana peeling (both girls’ and boys’ teams), basket weaving (girls) and coconut husking (boys) ...

Gov. Linda Lingle gave the keynote speech at the North Shore Chamber of Commerce’s installation banquet last week at Waimea Valley’s Pikake Pavilion. The new board includes Marianne Abrigo, Bob Boyle, Karen Campbell, Ed D’Ascoli, Jane Duncan, Kalani Fronda, Norman Fujioka, Josh

Heimowitz, Susan Lau, Mike Lyons, Susan Matsushima, Michael Moon, Johnny Moore, Chet Naylor and Paul Saccoccio ... Mililani Middle School had its hula on display last month at the Hawaii Secondary Schools Hula Kahiko Competition, which attracted 14 schools May 17, and the wahine placed third in the intermediate division ...

Donalyn Dela Cruz has worked in a variety of interesting jobs since her days at Leilehua and UH - U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye‘s press secretary, spokeswoman for Hawaii Democrats, TV reporter, public relations associate. Now Bishop Museum has claimed her for its manager of government affairs and community relations ... Island Insurance awarded $1,000 to Mililani High principal John Brummel as one of 11 nominees for its 2008 Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School Leadership Award ...

Mililani resident Todd Jackson has been promoted to senior vice president and executive loan officer of Central Pacific Bank’s real estate loan division ... North Shore resident Rory Tani has his artwork on display in the show Now & Then in June and July at Rehab hospital’s Louis Vuitton Creative Art Program gallery ... Hale Kula Elementary School’s Hawaiian kupuna Stanford Alika Bajo is one of seven winners statewide in the first Na Mo’olelo Kulaiwi Writing Contest, which showcased stories of life experiences in Hawaii. Winners were announced at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival. Stanford wrote Kelii and the Secret of the Magic Poi Pounder, topping the fiction category ...

Library manager Fran Corcoran has some new “icky” books to lure young readers into the Kahuku branch, including Pam Rosenberg‘s Eek! Ick, Sticky, Gross Stuff in Your Food ... Jasmine Trias has landed a solid summer gig with the Society of Seven LV, June 20 to July 31 at the Outrigger Waikiki. “The seven-man band now will have a wonderful diva connection,” declared the show’s producer, Fran Kirk, of Mililani’s rising star ...

Biologist John Wang has been conducting shark research from the cage of Hawaii Shark Adventures, which operates out of Haleiwa harbor. John and his NOAA colleagues are discovering that the sharks have different reactions to various types of metal bait poles. Hmm ... ... Raised on the North Shore, Linda Furuto has risen high in the field of math. The assistant professor of mathematics at UH-West Oahu was recently elected to the board of directors for the Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Linda also assisted in opening the UHWO Math Center, which offers tutoring and real-world math applications

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Leilehua High School student Susi Pearson and Katherine Moody from Ho’ala School are cast in the Hawaii Young Actors Ensemble for The Tempest at Hawaii Theatre. The curtain goes up at 7 p.m May 29 and 30 (528-0506). Student apprentices include Kahuku High’s Nicolette Tevenen in stage management ... Mililani High student Philip Mocz has won a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship, one of 11 high school seniors in the state judged to have the best college potential ...

In the last Waha Nui column, I promised you more details about my visit to a Clark County dog park near Las Vegas. While we were there with our daughter Erin Wells and her tiny Maltese pooch, Pono, we saw that all the dogs, big and small, had a grand time and got along just fine. Some humans, however, couldn’t get their act together. In the parking lot we witnessed two macho guys ramming each other head-on with their SUVs, then fuming off in a cloud of desert dust ...

Mililani residents Allen Quijano and Renee Pascual have created a gadget that could save surfers from a shark attack. Their secret design for Shark Bite “will render it unobtrusive to the surfer while still remaining very effective in its purpose,” according to Invention Technologies Inc. Next challenge for the pair, product development and getting it into the local surf shops ... Congratulations to Honolulu Police Officer of the Year Gerald Scoville, a long-time Wahiawa lawman who is always trying to make things better. One of his interests is graffiti eradication, so he asked mural-ist Ron Artis to help out (see story on page 8). After painting a vivid North Shore scene on the side and back wall next to Sunny Side bakery, Ron and a few of his children may have gained a little weight. “They fed us every day,” Ron recalls, “and believe me, we tore up some pies there” ...

Mililani resident Aaron Gorospe, a UH-West Oahu senior, won second place in a recent student talent contest on the college’s Leeward campus. Aaron dazzled the audience with a piano and vocal performance of His Eye is on the Sparrow ... You have one more chance to see Army Community Theatre’s reading of The Great God Brown at 2 p.m. Sunday at Fort Shafter. Mililani’s veteran actress Jo Pruden plays two roles in the special Readers Theatre offering (438-4480) ...

There must be some drama dust in the Mililani air because Mililani Mauka actress Loretta Ables Sayre is also busy on stage and doing very, very well. Loretta, who plays Bloody Mary in the Broadway revival of South Pacific, has just landed a Tony nomination for best performance by a featured actress in a musical ... More Mililani art talent: Chanel Hebaru of Mililani High School won first place among high school artists in the city’s Sew a Lei for Memorial Day poster contest. Mayor Mufi Hannemann presented her with a two-night stay at a Waikiki hotel, a $50 gift card and other prizes. You can see her work at Honolulu Hale through May 29 ...

Ten-year-old Jordikai Inouye of Wahiawa was honored May 19 at the Hawaii Convention Center by the American Society of Safety Engineers for placing second in her age group in its “Safety on the Job” poster contest. Her entry (“Person Protective Equipment”) also was viewed worldwide as part of a Occupational Safety and Health Week campaign. Plus she got a savings bond ... When Keri Wheelwright told co-workers at Oils of Aloha about her husband’s drive to help an Iraqi school near Camp Taji, the Waialua company came through with school supplies, which it bought and shipped with profits from its February online sales. Capt. Shaun Wheelwright (1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment Wolfhounds out of Schofield) and his soldiers delivered the goods April 26 to the excitement of the kids. And to think it all started when he gave a pen to one thrilled little boy

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Roberts Hawaii has appointed Wahiawa boy Les Honda to be director of guest experiences for the tour and transporation company. Les, a Leilehua High School graduate, also studied at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and previously worked in marketing for Borders Group and others ...

The Board of Water Supply’s annual poster contest to promote water conservation produced three honorees from Central Oahu schools. Mililani Mauka Elementary School third-grader Gianna Ramiscal took second in her age group while schoolmate Andrew Durand (grade 4) took third. Mililani Waena Elementary fifth-grader Nicole Nakamura earned an honorable mention. You can see their work May 18-31 at Pearlridge Uptown, and also in the 2009 BWS calendar. Gianna and Andrew also received savings bonds ...

The Honolulu Fire Department’s tip of the month: Install and maintain smoke alarms in your home, make an escape plan and practice it ... A rising Central Oahu talent is Army wife Shanan Colvin of Wahiawa, who plays Rose in Army Community Theatre’s Bye Bye Birdie, which runs from May 8 to 24 in Fort Shafter’s Richardson Theatre (438-4480) ...

