Page 219 – DMZ hawaiʻi

America’s Africa Corps

By Jason Motlagh

September 21, 2006

The United States is moving closer to setting up an Africa Command to secure the rear flank of its global “war on terrorism”, with eyes trained on vital oil reserves and lawless areas where terrorists have sought safe haven to regroup and strike against its interests.

At a Monday briefing on plans to restructure US defense policy, Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelmen disclosed that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military brass were close to a decision over a proposal to anchor US forces on the African continent, creating a new command to encompass all security operations.

Analysts said the move would herald a fundamental shift in US policy that champions an active approach toward fledgling states prone to breed extremism, though more tangible needs are also at stake.

A Pentagon spokesman tempered the announcement with the caveat that such a move required an official process that would take time and had yet to begin. But one official noted that talks were “intense” and another stressed that internal debate was stronger than it was six months ago and appeared to be on the verge of a positive verdict.

The United States at present oversees five separate military commands worldwide, and Africa remains divided among three of them: European Command covers operations spanning 43 countries across North and sub-Saharan Africa; Central Command oversees the restive Horn of Africa; and Pacific Command looks after Madagascar. All three maintain a low-key presence, largely employing elite special operations forces to train, equip and work alongside national militaries. A perceived vulnerability to al-Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations, however, has fueled calls for a more aggressive security posture in Africa.

“We do have a strategic interest in Africa, and we have been attacked,” a leading US government Africa specialist told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity. “Whether you have 1,000 people or 10,000, what we’re doing requires our active presence both from training special forces, coordination and tracking down some of the extremist elements … That requires really having a physical presence and the ability to deploy.”

CentCom commander General John Abizaid last March spelled out to the Senate Armed Services Committee the burgeoning security threats facing Horn of Africa and the dire need for robust action. Emblematic of most of the continent at large, they include extreme poverty, corruption, internal conflicts, uncontrolled borders and territorial waters, weak internal security, broken infrastructure and natural disasters, among others. “The combination of these serious challenges,” he said, “creates an environment that is ripe for exploitation by extremists and criminal organizations.”

Just months later, the decision was made to raise the military profile in Africa in what may prove a precursor to an all-encompassing command. Washington has committed to spend US$500 million on the Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI ), an expanded program headed by EuCom that provides military and development aid to nine Saharan countries deemed to be fertile ground for groups – such as the deadly Algeria-based Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) – looking to establish Afghanistan-style training grounds and carry out other illicit activities. The TSCTI represents a colossal upgrade from the Pan-Sahel Initiative, its $7 million forerunner.

But critics counter that military-centric policies could backfire and breed radicalism where it hardly exists by sustaining despotic regimes that usurp funding and military hardware to tighten their grip on power. A report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank, said the Saharan region is “not a terrorist hotbed” and warned that certain Saharan governments try to elicit US aid while using the “war on terror” to justify human-rights abuses.

CentCom, for its part, operates the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, a discreet hub formed in the aftermath of the August 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that killed at least 301 people and put Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network on the map.

A number of al-Qaeda operatives are said to be hiding in the Horn, Somalia specifically, and they continue to pose a grave threat to US interests in the region, which demands the presence of some 1,800 troops tasked with detecting and disrupting terrorist schemes. US intelligence has also used the base to coordinate activities around the Horn; the Central Intelligence Agency allegedly bankrolled an alliance of warlords that were driven out of the capital, Mogadishu, by Islamist militia this summer.

Somalia, a special case, has been without a functioning government for the past 14 years and is known beyond a doubt to have harbored members of al-Qaeda. Still, the unnamed government analyst, who just returned from an extensive fact-finding mission to the failed state, insists that the vast majority of Somalis are not hostile toward the United States despite the infamous Black Hawk Down disaster of 1993 and the recent Islamist takeover. “Somalis are not anti-American by nature, they are pro-West,” he said. “Engagement is vital as it helps gather better intelligence, understand people, and it’s cheaper.”

Other observers say that thirst for another kind of security is the driving force behind a probable Africa Command: energy.

Nigeria already stands as the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the United States, and energy officials say the Gulf of Guinea will provide a quarter of US crude by 2010, placing the region ahead of Saudi Arabia (other major producers include Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Gabon and the Congo Republic). A surging demand for fossil fuels in Asia and an unpredictable political climate in the Middle East prompted the administration of US President George W Bush four years ago to call West African oil a “strategic national interest” – a designation that reserves the use of force to secure and defend such interests if necessary.

The question then arises as to where exactly the new command would be best headquartered. The answer may be Sao Tome and Principe, one of Africa’s smallest countries, consisting mainly of two islands at the western bend of the continent. Concerns over fanning anti-Americanism, proximity to oil reserves – some of which are said to be untapped beneath its own waters – and overall security make this the obvious choice, John Pike, director of military studies group GlobalSecurity.org, told Asia Times Online. “This island seems destined to be America’s unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Guinea, much like Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and Guam in the Pacific.”

Military planners like the idea of an offshore presence since its reduces the impression of a neo-colonial maneuver, Pike said, adding that so far there has been a clear preference within EuCom and CentCom to lie low and work through African institutions to train troops and strengthen security. According to Pike, the coup-wary Sao Tome government likes the idea of a US presence, and the two sides have been “playing footsie for a number of years now”. The Defense Department declined comment.

While odds are against the price of oil ever going back down significantly, today it remains a freely traded commodity on the international market with no strings attached as to who owns concessions. But some experts are convinced this arrangement will come to an end in the not so distant future, making military power and leverage paramount.

“We can see how the US would want to move and make preparations for that day when it matters whom states will turn to for protection,” Pike said. “When that day comes, the US wants to ensure key states are looking its way.”

Jason Motlagh is deputy foreign editor at United Press International in Washington, DC. He has reported freelance from Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean for various US and European news media.

September 20, 2006August 28, 2009

Former military man sentenced to prison for sex assault of boy

TheHawaiiChannel.com

Man Who Sexually Assaulted Boy Sentenced To Prison

Victim’s Grandfather Blasts MySpace.com For Problems

POSTED: 3:39 pm HST September 20, 2006

HONOLULU — A man who met a teenage boy online and then sexually assaulted him was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to several crimes.

