Inauguration Logistical Nightmare

I’m truly honored and excited to be covering the Presidential Inauguration in Washington D.C.  I just received some sobering news from our Shaun Neville, the Special Projects Producer for Hearst-Argyle, which is our Washington bureau where we will be working out of.

“What I can share with you is that this is setting up to be a logistical nightmare.  Secret Service announced perimeter restrictions yesterday and they are the most extreme ever implemented.  Various bridges from Virginia and Maryland will be closed to traffic and Metro is expected to be jammed… Traffic is expected to be very heavy.  I can tell you that folks here at the Bureau are adding 2-3 hours to their commuting time in fear that the crowd estimates of 1-3 million are accurate,” said Neville.

I personally am up to the challenge both mentally and physically.  These trips require an incredible amount of stamina and I can sleep later.  Many people don’t want to deal with the hassels but I thrive off of assignments like this.  This is an important time for our nation and I’m determined to bring the best stories to you!

aloha,

Mahealani Richardson

McMack Attack

My props to head football coach Greg McMackin.  I think he was a boxer in a former life.  It’s always great seeing him and according to the coach, he’ll never forget the time when I was camping out in front of June Jones’ office waiting for his resignation.  I blocked McMackin from entering a door with my foot so that we in the media could try to get an interview from him since he was a leading candidate.  Anyway, I had no idea that when we did this boxing fitness segment with him that he’d hit so hard.  The video says it all.  My lipstick ended up on the punching bag.

http://www.kitv.com/video/16811621/index.html

aloha,

Mahealani

mahea@kitv.com

It’s time for Dan to Blog

Hello all. My name is Dan Meisenzahl and I am committed to becoming a regular bogger here on Island Breakfast Blog. It’s just a matter of getting into a habit. I have not fully embrace the information age that we are now all in. Of course I have the cell phone that takes pictures … though I only use it to actually call people. And am on the internet everyday, but that’s about the extent of it. I plan on using this site as a place to let people know about what’s going on behind the scenes. And I’ll start with this troubling little tale from Monday’s morning show newscast.We had the chorus from Aina Haina Elementary on. We’re talking 35 kids and at least that many parents, all crammed into our studio. Mahealani introduced the group and we started playing the music they were to sing to, but they could not hear it in the studio even though it was going out over the air. Mahea rushed back out and apologized for the technical difficulties and we went to commercial. I immediately fixed the problem by jiggling the chord on the speakers. And then we put the kids at the top of the next block where our morning headlines go. Two minutes later, Mahea was re-introducing them and they sang beautifully. After they were done, Ben and I were back on set and I started reading the morning headlines. Unfortunately, the teleprompter operator was on the wrong stories because of the confusion. I had a partial script and managed to get through the first story but I did not have the rest of the scripts because of the scramble. So I started to read slower and slower while praying at the same time that the prompter would soon be in the right place. And after aging two weeks in ten seconds, it did. Nothing like flirting with disaster on a Monday.

 

How Long Would You Stand In Line For A 76-Cent Plate Lunch?

How about four hours and 15 minutes?

I got to cover this story, which is how I know that that’s how long friends Brandy Quinn, Debbie Loeffler and Suzie Yamamoto (pictured above) stood in line for a 76-cent plate lunch from the L&L Drive In inside the Ke`eaumoku WalMart. They also got commemorative t-shirts, which were given to the first one hundred people in line.

L&L first did this promotion last year to celebrate its 30th anniversary (if you already did the math, you figured out they opened in 1976). L&L’s president, Eddie Flores, Jr., said they had so much fun last year, they decided to do it again.
Just like last year, a line of hundreds snaked around the WalMart parking lot for the cheap eats, which were available only between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. today.

Once inside, people were able to get the food pretty quickly; L&L had prepared the three choices (chicken katsu, kalua pork & cabbage, and hamburger steak) in advance, so people just had to pony over their 76 cents, and get their lunch instantly. If you wanted a drink, it cost another dime.

By the way, all the proceeds go to Goodwill Industries of Hawai`i.

Will Flores and L&L be doing this again next year? “I’ll keep doing this every year until people don’t show up,” he said. Looks like this is going to be an annual event for some time to come.

Yes, It’s Jill

Dan and Mahealani are both away this week — and so current weekend anchor Jill Kuramoto is filling in. Here she is talking to Iris Catalani of Finance Factors about a “Shred It Day” the bank is sponsoring this Saturday at the future site of its Manoa Branch (the event itself is from 8 a.m. to noon at 2955 East Manoa Rd.; you can bring up to two filing boxes of documents to shred).

You remember she’s no stranger to these hours, having been the morning anchor before her current gig (she and Paul Udell were the anchors when I joined the morning newscast). But she probably thought she’d never be back! At least, for her sake, it’s not a permanent thing.

