Pacific Business News articles from October 2000

Pacific Business News archives from October 2000

Wailuku redevelopment moves ahead.
October 27, 2000... Maui County has endorsed plans to spend $18 million over the next eight years on redeveloping Wailuku, under a plan adopted by the County Council this month. The improvements are designed to upgrade the town's facilities and...

Foodland goes online.
October 27, 2000... Foodland Super Market Ltd. announced it will launch "Foodland to Go," a new online grocery service. The service will be launched in December and available to Oahu residents only. Customers will be able to shop online for groceries 24...

CORRECTIONS.
October 27, 2000... An Oct. 20 photo caption misidentified the owners of Maui Soda & Ice Works Ltd. The company is owned and managed by members of the Nobriga family. Due to incorrect information provided by Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, a...

Hooked on power?
October 27, 2000... Company aims to break the hold As oil prices nationwide and locally continue their ascent, Darren Kimura is convinced his new company's services will increase in value. Next month, Kimura will launch Pacific Energy Services Co., a firm...

Hawaii firm inks Morningstar deal.
October 27, 2000... Honolulu-based Inovaware has signed a six-figure contract with Morningstar to support the financial information company's expanding line of Internet-based services. Morningstar was recently ranked sixth in Barron's annual list of top...

Former top 5 architects file for Chapter 11.
October 27, 2000... GYA Architects Inc., once Oahu's fifth-largest architectural firm, is reorganizing under bankruptcy protection, and has cut staff to one-fifth its former size. The company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization this month in federal...

Clock running out for federal sports gambling bill.
October 27, 2000... The odds are against legislation to ban gambling on college sports, despite the House Judiciary Committee's 19-9 approval of the bill last month. Supporters say they could win a vote in the full House, but congressional leaders are not...

Small biz optimism down slightly in September.
October 27, 2000... Small business optimism slipped a bit in September, according to the NFIB Education Foundation's monthly survey of more than 500 small-business owners. The foundation's Small Business Optimism Index fell to 101.1 last month, down from...

Electronics association shortens name to AeA.
October 27, 2000... The American Electronics Association is changing its name to its acronym, but with a twist. The nation's largest high-tech trade association now wants to be called AeA. The little "e" reflects the growing number of software and...

Phone wars take to the page.
October 27, 2000... Two former Yellow Pages salesmen defect to begin their own book Two former GTE Hawaiian Tel employees believe the time is right to give their former employer some competition. Terry Hepler and David Akina have launched "The Paradise...

Proposed Big Island ballooning business to test the sky's limit.
October 27, 2000... For Frank Reed's business the sky is the limit. Literally. The California businessman is on the Big Island testing to see if the trade winds along the Waimea Coast will be able to keep his hot air balloon business aloft. "We're...

Today's employee training taking scientific approach.
October 27, 2000... Remember the game called "telephone" from childhood? One person tells another something and it gets passed around the circle. The end result is always a far cry from the original statement. That's a good description of corporate training...

Mainland company buys Pearl Highlands Center.
October 27, 2000... Chicago-based LaSalle Investment Management Inc. has bought the Pearl Highlands Center in Pearl City from BIGI Corp. for $62.3 million. Honolulu commercial property Realtor James A. Gunn, of Gunn & Gunn Inc., was the facilitating broker...

Hilo Hattie to open in Kihei.
October 27, 2000... Hilo Hattie will open a new location at Piilani Village in Kihei, Maui, the island's newest shopping mall located on Pikea Avenue. The store is scheduled to open Dec. 5. The new 20,000-square-foot store will offer Hawaiian fashions,...

John Deere equipment available in Waipahu.
October 27, 2000... American Machinery has announced the opening of a new equipment sales and rentals location on Farrington Highway in Waipahu across from Waipahu Town Center. The firm is a dealer for John Deere construction and agricultural equipment. Based in...

HEI reports flat earnings.
October 27, 2000... Utility Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. this week reported third-quarter earnings essentially unchanged from a year ago. The company's third-quarter 2000 earnings were $22 million, or 68 cents a share, compared with $21.6 million, or 67...

JA Hall of Fame nominees due.
October 27, 2000... Nominations are being accepted for the annual Junior Achievement Hawaii Business Hall of Fame. Established in 1990, the Hawaii Business Hall of Fame recognizes business leaders who, through entrepreneuriaism and civic activities, have...