A Global Day of Prayer is not a bad idea right now. It’s planned for noon to 3 p.m. this Saturday at the state Capitol Rotunda, and Lori Shimabukuro of New Hope Mililani has more details (621-9363) ... You can catch Wahiawa musician and concert promoter (via UpRise Music) Hope Mayo playing her original stuff from 7 to 9 p.m. every Friday (except First Friday Artwalk) at the rRed Elephant on downtown Bishop Street ...

St. Francis School students can tell when their new English teacher Sam Judd has arrived on campus from her Mililani home. She drives a “vibrant green Volkswagen Bug” ... Jane Oda of Wahiawa hit 11 jackpots recently on slot machines at the California Hotel casino, winning a total of $11,737.

Doing it all at one time at the Fremont was Juanita Sadoy of Waialua with a $10,000 take, and Regina Gagalac of Wahiawa with $6,000. Best of all: Wahiawa’s Justin Oho won $25,000 at Main Street Station. What did I do on my April Las Vegas trip - besides lose - you ask? Stayed two extra days (because of ATA) and then visited a dog park. Stay tuned for more on that ...

Congratulations to teachers Cynthia Tong of Mililani High and Mark Woolsey of Kahuku High and Intermediate, winners of a $2,000 Teach Award from Best Buy Co. for “creatively integrating interactive technology into their school curriculum” ...

Also earning recognition was Cadet Col. Ryan Benito of the Army JROTC program. Ryan was named 2008 Outstanding Cadet for his unit during the year-end marching competition and awards ceremonies on Fort Shafter’s parade field last week - to the accompaniment of the 25th Infantry Division’s Tropic Lightning Band ... Veteran salesman Win Latronic of Haleiwa is puzzled that more factories, generators, printing presses and trucks over here aren’t using his product. “It’s the top weapons lubricant in the Western world,” he tells me, “and it increases your gas mileage by 3 mpg. We make love to your engines.” It’s called Militec 1 and comes in a small plastic container at auto parts stores. Wanna hear more? Call Win at 638-9522 or go to www.militec1.com

 

Waha Nui

Former Leilehua judo coach Chris Aarona spends most of his time in Waimanalo with his wife and four kids, and works full time for Matson. But he’ll represent the USA at the Pan American Judo Championships May 8-10, and at the Olympic Zone Cup May 11 - both in Miami. His goal: the 2008 US Olympic Judo Team. To help him get there, head for Pipeline Cafe from 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday and plunk down your $15 ($10 presale) for music, pupus and auctions (845-3113). Chris is currently ranked No. 2 among the USA Judo Senior Elite Males 100kg ...

Wahiawa’s Stephanie Kong, a professional actress, teacher and UH graduate, got rave reviews for portraying an over-sexed, troubled 11-year-old girl in Y York‘s premiere of Bleachers in the Sun downtown (final show was Sunday). Stephanie also teaches at Ohana Music Together in Pearl City and works with Ohia Productions ... Catherine Graham is recruiting for Aspect Foundation, which places students from 30 countries in Island homes. Her personal peace mission this year is to find host homes in Central Oahu for teens from the Middle East (741-4317) ...

Congratulations to Oils of Aloha on its 20th anniversary. It opened in 1988 in the historic Koga Theater in Waialua to bring the health benefits of kukui and macadamia oils to the world. Its latest product is SOLaleur, an ointment for burn relief. Matthew Papania, recently promoted to company president, says they plan a yearlong celebration (637-5620) ... Also, belated congratulations to Mililani High School’s Science Olympiad team, which placed first in its division at the state competition last month at LCC. (Wheeler Middle took seventh in its division) ... North Shore native Mike Mohica (Kahuku 1995) has opened Ono Hawaiian Cafe and a Kanak Attack catering enterprise in Boise, Idaho. He has local boys on his staff and enough luau food to overwhelm all those potato eaters ...

Happy Birthday to Mililani. Born in 1968 as Hawaii’s first master-planned, fee simple community, it’s now all grown up at 40, and almost complete. And, says Castle & Cooke president Harry Saunders, its many twoand three-generation homeowners show that “we have accomplished our goals and created a community that contributes to Hawaii’s social and cultural fabric” ... Another Mililani goal accomplished: Mililani High PTSO named English teacher Lisa Tsuruda its 2008 Teacher of the Year. Linda says her goal is to have her students be “self-directed and to succeed in life through internal determination” ...

Commercial artist Mark Swanson traded in a Hollywood computer animation career (Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, An American Tale) in 2004 to enjoy art and life on the North Shore. Now Mark creates colorful totes and beach bags out of his Aloha Workshop in Waialua (637-1522) ... Mililani Mauka resident Barry Muranaka is the new senior project manager for M&E Pacific Inc., part of a national environmental engineering firm. Barry is a civil engineer and contributor to past improvements to the Kalanianaole and Kuhio highways ... Ho’ala School took Earth Day to a new level last week, complete with a fashion show of used clothing, litter patrols, art from trash and a hibiscus planting ...

Mililani resident Aaron Gorospe placed second in a UH-West Oahu student talent show last week, singing His Eye is on the Sparrow and accompanying himself on piano. His performance earned Aaron a Best Buy gift card

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Matthew Cook placed third in Canon USA Hawaii’s recent amateur photo contest. The Waialua photographer was honored at an April 1 reception and won a PowerShot digital camera. His work is on view this month at Canon’s gallery on Ward Avenue (522-5930) ...

Wahiawa General Hospital’s medical lab and Diagnostic Laboratory Services of Wahiawa and Mililani are joining others on Oahu to serve as collection sites for the Hawaii Foodbank drive from Sunday through April 26. Call Bev Sora at 621-4270 (for WGH) and Julie Fujiwara at 589-5254 (Diagnostic Labs). After all, its National Medical Laboratory Professional Week, you know ...

Jamie Sonobe of Leilehua High School and Kellen Miyasato of Mililani High are among a lucky dozen Oahu students to win scholarships worth $4,000 from Hawaii Self Storage. Ceremonies will be held Thursday at the company’s Pearl City facility. Jamie plans to attend UH-West Oahu, and Kellen will study at UH-Manoa ... Mililani-Mauka resident Jacob Silva is program director for Stay Healthy at Home, a new service of St. Francis Residential Care Community. It’s a one-stop resource and referral program starting at the Honuakaha Elderly Apartments.

As an RN, Jacob has 18 years experience in the field and also continues to serve as a nurse in the Army Reserve ... Kahuku High School student Tiffany Polk has won the state finals for Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest to be held in Washington, D.C., April 28-29. She gets an all-expense-paid trip, $500 for poetry books for her school, and $200 cash. She recited Still I Rise by Maya Angelou and Unknown Girl in a Maternity Ward by Anne Sexton. The state finals were March 9 at Tenney Theatre, sponsored by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and Honolulu Theatre for Youth ...