Joseph Colasacco, 30, apologized to the family of the 14-year-old boy he sexually assaulted and told them he is not a monster.

“I screwed up. I know I did. I made some very bad decisions,” Colasacco said.

In a plea agreement, to spare the victim from testifying, Colasacco pleaded guilty to all 13 counts, including second-degree sexual assault and electronic enticement of a child.

The two met early this year on the popular Web site MySpace.com. In February, the teen’s stepfather discovered Colasacco in the boy’s bed at their Kahala home.

“This defendant was sneaky, and he was demanding. And, throughout all of this, he waged a campaign, so to speak, of control over this victim,” prosecutor Jean Ireton said.

“His adolescence has been stolen from him, and he’s unsettled and he’s not doing well in school,” the victim’s grandfather said in court.

The teen’s grandfather also criticized the MySpace Web site, saying it set up the perfect place for pedophiles.

“They left a path of destruction across this country,” the grandfather said.

“I should have never been online chatting. You’ll never find me in another chat room ever,” Colasacco said.

Colasacco said he assumed the victim was the legal age of 16, but prosecutors said he knew all along the boy was underage.

During sentencing, Judge Michael Wilson considered Colasacco’s military service and clean record before the incident, but said he gave the defendant 10 years in prison because of the severity of the crimes.

Under current Hawaii law, most of those convicted of electronic enticement of minors get robation. So, the teen’s family was pleased Colasacco got jail time.

September 11, 2006December 3, 2011

Locals pound kapa to enshroud ancient bones

The Molokai Dispatch published a story about a kapa-making workshop on Molokai led by Mililani Hanapi. Terri Keko’olani was one of the participants. She is one of the claimants for burials at Mokapu, site of the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay:

At the Kewanui fish pond last Sunday, 44 international students learned the Hawaiian craft of kapa-making from Mililani Hanapi as a lesson in the making of traditional clothes, but the Wauke bark they pounded will not be worn by anyone living. Hanapi, along with Terrilee Kekoolani-Raymond of Oahu and several other volunteers, are preparing the kapa for the traditional burial of the largest collection of skeletal remains in the pacific – the bones of Mo`okapu on the island of Oahu.

The kapa prepared on Molokai will be used to wrap the individual bones for reburial. The skeletal remains of 1500 individuals have been stored at the Bishop Museum since 1942, when they were extracted from the Mookapu sand dunes to clear the way for a military airstrip. The US Marine Corps has been in control of the area since 1952.

Although she agrees that University of Hawaii archaeologists have learned invaluable information about Hawaiian history from the remains, Kekoolani-Raymond says that the excavation of the bones represented an assault on the Kahiko of Mo`okapu. She is part of a group of families and organizations who have come together to take responsibility for the proper reburying of their ancestors.

The bones have been released for reburial because of movement led by people in the Oahu community who are federal claimants under the NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation) Act. NAGPRA is a federal law that requires federal agencies to allow federal tribes to obtain culturally affiliated human remains and artifacts. “It is a matter of respect,” explained Kekoolani-Raymond, “This is our way of saying we are sorry. We are so sorry for allowing this to happen.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

September 7, 2006August 27, 2009

State, Military Investigate Freeway Crash

by Minna Sugimoto

HONOLULU (KHNL) — Both the state and military are investigating the freeway crash, which severed the main traffic artery linking downtown Honolulu to Leeward and Central Oahu.

A freeway fiasco.

“It’s going to be a huge bill,” Scott Ishikawa, state Department of Transportation, said.

State officials expect the cost of the demolition alone to run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

“Usually where there’s an accident damaging state property, we do try to go after the person who was at fault,” Ishikawa said.

After crippling thousands of drivers, and leaving Aiea with half a bridge, the military says it’s sorry. In a written statement, an army spokesperson said, “We offer our regrets and apologies to all the residents of Oahu who were inconvenienced by this accident.”

That might not be enough. Witnesses reported seeing the Army excavator clipping other overhead signs and lighting fixtures before the final hit.

“We did take a look out there from the Pearl Harbor base out to Aiea,” Ishikawa said. “We did notice four overhead signs that were damaged.”

What’s more, it appears the military truck and excavator should never have been on the H-1 to begin with.

“We did check our permits record,” Ishikawa said. “We can not find a permit issued to them to haul that type of equipment.”

During the demolition, some frustrated west-bound drivers wondered why the wide-open east-bound side couldn’t spare a few lanes.

“To have a contra-flow on a freeway, you really need to put some kind of protective barrier like the zipper lane,” Ishikawa said. “You can not put orange cones and hope that people will not, you know, not get into head-on collisions. That’s just, that’s just an accident waiting to happen.”

Transportation officials say part of the permitting process involves recommending which route an oversized vehicle should take.

The state is still deciding whether to rebuild the Aiea walkway, or take it down completely.

Source: http://www.khnl.com/global/story.asp?S=5375559

September 6, 2006August 27, 2009

Military trailer rig smashes into overpass, snarls traffic for hours

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Motorists were still snarled in heavy traffic late last night on the H-1 freeway near Middle Street in Kalihi.

STUCK

» A structural accident on an H-1 overpass snarls traffic for hours
» Officials are unsure if westbound lanes will reopen this afternoon

By Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.com

Work at the site of a bizarre accident that reduced westbound H-1 freeway traffic to a crawl yesterday will affect eastbound freeway traffic today as crews work to demolish a damaged Aiea overpass.

Eastbound commuters will have five instead of six lanes through Pearl City because the Zipper Lane will not be activated.

State officials could not predict last night whether the westbound lanes would be reopened in time for afternoon commuters today.

State officials decided that it would be unsafe to allow the overpass to remain because the vertical support beam was damaged so severely in the 1:30 p.m. crash by a military vehicle.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Above, a military truck trailer rig, transporting a hydraulic excavator westbound on the H-1 freeway at Aiea, hit and damaged the Aiea Pedestrian Overpass. The westbound side of the freeway was closed causing rush-hour traffic to back up.

Motorists were stuck in stalled traffic for hours as westbound vehicles were diverted from Moanalua Freeway and the H-1 near Halawa.

