This is the first issue of Oahu Island News produced since we received our third-place award for excellence for non-daily newspapers from the Hawaii Publishers Association. Only the Pacific Business News and the Lahaina News bested us. No other Oahu-based, non-daily newspaper was so honored and we are proud of our achievement.

Since taking over the paper last summer, we’ve made a few changes but kept most things the same. We are still at 28,000 copies a month, still distributed free all over the island and still found in nearly every Starbucks.

But this will soon change (not Starbucks, though) as we investigate strategies to double or even triple our circulation via new distribution methodologies, and we hope to add more pages as advertisers take flight to quality. If you are a potential advertiser, call me and let’s talk story.

Right now, we are adding new distribution points. If you’d like to get the paper closer to home or work, let us know and we will do what we can to accommodate you. If you know a place where others have wire racks, and we don’t, let us know.

We are the Oahu’s last island-wide community paper. We need your help to flourish. We are here for you. We are your community paper.

GIFTS&GRANTS

Applications are now available for Oahu charities interested in receiving funds from the upcoming May 21 Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Assn. Visitor Industry Charity Walk. Applications must be received by May 31. Last year, with more than 11,000 walkers, the Charity Walk raised nearly $1 million statewide. Interested charities should call Tina Garcia at 923-0407.

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The Hawaii Dodge Chrysler Jeep Dealers Association donated a $10,000 check to the Armed Services YMCA earmarked for families needing to travel and visit Kaneohe Marines injured in combat. Dodge Chrysler Jeep Dealers throughout Hawaii donated $25 for every new car sold from November 26 through New Year’s Day, 2005. The news of the fund drive during the holiday season sparked an additional $20,000 worth of donations from outside contributions as well.

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Tiki’s Grill & Bar, Waikiki’s retro South Pacific-style restaurant, made donations totaling $3,750 to two non-profit organizations. The restaurant also helped raise more than $25,000 in pledges for PBS Hawaii. $3,000 went to the Hawaii Red Cross from the restaurant’s proceeds by participating in the non-profit organization’s “Hats Off” Restaurant Day.

AWARDS&ACCOLADES

Hawaii Pacific University’s assistant director of International Admissions Gui Albieri, and professor of Travel Industry Management Dr. Jerry Agrusa, have been asked to submit a paper for publication in the International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability. Mr. Albieri and Dr. Agrusa presented their paper on sustainable tourism. The paper outlines the research case study of a fishing village in northeast Brazil, which adopted the “bottom-up approach” to tourism development. The results of the research paper demonstrated how, by allowing the local population to have input in the way tourism is implemented in the area, the results of the tourism system are sustainable.

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The nation’s leading conservation organization dedicated to protecting wildlife is honoring George Balazs with its National Conservation Achievement Award for exemplary leadership in protecting wildlife and natural resources. George received his award for special achievement from the National Wildlife Federation at the organization’s annual meeting in the nation’s capital on March 31.

As an Oahu-based NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Protected Species biologist, George devoted his entire 34-year career to recovery of the Hawaiian green sea turtle. He played a major role in getting the species added to the Endangered Species List in 1978, and then led efforts in subsequent years to uncover new information about the reptiles’ biology and to educate the people of Hawaii about the islands’ sea turtle heritage.

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HPU’s Co-ed Cheerleading team has made Hawaii history, winning the National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Championships for the third year in a row. The HPU Small Co-ed Cheer team also won first place, as did HPU’s mascot, Sharkey the Sea Warrior.

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Lance Suzuki, a high school economics teacher at Maryknoll School, Honolulu, has won a $10,000 prize for being named the western regional finalist for the 2005 NASDAQ National Teaching Awards. The western region for which Suzuki won the teachers award includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming as well as Hawaii.