Art by Bennie Flores of Wahiawa is on view now through May 31 at Rehab Hospital’s Louis Vuitton gallery. The exhibit is called The Big Picture (531-3511) ... North Shore resident Kelimia Mednick of Sterman Realty has earned her Accredited Buyer’s Rep designation, as well as the Graduate Realtors Institute and Electronic Professional designations, capping off her first five years in the field ...

Mililani songstress Jasmine Trias performs at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the city’s first Art on the Block, an all-day celebration of music, culture, food and art on the Fasi Civic Center grounds by the Skygate sculpture (237-3676) ... Mililani High students Robert Lau and Ryan Jose Palomares finished the state chess championships March 14-15 undefeated and now share the 2008 title as the top Hawaii high school chess players. After a playoff, one of them will go to the national tournament in Texas in August. The Trojan team also is the top 2008 Hawaii school, and Mililani Ike shares the title for grades K-6 ...

The Hawaiian Eye Center has promoted Joey Lucas to patient services supervisor from patient services rep at its Wahiawa office ... Markham Vineyards in Napa Valley wants to give $25,000 to two people to help them complete community projects that create “positive, tangible change.” You can look into it at www.MarkhamMarkofDistinction.com ...

The Honolulu Police Community Foundation invites students to apply by April 30 for its college scholarships. Former HPD chief Lee Donohue chairs the group. Call 942-1400 for details ... Latest license plate spotting: SHEESH

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The Salvation Army honored volunteer bell-ringer Beatrice Lindseylast week for outstanding community service. “Beatrice is a fixture at the Wahiawa Longs Drugs each Christmas, bless her heart,” says spokesman Daniel de Castro. For nine years, she’s reported for holiday duty to help the needy - nine hours a day, six days a week! Her ears must be ringing, too ... As an antidote to the “throwing puppy” video recently in the news, many Hawaii friends of Army Capt. Timothy Cho have received reports from Iraq about two “morale booster” puppies his platoon adopted after finding them under a mud shack in a marketplace. The pups got a bath, a heated room, bedtime stories and plenty of cuddles from the troops ...

Graduating in December from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant were Mililani students Ervin Hendrix Jr. (MS), Danette Nakamura (MS) and Jaime Hogsten (BS); and Wahiawa’s Herman King (graduate certificate) ... Lillian Yano of Mililani will demonstrate ikebana at 10 a.m. March 25 at Honolulu Hale. Lillian has been teaching the delicate flower art for 10 years, including classes at Mililani’s Olaloa Retirement Center. Her demo is part of the city’s “Splendors of Ikebana” ...

From ancient tradition to cyberspace: You can now surf the Net while hanging out at Mililani Town Center. Road Runner’s Speed Zone is available in the center court/stage area there ...Yes, WCC assistant professor Mary Bass Segura has a life outside of the Kaneohe campus - she and her father and daughter are all members of the Mililani-Waipio-Melemanu Neighborhood Board, and are the first three-generation family on one board in the city’s NB system ... Several North Shore merchants have signed on with Blue Hawaii Lifestyle owner Michael Zhang to have him market their “health and aloha” products in China - Oils of Aloha, Waialua Soda Works, North Shore Soap Factory and Kamauoha Farms (North Shore Noni) ...

Wahiawa native Camy Tang has self-published her second novel on a series of what she calls “Christian chick lit.” You can find out more about Camy and her adventures with words at www.camytang.com ... Also Wahiawa-raised, TV reporter Marvin Buenconsejo has left KHNL8 to direct communications for U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono ... The Daughters of the American Revolution (local chapter) gave their Community Service Award to Ho’ala freshman Jordan Bayang at a Waikiki luncheon March 8. Jordan was cited for his compassion and dedication as a volunteer. Examples: reading to little tots, collecting clothes for a shelter, picking up trash, advocating for green sea turtles and more ...

Mililani’s Kelsey Ige has raised a cover-boy. Her German short-haired pointer Pono graces the front of the Hawaiian Humane Society’s 2008 Pets in Paradise calendar - available at a pet store near you. Kelsey, a UH student, says Pono likes to run and hike. And run. “He has lots of energy.” Yet he managed to stay still long enough for her to snap his winning profile for the calendar ... Veteran Mililani Boy Scout leader Leroy Lehano was among the Silver Beaver honorees feted by the Aloha Council at its banquet last Saturday at Bishop Museum. The award is the highest for an adult volunteer in scouting ...

Congratulations to Eric Chock on his 30th birthday, so to speak. In 1978 the Mililani Mauka resident co-founded (and still co-edits) Bamboo Ridge magazine with Darrell Lum, and they’re going strong, supporting the local voice in literature ... A challenge I look forward to in traffic is figuring out the message on local license plates. Here are three recent ones to keep your mind fit: NTNANI, NOBNOZ and the best one, NOTM2P

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Mililani Mauka Elementary School fourth-grader Jayna Morikawa lit a spark recently with the Hawaiian Electric Company, which is campaigning to make responsible “users” out of its youngest customers. They even featured Jayna’s winning drawing and her energy-saving pledge in the company’s February newsletter, which is mailed islandwide: “I promise to conserve energy at home by taking shorter showers so I don’t waste electricity,” Jayna wrote. “I will also tell my family and friends so they can save electricity, too!!” Now you’ve heard it. Go ahead and start turning stuff off ...

Hanalani Schools student violinist John Madrigal placed second in the Elementary Strings category of the Oahu Arts Center’s fifth annual Mozart Festival competition. His teacher is Sheryl Shohet ... English major Brooke Jones, a Mililani resident, has won a coveted $3,000 John Young Scholarship in the Arts for University of Hawaii undergraduate students ... A former medical assistant at an orthopedic company, Tina Rapozo has landed a new job as a patient services representative in the Hawaiian Eye Center’s Wahiawa office ...

The Honolulu Fire Commission gave Fire Chief Kenneth Silva some high marks at his second annual performance evaluation recently. Especially noted by the commissioners: “The chief demonstrated outstanding leadership in assembling and leading about one-third of the department’s resources in fighting the Waialua fire, which was one of the largest fires ever, as it consumed over 7,000 acres and took over a week to extinguish” ...

Five brilliant Central Oahu students made the fall-term President’s Honor Roll at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash.: Andrea Brizee and Kimberly Ching of Mililani; Mapuana Antonio and Ruth Gerola of Wahiawa; and Cassie Chun of Haleiwa ... Works by brilliant artists from Leilehua High School are on display at Pearlridge Uptown (by See’s Candy) through this Sunday in the Hawaii Art Education show. They are Shayleen Siquig, Jazmine Nakamura, Paul Anthony Galang, Kristin Fisher and Beth Pereira. Proud teachers are Lawrence Taguba and Keith Sasada ...