Hawaii company introduces multilingual domain names.
October 27, 2000... A Maui-based Internet domain name registration company, 1stDomain.Net, is the first company certified to register Internet domain names in Japanese, Chinese and Korean with the ".com" suffix. Beginning today, companies and individuals...

Despite skepticism, health plan confident of success.
October 27, 2000... Experts on the Hawaii health insurance market are skeptical of Hawaii Healthcare Alliance's claims that it is exempt from insurance laws. They also wonder if the company can remain solvent. But the company's president remains adamant that his...

Yamaguchi partners in sake brand.
October 27, 2000... SakeOne founder Grif Frost has long wanted to make sake a household beverage in the United States. Now, he may get some help from a new partnership with noted Honolulu chef Roy Yamaguchi. Frost and Yamaguchi, host of Hawaii Public...

Hawaii s leading economic indicators stable.
October 27, 2000... The leading economic indicators for Hawaii's economy moved down slightly in July, the latest month for which the index can be calculated, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The indicator is...

Young Cyberspace Entrepeneurs can teach adults a business lesson.
October 27, 2000... Being a budding entrepreneur can have its drawbacks. Coming up with a unique product, securing financing and developing a marketing strategy are just a few of the obstacles on the road to success. However, elementary teacher Pua...

UH institute to link research with farmers.
October 27, 2000... A new effort by the University of Hawaii at Hilo and a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture may one day make it easier for local farmers and those in Pacific territories to determine the best growing areas for their crops and also...

Feds earmark $11 million for Big Island enviro projects.
October 27, 2000... The federal government has earmarked $11 million for Big Island environmental projects. Sen. Daniel Inouye says the funds will go to the House and Senate for approval. If approved, $8 million will be used to build Mauna Kea Astronomy...

Mauna Kea housing bill nears approval.
October 27, 2000... A bill authorizing construction of a base facility to house support staff for a Smithsonian observatory on Mauna Kea is awaiting the president's signature to become law. The institution will use $4.5 million over the next two years to build...

Waimea's Minit Stop controversy continues.
October 27, 2000... On the Big Island, Councilman Leningrad Elarionoff introduced a resolution to the County Council concerning the proposed 24-hour gas station on Church Row Road in Waimea. The resolution contends that the Minit Stop gas station does not fall...

USDA considers cooperative request.
October 27, 2000... The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Rural Utilities Service is considering another loan request filed by the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative in its effort to purchase the Kauai Electric Co. The coop's initial request for a...

Small attractions cooperate to get word out.
October 27, 2000... The advertising department for the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park at Pearl Harbor is just a click away on Jerry Hofwolt's computer. "The department is one more section of my computer," says Hofwolt, executive director of the park....

Hotel occupancy rate stays high in September.
October 27, 2000... The statewide hotel occupancy rate continues to climb for the ninth consecutive month. PKF-Hawaii, a hotel industry consultant firm, says occupancy for September was 76.44 percent, a 3.31 percent increase over the same period last year....

Star of Honolulu dinner cruise delights tourists and locals alike.
October 27, 2000... Every night almost 1,000 passengers board the Star of Honolulu at Aloha Tower for a dinner cruise off Diamond Head. The Star is but one of three ships owned by Ron Howard and his wife, Mizi, and their company Paradise Cruises. The other...

Working with generations.
October 27, 2000... Xfactor're Chief Executive Officer Larry Embley, a consultant, speaker and trainer on business organization for the new economy, will be the keynote speaker for "Leading the Reluctant." The seminar addresses the issue of leading a work...

Oracle users group tracks software company.
October 27, 2000... Organization is latest high-tech to bring its conference to Hawaii The Oracle Applications Users Group is the latest high-tech organization to bring its conference to Hawaii. The independent feedback organization brought 4,500 members...

UH gets supercomputer.
October 27, 2000... The University of Hawaii Wednesday announced the introduction of an IBM supercomputer named Blue Hawai'i, that will explore the inner workings of active hurricanes and help university researchers develop a greater understanding of the forces...

Hawaii Linux community demonstrates free software.
October 27, 2000... Hawaii's technology specialists will unite today to educate the community about the computer operating system Linux. Linux is a free operating system with an open source code that allows anyone to build an application to go with it. The...

