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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)

 

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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

 

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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

 

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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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Mililani Agricultural Park manager Wayne Ogasawara will be honored May 3 by Mental Health America of Hawaii as its 2007 Outstanding Business Leader for supporting people with mental illness. Wayne has hired many members of the Waipahu Aloha Clubhouse for jobs at the ag park, where they repot plants, weed and water plants ... Nestle USA tapped Mililani High senior Kyle Monette as one of 27 to receive the Nestle Very Best in Youth Award. Kyle can claim his $1,000 prize during a free trip to the L.A. ceremony in July. He was cited for his amazing promotion of the Juvenile Diabetes walkathon here, in which he organized nearly 1,000 walkers who generated $30,000 in research money. Ronald McDonald House also gave him a Heroes Award ... Leilehua High student Marilyn Banach‘s entry, Tree of Life, is one of three Oahu finalists in the 2007 Kaha Ki’i 2nd Congressional Art Contest. U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono was to name the overall winner April 14 at Aloha Tower Marketplace where their works have been on display. Marilyn’s art teacher is Larry Taguba ... It’s official: Ricky Price is now king of the fast lube. At a national industry convention this month the Wahiawa businessman will accept the 2006 Operator of the Year award from the National Oil & Lube News. A Navy veteran from Texas and active Rotarian, Ricky owns three Flagship FastLube and Flagship Auto Service centers on Oahu (including 961 Center St. in Wahiawa). He runs them with the help of sons Christopher and Brandon, and about 40 employees ... Marian’s Catering has a good gig this Saturday, serving up tasty things to go with a wine-tasting MDASoiree at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (593-4454) ... The smiling face of our favorite Mililani Idol, Jasmine Trias, made the pages of last week’s People magazine (singing with the SOS) in a spread about where the TV singing idols are now ... Welcome to little Thalia-Jo Titcomb, born April 3 right after a wild half-hour ride from Mililani to Kapiolani hospital in pau hana traffic. While dad Marc Titcomb was flying home from work on Maui, mom Kiana had some untimely contractions at their new Mililani townhouse, but she kept her legs firmly crossed in Uncle Gary‘s Wahiawa car all the way through town ... Wahiawa inventor Ruben Tabion has created a prototype he calls the Nebur, a simple and effective way to tailor your golf swing to your stance and ground surface conditions. Now in development for all those Dean Wilson wannabes out there ... Amy Chun of Mililani placed third in Canon USA Hawaii’s amateur photo contest with her Ice Flow on Mauna Kea. She won - a camera! See her photo this month at Canon’s Ward Avenue gallery ... John Yanagida of Mililani won the Ka Pouhana (Mentor) Award from the UH College of Tropical Ag and Human Resources. John works in Natural Resources and Environmental management for the department ... Wahiawa students Tiffany Lawson, Michael Noye and Jose Ortiz-Sanchez earned their MS in business administration in December at Central Michigan University ... The Morning Music Club of Honolulu honored Mililani High senior Todd Kawamoto (French horn) and 14 others with $1,000 music scholarships and the Mozart House stage to perform on last month ... Mililani’s Alvin Park, 15, won an Outstanding Activist award from PETA for “his unrelenting fight to get KFC to stop its suppliers’ worst abuses of chickens and for his protests of the cruel fur industry” ... After the legislative session ends, state Rep. Marilyn Lee and her husband (former Mililani state Rep.) Sam Lee are off on a 12-day trip to China. One special stop on their tour: A sacred mountain in Guangzhou and a museum with the preserved body of a 2,000-year-old woman. “We try to go off the beaten track,” Marilyn says ... If you’re at Mililani Wal-Mart on Saturday, be particularly careful around 2 p.m. Da Braddahs are due to arrive then for autographs and general mayhem ... The slots have been hot for Central Oahu gamblers in downtown Las Vegas casinos. Wahiawa’s Jane Oda won $16,187, Wahiawa’s William Pang won $14,336, Wahiawa’s Jorell Nacapuy won $8,045, Mililani’s Marissa Yago won $8,000, and Mililani’s Rey Prado won only $4,402

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On stage this month: Mililani’s Steve Jones and Loretta Ables Sayre, and Nalani Choy (of Haleiwa) and Na Leo. They are part of Matt Catingub‘s Return to Romance Music Festival, happening this week all over Oahu ... Works by Mililani artist Ria Keltz-Remenar comprise half of the 60-painting exhibit War and Peace, which opens March 12 at the Pauahi Tower Mezzanine downtown (371-1104). A reception at 4:30 p.m. March 23 also will include readings by writers. “It’s not a Bush-whacking,” Ria says, but rather a sincere expression by people who have experienced war ...

Jocelyn Morales has joined the Hawaiian Eye Center in Wahiawa at medical services representative, coming to the clinic from a similar center in Orange Park, Florida ...

Mililani High School’s team of Travis Kimura and Anela Loo have weathered the stock market well this school year. Advised by their teacher, Loraine Honda, they nurtured a (pretend) $100,000 investment up to $102,385.34 to win the Income Growth Division of the Fall 2006 Hawaii Stock Market Simulation, sponsored by the Hawaii Council on Economic Education ... Speaking of money and investments, in the real world Miles Sato of Mililani earned a promotion to assistant vice president and information security officer and manager for Central Pacific Bank. His B.A. in experimental psychology, MS in biostatistics and master of public health degrees should come in handy ... In yet another form of finance, we should hear soon from Wahiawa’s Leroy Chincio, who won a $10,000 seat in the Celebrity Invitational World Poker Tour, which took place March 3-5 in Los Angeles. A Leilehua graduate and father of three, Leroy played for the Mules in 1984, when they won the Prep Bowl. Maybe that’s a sign ...