Mililani resident Rob Green said people left their cars and walked on the freeway as traffic froze in a gridlock on the H-1 viaduct passing Honolulu Airport.

“I saw people walking across the Zipper Lane to get to Koko Head-bound lanes,” Green said.

Green boarded TheBus in Honolulu heading home to Mililani at 4:05 p.m. and reported arriving there just before 9 p.m.

He said the bus driver made a merciful pit stop when they finally reached Aiea after four hours on the H-1 viaduct.

Most of the people on the packed bus went into the bushes in a grassy area near the Navy Personnel Support facility to relieve themselves.

“The people on the bus, we’re all old friends now,” said Green.

“Several of us finished our books. It’s good to get home.”

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
A military truck trailer rig, foreground, that was transporting a hydraulic excavator westbound on the H-1 Freeway hit and damaged the Aiea Pedestrian Overpass with state officials underneath assessing the damage. Work was continuing around the clock to remove the damaged section and reopen the freeway.

Motorists were channeled on a three-mile detour through Aiea on Kamehameha Highway and Moanalua Road before returning to the H-1 at Waiau onramp.

Police said the traffic backlog extended into town and continued late into the night.

Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. crews worked overnight to bring down the mauka portion of the pedestrian overpass near Kaamilo Road.

State Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said engineers today will assess whether the makai portion over eastbound lanes will need to be brought down, too. It is a separate structure from the portion spanning six westbound lanes, he said.

The structure was severely damaged when it was struck by a hydraulic excavator being carried aboard a military truck. The excavator rode so high that it did not clear the 16-foot, 9-inch height.

DAVID CROXFORD / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
An Army mechanic inspected damage to the excavator being moved by an Army transporter that struck the pedestrian overpass and showered concrete onto the H-1 freeway.

“Not only the concrete was damaged, but some strands of cable within the concrete were snapped,” Ishikawa said. “The cable is the strength of the structure.” The overpass carried traffic from Olopana Street near Aiea High School.

Police and the Army are investigating the circumstances of the crash. A Schofield Barracks spokesman said last night that it was an Army vehicle but officials had not determined whether it was from the 25th Infantry Division, the Hawaii National Guard or some other unit.

A Pearl City police spokes-woman said uniformed officers were called in early and plainclothes officers were assigned to help keep traffic moving through intersections on Kamehameha Highway and Moanalua Road.

Source: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/09/06/news/story01.html

August 23, 2006March 17, 2009

Snakes on a Plane

Snakes on a plane

Frogs in your plants. Invasive species will find a way. But while Hawai’i bungles the job, New Zealand gets serious.

Joan Conrow
Aug 23, 2006

Hawai’i’s airports and harbors are ticking time bombs-and we’re not talking about the kind that do predictable stuff, like blow up, maim, destroy.

No, this catastrophe in the making is not so simple as that. For one thing, the threats are multi-faceted, and guaranteed to strike without warning, singly or en masse. The lethal agents are tiny-easily disguised and transported, but not so easily detected, hiding in seemingly innocuous places: the standing water on container ships and bilges of luxury liners; the potted plants and bareroot trees of the nursery trade; the landing gear of military planes and cabins of passenger jets; the pallets and parcels bearing everything from everyplace to this remotest spot on Earth.

Like the terrorists our government is constantly warning us about, and fighting in all manner of grisly, desperate ways, they lurk, waiting to invade, with dire consequences and no forewarning. It is these weird viruses, malarial mosquitoes, biting flies, fire ants, poisonous weeds, snakes, funguses, rusts, scales and molds that could quickly plunge this paradise of the Pacific into a living hell.

Welcome to the brave new world of biosecurity. It looks beyond the homeland to the far more critical biosphere, which does, after all, provide the services needed to support life on the planet.

Paula Warren is an expert on the subject, and when she’s not at her home in Wellington, on the South Island of New Zealand, she’s traveling the world advising countries on how they can do biosecurity better. She recently spent two weeks in Hawai’i, at the invitation of the Hawaii Conservation Alliance and met the folks charged with keeping the bio-baddies at bay.

‘The advantage of being an outsider is I can say things perhaps they would be reluctant to say,’ said Warren, principal policy analyst for New Zealand’s Dept. of Conservation, the central government agency responsible for protected areas and species. ‘But doing something about it, that has to come from inside. I struggle to understand American politics and bureaucracy.’

Although Warren is aware of the differences between the New Zealand biosecurity system, which is close to the ideal, and the American system, which is not, there’s no trace of smugness in her observations, which she offered in the cheerful, polite, understated Kiwi way.

‘There is room for improvement,’ she began.

How much room?

‘A lot of the elements of a good biosecurity system are here, but they’re fragmented across lots of different agencies.’

Well, Hawai’i catches about 1 percent of the stuff it’s trying to keep out. New Zealand, on the other hand, nails 95 percent. Even Chile and the Galapagos Islands are more vigilant than the Aloha State.

‘A lot of the elements of a good biosecurity system are here, but they’re fragmented across lots of different agencies,’ Warren explained. ‘Whether it’s fixable or not is another question. But I’m certainly not getting the sense that it’s hopeless.’

The problem isn’t lazy or uncaring workers. ‘What I’m finding among the people who work on this is a high desire to cooperate more effectively and a willingness to find ways to work outside their existing mandate,’ Warren said. ‘Within each agency, I found lots of enthusiastic people basically making the best of a bad situation, dealing with a lack of resources, legal authority, technology.’

Nor is it insufficient funding. ‘Overall, Hawai’i is probably spending enough on biosecurity,’ she said. ‘But it’s not being spent in the right places. It’s just being spent reactively.’

For instance, $50 million is spent each year on termite damage and control. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if that money was used on prevention or eradication?’ she asked. ‘Instead, it’s used on suffering the consequences.’

Warren also noticed a lot of no-brainer prevention measures are missing in the Islands, although she is far too professional to use such a term. Instead, she provided a compelling example: Because New Zealand wants to keep out malaria, which is carried by mosquitoes, ‘You can’t bring in wet things, like tires, and standing water can’t enter.’ Hawai’i, on the other hand, has no such rules.