The 2008 state spelling bee is March 16 at Windward Community College, and Ramil Gonzalez (already a proven art talent) of Mililani Middle School will battle it out as one of the Central District finalists ... U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono has nominated Catherine Kiyota and Michelle Kiyota of Leilehua High School as candidates to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado ... Starting the Year of the Rat with some good luck is downtown Vegas slot player Judy Belisario of Wahiawa. She won $7,121 at the California Hotel Casino ... Farewell and aloha to longtime Wahiawa lawmaker and Democrat king-maker Robert Oshiro, who died Feb. 12. State flags flew at half staff Feb. 25 in honor of his contribution to Hawaii

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Leilehua High School graduate Kristine Genelli Lee, a recent contestant for the Narcissus Queen crown, looks beyond that pageant into outer space. The Philippines-born beauty is majoring in physics and biology at UH-Manoa and wants to become an astronaut and pioneer/scientist in astrobiology ... For right here on planet Earth, the Honolulu Fire Department brings us its tip of the month: Seconds count. Make sure your house number is clear, visible and in a prominent place for first-responders ... Some actresses have all the fun - and all in one month.

Mililani’s award-winning Thespian Jo Pruden has jumped out of her nun’s habit (for her lead role in Manoa Valley Theatre’s drama Doubt, which closed Feb. 3), so she can prepare for an encore performance of Aging Is Not for Sissies (no doubts there!)

It plays this Saturday and Sunday at HPU’s Windward theater in Kaneohe (376-1282) ... Staying fit off the stage, Mililani resident John Hamakawa won two free rounds of golf at Ko Olina in the club’s monthly drawing ... Jill Bona, Mililani born and raised, has been promoted to senior account executive for the Bennet Group Strategic Communications. Jill has a UH journalism degree and previously worked as a producer for KHNL News. Her clients include Verizon Wireless, D.R. Horton - Schuler Division, Finance Factors and MADD-Hawaii ...

An Army wife and newcomer to Hawaii’s Army Community Theatre, Shanan Ashlee Colvin of Wahiawa won the title role in ACT’s Aida, opening Feb. 28 at Ft. Shafter’s Richardson Theatre (438-4480). Shanan earned her music degree from the University of Texas at Austin ... Punahou may have prevailed in the 2008 Hawaii Science Bowl, but Hanalani Schools came in fourth among 24 schools in the highly competitive event last month at Honolulu Community College ...

Speaking of Hanalani, senior Richard Eldridge is U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye‘s competitive alternate choice for the Air Force Academy. The senator (also known as Fiance Danny) also announced that his second and third principal nominees for the academy are Leilehua graduates Catherine Kiyota and Michelle Kiyota. Both are currently in the USAF Prep School ... Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono has hired John White of Mililani Mauka to be her chief of staff, coordinating both her Washington, D.C., and Hawaii operations. John has a degree in political science from the University of Arkansas.

He previously worked for City Councilman Duke Bainum and was executive director of the Atherton YMCA ... Speaking of Mililani Mauka, another resident knows how to keep from being homesick on the East Coast. Lorette Ables Sayre is in Manhattan preparing for her role as Bloody Mary in South Pacific, which opens April 1 on Broadway. And she’s reportedly brought a bit of Hawaii with her - lush tropical plants from her back yard ...

Things are also blooming at Mililani Library. A statewide staffing shortage is bad enough, says branch manager Wendy Woodstrup, but she’s had two librarians go out on maternity leave at different times. “We’re as busy as ever,” she says. “I saw a woman visitor on the beach, and I tried to recruit her!” (Maybe she should try the men instead) ... Congratulations to Wheeler and Waialua elementary schools. Both were deemed “outstanding” in the Hawaii Distinguished Schools program for 2007-2008

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Wheeler Army Airfield has proven to be a fertile ground for inventors. Wheeler resident Angela LaLonde has created an innovative new improved gadget for the lucrative “baby industry” she calls the Vibrating Teething Ring. Promoters are touting its unique features that provide the infant using it with “relief and entertainment during periods of fussiness.” Look for it soon in a store near you ...

Wahiawa native and Hawaii Chief Justice Ronald Moon was honored this month with three other Korean Americans and Mayor Mufi Hannemann for their professional accomplishments and community contributions. The Korean American Foundation of Hawaii drew a crowd of 500 at its third annual “Light of the Orient” banquet for its honorees on Jan. 13 at the Sheraton Waikiki ...

The Central Oahu Youth Baseball League kicked off its season in style Jan. 12 on the Mililani District Park field. Longtime supporter of the PONY League, Hervy Kurisu, was there along with Mililani’s former UH baseball standout Matt Inouye and former major leaguer Benny Agbayani, whose daughter is one of COYBL’s 700 players this year ... Mililani High School graduate Caryn Komori is the new human resources coordinator for Island Insurance, where she oversees employment, recruitment, benefits, health and welfare, and training for the company’s staff of 180. Caryn, who still lives in Mililani, earned her business administration degree from UH-Manoa ...

Oils of Aloha is proud to announce a milestone in the Waialua-based company’s history: It will be 20 years old in March - yet its oils are as fresh as ever for your skin, hair and general health. Meanwhile, CEO Dana Gray steps down this month to handle special projects, and president Matthew Papania will take over with help from vice president Barbara Gray ... Mililani’s vigilant environmental watchdog Carroll Cox was a VIP honoree in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade on Jan. 21, along with Mayor Mufi and state Sen. Gary Hoosier. Carroll was recognized for his many years of “bold advocacy and willingness to stand up and speak truth to power” ...

Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora‘s tip of the month: Get your glaucoma screening, since the “sneak thief of sight” can rob you of your vision without any signs or symptoms ahead of time. Especially vulnerable are people over 50 or who have diabetes, and those of Hispanic or African blood (621-8488) ... Busy Aloha Aina Earth Day coordinator Rene Mansho was delighted with the haul made at the Jan. 5 recycling drive held at the Mililani Mauka Park and Ride. From the hands and hard work of many came 17,500 pounds of scrap metal, a truckload of appliances, a half container of tires, 95 car batteries, two truckloads of computers, 20 gallons of cooking oil, Christmas trees, eight carts of used clothing for Goodwill, etc., etc. Rene also thanked Paradise Lua company for providing the all-important flushable port-apotties for the volunteers. Next recycling drive is Feb. 9 at Radford (306-1876) ...

Aiming to bring in at least $20,000 for their school from the 19th annual cookie drive (see pages 12 and 13), Ho’ala School’s Darlene Dela Cruz says they still have cookies and raw dough left for hungry fans, though the table promotions in Haleiwa, Mililani, Wahiawa - and especially downtown by Bank of Hawaii - all had brisk sales ... The North Shore Chamber of Commerce recently honored Blake McElheny as its 2007 Kama’aina of the Year, Volunteers of the Year Francis Forsythe and Carolyne Lazar, also Lee Bryant, Chet Naylor, Wayne Porter, the Takahashi Family, the North Shore Community Land Trust, the Honolulu Fire Department, North Shore Shark Adventures and Haleiwa Super Market

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Mililani resident and columnist Marcie Uehara Herring has finished her book, Swim with your Current, sponsored by Jamba Juice and Sassy magazine. It’s an inspirational one that encourages teen girls to dream big and make a difference. Not surprisingly, Marcie is a facilitator with the Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii ... Dream job: Hawaii FI-DO’s service therapy dog, Wahoo, will soon become a permanent “staff member” in the Hawaii State Hospital’s animal assisted therapy program. The golden retriever trained by Susan Luehrs’ North Shore-based agency will be required to provide unconditional love and motivate the patients ...