Edward Millet, a substance abuse counselor for military families, assists students at Wheeler Middle School. Ed won the 2007 Ola Pono Award for the healthy alternatives he offers to the kids, making sure they “have a place to go and something creative and constructive to do.” That’s in addition to his steady caseload of other clients. Also honored with the Ola Pono Award (by HMSA, Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii, the DOE and state Attorney General) were Wahiawa Elementary’s Itsuo Tomita and Mere Taeu. Besides guiding students safely to and from campus as its crossing guard, Itsuo coaches intramural sports, does recess duty and settles disputes.

Mere is the health aide who “welcomes the hurt and repairs the human spirit.” She also works with families from Micronesia to help them assimilate to their new school and culture. All three are donating their $1,000 cash awards to their favorite schools ... Wahiawa fourth-grader Erin Ishiyama placed first for her essay on “Fairness” in the state level of the 2006 contest sponsored by the National Association for Family and Community Education ... Former Wahiawa resident Elizabeth Hartnett flies to Toronto this month to compete in the Music Teachers National Assn. Young Artist Voice Competition (Can she sing that in one breath?)

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Oahu author Chip Hughes has written Wipeout!, a sequel to his mystery novel Murder on Molokai from Island Heritage. This time Chip’s surfing detective tracks the whereabouts of a man who vanished in the strong waves of Waimea Bay ... Phyllis Haines will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10 in HPR’s Atherton Studio (955-8821), singing everything from Handel‘s Messiah to Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Mililani soprano is a veteran performer with the Honolulu Symphony and Hawaii Opera Theatre. Phyllis, who once sang for the king of Tonga, also teaches a hand-bell class at Waikele Elementary ... Margaret Weis, the author of three fantasy book series, is also behind the Dungeons & Dragons and Battlestar Galactica games, among others. She’ll be at Mililani Library Feb. 12 and Wahiawa Library Feb. 13 (see Highlights) ...

Public service announcement: Ahem, if you still haven’t disposed of your dead Christmas tree, you can take it to the Central Oahu Convenience Center at 71-129 Wilikina Drive, cut it in 3-foot lengths and leave it out for the next greenwaste pick-up, or call 692-5410 ... Wahiawa native Nito Larioza is pulling lots of stunts these days in Los Angeles, landing work as either a stunt man or choreographer of stunts in several films, including Catwoman and The Rundown. This year’s jobs will include James Cameron‘s Avatar and Stephen Chow‘s House of Fury ...

Matthew Shido, who grew up in Mililani, is now the proud owner of an Allstate Insurance agency in Kaimuki, offering a full-serve, one-stop-shop (737-3500) ... Mililani High School freshman Brittany Lokeana Liwai will compete as Oahu’s Pacific Island Princess in the Grand Alii Finals of the pageant in April in Kona. Brittany is seeking sponsors for her candidacy at 625-6611 ... Wahiawa Middle School teachers Elizabeth Marsh and Paul Stader have a new friend in Jeffrey Prostor, president of Brookfield Homes Hawaii. Through the company’s Holomua Education Program, Jeffrey visits deserving teachers’ classrooms to grant their wishes. The latest was paying for a field trip by 100 Wahiawa Middle School students to a taro patch in Haleiwa, and also buying classroom equipment and supplies. Way to go, Brookfield ... Mililani High School sophomores William Stewart and Jeremy Howze Jr. earned their Eagle Scout rank recently in Mililani for good deeds performed last summer on local military installations. William revamped two bulletin boards for the Sharks swim team at Schofield Barracks and made them a new award case; Jeremy turned Tripler hospital’s pediatric outpatient treatment room into a child-friendly atmosphere for the keiki ...

Winners of the Oahu Arts Center’s recent Writing Competition include Anna Foster and Rick Tada, both of Mililani. Anne placed first ($100) for nonfiction for Dress Shopping, and Rick was second ($75) with Letter from the Couch ... Waikiki’s Hawaii Polo Inn is being renovated and transformed into the Equus by Aqua Hotels & Resorts. And to get you acquainted with it, Hawaii Polo Club president Mike Dailey is throwing in a 90-minute trail ride on the North Shore - which normally costs about $1 per minute. The ride starts at the Mokuleia Polo Field. The hotel will continue to host visiting polo teams during the season, which begins in April. For details, call 220-5153 ... Percussionist Adam Baron of Mililani plays in the Honolulu Jazz Quartet, which will release its new album, Tenacity, at 8 p.m. Feb. 20 in Wo International Center at Punahou School. (923-3909). The event will open with a screening of the Robert Pennybacker film Jazz & the Creative Act - which stars the quartet

 

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Mililani’s award-winning actress Jo Pruden has a role in Aging Is Not for Sissies with five other talented, “mature” women performers. Psychologist Pratibha Eastwood (595-4673) created the collection of funny and poignant monologues to show that being over 60 does not mean you’re over the hill.