Nor can you deliberately import anything into New Zealand that will displace native species. That’s a concept that has yet to take hold in Hawai’i, where many conservationists consider invasive species the number one environmental threat, contributing to the state’s dubious distinction as the world’s endangered species capitol. Apparently the Southern Hemisphere has affected the Kiwis’ way of doing things, which seems the exact opposite of the Northern Hemisphere American approach.

In New Zealand, conservation groups ‘are essentially piggybacking’ on strict environmental protection efforts driven by business, tourism and agricultural interests, as well as the health ministry, because they recognize that alien pests and diseases are a drain on the nation’s economy. ‘In the end, it’s the economic groups in New Zealand that have created the biosecurity system,’ she said.

By comparison-and these are not Warren’s observations-U.S. environmental policy is largely determined by special interest groups, enforced through lawsuits brought by conservationists, then undermined by anti-green political appointees in regulatory agencies.

‘Litigation is not a big part of the New Zealand mentality,’ Warren said. ‘What the public does is encourage the agencies to do something, pressure them to take steps to change or review the system. There’s very strong scrutiny of what the agencies are doing.’

The military, too, plays a very different role in New Zealand, where it assists with marine mammal surveys, fisheries enforcement and invasive weed control, rather than seeking exemptions to national environmental laws, as the U.S. military is wont to do.

‘That does seem to be an issue here,’ Warren observed. ‘Pearl Harbor is the dirtiest piece of water in the state when it comes to invasive species.’ New Zealand’s armed forces, on the other hand, are required to abide by all environmental laws.

‘The military can be a positive as well as a negative,’ she noted. ‘It’s a matter of accepting that biosecurity is as large an issue to public safety as terrorism, and I don’t think your government understands that.’

‘Overall, Hawai’i is probably spending enough on biosecurity. But it’s not being spent in the right places. It’s just being spent reactively.’

Personally, Warren doesn’t see much difference in dying from a suicide bomb blast or malarial mosquito bite. ‘In the end, if you’re dead, you’re dead.’

Warren was surprised to discover in Hawai’i ‘there’s no way to stop the military from transporting things across the state because they are bound by federal, not state, laws.’

Those turf battles aren’t waged in New Zealand, which has a central system of government. Its Biosecurity Ministry oversees everything related to health, conservation, agriculture and biological resources, Warren explained. ‘And then there are a number of coordinating mechanisms to make sure they’re acting on behalf of everyone.’

Salvinia molesta once filled Lake Wilson. In 2003, it took the state a month to remove the invasive plant from the body of water.

The next layer of authority lies at the regional level, which deals with localized pests, individual landowners and private farms. ‘Under our system, it’s quite clear to see who is accountable for what,’ she said.

Standing in stark contrast is Hawai’i’s system, which Warren characterized as ‘fragmented and poorly coordinated.’ She added, ‘Frequently, agencies aren’t able to easily get together and decide how to handle pests.’

In New Zealand, the course of action is clear. ‘We get something in, we eradicate it. If eradication is not feasible, we try to contain, then control it, to protect other parts of the system. ‘

And New Zealand workers have the authority to carry out their plan of attack, she said. They can confiscate goods, force persons to assist their efforts, prevent vehicle movement and go on private land to deal with a biosecurity threat.

‘We have our own frustrations, but the sense we’re moving forward is much stronger,’ Warren observed. ‘In New Zealand, the momentum is within the system. In Hawai’i, it’s mostly built by individuals working against the system to get around the problems. So you lose it if that person changes jobs, or retires.’

That’s a concern to Warren, who said, ‘A lot of the people I’ve been talking to in Hawai’i are not that young. It’s time to be identifying and mentoring the future leaders. It’s a risk that new enthusiastic people will give up because they get sick of dealing with the bureaucracy. And you can’t really afford to have that happen when [you] have a system that’s very dependent on people, rather than processes.’

While in the Islands, Warren met with more than a dozen groups and agencies involved in conservation, inspection and quarantine work-the federal and state departments of agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Maui County environmental services office, The Nature Conservancy and Bishop Museum among them- and still barely scratched the surface.

‘There are so many issues that more people are getting involved, which in a way is good,’ Warren noted. ‘But the problem is, now there are more and more agencies working in this fragmented jigsaw model.

‘It’s a matter of accepting that biosecurity is as large an issue to public safety as terrorism, and I don’t think your government understands that.’

‘There doesn’t seem to be the ability to look at the big picture and see what needs to be done,’ which is where Warren, with her expertise and outsider status, comes in.

So what is Warren’s prescription for bringing Hawai’i’s ailing biosecurity system into some semblance of good health?

‘I’m going to be making some recommendations on improvement, but at a fairly general level because I don’t understand the finer points of your system,’ she said. ‘And I also think there’s some very good things here that need to be cherished and expanded on.’
Coqui frog

Warren gave high marks to the state’s invasive species committee program, which has task forces on each island coordinating with various groups and agencies to prioritize and then eradicate targeted invasive species.

‘And everyone recognizes interisland quarantine is needed,’ she added.

That leads to another sticky issue, the so-called Superferry, which is expected to increase the movement of goods and vehicles between islands. The company’s plan for handling inspections has not been fully disclosed, and Warren said it appears there’s inadequate space for an inspection system at the crowded harbors where the ferries will dock.

She also noted that New Zealand still has not resolved all the inspection and quarantine issues associated with its own rail ferry system, which allows railroad cars, as well as people and motor vehicles, to pass freely between the North and South Islands.

Still, Warren pointed out, Maui has done a good job of keeping out pests at its expanded airport, even though many people were worried that direct overseas flights would bring more alien species to the island. ‘The example at Maui shows you can do something if you put your mind to it.’

Overall, Warren said, ‘the basic elements of the system are sitting there, waiting to be plugged in, and there’s a lot of enthusiasm among individuals. I truly think the system will improve because people want it to.

‘But there’s a real risk of lots of serious losses in the meantime,’ she warned. ‘Often it’s the major losses that make people say, ‘oh my God, we’ve got to do something.’ But by that time, unfortunately, it’s often too late.’