Japan Golf Tour legend Kiyoshi Murota has signed to represent Turtle Bay Resort throughout the 2008 seasons, complete with the North Shore resort’s golf shirt logo and golf bag. Kiyoshi is a multiple winner on the Japan tour, has played against Hawaii’s David Ishii, and even shares the same birth date with him ... The Hawaiian Humane Society has a $2,500 reward for anyone with information about the Nov. 30 killing of Leilehua High School’s pet pig. Call 356-2247 and leave your name, phone number and date and time of call ... Haleiwa author Kerry Germain has a short story in A Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas. Her Christmas at Six was selected from thousands submitted ... Cristy Lagazo (sister of Charlene Leano and daughter of Carmen Dela Cerna, both of Kunia) recently competed in the Air Force version of American Idol - the Best of the Best worldwide talent contest held at Lackland AFB.

Cristy is a public health technician at Fairchild AFB, Washington ... Central athletes are in the headlines a lot these days. For example, Haleiwa native and pro soccer player Brian Ching is in and out of the Islands but will be back for sure Feb. 20 and 23 for the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championships at Aloha Stadium. And though he’s moved on to basketball, Leilehua’s quarterback of the hour, Andrew Manley is still thrilled when he recalls the team’s remarkable season. Andrew’s dad Kimo also played for the Mules ...

Waialua native Greg Sakamoto, now a husband and father of a 2-year-old, has been named chief resident of the dermatology program at Harvard. Greg graduated from UH in 1999, from the John Burns School of Medicine in 2005 and attended USC on a Presidential scholarship. He also recorded an album here with the band Native Blend. Meanwhile, let the residency begin. Hi Greg, we still recall your great music and those coco puffs you brought by a few years back. (Not good for the skin, I think!) ... The best bowlers from all branches of the military will converge on the Schofield Barracks lanes this week for the U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii 2008 Armed Forces Bowling Championships. Team challenge is Jan.8, doubles Jan. 9, mixed doubles Jan. 10 and singles Jan. 11 The top eight get to go to Las Vegas to vie for a spot on Team USA (655-9914) ...

English teacher, Yakima resident and author Jill Widner - whose mom, Iris, lives in Pupukea - has won a $6,500 Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission fellowship to work on her novel The Smell of Sulphur (a fictionalized account of her Indonesian childhood) ... Brendan Cravalho of Mililani is a proud man. As co-chair of the Combined Federal Campaign at Pearl Harbor Shipyard, he was able to announce last month that the shipyard workers set a new in-house record of donations to charity, pledging $693,263. “This is an awesome achievement and really shows the Shipyard’s community spirit and generosity,” declared Brendan, who’s led the drive for seven straight, record-breaking years

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Independent film producer Tara Lulani Arquette of Mililani has won a Pacific Islanders in Communications award of $10,000 to support her documentary on Kauai’s lua practitioners, Pa Kui A Holo: Kauai’s Warriors. PIC also made a grant to Karin Williams, who’s filming Native Hawaiian women surfers ... Ashley and Aubrey McKenzie of Mililani were part a recent benefit concert at Ala Moana that kicked off the Lokahi Giving Tree campaign ...

The Wahiawa Lions threw a congratulatory turkey dinner for Leilehua’s state champion football and boys cross country teams Nov. 21 at Dot’s with help from state Sen. Bobby Bunda, Rep. Marcus Oshiro, City Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz, Dr. Lee Buenconsejo-Lum, Marion’s Catering, Dot’s and other donors. And that’s even before they knew the Mules would win the Prep Bowl ... Also making a difference in Central Oahu, a large mural by Brazilian surfer and artist Hilton Alves was presented to Waialua Elementary School this fall, sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation and USA Weekend ...

Apparently Mililani residents are very akamai in the trivia department. Two of them made the top five in a recent contest highlighting the history of Windward Mall. During its 25th anniversary celebration this fall, the Kaneohe mall sponsored a Historical Trivia Contest to probe the memories of shoppers over the years. As the grand prize winner, Mililani’s Roy Hiramoto won a family trip to Disneyland. Neighbor Dolores Buenconsejo-Kunz placed fourth - out of more than 2,500 entries submitted ... Artist Rick Mills is in the lineup of Art Lunch Lectures next month at the Hawaii State Art Museum downtown. Rick, who created a glass relief sculpture with students for Leilehua High School in 2003, will talk about glass art in Hawaii at noon Jan. 29 ...

The Oahu Arts Center’s 2007 writing contest winners have been selected, and they include two local writers: Wahiawa’s Kathleen Masunaga, second place (and $75) for Purely Hapa; and Waialua’s Lorenn Walker, honorable mention for I Have a Baby ... Haleiwa resident, actor and writer John Wythe White‘s essay, Stolen Kayak, is featured in this year’s literary journal Kaimana. The award-winning author is expected to publish the novel A High and Beautiful Wave this year as well ... Mililani musician Ryan Ng performs with the Honolulu Clarinet Quartet, which will play songs of the season today (Dec. 12) at 4:30 p.m. at the Honolulu Club ...

Though Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month has passed (it was in November, for those of you who forgot), Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora warns us to learn about diabetic retinopathy because, he says, many don’t know they have it. To find out more, call him at 621-8488 ... Central Oahu had two winners in the 2007 Hawaii Music Teachers Association string and piano competitions. Honored at their Nov. 12 recital at UH-Manoa were John Madrigal (strings) and Kienen Koga (piano) ...

Wahiawa resident, landscaper and history buff Walter Malterre unearthed a black-and-white photo of his seventh-grade class, taken at Waipahu Elementary School in 1939. He’d like to know “if anybody’s still kicking” - besides himself. The teacher was Mrs. Kiaka. “She took over for Hilo Hattie,” Walter says. Can’t wait for us to publish the photo? Call him at 621-5640 ... Masumi Watanabe‘s parents have flown from Japan to Oahu several times, and to the site of her disappearance April 12 on Pupukea Road, in hopes of uncovering clues to her disappearance. Witnesses should call Crimestoppers at 955-8300 or go to the memorial website, www.findmasumi.org

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Iolani School added to Hugh Yoshida‘s list of honors recently by naming him one of seven 2007 Father Bray Classic Honorees. Hugh has devoted a half century to youth sports with many years at Leilehua (as in Hugh Yoshida football field) and Waialua high schools before heading the OIA and the UH athletic programs. Now the retiree is working on his golf game ... Roberts Hawaii president Neil Takekawa says the 65-year-old tour company is now taking visitors to “those quiet places and real people” of Oahu, with stops at Kahuku farms, Helemano Plantation, etc., where passengers can eat their way pleasantly into the local culture ...