Streaming holds promise as tool.
October 27, 2000... Audio- and video-streaming technology is a powerful communication medium that allows personal computer users to view video and audio in real time. "Streaming" is the ability to broadcast and subsequently access video and audio content via the...

Analysts say Apple Computer looks to have lost its polish.
October 27, 2000... Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL, Nasdaq, 12-month range $18.31 -- $75.19) designs, manufactures and markets personal computers and related personal computing and communicating solutions for sale primarily to education, creative, consumer and...

For Fernandez Entertainment, fun and games are still the tops.
October 27, 2000... Business principles and hard work are key to succeeding, 'fun' company says E.K. Fernandez was just having fun showing "flickers" -- the first motion pictures in Hawaii -- in 1903. He'd show off his new movie camera, using it to film the...

Roberts points to workers, family for its success.
October 27, 2000... To move his family ahead after generations of Kauai sugar plantation labor, Robert Iwamoto Sr. began a two-car taxi service in 1941. With uncles and aunties as drivers, they started off giving rides to U.S. servicemen. Elvis Presley was even...

Diversification, family are long-term keys for Watumull Brothers.
October 27, 2000... Hawaiian wear mogul Gulab Watumull never wanted to be in the retail business. He came to Hawaii from India in 1948 on a student visa to study the plastics industry. To his disappointment, foreigners at that time weren't allowed to attend...

Dudley Pratt.
October 27, 2000... Former president, Hawaiian Electric Industries Who is the most influential person in your life and business career? What did you learn? Russell Hassler (former assistant dean of Harvard Business School who came to work as financial...

James F. Gary.
October 27, 2000... Former chairman of Pacific Resources Inc. (now Tesoro) Who is the most influential person in your life and business career? What did you learn? E. E. Black was chairman of the board of Pacific Resources. Inc. William P. Woods was...

Walter Heen.
October 27, 2000... Former judge, Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals; longtime Democratic Party activist Who is the most influential person in your life and business career? What did you learn? My father. I learned integrity. He told me integrity is...

Robert R. Midkiff.
October 27, 2000... Former president, American Financial Services of Hawaii Who is the most influential person in your life? What did you learn? The most influential person in my life was my father, Frank E. Midkiff. He was a true gentleman, an...

Diane J. Plotts.
October 27, 2000... Former general partner, Hemmeter Investment Co. Who is the most influential person in your life, business career? What did you learn? Christopher Hemmeter. He was my business partner for 30 years. I learned how to think big and...

Success or failure always determined by pleasing your customers.
October 27, 2000... I received a letter from a customer this week praising one of our associates (we call our employees associates), Shawna, who delighted the customer with caring service. The customer also complimented our stores for carrying a wide variety of...

Community College fills business training gaps.
October 27, 2000... For a few minutes, food and beverage director Kyle Nakayama is an average restaurant patron, and sous-chef Willie Belen is the manager. The two experiment with new management styles and play out problems, but more importantly, the change...

Laptops teach work lessons early.
October 27, 2000... Near the end of the Byran Uyesugi trial, prosecutor Peter Carlisle used a PowerPoint presentation to make his case. Pua Higa's students were watching a report about the trial on the nightly news. The next day, several of the children at...

Companies keep eye on violence.
October 27, 2000... Over the past year, the number of workplace violence cases that have come across the desk of counselors at the Hawaii Employee Assistance Services has grown from five to 70. In fact, three more counselors were hired to handle the...

Training aids workers, employers.
October 27, 2000... To remain competitive in today's global, technological economy, both employees and employers must recognize the importance of training and retraining. Job seekers need to be equipped with certain essential skills to be marketable, while...

Learning about companies essential for job hunt.
October 27, 2000... If Ernest Vidinha could redo his first job interview, he would in a heart beat. During an interview for an on-campus position at Chaminade University, Vidinha gave a general outline of himself when instead he should have outlined his...

Tesoro donates scholarships.
October 27, 2000... Tesoro Hawaii awarded over $20,000 in college scholarships to students, all dependents of company employees, for the 2000-2001 school year. Tesoro Hawaii E.E. Black Scholarships, in honor of the late E.E. Black, who was a director of...

Executives listen to the coach.
October 27, 2000... Companies have used coaching for years to help people move up the corporate ladder, Now the field is getting increased attention as a means to boost productivity and increase employee satisfaction, thereby reducing turnover. The...

