Question: There is a field up at Koko Head District Park that is dedicated to Mike Goeas. It is called Mike Goeas Field. A sign was erected when the dedication took place, but now the sign is not there. I spoke to the maintenance man, and he said he has the sign but needs an order to erect it again. This field is special to me and the rest of the Hawaii Kai community, so can you help get that sign up again?
Answer: The sign, cleaned up and removed of graffiti, was relocated Friday to a spot facing the walkway from the parking lot, attached to the perimeter fence.
The sign had been secured to a pole near the parking lot adjacent to the walkway. But the pole rusted near the bottom and fell, said Todd Hiranaga, East Honolulu district manager for the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
The sign was the target of vandals, who covered it with stickers. Instead of remounting the pole and sign in the same location, the staff attached it to the fence after removing the stickers and sprucing it up.
Hiranaga said a request has been put in for another sign, similar to the first. The plan is to place it somewhere on the fencing, perhaps behind home plate, facing spectators.
“We feel this would be an appropriate location for the signage,” he said.
The City Council in 1996 adopted a resolution naming the baseball field at Koko Head District Park in honor of Lee Michael Goeas, a former Kalani High School athlete, police officer and founder of the Police Activities League football program in Hawaii Kai. Goeas died in 1994.
The field underwent $1.4 million in improvements and was rededicated in 2008. At the time, Mayor Mufi Hannemann said the ballpark “stands as a testament to this man who took great pride and joy in his service to others. During his lifetime his only reward was making this a better place to live. But now this field will continue his legacy for years to come.”
Question: Is there any organization that recycles old material from clothes, towels, bedding, etc. into rags? I would rather see them recycled than thrown away.
Answer: We haven’t found any local group that will recycle tattered or soiled clothing/material.
If readers know otherwise, please let us know and we’ll pass on the information.
We saw reference to Goodwill donating “broken and soiled items” to a nonprofit association in Maryland, the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association.
However, there is no such market for those items locally.
“We do our best to fully maximize the use of our donations and also do our part to keep items out of the landfill,” said Amanda Stevens, spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries of Hawaii. “The consistent message from Goodwill is that we ask for donations of gently used items which are sorted through for quality.”
Stevens said current salvage buyers who utilize Goodwill resell textiles, “so they are actually looking for a certain quality as well.”
Mahalo
To wonderful friends who assisted me in the pursuit of my 3-month-old baby African Grey parrot after it flew off my balcony Feb. 9 in the Nuuanu area. I was devastated, but very lucky to have friends Jeremy and Dorothy, who spent hours walking with me in my neighborhood, talking to neighbors and distributing fliers. Dorothy loaned me an expensive pair of high-power binoculars, and Jeremy printed fliers for me and returned the following day to continue helping me look for my parrot for several hours. My parrot was found three days later, perched on the clothesline of my wonderful neighbors Barbara and Joe, right across the street from my building. Barbara immediately called to give me the good news, and I told her it felt like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one!
— Cinde Fisher
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