The pros from RIM Architects showed their true talents at pumpkin-carving contest they staged for Aloha United Way Oct. 31. Among the winners were Mililani’s Terri Saito, who took first place for her “Peek-A-Boo” jack-o-lantern ... Guess who qualified as a semifinalist in the 2007-2008 Siemens Competition in math, science and technology? Yep, Philip Mocz of Mililani High School. Philip also is the Trojans’semifinalist for a 2008 National Merit Scholarship, along with Royce Tabora of Hanalani High ... Dawn Kanno has joined Heide & Cooke as AirReps Hawaii division manager. The Mililani woman will oversee “a robust line of products” that are state-of-the-art in the air conditioning world. Dawn previously worked on event planning for the Ihilani Resort ...

Former Mules Donovan Dela Cruz and Jodi Endo Chai haven’t forgotten their roots. They recently staged a book-signing event at the Ala Moana Barnes & Noble with a percentage of sales going to Leilehua, where Donovan first got a taste for politics. The city councilman and Jodi coauthored the revised version of The Puka Guide: 100 Hawaiian-Style Hole-in-the-Wall Restaurants ... Mililani patent attorney George Darby recently conducted a seminar, sponsored by the Small Business Development Center (523-6118), on digital arts and licensing for artists, writers and musicians. “These energetic and committed businessmen and women dream big,” George explains, “but sometimes lack the training they need to thrive and become lucrative” ...

Speaking of lucrative, Bailey Kay Teske of Waialua has won a $1,400 scholarship at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas ... And Rebecca Gray, an emergency room nurse from Waialua, has received a $1,000 “Do-Over” scholarship after writing an essay on “If you could get one ‘do-over’in life, what would it be and why?”
Rebecca wrote of a tragic car accident in high school when she had been behind the wheel ... Mililani’s Michael Wright was promoted to executive vp, acquisitions and investments, at A & B Properties, where he’s been praised for his work on key projects for the company here and in Southern California ...

Hawaii Pacific University has selected Caryn Ono of Wahiawa and Katelyn Ho of Mililani as President’s Hosts, an honor that reflects their scholarship and diverse contributions to the college. They will represent HPU at social and business functions throughout the year ... Wahiawa native Marita Cruz, now 26, was born with a hole in her heart and now awaits a heart and lung transplant at Stanford University, a procedure that reportedly could cost more than $600,000 ... John Ondrasik, that unique voice behind Five for Fighting, launched his own USO tour earlier this month at Schofield Barracks as a special “welcome home” to the troops

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As a winner in the Leader for a Day essay contest, Waialua High School sophomore Aja-Renee Lopes gets to “shadow” Mayor Mufi Hannemann for a day. She also got a free lunch on Halloween at Washington Place, courtesy of the state Legislature ... Sweet lady luck has arrived for Kathleen Camit of Haleiwa and Doris Sato of Mililani. They have each won a round trip for two to Kona courtesy of Hawaiian Host. The women are among 15 whose names were drawn at random from 3,500 entries in an online Kona Caramacs contest (the company’s newest candy) ...

Kodama Koi Farm of Mililani co-hosts an expo this weekend of Nishikigoi - the “Japanese jewel fish” - at Hilton Hawaiian Village (623-2997). “They create living art in our ponds,” says Taro Kodama. “You will be astonished to see the difference and beauty of Japanese Nishikigoi” ... Renni Fay Iwasa of Mililani is one of three Oahu 4-H members selected to attend the 2007 National 4-H Congress Nov. 23-27 in Atlanta, Georgia, considered “the highest state honor attainable by a 4-H member in recognition of significant accomplishments.” Renni Fay and more than 1,200 of her peers will hear speakers, attend workshops, trips and cultural programs to hone their budding leadership skills ...

Brandie Inouye of Mililani has been named Employee of the Second Quarter by St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii. Brandie is the patient/family care manager for both of the St. Francis hospices. “Her heart is as big as the world,”

says co-worker Kathy Hallock ... Here’s all those folks you love to hate when they return from downtown Las Vegas. Recent jackpot winners at the slot machines include Isao Matsumoto of Wahiawa ($14,066), Jane Oda of Wahiawa ($7,079) and Pam Helepololei of Mililani ($5,000) ... Dancing for joy, but not about gambling, were the North Shore troupes, Te Hamata and Te Roopu O Tumanako. The Te Hamata Babies opened the show (and stole it!) at last month’s annual Maori Cultural Competition at Polynesian Cultural Center. Te Roopu won the intermediate division of the event, formerly called Te Whanaketanga Festival ...

Congratulations to Mililani High senior Steve Arita earned his Eagle Scout rank by building a seating area wall around the Mililani Ike Elementary School reading tree. He’s with Boy Scout Troop 164 ... Congratulations (a bit late) to Shelby Rita of Haleiwa, who earned the title of reserve champion at the Zip Memorial All-Girls Rodeo in September. Shelby was all-around champion last year. Then she and her brother Levi won the Mixed Barrels event ...

Happy Birthday to Mililani’s own American Idol Jasmine Trias. Now known throughout the U.S. and the Philippines for her sweet but powerful voice, it can be announced that she’s turning 21. “My celebration wouldn’t be complete without being able to share it with all of Hawaii,” Jasmine says. The party is from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. Nov. 16 at Pearl Ultra Lounge and you’re all invited. It’s $10 at the door ... Tip of the month from Wahiawa opthalmologist Christopher Tortora: Wear protection for your eyes while doing hazardous work - that includes fixing the car, scrubbing the kitchen or toiling in the yard

 

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A Mililani actress, Chloe Amos, has a featured role in All for Melissa, a local film debuting in the Hawaii International Film Festival Oct. 18-28 at Dole Cannery theaters ... Next time you go play tennis in that vast city park in Waipio, be sure you tell folks you’re going to Patsy Mink Park. Central Oahu Regional Park acquired its new name in ceremonies there Aug. 31 ...

Student artists from Leilehua High continue to be recognized in the community. The school is one of eight statewide to have entries in Underage Thinking VII, an exhibit at The ARTS at Mark’s Garage Oct. 9 through 30 in downtown Honolulu. “These are some of the most arts-integrated schools in the state,” says Rich Richardson of Mark’s Garage - in other words they’ve achieved “natural and significant” connections between the art form and the subject area ...

Does anyone know of any very gifted Hawaii psychics? No store-front psychics need apply. New Yorker Mary Ann Bohrer is researching a book on those with “genuine untapped abilities” who don’t advertise their services. Her email is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  (But you knew that already, yeah?) ... Nishihama & Kishida CPAs has appointed Kristy Au of Mililani to senior tax manager. Kristy earned her bachelor’s degree from UH and also studied in Thames, England ... Polo season has wound down now, but the fans may recall a special treat that became a regular favorite at Mokuleia this season - Manny’s Huli Huli chicken. In addition to his school, church and homeless fund-raising chicken sales in the area, John Marquardsen and his crew ended up catering to the gourmet crowd every Sunday, with good response, he says. Plus the North Shore resident has added coconut-pineapple smoothies to the menu ...