Shows are at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 and 4 p.m. Jan. 28 at Temple EmanuEl on Pali Highway, plus two shows Feb. 4 at Kumu Kahua Theatre ... Student artists Ramil Gonzalez of Mililani Middle School has placed second in the Lions District 50 (statewide) International Peace Poster Contest ... Semeon Timothy of Wahiawa has deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Army. He is trained as the driver for the commander of the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion at Schofield Barracks ... Coming back: Sgt.

Gerald Orosco of Mililani has returned to Hawaii from duty in Iraq with the U.S. Army Reserve. Gerald is a metal worker assigned to the 203rd Military Intelligence Battalion at Aberdeen, Md. ... Bulletin: Since last month’s column where their regional triumph was mentioned, the Mililani High School science team of Lucia and Philip Mocz went on to win a $50,000 college scholarship from the 2006-2007 national Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. The siblings received their team award Dec. 4 at New York University at the end of the nation’s premiere high school science competition. Their study involved improving the detection of cancer cells ... January is Glaucoma Awareness Month, and Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora has two words of advice: Check ups - especially for people over 50 and African Americans over 40. If you have blurred vision, loss of peripheral vision, difficulty focusing on objects and the presence of halos around lights, arrange for an exam from your eye doctor. (Plus, it will help you read this column better.) Dr. Tortora has also hired Mydee Agricula as patient services representative at his Hawaiian Eye Center in Wahiawa. You might say Mydee is moving up on the human face, as she was previously a dental assistant ...

Edmund Aczon is working to build funding for the Oahu Arts Center as its volunteer president, but the Mililani man’s day job is to recruit qualified workers for Hawaii’s construction boom. Ed is currently manpower specialist for the Hawaii Carpenters Union, which trains young men and women for the field and also helps them perform better on their job entry tests (847-5761) ... While City Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz is changing hats on the City Council, his sister Donalyn Dela Cruz is changing addresses. She has returned to Hawaii to join the marketing and public relations firm of Pacific Management Consultants as a principal associate. Donalyn was previously press secretary to U.S. Sen. Dan Akaka and a former KHON TV reporter. Both siblings are Leilehua High School graduates and akamai marketers ... Mililani resident Miles Sato has been promoted to assistant vice president and information security officer and manager at Central Pacific Bank. Miles has two master’s degrees: one in biostatistics and one is public health administration ... Doing a more relaxed kind of banking this winter were these lucky slot machine pullers in downtown Las Vegas: Ernest Isnec of Wahiawa led the pack with $14,016 in earnings from a keno machine; Lavern Reyes of Wahiawa won $4,500; Analu Josephides of Wahiawa won $4,000; and Janis Anzai of Mililani won $4,000

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Mililani High School’s sibling stars of local and national science fairs, Lucia and Philip Mocz, reached the Western Regional finals of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology, considered the nation’s premier high school science competition. (The national winner of a $100,000 grant was to be announced Dec. 4.)

They presented their research last month to judges at Stanford University and now share a $6,000 scholarship for their math project which led to a software solution that could make cancer cells more visible in photographs - thus aiding in the early detection of the disease. They say they were inspired by visiting the laboratory of their dad, who is a UH biochemistry professor ... The 70-foot Norfolk pine chosen as the City Hall’s Christmas tree this year was donated by George and Matilda Kallingal in Mililani. The crew knocked off about 15 feet for the perfect look.

The Leilehua, Mililani and Kahuku high bands performed in the parade at the tree-lighting Saturday ... Sharon Hodson of Mililani has been promoted to assistant vice president for Atlas Insurance, adding to her job of overseeing commercial lines. Though she has her degree in elementary education, her boss Kathleen Kano says Sharon is the perfect fit as a leader with 28 years of experience in the industry ... Mililani teacher/crooner Reno David is also finding new fans for his acting skills. Reno plays local surfer Roland in Who the Fil-Am I? or Never Judge a Buk-Buk by its Cover-Cover, at Kumu Kahua Theater through Sunday (536-4441) ... Speaking of music, the Wheeler Elementary choir performs at 7 p.m. Thursday at Pearlridge Center by Crazy Shirts ... Besides doing at 250 parties a year, Mililani magician Glen Bailey likes to host workshops to share the art of illusion. He’s booked workshops Jan. 15 at Pearl City Elementary School with some of the best in the profession (488-5162). A retired Air Force man, Glen still works at Hickam by day, but plies his tricks at Westridge Tony Roma’s Tuesday nights and Sam Choy’s Breakfast Lunch and Crab Sunday nights ...

Mililani’s Stephanie Katayama has been promoted to vice president of Central Pacific Bank, where she’ll be in charge of regulatory and compliance reporting in the trust division. In her spare time, Stephanie is active in Girl Scouts ... Ophthalmologist Christopher Totora of the Hawaiian Eye Center in Wahiawa says there’s hope for those prone to diabetic eye diseases - just get an annual exam! ... And when you drop in on Dr.