Source: http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/2006/08/snakes-on-a-plane-2/

August 17, 2006July 16, 2009

Waianae compost plan hits turbulence

StarBulletin.com

Vol. 11, Issue 229 – Thursday, August 17, 2006

Waianae compost plan hits turbulence

The firm faces a chicken-and-egg dilemma

By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

An Oahu company wants to turn household garbage into compost in Nanakuli but faces opposition from Waianae residents, skepticism from city officials and questions from state health officials.

Bedminster Oahu LLC says its proposed $20 million indoor facility would convert 100,000 tons a year of garbage into 58,000 tons of compost via its patented “mechanical biological treatment” without smelling up the rural neighborhood.

After recycling nonorganic materials, the venture would send about one-tenth of the original trash volume to a landfill, Bedminster International Vice President John Grondin said.

And it would charge trash haulers less than the $91 tipping fee at the city’s Waimanalo Gulch Landfill on the Waianae Coast, he said.

But area residents oppose increased truck traffic on Lualualei Naval Road and Farrington Highway, and worry that nearby farmers will not be able to sell their crops because of possible airborne contamination, said Cynthia Rezentes, a Waianae Neighborhood Board member and candidate for the state House.

Residents have protested that the city Department of Planning and Permitting improperly approved the facility as being an appropriate use of industrial-zoned land. That protest will be heard by the city Board of Zoning Appeals on Dec. 14.

“We’re questioning them using the agriculture definition of ‘major composting’ (to describe the Bedminster process) instead of waste disposal,” Rezentes said.

Bedminster Oahu is a joint venture between Georgette and Joaquin Silva, owners of the trucking company Pine Ridge Farms, and Bedminster International, which operates similar facilities on the mainland, in Australia and in Japan.

Pine Ridge Farms bought the former Hawaii and Kaiser cement plant on Lualualei Naval Road last year as a 25-acre base yard for its trucking company and a site for concrete and asphalt recycling, said Georgette Silva, Bedminster Oahu business manager.

There are 14 Bedminster plants in operation and six, including Honolulu, in planning or permitting stages, Grondin said.

Bedminster’s application for a solid-waste processing permit is under review by the state Health Department. If it gets an OK, then the company will have to persuade the city to let it have some garbage.

That is an iffy proposition any time before next May, said Eric Takamura, director of the city Department of Environmental Services. That is when a consultant is to hand over a 25-year solid-waste management plan that City Council has been requesting since the Harris administration.

Until then the city will not allow any trash haulers to commit to a private venture, because the city might need the “trash flow” to feed a waste-to-energy plant, Takamura said.

It is a chicken-and-egg scenario for Bedminster, which will not build the facility unless there is a guaranteed source of garbage, Silva said.

The city controls where all private waste haulers dump their loads. Currently, the two acceptable spots for municipal waste are Waimanalo Gulch Landfill, owned by the city and operated by Waste Management Inc., and the HPOWER plant operated by Covanta Energy Co.

Though Rezentes opposes putting a composting facility in Nanakuli, she said she would not be opposed to seeing Bedminster locate in a more industrial area. “From what I’ve seen and heard, the process is potentially viable,” she said.

THE BEDMINSTER PROCESS
Sources: Georgette Silva, business manager of Bedminster Oahu LLC; John Grondin, Bedminster International vice president; company documents filed with the Hawaii Health Department

» 1. Garbage trucks dump loads on cement floor of a 20,000-square-foot receiving building.

» 2. Large items such as tires and bicycles are removed for land-filling or recycling.

» 3. Trash goes on conveyor belt to three “digesters,” large metal tubes that turn continuously, moving the garbage about 160 feet in three days. Organic materials in the garbage are broken down by microorganisms.

» 4. Raw compost out of the digesters is tested to ensure that the 160-degree processing temperature — created by the microbe action — kills “a majority of pathogens.”

» 5. Aluminum, glass and tin are screened out of the raw compost and recycled in bulk. Nonrecyclable items are taken to the city’s Waimanalo Gulch Landfill or, if allowed, to a PVT Construction and Demolition Landfill.

» 6. Compost is seasoned for six weeks in windrows inside a 35,000-square-foot building.

» 7. The compost is sold in bulk as a soil amendment, probably for landscaping projects.
Article URL: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/08/17/news/story04.html

August 17, 2006July 16, 2009

Missile-like metal tube reported over Hilo Airport

Missile-like metal tube is reported over Hilo Airport

By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO » The FBI and the Transportation Security Administration are investigating sightings of an object resembling a missile flying over the Hilo Airport area Tuesday morning, Hawaii County Civil Defense said.

Reports gave opposite descriptions of its direction and widely varying estimates of its size.

The largest estimate was about 12 feet long, and the smallest was one foot. One report said it was headed over the airport’s main runway, but another said it was headed north from Hilo, away from the airport.

Civil Defense official Lanny Nakano said the federal agencies classified the sighting as unconfirmed. The FBI and TSA did not return requests for comment.

Nakano, reading from notes from another Civil Defense official, said it was seen at 10:18 a.m. headed away from the airport.

But an eyewitness, who asked that his name not be used, told the Star-Bulletin he saw it heading from the Civic Auditorium area to the Keaukaha area, which would take it over the main runway.

That witness saw a silver tube with no markings or fins, trailing “vapor” that quickly dispersed.

“The noise was super-loud,” he said.

Police also interviewed about a half-dozen witnesses who saw or heard it, said police spokeswoman Chris Loos.

Loos and the nameless witness said there were plane flights before and after the object was sighted, but the object did not appear connected to their presence.

At Pohakuloa Training Area, 30 miles to the west, spokesman Bob McElroy said there were no military exercises using missiles.

Source: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/08/17/news/story08.html

July 28, 2006December 29, 2008

Groups call for halt of destructive activities in Lihu’e

Today, DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina called for an end to the destructive activities in Lihu’e, O’ahu, in particular the activities that threaten Hale’au’au Heiau.