Hybrid learning programs blend diverse array of training tools.
October 27, 2000... Continuous education is vital to a business's future and an employee's professional development due to the rapid changes in technology and an increasingly competitive global marketplace. But not everyone learns in the same way. Some...

Active Internet training keeps pupils involved and awake.
October 27, 2000... Picture an all-too-familiar training classroom scenario: An employee walks into a training room and is greeted by a trainer. He sits back, relaxes and appears to listen to the trainer drone on about the subject matter. Then the lights...

Building industry expo to key on momentum.
October 27, 2000... The timing is right for a new building industry expo to showcase developments in the industry. After a long economic slump, the pace is picking up in the building industry and the momentum and enthusiasm for something new is there -- at...

Hawaii bank credit quality split in third quarter.
October 27, 2000... Credit quality improved for two of Hawaii's largest banks in third-quarter 2000, but dropped for another two major local players. Asset quality is an indicator of a bank's financial health. The higher that ratio, the more money the bank...

Maui Land & Pine earnings fall in third quarter.
October 27, 2000... Heated competition in the pineapple market hurt third-quarter earnings at Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc. The company reported third-quarter net income of $556,000, compared to $1.3 million for the third quarter of 1999.1 Revenues fell 6...

A&B third-quarter earnings 23 percent higher.
October 27, 2000... Third-quarter profits at Alexander & Baldwin Inc. jumped 10 cents a share to $21.4 million, up 16 percent from third-quarter 1999 earnings of $18.5 million, or 43 cents a share. Strong performance from Matson Navigation Co. and its real...

MPT top investment newsletter.
October 27, 2000... MPT Review (MPT Review, 1 East Liberty, Reno, NV 89501; monthly; $275 annually) has easily been the best-performing investment newsletter tracked by the Hulbert Financial Digest over the past 15 years, with an impressive 26.3 percent average...

New options give trucks a ride in luxury lane.
October 27, 2000... The old mantra, "Keep on truckin'," seems to have taken on quite a literal meaning among today's buyers. Noticing a lot more trucks around town these days? Fancy, amenity-rich showpieces on wheels? That's because they're no longer just...

BMW 330Ci a stylish coupe.
October 27, 2000... BMW has an uncanny way of keeping its products current in the eyes of the car-loving public. While the company's engineering may be what everybody talks about, its marketing is second to none in the industry, despite the company's diminutive...

Your customers are your best ad.
October 27, 2000... ADVICE FROM THE FASTEST 50 This weekly column shares "Do's and Don't's" from Hawaii's fastest-growing businesses. This week's host is Dale J. McSherry, president of Hilo Neck, Back & Pain Center. Starting a business Do:...

Diversity is about reaching potential.
October 27, 2000... To understand what managing diversity is, it is helpful to understand what it is not. Diversity management is not simply an issue of dealing with members of different races and nationalities. Diversity theory encompasses all areas in...

PACESETTERS.
October 27, 2000... Group 70 International Inc. Philip T. Cuccia, Jeremy C. Hsu and Sharon Ching Williams have been named associates at the Honolulu-based architectural firm. Cuccia is responsible for the design and construction document preparation and...

Larger company, poorer service.
October 27, 2000... The customer no longer is king. That's the message from Business Week magazine's current cover article, "Why Service Stinks." The report is both sobering and discouraging: Pressured by demands to cut expenses and increase efficiency,...

Changing Hawaii demographics.
October 27, 2000... Hawaii and the United States will face a demographic shift of major proportions over the next 25 years. It is often referred to as the aging of the baby boom generation. The baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964 (now in their late 30s to...

Are you using a sharp pencil?
October 27, 2000... Last week our household received through the mail 47 catalogs, 14 requests for money, five bills and two letters. That's in addition to e-mail. Sounds ridiculous, but it's true. One of the big money-making practices in the United...

Empower Oahu works for a common vision.
October 27, 2000... Group connects local communities Empower Oahu grew out of the campaign of Oahu's communities to obtain funding under the federal Empowerment Zone program in 1998. In order to devise a single, islandwide application for federal EZ money,...

QMark statistics: employer relations.
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INVENTORY OF EXISTING RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES.
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OAHU COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.
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NEIGHBOR ISLE COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.
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