Totora, you’ll meet Delilah Blas, who has been promoted to supervisor of patient services ... Military report: Adrienne Kasaoka (Mililani ‘02) has graduated from the Air Force Academy and earned her commission as a second lieutenant. She was slated to go for pilot training at Columbus AFB, Mississippi ... Sigan-Sulpum Wilson of Mililani earned her commission through the ROTC program of Pace University. According to the military report, she graduated from Pace in 2005, and also earned a bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College in 2006. Both are New York schools ... William Keahi III (Mililani ‘02) is on the same track at UH-Manoa. He recently graduated from the Army ROTC leadership course at Fort Knox, Kentucky ... Congratulations to Kenneth Nakamura (Waialua ‘87), who graduated from Officer Candidate School at Fort Lewis, Washington, earning his 2nd Lt. rank in the Hawaii Army National Guard after 19 years as an enlisted man

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Mililani’s prolific author of historical romance books, Penelope Neri, will lead a workshop on romance (of course) at the annual Honolulu Writers Conference, set for Nov. 18 at the East-West Center (395-1161). Children’s book author Sandy Takayama, also of Mililani, will share tips with fellow writers and wannabes on creating and developing stories. Sandy should know - she’s sold 20,000 of them! ... Gems of another kind are the kuleana of Renee Reuter. The Wahiawa resident has received the Excellent Beginnings Program Achievers award from lia sophia, a home-sales jewelry company ... Mililani optometrist Dr. Ronald Reynolds also had a “good beginning” back in the day. The Wahiawa-born Ron was coxswain on Iolani School’s rowing crew in 1964.

Iolani was the first high school crew to reach the finals in the U.S. Olympic rowing competition. Now Ron and his son Geoffrey take care of the vision needs of UH athletes, making their house calls at Stan Sheriff Center ... Budding Wahiawa actress Taylor-Van Highfill portrays orphan Tessie in Army Community Theatre’s next musical, Annie, which opens Nov. 16 at Fort Shafter’s Richardson Theatre (438-4480) ... Army 2nd Lt. Diane Elegino-Steffens (Leilehua ‘01) is going to medical school, courtesy of the Army. Diane has enrolled in the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., as a med student. It’s all tuition free, but she’ll owe Uncle Sam seven years of active duty and six more in the inactive ready reserve after she earns her M.D. ... Mary Grace Guiang (Leilehua ‘02, Heald College ‘04) has graduated from something entirely different this year. She has completed the F-15 aircraft avionics test station and aircraft components apprentice course at Sheppard AFB, Texas ...

Another Heald graduate, Raynard Marquina, has been promoted by MW Group to property manager for the massive Pioneer Plaza downtown. Raynard lives in Mililani with his wife Sheri and two children ... Students from Wahiawa’s Ho’ala School huddled with their peers from 16 other high schools on Oct. 21 in Honolulu to address the Arab-Israeli conflict. Stay tuned for their solutions ... Arnel Abut of the Mililani McDonald’s restaurant has received an “I’m lovin’ it” award, which is reserved for swing or assistant managers who demonstrate their commitment to good operations ... Sports report: Three Central Oahu athletes placed in the T & C State/Ezekiel Halloween Havoc amateur skateboard contest at Manana Skate Park: Haleiwa resident Kalani David was second (for the 13-and-unders) with a “killer ollie wall ride and roll into the quarter pipe.” Haleiwa’s Billy Fortier took the fifth (for 18 and older), and Sancho Khamvongsa of Mililani launched some “tough tricks” to place fifth in the sponsored division ... Two longtime North Shore residents have just published a slick photo history of their favorite 100-year-old town, Haleiwa - from the old Haleiwa Hotel to the surf city of today and everything in between.

Retired Navy officer Tom Jacobs wrote the copy for the coffee-table class volume, and Bill Romerhaus, owner of North Shore Photography, shot many of the photos. The men also credit the North Shore News as a source of facts and photos. You can order a copy for $25 through Bill’s photo shop, P.O. Box 1239, Haleiwa HI 96712. Or look for it in local bookstores by the end of the November ... Five Mililani students won cash and recognition for their poster art, illustrating the “Make a Difference Day” theme in an islandwide competition sponsored by Castle & Cooke and the DOE. Among the 12 out of 5,000 entries picked as the best are Raymond Mariano and Tina Grandinetti (Mililani High), Ramil Lorenzo Gonzalez (Mililani Middle School), Toby Frigillana (Mililani Uka) and Chynna Nicole Chun (Kipapa). The recognition ceremony is Nov. 27 at the state capital

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For a relatively new school, Mililani Ike Elementary is producing its share of outstanding teachers. Recently in the news were Lizabeth Horii, who teaches grades 2-3, and Phyllis Nakama-Kawamoto, who teaches grades K and 2. Phyllis was named Hawaii’s 2006 “American Star of Teaching,” a U.S. Department of Education award for her use of innovative strategies to foster student achievement. Lizabeth is the Central School District’s choice for 2006 Teacher of the Year. The statewide winner (out of seven district nominees) will be announced on Oct. 19 during the state Board of Education’s meeting at Pearl City High School ... According to outreach specialist Rachel Neville, the Oahu Invasive Species Committee is making a hop, skip and a jump of progress in its campaign against Wahiawa’s noisy coqui frogs: “Before spraying started two seasons ago,” Rachel explains, “survey crews were hearing over 100 calling frogs.