Speaking of gourmet, the McDonald’s inside Mililani Wal-Mart opened a McCafe as of Sept. 14, following a month of renovations. It has a free-standing kiosk with cappuccino, lattes, hot chocolate, frappes, fruit smoothies, brownies, caramel fudge cheesecake and carrot cake ... North Shore resident and author Kerry Germain will sign copies of her new children’s book, Kimo’s Surfing Lesson, from 11 a.m. to noon Oct. 14 at Alii Beach

Park, during the Menehune Surf Contest. (She’ll also be at Borders Waikele at noon Oct. 13) ... Bryan Knight, a UH-Manoa and 1987 Leilehua graduate, has been promoted at ProService Hawaii to the new position of director of onboarding. This means he will help new small business clients transition into the company’s system of human relations services, which range from payroll to cafeteria plans and safety training ... Mililani resident Eva Nichols (625-6313) says you can preserve your families photos and special memories faster that ever before. After attending the summer conference for Creative Memories consultants in St. Cloud, Minn., Eva came back with added software, quick kits and little 6-page “keepsake in a snap” albums in her toolbox for the sentimental. Goodbye, old scrapbooks ...

If you can’t see your old photos either way, check with your eye doctor. And even though Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month is pau (September, you know), Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora continues to advise parents that their keiki should be checked as early as 3 years old, making it easier to correct lazy eye as well as more serious conditions.

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The longtime proprietor of Wahiawa’s old Kemoo Farm restaurant, Dick Rodby, will be officially installed in the Hawaii Restaurant Association’s Hall of Fame on Sept. 17 as one of its first Legacy inductees. The recognition is reserved for people like Dick who (prior to 1960) have set the standard and enhanced the reputation and quality of Hawaii’s restaurant industry. The gala event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Hawaii Prince Hotel (944-9105) and features chefs’ food stations, including one manned by Leilehua High School alumnus Alan Wong who likely gobbled up a trout or two - or a Happy Cake - from Dick’s place in the past while gazing over Lake Wilson and dreaming up new recipes ... State Rep.

Marilyn Lee (D-Mililani, Mililani Mauka) has been elected to the executive board of the Women’s Legislative Network of the National Conference of State Legislatures - that’s 1,733 women leaders across the country that she’ll be making decisions for ... The North Shore has moved south this month with two bookings at Borders Pearlridge: Kerry Germain will sign copies of her latest book, Kimo’s Surfing Lesson, at noon Sept. 15. Then City Councilman and food fan Donovan Dela Cruz and co-author Jodi Endo Chai will do the same at noon Sept. 22 for their updated Puka Guide (487-1818) ... Lost star Terry O’Quinn will join the Honolulu Symphony Toyota Pops orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Waikiki Shell to narrate passages from the musical score of the hit TV show filmed on the North Shore. It’s a world premiere for the familiar music by composer Michael Giacchino (792-2000) ... Congratulations to Leilehua High School senior Tabitha Taraya. Her self-portrait was purchased by Scholastic Art Inc. who will make the drawing part of its permanent collection of national award-winning works to be on view in its New York and regional offices across the country ... Congratulations and good luck (plenty of it!) to retired police Maj. Darryl Perry of Mililani, who is coming out of that state of life to take over the Kauai Police Department. His home island officially called him home last week ...

Sub-Zero Wolf has promoted Jamie Saulibio of Mililani Mauka to be logistics manager of is new parts division statewide ... Can you hear me now, North Shore residents? Verizon Wireless’local sales director Mark Yamauchi says the company has expanded coverage with a new cell site in the area ... Lucky downtown Las Vegas gamblers this summer included Mililani’s Janis Anzai, who won $12,400 playing slots; Mililani’s Benjamin Agustin, $10,000; and Wahiawa’s Josephine Chargualaf, $5,000 ... All those jackpots are enough to make your eyes bug out of your head. But Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora can fix that. He also reminds residents to be vigilant about cataract symptoms, especially if you’re over 60. These days, he explains, qualified eye doctors can create a tiny opening in the eye, remove the clouded lens and replace it with a clean implant. Just like that ... Liana Moore of Mililani has won a $1,000 Carson Family Endowed Scholarship from Washington State University where she is a sophomore majoring in hospitality business management. Liana also is active in the Hawaii Club on the Pullman campus ... Happy 100th birthday to Olive United Methodist Church. The Wahiawa congregation was initially chartered in 1907 as a center of worship for Korean immigrants, and now it has services in English, Korean and Samoan. The celebration is at 2 p.m. this Sunday. Bill Malone can tell you more at 381-3621

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Wahiawa inventor Ruben Tabion has created Nebur, a “simple and effective way” to tailor one’s golf swing to stance and ground surface conditions by helping folks visualize where they should hit the ball ... Speaking of the game, Mililani Golf Club pro Matt Pakkala earned $300 as his share for placing 10th in the Aloha Section Pro-Pro tourney at Kaanapali last month. Jeff Ferry of the Mililani Golf Academy took home $187.50 for a 15th-place finish with his partner ... Main Street casino in downtown Vegas was the right place at the right time for two Mililani slot machine fans this past spring. Janis Anzai won $25,000, and George Makio won $6,000 ... Believe it or not, Hawaii Student Television is actually recruiting adults for its next film. They need a male and female to play young parents and a woman of about 50 to play a grandmother. Filming dates are Aug. 11, 12 or 18 and 19.

Email photo and brief biography to www.HawaiiStudentTV.org ... Mua-Lavea Jennings, who excelled in track & field and wrestling at Leilehua High School (and even played football for the Mules!), stepped into some new roles this summer.

Mua was a contestant in the Miss Le Lalelei O Samoa Pageant in Honolulu, and she’s enrolled at Honolulu Community College as the first in her family to attend college ...

Iwalani School of Dance (from Mililani) performs at 2 p.m. Aug. 26 on the Ala Moana Center stage ... Many may remember Gen. William “Kip” Ward from his time heading the 25th Infantry at Schofield. Kip, the active military’s only four-star African American general, has been tapped to lead the U.S. Africa Command ... Storyteller Jeff Gere (former Our Lady of Sorrows teacher) spent some time in his old stomping grounds Aug. 4 when he led a workshop on “How to Make Stories Come

Alive” at Waialua Library ... 2007 Mililani High graduate Britney Cambridge has won a $2,000 HMSA scholarship for student athletes who excel in academics and community service as well as their sport. Her classmate, Kyle Monette, was also honored by HMSA (See story on page 18) ... Ryan Ozawa of Mililani has embraced “life casting” with other local tekkies. On a recent picnic at Haleiwa Beach Park, the Ozawas shared the evening with friends from here to North Carolina - via a mobile online video system that streams live over the web. Ryan says it offers “an immediate, unfiltered glimpse into someone’s life.” He also filmed his son’s school awards ceremony for the grandparents, who couldn’t be there in person. “They actually got bored half way through and clicked it off,” Ryan says, “but my neighbor watched the whole thing!” ... Clothing from Beige Cubed, a fashion line by North Shore designer Marina Crawford, are in the fashion show lineup for Young Artists Helping Young Artists Aug. 15, an annual benefit for Rehab Hospital (566-3457) ... Better late than never: Travis Kim of Mililani Ike won first place for grade 4 in the 2007 Nene Awards poster contest in May ... Also in May, Marchelle Rubio graduated with honors from Honolulu Community College.

