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For our 19th anniversary issue, our publisher had the idea to share reporting from throughout our history. While it would be impossible to select a “best of Honolulu Weekly” (or at least we’re smart enough to save that for the next anniversary), we looked through our archives for stories that spoke to the issues Honolulu faces today. Some are depressing, some frustrating, some are sad and at least one is pretty amusing. We hope you find these selections useful, and thank you, as always, for reading Honolulu Weekly.
Tradition indeed
Oct. 28, 1998
Here in 2010, the governor wants a popular vote on civil unions, and says people feel too strongly about the issue for it to be handled by a system of representative democracy. Leaving aside Linda Lingle’s evident crisis of faith when it comes to our system of government, we wonder whether anti-gay activists have a surprise coming for them at the ballot box. No state has ever approved equal protection for gay and lesbian relationships at the ballot box. Will Hawaii be the first?
As Time opines, it’s certain that the same-sex [marriage] amendment will have national repercussions.
Locally, supporters of the amendment argue that traditional marriage between a man and a woman is in danger if gays earn the right to marry. Is this true–or do other stresses endanger the insitution more?
Statistics seem to suggest that opposite-sex marriage is no picnic in these Islands. According to the state, the statewide divorce rate is roughly 50 percent. Ben Cayetano is remarried, and Linda Lingle has been divorced twice; Mazie Hirono’s mother left her abusive husband.
Some 3,000 people are victims of domestic violence each year, the vast majority of them women suffering at the hands of their male partners.
Lastly, the state Attorney General’s Office reports that one-third of the homicides committed during a 10-year period ending in 1994 were rooted in domestic violence–a rate twice that of the mainland.
Though domestic violence does occur in gay relationships, statistics indicate it occurs at a much lower rate than in heterosexual unions. Additionally, while young gay men have a high rate of serial dating, older gay men and lesbians stay with their mates longer than most “straights” do with theirs.
Perhaps those seeking to save traditional marriage should be asking themselves exactly what traditions they’re upholding.
Down and out in ‘Aala Park
July 8, 1992
The numbers may have changed, but they’ve only grown larger. Kevin O’Leary’s 1992 story on ‘Aala Park’s homeless is a depressing reminder that whatever the opposite of progress is, that’s how Honolulu is doing on fighting homelessness.
Hawaii has an unusually high number of families for a homeless population–four times the national average. The number of homeless children in Hawaii–3,000 at least estimate–is 10 times what it is per capita on the mainland. This statistic is the critical homeless statistic, according to one state official, who says, “The misery index rises exponentially when you’re talking about homeless families.”
“The city is putting a deadline on homelessness,” says homeless advocate Jim Brewer. “They insist on blaming the victim. It is sick, and it is sad. What is making people homeless here is the utter lack of affordable housing, coupled with wages that are laughable, given the cost of living.”
The numbers bear him out. A $6-an-hour, 40-hour-a-week job will bring him just under $1,000 a month–before taxes. The average rent for a one-room apartment is roughly $750 a month.
“Imagine the housing market here as a ladder suspended vertically,” says Brewer. “The ladder is continually being pulled upward as real estate prices climb. The local people are falling off the bottom of the ladder in increasing numbers. Half the people of Hawaiian blood now live outside their homeland.”
Rev. Robinson Hussey leans back on the bench, staring up into the evening sky. “You know, we’ve moved over 170 people through the park in the past three months, placed them in various shelters and even private homes. Strange as it may seem to a lot of people, it’s been working. It isn’t perfect, but you can see the difference now. We’ve got less drugs on the street, less problems downtown, just because there is a place people can go to gain a little time. That’s what it boils down to–time.”
Modern Slavery
Nov. 13, 2002
Hawaii remains one of just six states without laws against human trafficking after Gov. Linda Lingle’s recent veto.
Of the many shadows moving across the face of global capitalism, none is darker than the dirty little secret of human trafficking. Forced labor, child labor, prostitution recruitment–all flourish in the new millennium as a few of the more shameful facets of globalized commerce.
“Trafficking” is the use of violence, threats, coercion and deception to recruit and/or transport persons for the purposes of exploiting them sexually or economically. Trafficking goes on through global and regional systems of recruiters, procurers, intermediaries, brothel owners and employers, as well as crime syndicates that use people as slaves or forced labor.
The term also resounds to the consumer end of such supply chains, whether it’s a chic café or a late-night street corner.
In her nationally acclaimed novels Comfort Woman and Fox Girl, Honolulu author Nora Okja Keller takes readers through the desperation and tragedy of women caught up in the global whirlwind of exploitation and cruelty. When she finally escapes Korea’s sex trade, the protagonist in Fox Story finds Hawaii authorities ignoring the same kind of sexual exploitation in some Honolulu bars.
The role of Hawaii as a hub for national and international trafficking in women and children will be addressed at a panel discussion on Friday…a state task force on trafficking in Hawaii is set to be announced during the conference.
Worries for Wespac
Jun. 27, 2007
In the past couple of years, we’ve run many stories, most of them by journalist Christopher Pala, on the goings-on over at Wespac. We’re proud to be following the issue of fisheries management as closely as anyone in the Islands.
