And now for the news...
Stories taken from the Honolulu Advertiser:
The number of state employees increased by 41% during Gov. John Waihee's first
seven years in office, almost four times faster than the population increase
during the same period, figures released yesterday indicate. About 2/3 of
the new employees were added in education - the Department of Education and
the University of Hawaii system. Data going back to 1975 show employee
numbers increasing more than twice as fast under Waihee as they did under
former Gov. George Ariyoshi. The employment numbers were compiled by the
state Department of Personnel Services for Desmond Byrne, a government
watchdog who runs a private service in Honolulu.
Here's some figures from a bar chart next to the article:
Percent of Employee Growth: 41%
State Population Growth : 11%
Dept. of Education Growth: 42%
U of H System Growth : 46%
Dept. of Health Growth : 28%
Governor's Office Growth: 175%
Attorney General Growth : 104%
Personnel Dept. Growth : 75%
Business/Tourism Growth : 61%
(Ed's note: The figures are misleading. Just because the Gov's Office staff
grew by a whopping 175% doesn't mean that it is the biggest now. Going from,
say, 8 to 15 workers is a 175% increase. The DoE and UH growths are rather
significant, since they already have a sizable work base. Just a note of
clarification to any confused people out there.)
Since about 8am yesterday, the campers at Makapu'u and Kaupo Beach Parks
worked without pause to break down and load their makeshift cabins, in
order to move them to the new site in Waimanalo Valley. As the beach
occupants moved their belongings, just a few feet away state workers
loaded pieces of the campers' wooden homes onto other trucks. The harmony
was rather ironic: After preparing last week for confrontation, state workers and beach occupants yesterday worked side by side. "They [the campers] were
a big help," said Wesley Purdy, a laborer from the Dept. of Transportation's
highway division. "Everything went good - that's how it should be."
At an auction in Lugano, Switzerland, old pieces of Hawai'i were sold for
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Stamps, dated from the pre-Territorial
days of the islands, were sold to the highest bidders. 32 "Missionary"
stamps were sold for over $1.8 million, $300k more than expected. An
anonymous U.S. bidder paid $310k for the "Lahaina" cover, an envelope
with stamp and postmark of the forwarding agent at Lahaina, dated Oct. 4,
1852. The rarest offering at the whole sale, an 1852 2-cent blue stamp, sold
for $180k.
Weather: Mostly sunny and fair today, with some brief showers.
High in the 80s.
Tonight, fair and showery, low in the mid-70s.
(Ed's note: Sheesh! Can't they make up their minds? :)
Winds, trades, 15-25mph.
Surf: East shores, 2-4ft - Other shores, 1-3ft
Yesterday's temps: High - 87, Low - 74
--
"What can be said of of order and chaos, then? Since the world was, is, and
will be, neither order or chaos may triumph. Therefore, in the world as a
whole there must be equal mesaures of each, and that Balance will be
maintained; for, if it is not, there shall be either no world or no life."