Public Statement
28 July 2006

Army must cease and desist destructive Stryker activities to sacred sites in Lihu‘e plains

In public hearings in 2003, the community overwhelmingly opposed the U.S. Army’s proposed Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) expansion. Many spoke to the fate of cultural sites in the sacred landscape of Lihu‘e and Leilehua, including the birthstones of Kukaniloko and the heiau Hale’au’au. The Army’s own Environmental Impact Statement for SBCT admitted that its expansion plans would cause “significant impacts” to wahi pana (sacred sites) in Lihu’e and Pohakuloa. A lawsuit by three Kanaka Maoli groups challenging the adequacy of the Army’s environmental impact statement is still on appeal. Despite the community’s rejection of the Stryker expansion and the irreparable harm it would cause to the environment and to cultural sites and practices, the Army is proceeding with its plans.

DMZ-Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina has obtained information indicating that the US Army was forced to halt unexploded ordnance clearance activities in Lihu’e, the site of its proposed Battle Area Complex due to alleged violations of the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 Programmatic Agreement governing the protection of cultural sites. Cultural monitors reported that workers had bulldozed across a protective site buffer for Hale’au’au Heiau and cited numerous other violations of the Programmatic Agreement. OHA has threatened a lawsuit for violations of the Programmatic Agreement.

DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina maintains that the proposed Stryker Brigade expansion wrongfully utilizes Hawaiian national lands (“Ceded Lands”) and is incompatible with Hawaiian values of aloha ‘aina and malama ‘aina.

DMZ-Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina calls on the US Army to immediately:

Cease and desist all Stryker Brigade expansion activities, especially the destructive activities to the sacred Lihu‘e and Leilehua plains. It is impossible to “mitigate” desecration.
Conduct a thorough damage assessment of Kanaka Maoli cultural and sacred sites in Stryker project areas.
Conduct cultural surveys of all affected lands, as required by the Programmatic Agreement, under the auspices of qualified Kanaka Maoli cultural experts.
Make public all documents related to the documentation and preservation of na wahi pana and the removal of unexploded ordnance in Stryker project areas.
Provide adequate resources (time and money) for na kia’i (cultural monitors), so that they may perform their important work unhindered.
We demand immediate religious access to the affected sites, to see what has been done, and to perform cleansing rituals.

In spite of the U.S. illegal occupation of our homeland, we still bear the kuleana of maintaining the life of the land. DMZ Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina expects a prompt and favorable response to this request.

Jim Albertini, Malu Aina & DMZ Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina
Brian Bilsky
Kat Brady
Donna Ann Kameaha’iku Camvel
Keli’i Collier, DMZ Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina
Shannan Collier, DMZ Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina
Fred Dodge, MD and ‘Ohana, Malama Makua
Cory Harden
Hawai’i Okinawa Alliance
Gail Hunter
Ikaika Hussey, DMZ Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina
Kyle Kajihiro, American Friends Service Committee Hawai’i
Terri Keko’olani, Ohana Koa / Nuclear Free & Independent Pacific
Colleen Kelly
John Kelly
Marion Kelly
Gwen Kim, Ohana Koa/ Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific
Mauna Kea Anaina Hou
Kala’iokamalino Kim Niheu
Kalamaoka’aina Niheu, MD
Soli Kihei Niheu
Hekili Pae’aina
Sparky Rodrigues, Malama Makua
Puanani Rogers, Hookipa Network
Not In Our Name-Hawai`i
Andre Perez, Hui Pu
Anjali Puri
Cha Smith, KAHEA
Martha Townsend, KAHEA
Veterans for Peace
Leandra Wai, Malama Makua
Imai Winchester, Halau Ku Mana

July 26, 2006March 17, 2009

Ship of Fools

Ship of fools

Some Hawai’i residents tell Superferry officials to shape up or ship out

J.M. Buck
Jul 26, 2006

July 2001: Timothy Dick, an electrical engineer, founds Hawaii Superferry after seeing large, high-speed roll-on/roll-off catamaran ferries operating between Barcelona, Spain and the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea.

June 2003: A new ferry terminal opens at Honolulu’s Pier 19. Built with federal funds, the facility is anticipated to serve as the Superferry’s operational hub.

June 2004: Hawaii Superferry, Inc. (HSF) submits its application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to the Hawai’i Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to operate as a ‘roll-on/roll-off fast passenger ferry’ that can carry 866 passenger and 282 cars between the Hawaiian Islands. Two double-hulled, multi-level catamarans the size of football fields will travel from O’ahu to Maui, Kaua’i and the Big Island at speeds of up to 35 knots.

March 2005: John F. Lehman, former secretary of the Navy and member of the 9/11 Commission, announces his intention to invest an initial $58 million equity capital in HSF through his private equity firm J.F. Lehman & Co. The firm primarily invests in marine and aerospace defense projects.

December 2005: Lehman is named as chairman of the Superferry’s board of directors. To date, Lehman has sunk $71 million into the HSF project, making him HSF’s largest private investor. Five of the 11 directors on the board have ties with JF Lehman and Co.

Another director, chief executive officer of Maui Land & Pineapple Co. David Cole, is also a Superferry investor through Grove Farm, Inc., of which he is a director. Warren H. Haruki, another HSF board member, is president and CRO of Grove Farm and the affiliated Lihue Land Co.

In addition, the federal Maritime Administration (MarAd) has provided a guaranteed $139.7 million Title XI federal loan, and the state of Hawai’i has also kicked in a $20 million loan for statewide harbor improvements, with an additional $20 million waiting in the wings.

A shroud of secrecy

Attorney Isaac Hall illustrates the negative impacts the loss of 23 percent of Young Bros. dock space will have on Kahului Harbor and small businesses statewide. BELOW: HSF touts movement of the Stryker Brigade between Oahu and the Big Island as one of its selling points.

HSF’s silence-until recently, thanks to a legislative ultimatum-has sent a common chord of frustration resonating amongst many residents on the four islands to be affected by the Superferry. With Sen. Shan Tsutsui and Sen. Gary Hooser leading the charge, lawmakers required that HSF and the state Department of Transportation (DOT) conduct three community meetings on Kaua’i, O’ahu, Maui and the Big Island before the final $20 million is released. The meetings are to take place over the next nine months.

