Can’t anyone here speak Hawaiian?

When the 1979 Constitutional Convention made Hawaiian one of the state’s official languages, it was regarded as an aspirational act, providing some fuel to the Hawaiian renaissance.

Few people envisioned the case of Daniel Anthony, a Kaneohe man who said he lacks a driver’s license because the exam isn’t given in Hawaiian. Anthony was pulled over for speeding, which he doesn’t contest, but police tacked on the no-license citation.

There is a language barrier at the licensing agency, where exams are only in English, but it’s an issue of basic comprehension: Many test-takers can’t understand the questions.

A Niihauan who just moved to Honolulu can face actual language barriers in getting a license. But Anthony learned his Hawaiian in college classes, delivered in English. He’s making a point, maybe, but not a viable claim.

Getting its Due, after all these years

The first Duesenberg sold to a private customer will be displayed in a California auto competition on Sunday, The New York Times reports.

What’s so interesting about that? The private customer was the Castle family, whose patriarch, Samuel Northrup Castle, came to Hawaii in the mid- 1800s to found an agricultural enterprise with Amos Starr Cooke. The Castles still own the car, which arrived in the islands in 1921.

The Times noted that the car had been used as a work vehicle, so it bore the indignities of age — it was rusty, dented and gnawed on by horses and termites. Restorers took three years to restore the single-bench-seat Model A coupe to its original glory.

Now, like Cinderella at the ball, the Duesenberg will participate in the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Sounds magical.