Now, we are hearing less than four” ... As Honolulu City Councilmembers go, Donovan Dela Cruz had an easy primary election (with no opponent). But that didn’t dissuade him from mailing out booklets of his favorite recipes, including one with the intriguing title “Walking Tostitos.” (It’s a bean dip, not a strolling Mariachi band) ... Devon Joy Hillyer of Mililani received a bachelor of science in business administration during summer commencement ceremonies at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas ... Tune in to ‘Olelo cable channel 56 at 5 p.m. Tuesdays, 4 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays in October for Hawaii Student Digital Showcase. Why? Among the worthy school productions on view each of those days is Waialua Elementary School’s project, How to Make an Angel Pin ... Shelby Rita took home $1,300 plus the All-Around Champion trophy saddle from the All-Girls Rodeo held Sept. 23 at the New Town & Country Stables in Waimanalo. Noelle Carroll won the Reserve Champion silver buckle. Both ace cowgirls are from Haleiwa. Keeping it in the family, Shelby’s dad Robert won the Mixed Barrels. (They let the men in for a few events) ... Kevin Matsumoto, a crisis nurse at Queen’s Medical Center, has won the hospital’s nursing excellence award for education. The Mililani RN trains new nurses and nursing students in Code Blue procedures ... Speaking of excellence, the University of Hawaii Regents have awarded North Shore resident Denise Antolini their 2006 Excellence in Teaching Medal for her outstanding work in environmental law. Denise is a professor at the UH law school and also has experience in high-profile public interest litigation ... Speaking of regents, attorney Darrolyn Lendio - Waialua born, raised and educated - has moved even further up the legal ladder and is now vice president for legal affairs and general counsel to the University of Hawaii system. The UH Board of Regents appointed her to a three-year term on Sept. 1 ... Michael Eide of Mililani has entered six weeks of basic cadet training at the U.S. Air Force Academy, preparing him for his freshman year there ... Erica Salvador (Mililani ‘02) has completed the Army ROTC leadership training course at Fort Lewis, Washington.

She is enrolled as an upperclassman at the University of Hawaii-Manoa ... Then there’s Malia Delapenia, who is busy right here in Hawaii with some very unmilitary endeavors. The Mililani Mauka resident publishes Hawaii Belly Dancer magazine and also teaches the ancient art at two locations on Oahu ... Central Oahu residents bellied up to the slot machines and must have danced for joy on recent trips to downtown Las Vegas: James Fulgoni of Mililani made $20,000; Mitchell Chung of Mililani made $6,000; Bienbinindo Valion of Waialua made $4,950; and Juanita Sadoy of Waialua won $4,000. Mililani’s Deanna Ishii won her first jackpot of $3,000 ... B.C. Cowling,devoted advocate of box car racing, is keeping busy in the Kunia Park-and-Ride lot, which is just across the street from the Kunia Times Supermarket. His American Box Car Racing International Box Car Track is open every weekend and has special hours during the Oct. 4-6 school holiday period (947-3393)

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Mililani Waena Elementary School’s custodial staff was honored recently by the DOE for its excellence job performance, and Antonina Albios, janitor at Waialua Library for four years, is the library system’s Employee of the Year. Not only is Toni a conscientious worker inside the building, she has a green thumb and has planted and nurtured the library’s new lawn and garden, thus saving the state about $3,500 ... Solomon Elementary School teacher Jan Turner has been elected to represent the HSTA on the National Education Association board of directors ...

Walter Omalza of Wahiawa performed last Saturday night in Orvis Auditorium as one of five winners in Hawaii’s Art Song contest. At the auditions, the judges liked what tenor Walter did with Mozart’s Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte ... Regina Souza, who works for State Farm in its Mililani Technology Park office, has received the insurance company’s national Volunteer of the Year award for her community service efforts. Regina is a helpful parent at Damien Memorial High School - including her involvement in the school’s monumental Project Graduation. She also pitches in for State Farm’s child safety seat checks, bike safety rodeos and more. Regina gets the honor, and Damien gets $500 ... Speaking of good insurance folks, Waipio resident Bob Arensberg, a development manager with New York Life, arranged for his agency to donate furniture to the fire-damaged University Lab School ... Mililani High School graduate Alina Estonactoc has emerged from the SURF at California Institute of Technology. Alina, a CIT student, was there as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF), working for 10 weeks with a mentor on the puzzle of “Dependence of DNA-Protein Crosslinking on Guanine Radical Protonation State” ... Mililani’s Mary Esteban has earned the Top Sales Advisor award from lia sophia, a direct-sales fashion jewelry business ... Registered nurse Cindy Kamikawa will be a key player on Queen’s Medical Center’s recent $1.15 million federal grant to address nursing shortages. For one thing, Cindy, who is Queen’s vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer, aims to expand the new-nurse orientation program “to build support for nurses in those early months” ... Hanalani Schools sophomore Kaimionalani Manner, a contestant in the Miss Hawaii Teen America pageant, was recognized for “doing the most community service” at the recent event, held at Leeward Community College ... Kayumi Vanek, a sophomore at Mililani High School, has 500 more reasons to read books. Kayumi won the second-place prize - a $500 Pearlridge shopping spree - in the state library system’s Young Adults Summer Reading sweepstakes drawing.

She and her mother were picked up in a stretch limousine recently for the big adventure. The program inspired teens to read and keep a running account of the books over the summer ... Mililani students Lindsay and Sean Taguma have received scholarships from Hilton Hawaiian Village, which awards grants to deserving children of employees each year. Their mother, Audrey Taguma,works in human resources at the Waikiki resort ... Lilah Akin of Waialua High, Ruth Gerola of Leilehua, Lori Higashi of Mililani and Jeremy Carino of Hanalani have each won $1,000 scholarships from the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation (founders of Hawaiian Host chocolates) ... Wahiawa’s Eric Leonard heads the list of winners in downtown Las Vegas with $40,000 on Let It Ride; Bobby Ushijima did OK with $26,000 for a “sequential royal flush”; Waialua’s Leticia Yacapin won $25,000; Mililani’s Kalaya Higa, $8,000; and Wahiawa’s Jane Oda, $6,012 ... Sign of the times: Dove chocolates come with free advice inside their foil wrapper, the latest one being “Write a real letter, not just an e-mail”

