Maui’s ‘Uncle Charlie’ made lasting impression

Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell, the well-known practitioner of Hawaiian culture whose many missions included protection of burial sites, died last week in his beloved Maui, but his voice will continue to resonate for a long time.

For those who were ever on the receiving end of one of his pointed criticisms, the voice will remain etched in memory. Then there are all his recordings, many of them from his long-running radio show on KNUI.

And there are some of his more lighthearted tales from Hawaiian legend that Valley Isle keiki will remember.

But here’s something that ancient Hawaii never anticipated but the current generation will appreciate: Some of these things can be heard online at a website "Uncle Charlie" had up, at www.moolelo.com. That part of his life will remain well past his 74 years.

Matt Levi turns his focus to Mayor Wright Homes

What an interesting career track Matt Levi has taken. News watchers old enough to be sitting before the TV set in the 1970s and 1980s remember his long run as an investigative reporter. Some of that resurfaced on local TV last year in "Hawaii Investigates with Matt Levi."

But long ago he turned his focus toward private detective work. And that ultimately led to the creation of Matt Levi Security, the firm now hired by the state to stand guard at Mayor Wright Homes, recently beset by violence and myriad other problems.

Surely he’d appear on footage about the problematic public housing complex in a search of the KGMB-TV archives. Who knew he’d be returning to camera work — this time the security cams the Hawaii Public Housing Authority wants to install. Let’s see what crime stories turn up now.