In any case, it’s been like riding a bike; you don’t forget how. And, nothing against my current cohorts, but it’s been a pleasant change of pace to be able to work with her again, since I normally don’t get to even see her with our current schedules.

The regular duo will be back next week.

The Genshiro Kawamoto Parade of Homes 2.0

Japanese real estate mogul Genshiro Kawamoto held an open house of five multi-million dollar homes that he’ll rent to Native Hawaiian families for free. You can read more about the homes and his plans, and see video of some of the homes here.

4806A Kahala Ave.

Photographer Kevin Matsumoto and I arrived at the first house, 4608A Kahala Ave., a little early; the self-styled head of what he calls the “Kahala Avenue Mission” was trying to move some mattresses and box springs out of the front hallway into another room, with the only help coming from his diminutive interpreter. They were struggling a bit, so I decided to pitch in until the rest of Kawamoto’s entourage walked through the front door. While I’m doing this, I’m thinking, I’m moving mattresses with Genshiro Kawamoto; how weird is that?

4806B Kahala Ave. The pile of leaves in the foreground actually fills what was the swimming pool between the two homes.

Kawamoto was rather talkative during the tour, and I was able to ask him questions while walking around the homes, speaking mostly through his interpereter. But he was able to understand a few phrases in English, which he would try to answer; when I asked him at one house, “How big?” he responded, with a little hesitation, “Three bedroom.” Then he’d repeat it more confidently, nodding and smiling.

It was also something to try to keep up with him. Kawamoto keeps his own time, and we in the media are expected to follow it. We often barely had arrived at a home and started rolling tape when Kawamoto would walk quickly through the hallways, stick his head in the bedrooms, open a few windows, smile, and then head out the door, at which time his interpreter would announce, “Let’s go now to the next house.” Kawamoto would already be in his car, ready to be driven to the next destination. In all, we went to five houses (walking through three of them) in less than 45 minutes.

Kawamoto says he’s 90 percent sure who’ll be occupying the five homes, with the move-in scheduled for the end of June or beginning of July. He also says these five houses, along with the other three that were occupied in March, will comprise the “mission.” For now. As always with Genshiro Kawamoto, we’ll have to wait and see.

She’s Part Of The Only Thing That We Had Actually Planned In Advance

This, of course, is Sweetie Pacarro, the Saturday morning producer for the Perry and Price Saturday morning show on KSSK. Sweeite was here as a spokesperson for Kraft foods, to show some summertime grilling tips.

Good thing she’s in broadcasting. Although her segments had been planned far in advance, breaking news made those appearances much shorter than they otherwise would have been. Fortunately, she understood completely why we were moving rather briskly through her segments, and adjusted accordingly.

One breaking news item, as you know, had to do with a drive-by shooting in Kane`ohe that left one man dead. Police were on a manhunt for two suspects in Hale`iwa while we were on the air. And we also had a two-alarm house fire that broke out before dawn, lighting up the dark sky with flames and leaving seven people homeless. Mahealani had live reports through the newscast to keep us updated. And then when the program was over, Dan headed to the North Shore, where police found a second suspect in the shooting. All in all, it was a busy day — and we’re glad Sweetie was here as well.

It’s Not Real, But It’s Very Close

Photographer Kevin Matsumoto and I were sent out to cover a simulated car crash, staged at Kaimuki High School, to show students the consequences of drinking and driving. Kaimuki student Tracy Taniguchi, who played the role of a victim “killed” in front of the pickup truck, spearheaded the mock crash, which was the first of its kind on O`ahu (they’ve already been staged on the Big Island and Kaua`i).

While the students watched what was happening, there was a sense that it became less of a dramatization as it unfolded in real time. And as a reporter who’s been to the real thing, what they staged was very realistic.

I took this photo, which shows just how realistic the scene was (except that a newspaper photographer and I were able to get very close to the student playing a dying traffic victim). If a scene like this one could disturb you, don’t click on it.

The realism served a purpose: To show high school kids that the wrong decisions can have dire consequences, especially as we approach graduation season. Other schools are planning mock crashes as well.

Virginia Tech Reaction

Like many other media outlets, we’ve gotten our share of reaction to the video of Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui, mailed to NBC News.

Pat Gilbert e-mailed us:

You are showing a psycho to all the kids in the state. Think about what you are doing. You are showing this “news” when children are watching. Cut if off now. Show responsbility in your choices.

Many or most of the major networks have since cut back or eliminated use of the video altogether. At KITV, there is now a policy that the video will not be used on a day to day basis, unless there is a good, clear reason for using it, and that it is critical to telling a story.

Our Newscasts, On The Web

You can now see KITV 4 Island Television News This Morning here on our Web site. It’s live streaming video that will be on the Web only when we’re broadcasting, Monday through Friday between 5 am and 7 am HST. You can also see the 5, 6 and 10 pm newscasts the same way. I guess this is a good way to watch the newscast if you’re not in Hawai`i. Welcome, former residents, visitors, and others who drop in!