Superferry and DOT officials were exposed to a firestorm of hostility from Hawai’i residents last month at a meeting in Maui, with heated accusations of deception and outright lying. One instance where the public feels they have been deceived is HSF’s touting of the Superferry as being a more economical way of traveling between the Islands. In HSF’s application to the Public Utilities Commission, they state that they ‘will offer a more affordable alternative for transportation between the islands for local families.’

‘What bothers me a lot is the secrecy, the outright deception of the public,’ said Dick Mayer, a former economics professor, before approximately 170 people at Maui’s Lihikai Elementary School.

According to Mayer, the price of traveling by Superferry would currently be more expensive than the prices quoted on the HSF website. For example, the base passenger price is $50 for an off-peak one-way ticket from Honolulu to Maui or Kaua’i and $60 for an off-peak one-way ticket to the Big Island. Mayer, and the website, point out that the prices are listed without possible fuel surcharges.

And those surcharges could be high.

Based on a Superferry tariff document, the ‘[f]uel surcharge shall be levied at the rate of [a] 2 percent increase in the price per ticket (passenger and vehicle) for each 10 percent increase in fuel costs [of marine diesel oil] above the benchmark price [of $300].’ The same document says that with marine diesel at $331 per metric ton the price of a $50 ticket could increase by 2 percent to $51.

According to Bunker [World.com], a website which keeps track of marine fuel prices, on July 25 marine diesel oil was $584 per metric ton in Houston, $691 in Los Angeles and $728.50 in New York City. Each figure is well above the $300 HSF mentions in the tariff document.

On Maui, where opposition to the Superferry has been the most vocal, not one person at the recent public meetings spoke up in favor of the Superferry. Pent-up hostility was unleashed on Terry O’Halloran, HSF’s public relations director, and his inability to provide answers to questions fired in machine-gun fashion fueled tempers even more. Catcalls and derogatory comments blasted state deputy transportation director Barry Fukunaga as well as Superferry executive vice president Robert E. ‘Terry’ White. White sat quietly amongst the boisterous crowd with no comment.
Where’s The EIS?

Topping the list of public gripes is the lack of any environmental impact statement (EIS).

Over the past year and a half, several legislative bills and lawsuits demanding that HSF or the state provide an EIS for each harbor have been quashed or back-burnered.

Senate Bill 1785, introduced on Jan. 27, 2005, would require HSF to prepare an EIS if passed. Superferry CEO John Garibaldi argued that the time required to complete an EIS ‘would cause investors to pull their support.’ The bill was quashed by the Senate Transportation and Government Operations Committee (TGO) in the 2006 session.

On March 15, 2005, MarAd issued HSF a categorical exclusion exempting the Superferry project from federal environmental laws.
State Deputy Transportation Director Barry Fukunaga observing the proceedings at an informational meeting on Maui. Fukunaga did not answer any questions.

Hawai’i Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow and the Kahului Harbor Coalition filed a request for an injunction in the Maui Circuit Court on March 21, 2005, in an effort to force the state to prepare an EIS before using Kahului Harbor for the Superferry. In response to MarAd’s categorical exclusion, a lawsuit requesting a full environmental impact statement was filed in August 2005 in the U.S. District Court on behalf of the three environmental groups and the Friends of Haleakala National Park. The suit was dismissed on Sept. 29, 2005, by U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmore.

‘What bothers me a lot is the secrecy, the outright deception of the public.’

Hawai’i Sierra Club Vice Chair Lucienne deNaie feels that the state is turning a blind eye to Hawai’i residents. ‘When the Sierra Club met with Garibaldi, we asked for an EIS and were told [HSF] didn’t need to do [one] because the governor gave them an exemption,’ deNaie says.

DeNaie, who is also running for the East Maui County Council seat, says that there are not enough answers yet, and the way to get those answers is with an EIS. ‘Let’s get more information and then decide if we should have the Superferry.’

A ‘disaster’ for small businesses

Small businesses and farmers statewide believe that the Superferry will have several negative impacts on commerce. These impacts include additional harbor congestion, higher intrastate shipping rates and the inability to ship partial container loads.

Currently, plans for the Superferry call for daily docking at Kahului’s Pier 2, the same dock used by Young Bros. freight service as well as several cruise ships. The plan will cause Young Bros. to lose about 25 percent of their harbor space and force the company to raise their shipping costs and stop accepting partial container loads-a decision that could negatively impact numerous small businesses throughout the island chain.

DeGray Vanderbilt, a 30-year Moloka’i resident, called for a boycott of the Superferry. Referring to Young Bros., Vanderbilt accused the state of ‘compromising the lifeline of the Islands.’

‘Here’s a successful operation that’s serving all of our island communities throughout the state,’ said Vanderbilt. ‘We just don’t understand why you would compromise that operation with something that is a fly-by-night, untested situation.’

Hawaii Sierra Club state Vice Chair Lucienne deNaie says that farmers and small businesses are being ‘shut out.’DeNaie is currently running for the East Maui County Council seat.

‘You should be ashamed of yourselves,’ Maui flower farmer Lloyd Fischel railed at DOT vice deputy director Barry Fukunaga in an impassioned testimony. ‘For small business and medium-size businesses, this is disaster. Every business is going to be affected.’

Another point of contention is a planned change to the Superferry’s operating schedule. Due to overcrowded conditions at state harbors, harbor use by HSF is subject to availability and must be authorized by the state. Under the new schedule, the Superferry will arrive on Maui at 9:30am, depart for O’ahu at 10:30am and return to Kahului the following morning, forcing merchants who hoped to ‘drive’ their goods to O’ahu to spend the night.

And if a voyage is cancelled, where do more than 800 people and 200 cars go? No one seems to be able to answer that.

Questionable harbor arrangements

The Harbors Operating Agreement between the state and HSF has raised some eyebrows and a blizzard of questions. At Kawaihae, a barge will be moored at Pier 1 and utilized as a transition vehicle for loading and unloading of vehicles, and an existing ‘shed’ will be used as a passenger terminal. Honolulu will also utilize a barge for vehicle transfer at Pier 19. Kahului will have a nearly identical setup at Pier 2, except that the Superferry will need to berth at about a 75-degree angle to the barge. A ‘transfer span’ will be utilized to bridge the gap, forcing vehicles to make two tight, right-hand turns to access the Superferry. Passenger facilities for both Kawaihae and Kahului will consist of large tents and ‘high-end Porta-Potty’ restroom facilities.

