Wadsworth Yee, dedicated public servant

The late state Sen. Wadsworth Yee compiled quite the hefty resume over his 90 years. Yee, who died May 8, had spent 42 years at Grand Pacific Life Insurance Ltd., the company he helped to found, and even then he went on to start a new firm focusing on Pacific Rim business development.

But it’s his political tenure that draws attention, starting with his election as University of Hawaii student body president, continuing through his years in the state Capitol, where he rose in the Republican ranks.

Even after leaving the Senate, he took an appointment to the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board in 1998, showing a real yen for public service.

Kau turns from the cosmos to coffee

Who needs a spaceport when you’ve got beans?

As in coffee beans, which is growing into quite an industry for Kau, in the southern area of Hawaii island. With three Kau coffees earning top-10 spots in an international cupping contest recently, the rural region is gaining renown as home to one of the world’s best brews with some 50 small-scale coffee farms. Also on tap are the Ka‘u Coffee Mill (part commercial processing center, part tourist attraction) and a hydroelectric proj­ect to power the mill and hundreds of Pahala homes.

All that is certainly more economically tangible than the long-touted Kau spaceport, which has yet to amount to a hill of beans.