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Haleiwa’s Debbie Eguirres won the title of All-Around Cowgirl (and $198) at the Jackpot Rodeo held July 29 at Barbers Point arena. Debbie took first and third (on different horses) for Open Barrels, first in 3 D Barrels, first in Open Poles, second in first D in 3D pole-bending and fourth in Novice Horse Barrels ... Glenn Mayeda Jr. of Mililani will perform with Pilioha at the annual Ka Himeni Ana contest (unamplified, old-fashioned singing), set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hawaii Theatre. Other local talent on the program: Jennifer and Henry Camacho of Mililani, Waipahu’s Leilani Kong of the group Kaleoiki, and Waipahu’s Kale Gouveia of Keauwena ... The Wahiawa Lions honored their community service heroes last month: Carole Kai Onouye for Outstanding Achievement as a charity catalyst and TV producer who “gave many their start in the entertainment industry,” and Aki Kakazu as the club’s Every Day Hero for his push to support the town’s National Guard troops in the Middle East, much of it in care packages sent at his own expense ...

Lynn Miller and Kerri Luera are seeking volunteers to read aloud to children at Mililani Uka and August Ahrens elementary schools during evening programs that start this month. Call Read Aloud America at 531-1985 and speak up ... Mililani resident Suzanne Jones, the city’s recycling coordinator, humbly suggests that you flatten your corrugated boxes before tossing them into the recycling bins. “It leaves more room in the bins,” she says. “All that air space means the trucks have to haul more frequently” ... Isaac Smith spent more than 370 hours during the last five years working for free at every Neighborhood Legal Clinic in Waipahu, earning a Spirit of VLSH Award (Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii) ... How much makeup can you sell? Two Waipahu residents are doing just fine. Earning “Best of the Best” awards from Avon are Suzette Cerezo (for selling $112,020 worth of inventory) and Melvyn Soyangco ($175,800) ... In addition to everything else they do, Schofield soldiers conduct rat patrols in the West Range and elsewhere to protect the endangered elepaio bird ... Mililani’s Jessica Kawana placed first and sister Melissa placed third in their age groups at the annual Banana Man Chase this summer at Ala Moana Park. Their prize? A year’s supply of Jamba Juice smoothies. Also earning a year’s worth of cool slurps were third-place “chasers” Deanne Soon of Mililani and Barbara Shanks of Waipahu and second-place runner Lynn Gok of Mililani ... Mililani insurance man Rodney Yoshida is proud of his award-winning Allstate agency in Waipahu. A different company was named in last month’s Waha Nui column ... On the dean’s honor list recently at Eastern Washington University were Cari Ann Urabe of Mililani and Amy Groves of Wahiawa ... The UH Professional Assembly has named state Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu (Waipahu, Waikele) its 2006 Legislator of the Year. UHPA associate director John Radcliffe says he has gone “above and beyond” in efforts to inform the public about the Legislature and the lawmaking process ... The UH board of regents has made Peter Quigley‘s interim chancellor position a permanent one at Leeward Community College. A former Fulbright Scholar, Peter’s specialty is environmental literature, and he’s a huge fan of poet Robinson Jeffers ... Destiny Sumile of Mililani placed third in the 2006 Meadow Gold Healthy Baby of Oahu contest, held July 9 at Ala Moana Center. Destiny also won a $1,000 savings bond ...

Leilehua and Radford high schools were honored recently by the Joint Venture Education Forum for “exemplary attention to the needs of all transitioning students and families ... Leilehua graduate Bradlee Sako is now a Barry and Virginia Weinman Fellow. Bradlee is one of three first-year UH medical students to receive the 2006 fellowship, which encourages local students to remain in Hawaii to practice medicine ... The Honolulu chapter of Executive Women International has given a $2,000 scholarship to Leilehua student Hilary Nakasone  

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Department of Health director Dr. Chiyome Fukino has named Waipahu’s Maria Kunihiro Employee of the Year. Maria has worked for the state for more than 44 years and now leads a staff of 13 in the DOH administrative services office. Her dedication to keeping up with a huge workload - and staying friendly and helpful - has been noticed ... Also noticed: Maryann Siasosi is Crew Person of the Year for McDonald’s Restaurants of Hawaii.

The Mililani woman is also a wife, mother of six and grandmother of six. She works at the Mililani McDonald’s and will represent Hawaii in a national recognition program. “Maryann is full of passion and pride in the work she does; she makes sure customers are completely satisfied,” says her boss, Donna Ribellia-Abreu. “She truly sets the bar” ... Hawaii sales director Mark Yamauchi says a new Verizon Wireless cell site has boosted can-you-hear-me-now coverage for customers in the Waikele shopping complex and vicinity ...Yes, even high schools have athletic trainers.

Among the newly certified is Leilehua’s Michelle Harrington ... Competing with seven other schools at the recent Samoa High School Arts Festival at Polynesian Cultural Center, Waipahu High students took second place for the sasa (sit down) dance, third for women’s coconut husking and Mauluulu (girls dance). Ana Mariko took third for lauga (speech) ... LCC graduate Cindy Morales has been promoted to assistant manager at Aiea’s Dixie Grill. When she’s not around the food, Cindy dances hula with Snowbird Bento‘s halau ... Current LCC student Elizabeth Siamalu is competing in the Lelalelei o Samoa Scholarship Pageant, set for July 28 at Farrington High School auditorium - the first pageant of its kind here for young Samoan women (554-1494) ... Mililani resident Rodney Yoshida is proud of the staff at his State Farm insurance agency in Waipahu, which recently won a national “quality service agency” award.