Under Kitty Simonds, the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council has continuously fought against the implementation of stricter fishing regulations for the main Hawaiian Islands and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Now a group of environmental activists, including former HawaiI Island Councilmember Keiko Bonk, are claiming Wespac held four meetings with native Hawaiian fishermen during which the fisheries management organization illegally lobbied participants to support three bills, including one that would have blocked a new gill-net ban and stopped the formation of new fishing-restricted areas. Organizations such as Wespac are not permitted to use federal funds to conduct lobbying efforts in favor of legislation. The advocates have asked the U.S. Department of Commerce to investigate these and other allegations.
–Chris Haire
The old switcheroo
Sep. 23, 1992
Our two-daily town began dying a long time ago. This was probably the beginning.
Journalism is a fast-break business, to be sure, but even the hardest-boiled news jockeys at Honolulu’s two dailies were left slackjawed and limp-penned Sept. 2, when John Curley, chief honcho of Gannett Co., marched first into the Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s newsroom and then into the Honolulu Advertiser’s to announce that the mega-media corporation would be dropping the Bulletin and buying the Advertiser, leaving the future of print journalism in Hawaii a hazy mess.
To Gannett’s financial analysts, the $250 million Advertiser purchase is no doubt nothing but the logical extension of a national trend away from afternoon newspapers. But to journalists and other employees, the bombshell was a harrowing reminder of the cut-throat corporate dominance of the news business. Especially at the Bulletin, the mood in the newsroom was described as “paralyzed” and “bitter.” “We’re shocked,” said one 30-year Bulletin veteran. “We’re stunned and we’re numb.”
The Advertiser’s publisher, Thurston Twigg-Smith…wrote that “although we’ve fought the Gannettoids for years, it finally dawned on me that our best chance for the long term lies in joining them.” Twigg-Smith opined that the Advertiser “moves now into the security of corporate America.” Maybe he should check with Star-Bulletin employees about that.
In his humor column, Bulletin writer Charles Memminger quipped, “Don’t think that just because we’ve been abandoned, we are ready to take any old corporation or investor group that comes by. We still have our pride. Our new owner is going to have to show commitment to publishing a great newspaper.”
–Julia Steele (editor)
The long and winding Web
Feb. 21, 1996
What just happened? As hilarious as this 1996 piece reads today, remember that there was a time when you would have followed its now-antique instructions step by titillating step. A reminder that when the world changes, it changes in the blink of an eye.
So, you’ve finally taken the plunge and decided to plug your computer’s modem into the phone jack. You’ve got an account with a local service provider and want to track down all that useful music information that you’ve been told is just waiting for you.
So what are you waiting for? Tapping into the resources of the Internet and its peripheral services can be mind-boggling at first. The World Wide Web, Usenet Newsgroups, e-mail–its all a big blur to the uninitiated. If you’re wondering where to start, the following information will serve as a useful introduction to some of the places music fans can search for the answers to their questions.
Usenet Newsgroups
In newsgroups, people don’t chat in real time. Instead, people post messages to the group.
For example, I may come across a message that has the subject, “Kenny G in Concert.” Since I have no interest in this artist, I simply ignore this message.
World Wide Web (WWW)
The Web is one aspect of the Internet that often gets the most attention. It’s a sprawling network of information both useful and useless. Web-surfing can be done with several different kinds of software, but the most common “Web browsers” are Netscape and Mosaic.
If you know a specific site where certain information is found, you can easily type in its address (called a URL), hit “enter” and be on your way to that location.
Once you’ve fired up your Web browser, type in the address http://[www.yahoo.com] and hit “enter.” You will soon be whisked away to one of the Web’s most useful locations.
Congratulations! You have now entered the electronic world of music information. The biggest caveat? You’re most likely being charged by the hour for this privilege.
Exacerbating terrorism
Oct. 9, 2002
The U.S. has been at war in Iraq for more than a third of the Weekly’s 19 years. And while the paper has often expressed frustration with the back-room brokering of our senior U.S. senator, Daniel Inouye’s thoughts on the war in Iraq are even more heartbreakingly accurate today than when he shared them with us on the eve of congressional action.
Sen. Daniel Inouye believes many of his fellow Democrats share his view that the pending war in Iraq is not justified, but said in an interview with the Weekly, “It’s an election year. They don’t want to be called unpatriotic.”
Inouye said he would vote against the [war] resolution. Acknowledging he was bucking the tide, with the resolution likely to pass both Houses, he said, “My vote won’t count.”
Particularly egregious is the administration’s willingness to strike preemptively, Inouye said. “We’ve never done that in our history. I would hate to have history look upon us 50 years from now and say we were the worst nation in this century.”
Speaking of the Hawaii constituents who have returned him to the Senate seven times, Inouye said, “I want to be able to come back and explain to them why I supported the war. Under the present circumstances, I don’t have any explanation.”
The World War II veteran enumerated numerous other grounds for his opposition:
The war would incur more casualties than the Persian Gulf War, which did not involved large-scale ground fighting in Iraq.
The war’s domino effect would engulf the Middle East and erode U.S. flexibility there.
Successfully conducting the war could mean siphoning U.S. troops from elsewhere in the world.
Occupying a post-Saddam Iraq would be problematic.
“Imagine being 50 years in Iraq and they hate our guts, because there are a lot of people who look on this war as their religion. And you will have jihads all over the world. If anything, you’re going to exacerbate terrorism.”
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