The Mililani wife and mother is in a metals inspector apprenticeship program at the Pearl Harbor Shipyard, which includes the HCC program. For two years, she shuffled between Pearl Harbor, HCC, and taking her son to and from school at Iolani. With homework and mom work done, she could sometimes grab three hours of sleep before starting all over again at 4 a.m. “I had a full plate,” she admits. “I’m glad it’s over” ... Kristi Kashimoto has begun rehearsals at her Applause! Performance Academy in Wahiawa for Oahu Arts Center’s fall musical The Wizard of Oz. Shows are in October (848-7632)  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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Father’s Day proved lucky for Ardis Moani Jones. She won a fishing trip for six aboard Boom Boom Fishing Charter from a drawing in Wahiawa Shopping and Town centers’Father’s Day contest. Other winners were Augie Morlock ($100 at Foodland), Faustino Bagosa ($75 at Longs) and Tracy Billingsley ($50 at Radio Shack) ... A proud Mililani resident with a long name, Maria Lucelyn Elgar Reyes Saloma, has earned her bachelor of social work degree, with honors, at Hawaii Pacific University ...

Leilehua High graduate Glenn Sexton has joined the board of directors of Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific Foundation. The board is made up of volunteer community leaders, and Glenn certainly fits the bill. He’s vp and general manager of Xerox Hawaii now, and also is on the boards of the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Hawaii Educational Council ... Speaking of REHAB, Erin Teranishi, RN, is among the first five recipients of the First Hawaiian Bank Fellows award. It provides a stipend for advanced studies by Rehab Hospital employees. Erin, who lives in Mililani, has worked at the hospital for four years ...

Heald College has awarded a $10,275 scholarship to Mililani High graduate Christine Martini, $3,000 to Leilehua grads Jessica Gonzalez and Diana Carig, and a $1,500 scholarship to Leilehua’s Edith Dumlao. They may be following in the footsteps of Johanna Falenofoa, a former Mule recently named to Heald’s Alumni Hall of Fame. Johanna is a student loan adviser for the Honolulu school, and got her B.S. this spring from HPU, where she’s been accepted into the graduate program ...

Peter Bessara of Mililani has moved up from service foreman to service supervisor of Heide & Cook’s air-conditioning service department ...

Miriam Jose and Emilie Jimenez are hard workers for McDonald’s, which has rewarded them with $1,000 college scholarships.

Leilehua grad Miriam works at the Wahiawa restaurant and is heading for HPU. Mililani grad Emilie takes your order at the Mililani venue and will attend Chaminade ...

Mililani’s Jasmine Trias shares the Blaisdell Concert Hall stage with the Society of Seven and Lani Misalucha at 8 p.m. July 13 and 14 (1-877-750-4400) ... Jennifer and Henry Camacho of Mililani are Blonde Hawaiian, a band playing at 1 p.m. July 1 on the Ward Warehouse stage. Performing on that very spot July 15 will be Johnny Valentine and Yvette Nii, also of Mililani (778-2945) ... Mililani Mauka’s Joni Redick-Yundt is throwing a release party July 4 for her book, Million Dollar Attitude. The title fits, since the party is an Atlantis dinner cruise with minimum tickets going for $135. Joni came to Hawaii as a teenager from the Philippines where her family had no running water, electricity or stove. “I took advantage of the opportunity and have the courage to make my dreams come true,” she says. To hear more, call her at 781-5905 ... SONY Pictures let Hawaii Student Television youths videotape interviews at Turtle Bay Resort with Surf’s Up stars to create a plug for the film. The video began airing on OC16 in mid June ... Walter Malterre‘s shaving brush tree (aka Queen Liliuokalani tree) in Wahiawa is blooming again already.“New leaves are coming out,” he says. “It’s beautiful”

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Haleiwa’s Barbara Ritchie has earned the Paralegal of the Year Award from her peers - and she’s self-employed ... Opening her Applause! Performance Academy in Wahiawa just two short months ago, Kristi Kashimoto is still pinching herself. The phone is ringing every day, and she already has more than 70 students. Combine that with her job as Oahu Arts Center artistic director (see story on this page), and the Mililani graduate decided that her dreams have indeed come true. A Broadway professional returned home, she also has a way with words: “It sounds really crazed and so ‘Tom jumping on the couch,’ but it’s quite true,” she e-mails me at midnight. “I have a true passion for the arts, and I want to teach all the knowledge I have to the youths from my hometown area” ...

Look for Tera Dela Cruz‘s art in the 2008 Board of Water Supply conservation calendar. The Mililani Mauka fourth-grader placed second in her age group in the BWS annual contest. Theme is Conserving Water Starts with Me ... Speaking of conservation, Tera’s school won the large-school category in the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe recycling contest. Mililani Mauka collected 984 pairs of used athletic shoes (“post-consumer,” they call it) for the cause ...

Christina Sears (Mililani ‘06) has won a three-year Navy ROTC scholarship from University of San Diego, where she is a freshman midshipman ... Just in time for summer, Mililani’s Melvin Lee has moved up from service supervisor to service manager at the air-conditioning firm, Heide & Cook ... Mililani Waena’s Na Leo O Menehune Choir is set to sing at Aloha Tower Marketplace at 11:30 a.m. May 29 (566-2337) ... Not only do Jack and Kim Johnson put on a good concert, the North Shore couple and their volunteer crew also were praised for the spic-n-span cleanup afterward.

More importantly - the EPA issued their Kokua Hawaii Foundation a Region 9 award for its work to preserve and protect Hawaii’s environment ... Also saving planet Earth is Mililani High senior Tina Grandinetti. She leads the Trojans’ World Awareness Club, and her latest work was with the Hawaii Coalition for Darfur at its April 29 candlelight vigil and concert at the state Capitol ... Joining Hawaii’s Puerto Rican All-Star Musicians for a Honolulu Mother’s Day bash last Saturday was Mililani singer/guitarist Angel Franco and Haleiwa songstress Julita de Puerto Rico ...

Tara Hopewell and Jolene Alaipelelei have joined Hawaiian Eye Center in Wahiawa, where Dr. Christopher Tortora stands ready to make you see the light - in the best possible way. Tara, an RN, directs nursing services, and Jolene (formerly of Wahiawa Blockbuster) is a patient services rep ... High fives to Mililani High’s team No. 1 for winning $400 worth of dairy products (read: ice cream) and a second-place trophy among high school boats in the Meadow Gold milk carton regatta May 5 at Ala Moana Beach. They also won the “Most Creative Boat” award ... Mililani artist and teacher Helen Iaea‘s paintings are up through May 24 at the Gallery at Ward Centre ... For its May Day pageant Friday, Mililani Ike principal Steve Nakasato has hired help from HPD and set up a special kupuna seating area. He expects 2,000 adult fans

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