His team is Dawn Mira-Whitson, Becky Solmirin and Julie Gungap ... Waipahu wood carver Roy Tsumoto‘s works are on view at the Gallery at Ward Centre until July 27 ... Also in town, Ho’ala High School senior Brandon Ells is curator of a teen art show, The Young Hopefuls, at thirtyninehotel through July 15 ... Honorary chairwoman of the Mililani Relay for Life July 15-16 at Mililani High is Tammy Muira, 14, a cancer survivor from the community. This year’s goal is to raise $100,000 to fight the disease (486-8420) ... Former Mililani Trojan Kelsey Nakata pitches with the Hawaii Island Movers summer team, which plays in Japan this month ... Leilehua ‘67 grad Eugene Lee is the new director the city Department of Design and Construction, appointed June 23 by the mayor. Eugene got his civil engineering degree at Purdue and has spent his career in government service

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There are ghosts in Waipio Gentry, or at least there’s Lopaka Kapanui and his stories. Lopaka has set up his ghost tour business on Ukee Street, Ghost Scene Investigations Hawaii ... Waialua Elementary students’ video, Kids’ Vote, is being shown on ‘Olelo channel 56 at 4 p.m. Tuesdays, noon Thursdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays throughout June ...

Harry Kwon is the “unsung hero” of Solomon Elementary. Correction, now he’s the sung hero. HMSA awarded the school’s JPO advisor and attendance clerk a $1,000 Ola Pono Award for 2006 for promoting safe drug-free (and car accident-free) lifestyle among the keiki ... Three area children placed in the BWS Water Conservation Week Poster Contest (among 2,600 entries): Jason Fly of Hale Kula Elementary was second, Lauren Ko of Mililani Mauka was second and Nicole Yamane of Mililani Ike was third (in their age groups). That’s two $75 and one $50 savings bond. Hale Kula’s Dominique Blake and Jovanee Colon were honorable mentions ... Speaking of art, Mililani High student Roger Bong took third place for his photo art in the First Congressional District art competition ...

Following orientation, Leilehua senior Natasha Mieko Wolf departs June 19 for a 17-day Japan study tour sponsored by the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council. Along with 19 other Hawaii teens, She’ll visit key cities, high schools, inns, museums, temples and homes - all on a full travel scholarship ... State Sen. Ron Menor is on a panel wrestling with the affordable housing crisis at a June 15 lunch of the Hawaii Society of Corporate Planners at the (not-too-affordable) Hawaii Prince Hotel ... Aunty Mary Tunta is coming to town for Father’s Day brunch and dinner - Frank DeLima, that is. That’s June 18 at Dot’s in Wahiawa ...

We’ll all feel better soon. Argosy U. has bestowed degrees on Daniela Granzotto of Haleiwa (doctor of clinical psych.) and Tania Critchlow of Mililani (MA in marriage & family therapy) ... Wahiawa resident Steve Tessier coaxed $9,000 out of his lucky slot machines on a trip this spring to downtown Las Vegas; Mililani residents Garrett Suzuki won $6,000 and Greg Yoshinaga $5,000 ... Waipahu High’s Rachelle Raposas and Mililani High’s Christy Tatsuyama won four-year, renewable $1,000 scholarships from Hawaii Self Storage

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Wahiawa native Lee Hiromoto has won a Hawaii Rotary 5000 District ambassadorial scholarship that will take him to Hebrew University of Jerusalem to study Arabic next fall. Lee just graduated from Yale and is its first student to major in Portuguese ... Momilani Elementary student Keri Teramae‘s painting Waikiki Beach is not just taped to a refrigerator door. It’s been picked for display at the Hawaii Convention Center for one year. You can find Keri’s art, along with 95 other keiki creations, in the center’s third-floor courtyard. Her teacher is Sheree Tamura ... Waipahu actors

Don Richards and Michelle Matias are in Diamond Head Theatre’s Tony award-winning musical La Cage aux Folles (The Birdcage), which is held over to June 11. Offstage, Michelle teaches kindergarten.

Don, an award-winning performer, has danced or taught at Leeward YMCA, the LCC Dance Ensemble and much more. So what is he studying at UH West Oahu? Business administration, of course ...

Mililani Lions Club earned the Best Division II Club Award at the state Lions convention this month on Kauai ... Kanoelani Elementary student Traci Aiwohi was a semifinalist in literature for the Hawaii PTSA Reflections Art Program ... Former Waipahu High coach Masa Yonamine received the Hawaii Coaches Award for “his lifelong service to high school football” from the Hawaii chapter of the National Football Foundation in Waikiki. Local scholar athletes getting scholarships from the chapter are Mililani High’s Micah Kia and Waipahu High’s Joseph Batangan ... Mililani residents weren’t surprised when HPD officer Josie Kaanehe and Det. Randall Gratz were honored this month by the 200 Club. Josie (2006 Police Officer of the Year) is a former Mililani Trojan, a D.A.R.E. officer for classrooms all over the Central District, and a member of Mililani’s neighborhood board and high school PTSO. Randy (Police Parent of the Year) is a Leilehua graduate who led Mililani Boy Scout Troop 164 on a rigorous Big Island hike and helped at the 2005 National Jamboree ...