DeNaie relayed that no one has quite figured out how the Superferry will be able to realistically dock at Kawaihae Harbor. ‘The area where they’re supposed to land is inaccessible for half the year due to high surf,’ she claims.

If this is true, the safety of transitioning vehicles from the barges to the Superferry in high surf, wind or storm surge conditions is certainly questionable.

The state will be providing the ramps and barges. The barges are being constructed in China by the firm of Healy-Tibbetts. According to Project Manager Clay Hutchinson, bids from U.S. firms were too high, and the state is getting ‘the best bang for their buck’ with the Chinese construction.

If the barges are not delivered by HSF’s launch date, the state will be obligated to pay HSF $18,000 per day in liquidated damages. Hutchinson says that the contractor actually pays the damages, not the state. He says that at this time Healy-Tibbets is on schedule with their contractual obligation.

There is a possibility that the Big Island may be the last of the four islands to see harbor improvements. In the Harbors Operational Agreement, HSF acknowledges that the state-provided equipment may not be available in time. There is a possibility that such a delay could incur more liquidated damages. The state will be seeking an appropriation from the Legislature to authorize such payments to HSF.

The invasive and the endangered

Billy Irvine, a Big Island hapu’u tree fern merchant, says that he will no longer be able to bring hapu’u to Maui. He explained that it takes three hours at the dock in Hilo to inspect the hapu’u for fire ants and coqui frogs. ‘I have been supplying Maui with hapu’u for the last 30 years. Now I cannot. The freight forwarders will no longer be doing ag inspections.’

‘It’s a pipe dream that no whales are going to get run over.’

Many fear that the Superferry, which also calls itself the H-4, will be an open freeway between islands for invasive species. Some species have been isolated to certain islands, such as the imported fire ant on the Big Island. The fireweed problem on Maui, O’ahu and Kaua’i is minimal, however this livestock-killing pest has proliferated across the Big Island. Kaua’i does not have mongoose, thereby allowing it to boast a thriving population of nene and other endangered birds.

According to O’Halloran, HSF plans to train their own staff to inspect vehicles for invasive species. But with only a one-hour turnaround time to inspect more than 200 vehicles and carry-on baggage for more than 800 passengers, it could be quite difficult to do a thorough job, especially if the people inspecting are not professional botanists or biologists.

Agricultural products must be inspected and passed by either the Hawai’i Department of Agriculture (HDOA) plant quarantine office or through the Nursery Self-Certification Program and display an HDOA ‘passed’ sticker before being allowed on the Superferry.

O’Halloran did not elaborate further on HSF’s plan to deal with invasive species. ‘As we work through our invasive species [policy], we are coming up with ways we do things and we will put it out there as we get it,’ he says.

And then there are the whales.

According to an Aug. 19, 2003, technical report by the Ocean Science Institute (OSI), 22 whale/vessel collisions were reported in the Hawaiian Islands between 1975 and 2003, with 67 percent of incidences occurring around Maui and 16 percent in O’ahu waters. The lowest collision rate occurred in waters off Kaua’i: 5 percent. The report states that, ‘The results presented indicate that whale/vessel collisions in Hawaiian waters are occurring with increased frequency and will likely continue to increase unless steps are taken to actively mitigate the problem.’

The majority of ship-whale collisions over the 28 years encompassed in the study have involved commercial whale-watching tour boats. These vessels range from 31-60 feet in length and travel anywhere between 10 and 30 knots.

Environmentalists maintain that a vessel the size of the Superferry traveling at 35 knots through whale-dense areas of its planned course is a recipe for disaster.

‘It’s a pipe dream that no whales are going to get run over,’ says deNaie.

Stryking out

The military currently utilizes four high-speed catamarans called the WestPac Express to< \h> move troops and vehicles between Okinawa, Japan and Thailand.

In Exhibit 13 accompanying HSF’s application is a quote from Lt. General W.C. Gregson, Commander, U.C. Marine Forces Pacific: ‘WestPac Express has fulfilled the U.S. Marines’ expectations. The trial period was an overwhelming success. We are very pleased to continue working with the HSV (high speed vessel) and plan to take full advantage of the vessel’s capabilities in the coming years.’ In the same exhibit, ‘Incoming Army Stryker units driving up demand for live-fire training exercises allowed only on Big Island’ is touted in large print as a selling point.

Pacific Business News reported on March 26, 2005, that ‘With Lehman’s expertise, the Superferry plans to operate a Westpac Express, essentially to carry military equipment and ferry vehicles from O’ahu to the Big Island on a daily basis.’ Lehman told PBN that ‘This logistical plan will make it easier for soldiers to train when the Stryker Brigade comes to Hawai’i. The brigade will be stationed on O’ahu and conduct training exercises on the Big Island.’ He pointed out that the Superferry is able to transport Stryker vehicles. HSF states on Page 9 of its PUC application that, ‘In Hawai’i, it is anticipated that an entire battalion will be able to be transported from O’ahu to the Big Island on four trips at lower cost.’

The primary armament on Stryker vehicles is the Stryker Mobile Gun System. The primary ammunition for this gun system is fancifully called kinetic energy penetrators, and is made of depleted uranium (DU), a toxic and possibly cancer-causing substance.

HSF has been eerily silent about whether or not DU munitions for the Stryker vehicles will be transported on the Superferry. On July 11, HSF vice president Terry White told this reporter that HSF has no contract negotiations with the military, and if the military wants to transport vehicles and troops, they will have to make reservations and pay the fares like everyone else. When asked if munitions for those vehicles would be transported, he said he didn’t think so, but he wasn’t sure.

What is going on here?

The Superferry’s PR man O’Halloran says that at future public meetings, he will have answers to the questions the people have asked.

Sen. Tsutsui has confirmed that the three meetings that have taken place on each affected island will be considered as one meeting, and DOT and HSF must conduct two more series of meetings. The next set of meetings is scheduled to take place in September.

One wonders if the Hawaii Superferry will come back with the right answers.

Source: http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/2006/07/ship-of-fools/