Public may visit Takai’s grave near entrance of Punchbowl
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vice President Joe Biden speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 14, during a Celebration of Life ceremony for Hawaii Rep. Mark Takai. Takai died earlier this year after a months-long battle with pancreatic cancer.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / AUG. 18
U.S. Rep. Mark Takai who died in July, lies in state in the state Capitol Rotunda on Aug. 18.
Question: I attended the public memorial for Mark Takai on Aug. 18 at the Capitol. … Hearing about his very considerate manners during a life of public service made me admire him even more. … I would have liked to have known him in person. … Where is his resting place? … I would like to know so that I can pay my respects if it’s not a private place.
Answer: The late Hawaii congressman and Iraq War veteran is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, known as Punchbowl, which is open to the public. Visitation hours through March 1 are from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily.
The locator on the cemetery’s website shows the gravesite is at Section U, Site 760. A map at 808ne.ws/2eqyBTC indicates the general location, just east of the visitor’s center near the entrance to the cemetery at 2177 Puowaina Drive; it lists his full name, Kyle Mark Takai.
Takai, who died July 20 of pancreatic cancer at age 49, was buried during a private ceremony on Aug. 22, after the ceremony at the state Capitol on Aug. 18 and a funeral service at First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu at Koolau on Aug. 19.
Takai, who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel during 17 years with the Hawaii Army National Guard, deployed to the Middle East in 2009 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to his political website. He served as a preventive medical officer.
Before being elected to the U.S. House in 2014, the University of Hawaii alumnus had served in the state House for two decades, representing Aiea/Pearl City.
Q: Regarding the drug take-back on Saturday: Is it OK to put the pills in a Ziploc bag or something? I don’t want to drop off anything with my name on it.
A: Yes, that is what the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration encourages. To protect personal information, the DEA advises people not to place prescription bottles in the collection bins, but to transfer medication to a plain container before dropping it off — a zipper-style storage bag should do. The agency states that “a collector may not force anyone to provide any personal information about themselves, their prescription, or their physician.”
Remember: Only solid forms of prescription medication will be accepted, such as pills and patches. Liquids and “sharps,” such as lancets or needles (including EpiPens), are not allowed.
See 808ne.ws/2e33aUR for a list of collection sites throughout Hawaii.
Garth Brooks concert ticket alert
The Hawaii Better Business Bureau is warning fans of Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood to be careful buying tickets for the Dec. 10 concert at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
Tickets don’t go on sale until Saturday, but third-party sites already are listing them, at prices up to four times face value. The BBB posted a scam alert on its website, at 808ne.ws/2do8fWb.
The main points: Face-value tickets go on sale Saturday through Ticketmaster (online or by phone only, not at the box office). Tickets elsewhere are either scams or from third-party brokers. Know the difference between a direct face-value ticket seller (in this case ticketmaster.com/garthbrooks), a ticket broker (a legitimate and accredited reseller) and a ticket scalper (an unregulated and unlicensed ticket seller).
Don’t buy tickets from sites that lack refund policies.
Check the seats prior to purchasing. Check reviews of the seller. If you buy a ticket, use a credit card, rather than a debit card or cash.
Also, the Blaisdell’s website is blaisdellcenter.com. Be aware that brokers use websites with similar names.
For details from Blaisdell about this concert, see 808ne.ws/2emCuu7.
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
9 responses to “Public may visit Takai’s grave near entrance of Punchbowl”
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As the Saturday drug take back states, “Liquids and “sharps,” such as lancets or needles (including EpiPens), are not allowed” and our U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration willfully failed to provide options for this article, what to do with them?
Yes, just throw them in the trash.
You can put sharps in a plastic jug (like for laundry detergent), cap the jug, then throw it in the trash.
Since Punchbowl doesn’t have much room anymore, the few spaces left should be reserved for service members who die during combat. It’s sad when anyone dies, but someone who is killed in their youth while fighting for the country should take precedence over someone who already ended their service and died from illness years later. If there was unlimited room, it would be different — in fact, I have friends buried there who died early enough to get a slot. But those times are gone, and space is severely limited.
My thoughts exactly. No disrespect to Takai, but it seems that celebrity status gets you a spot there.
Not his “celebrity status”. Plots are issued as they become available. A while back there were reserved plots prior to the new system. Many of the people who had the reserved plots opted to be buried someplace else. As these plots become available, they are released and become part of the available burial sites.
Same here, no disrespect to Takai but I wondered how he got a spot in Punchbowl. When my father passed, he had to be buried at Kaneohe Veteran’s Memorial Cemetary. I think they probably save some spaces for special veterans.
Luck of the draw. Having worked in the funeral industry, I’ve seen the changes over the years. In rare cases, there have been those with reserved plots (under the previous system) that have relinquished the plot when asked by the cemetery administrators. I’ve had friends buried at Arlington who got a plot after the cemetery made a request on behalf of the family.
Anyone is can make the request. It’s up to the funeral director to make the necessary contacts and file the proper paperwork.
Not sure I agree. What about a service member who gets their legs blown off in combat after rescuing others? They can live on to old age and die of natural ailments, yet they wouldn’t even qualify under your standards.
Like Medal Of Honor Recipient & Senator Daniel Inouye?