NEWS & NOTES Cruise ships calling on Nawiliwili Tomorrow, Monday, Nov. 7, the Pride of Aloha, 850 feet long, calls on Nawiliwili Harbor, arriving at 7 a.m. and departing Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. This Wednesday, Nov. 9, Norwegian
NEWS & NOTES
Cruise ships calling on Nawiliwili
- Tomorrow, Monday, Nov. 7, the Pride of Aloha, 850 feet long, calls on Nawiliwili Harbor, arriving at 7 a.m. and departing Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. This Wednesday, Nov. 9, Norwegian Wind, 754 feet long, arrives at 8 a.m., and departs the same day at 5 p.m. Also, this Wednesday, Nov. 9, the Statendam arrives at 7 a.m., and leaves at 2 p.m. the same day. This Thursday, Nov. 10, the Pride of America, 965 feet long, arrives at 8 a.m., and leaves Friday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m. The Infinity arrives Sunday, Nov. 13, at 7 a.m., leaving at 6 p.m. the same day.
Resort Quest names Owen manager
- ResortQuest Hawaii officials have named Clinton Owen general manager of the ResortQuest Islander on the Beach, a newly-renovated, 198-room hotel in Waipouli. Owen joined ResortQuest Hawaii six years ago as the front-office manager at the Resort-Quest Waimea Plantation Cottages. He was previously the real-estate-sales coordinator at ResortQuest Islander on the Beach, and was also general manager of ResortQuest Maui Condominium & Homes.
Fujitani named to Title Guaranty position
- Title Guaranty (TG) leaders have hired Mallory C. Fujitani as an account manager for lawyers and commercial brokers, to enhance their services and expand their reach to a larger clientele, they said. The move strengthens the bridge between TG leaders and their clients, providing each party an efficient means to accomplish their goals, a company leader said.
“We’ve always strived to meet the needs of our clients, and are diligent when developing programs to strengthen customer service,” TG President Michael Pietsch said. “We saw an area where we could expand our expertise and provide our sector of clients a direct contact to handle all of their needs, sort of a one- stop shop,” he said. Mallory’s legal background and extensive contacts in the public and private sectors makes her the ideal representative for clients in this segment of the industry.”
Fujitani holds a doctorate degree in law from the University of Southern California, and has worked in the public arena since 1989. She has worked as an attorney for the state Department of Taxation, the state House of Representatives, and the Honolulu City Council.
Along with sustaining and building relationships with lawyers and commercial brokers, Fujitani will be responsible for addressing the questions and concerns of those clients, Pietsch explained.
TG is the largest title and escrow provider in Hawai’i, he said. Their mission is to provide superior real-estate service and products that exceed customer expectations, he added. They promote education for staff and clients by providing classes and seminars, and develop technological systems, many Web-based, to better serve clients, he explained. TG is also the sole distributor of Motion Computing’s Tablet PC.
The Kaua’i TG offices are in Kukui Grove Professional Village, Princeville Shopping Center, and along Po’ipu Road in Koloa. To learn more about Title Guaranty, please visit www.tghawaii.com.
Community station KKCR’s fund-raiser “on the air”
- Kaua’i Community Radio Station’s Spring Fund Drive is under way. KKCR officials are holding their on-air fund-raiser to help raise funds to support the station, now in its seventh year on the air.
KKCR is only noncommercial, community-based radio station in the state. KKCR leaders have responded to the needs of the community with public-affairs programs, including two weekly call-in shows, garden and pet-care shows, and Hawaiian-issues talk shows, they said. Also, presenting a wide range of music programming including Hawaiian, blues, rock, jazz, reggae, classical country, bluegrass, hip hop, world music and opera, KKCR officials rely on almost 70 volunteers to create programs, they said.
KKCR produces “Talk Story,” a Hawaiian music series which is aired on non-commercial radio stations all over the world. “Talk Story” features both music and talking story, with some of Hawai’i’s foremost musicians. It is now in it’s forth year of production.
Each spring and fall, KKCR leaders ask listeners to donate money to the station to help defray the costs of keeping the station on the air. Even though KKCR leaders receive some grant funding, contributions are needed to cover the operating costs, they said. A $40, tax-deductible pledge gives the listener a one-year’s membership and two music CDs as a thank you for his or her donation. Many other premiums are offered. Please call 826-7774 to make donations before the Fall Fund Drive next Sunday, Nov. 13.
KKCR can be found on the FM radio dial at 90.9 on the North Shore and at 91.9 on all other shores, and now at 92.7 in the Moloa’a and Anahola area. It is on cable at 95.1, and is live on the Internet at www.kkcr.org.
All donations are tax-deductible. For more information on becoming a member, or becoming a Wave Rider, or making a donation, please call 826-7774.
Part-time Kaua’i resident Gupta in hot water?
- Vinod Gupta, a part-time Ha’ena resident who hosted former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, and their daughter Chlesea when the former first family visited Kaua’i recently (although he was not on the island during that time), appears to be in some hot water. According to Tim Arango, a financial columnist for the New York Post, in a recent entry in that publication, Arango wrote, “Gupta, a high-living CEO pal and fund-raiser to the Clintons, is being accused of looting his company’s coffers and using shareholder money to fund his lavish lifestyle.
Gupta, the CEO of InfoUSA, an Omaha, Neb.-based database company, is coming under fire from investors, including those from Cardinal Capital, the Greenwich, Conn.based hedge fund whose last target was newspaper baron Conrad Black, owner of the Honolulu Star Bulletin, for a variety of alleged offenses, including funneling InfoUSA funds through private companies he controls to pay for things such as jet travel, a fancy yacht, and a skybox at University of Nebraska football games, according to Arango.
Despite presiding over a company in a decidedly un-sexy industry in an un-sexy locale, Gupta moves in elite social circles. He was a guest of the Clintons at the White House, staying in the Lincoln Bedroom, donated $1 million to the Clinton Library, and helped (U.S. Sen.) Hillary Rodham Clinton raise money for her senate campaign, Arango wrote.
Lawai Cannery Self Storage to open
The grand opening of Lawai Cannery Self Storage is set for Friday, Nov. 18, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. It is located in the old Lawa’i pineapple cannery, 3470 Lauoho Rd., off Koloa Road in Lawa’i. There is over 70,000 square feet of warehouse space available for business and residential customers. It will be open seven days a week, and boxes and other moving supplies are available.