High school freshman Andrew Ramos of Waipahu took third place in the 2006 Music Teachers National Association Junior Piano Performance Competition. Andrew also plays cello in the Hawaii Youth Symphony string orchestra and was featured on NPR’s From the Top Hawaii broadcast ... Waipio Center’s Mother’s Day essay contest winners (among 200 entries) were Traci Aiwohi of Kanoelani Elementary, Gia Duque of Kanoelani and Kellie Kawamoto of Mililani Middle School, in their age groups) ...

HECO’s Kaiulani de Silva has a gentle reminder for well-wishers at graduations this weekend: “Helium-filled metallic balloons accounted for 22 power service interruptions in 2005” ... Hamburger king Miles Ichinose, who operates five McDonald’s restaurants including Waipahu, Waipio and Wal-Mart Kunia, has received the chain’s Golden Arch Award - the first Hawaii franchise owner to earn it for “consistently achieving the highest level of excellence.” Miles’ first venture was in Waipahu in 1983 ... Waipahu volunteer Narzal Concepcion, 79, earned the Bronze Akamai Living Award for devoting 13,500 hours of volunteer service to the Filipino community

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Former teen heartthrob Glenn Medeiros of Mililani is now teaching second grade at Island Pacific Academy. Headmaster Dan White says he’s “a gifted teacher,” but they’re not denying his music skills. Glenn is slated to develop the school’s high school music program - an he’s been promoted to fourth grade next fall ... Alexander Balicoco (Leilehua ‘04) has completed a light-wheeled vehicle mechanics course for the Army National Guard in Fort Jackson, S.C. ... Yang Yang Diana Shi of Waipahu made the dean’s list last semester at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts ... Michael Claveria of Waipahu, a math major, made last semester’s dean’s list at Grinnell College in Iowa ...

Linda Uehara, a retired teacher from Mililani, has received the HMSA 2006 Ola Pono Award for her work with the Hawaii Girls Court, which works on building life skills for at-risk girls. And what did Linda do with the $1,000 award she won? She donated it to the Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii ... Laura Nagamine of Mililani made the dean’s list last semester at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. ... Matthew Barro (Leilehua ‘01) has reported for Army active duty at Fort Benning, Ga. - qualifying for a $20,000 Delayed Entry bonus ... Stephanie Esposito of Mililani has been deployed “to a forward-operating location in Southwest Asia” with the Air Force. She is a food-service apprentice and 2003 Moanalua High graduate ... Almendro Fernandez (Waipahu ‘05) has graduated from the Army’s Small Arms/Artillery Repairer course at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. ... Almendro’s Waipahu classmate, Army Reserve Pvt. Preston Pacheco, successfully completed the light-wheeled vehicle mechanic course, also at Aberdeen Proving Ground ... Lauren Chow of Mililani made the fall semester dean’s list at Washington University in St. Louis, as did Jordan Arakawa of Waipahu ... Gary Murakami of Mililani has inventing an adjustable rod holder for freshwater fishing, spotted recently by Knud Lindgard of Hawaii Fishing News in his relentless shoreline snoop for news bites at Nuuanu Reservoir. Now if Gary could just invent a fish cleaner for all of the catfish (two) I’ve caught there over the past 15 years ...

Mililani resident Kathleen Torres has received the AT&T Award of Excellence at Rehab Hospital. The scholarship will allow Kathleen, a registered nurse, to pursue her study of spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation nursing ...

Ned Rafael (Waipahu ‘05) has completed Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas ... Calvin Miyamoto of Mililani is co-chairing a landmark anniversary: the 50th reunion of his McKinley High School Class of 1956, set for July 22 (626-0571) ... Mililani students Jolie Nitta and Torie Okemura made the fall dean’s list at Azusa Pacific University in California. Both are psychology majors. Liberal studies major Summer Maunakea of Waipahu is also on that list ... Mililani’s Lionel Franco has been singing with the hip salsa band, Son Caribe, since last summer. Now you can catch him and the rest the gang every Sunday night from 8:30 at the Esprit Night Club in the Sheraton Waikiki ... Mililani shoppers are multi-tasking again. June Gollero and Luzviminda Cortado at Bank of Hawaii’s Mililani Safeway branch placed first in ‘Dash for Cash’ - for most in-store sales and referrals, respectively - not a fun run. It was the bank’s in-house competition to generate new accounts this winter. Joni Pupu of the Mililani branch placed third in sales for the region, and Patricia Kesi-Ilalio of the Waipahu branch was on the top referral team ... Keiki in four area preschools - Mililani Presbyterian ($1,050), St. John’s Catholic ($1,993), Wahiawa First Baptist ($1,143.34) and Rosary Preschool & Kindergarten in Waipahu ($2,039) - hopped up and down all at once (call it a hop-a-thon) and earned all that dough for the Muscular Dystrophy Association ...

Tommy Medeiros (Waipahu ‘95) has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C. ... Kayla Furtado (Waipahu ‘05) has completed basic Air National Guard training at Lackland AFB, Texas ... Melissa Taeu of Waipahu has completed basic training for the Air Force at Lackland AFB, Texas ... Katrina Tolentino of Waipahu will report to basic Army Reserve training in June at Fort Jackson, S.C., under the delayed-entry program

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