20 years ago …

The state Highways Division is considering eight possible routes for a new high-way from Kihei to Upcountry Maui, according to a draft environmental impact statement.

The options include four possible intersections in Upcountry Maui connecting to two possible intersections in Kihei. While the routes would all shorten commutes to and from Upcountry, the impact statement notes that a highway across undeveloped land on the slopes of Haleakala could clearly be seen throughout Central Maui.

Estimated costs range from $53.1 million to $86.3 million.

30 years ago …

Republican Maui Councilwoman Linda Crockett Lingle said she wants to run for mayor in 1990 but won’t make a decision until the start of the new year.

“It is going to be a tough, hard, maybe bitter race,” she said.

Lingle, who is serving her fifth term on the Council, was the top vote-getter in the 1988 Council election with 19,306 votes in the at-large race.

The opening shots already have been fired in a Council dispute. Lingle was forced to go to the Ethics Board for a ruling on whether her husband’s work as an attorney for Maui Land & Pineapple Co. meant she had a conflict if she voted on a Kapalua rezoning request. The board ruled there was a conflict.

50 years ago …

Maui Police Lt. Jospeh Abreu apparently believes in that airline slogan, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

Abreu has a marijuana plant the size of a small Christmas tree growing in his front yard in Wailuku Heights. Asked if he was growing marijuana at his home, Abreu said, “Sure, I have a marijuana plant there. It’s for demonstrational purposes. What about it?”

Other members of the Maui Police Department have asked if it is proper for a policeman to grow marijuana openly, since it is against the law. It has been pointed out that while Abreu used to be head of the vice squad, he no longer is. The vice squad does keep some marijuana plants for demonstration to schools and clubs that ask to see the police narcotics exhibit.

60 years ago …

An anti-obscene literature ordinance, the first to be placed on the law books of any Hawaii county, was passed unanimously by the Maui Board of Supervisors.

The ordinance is the result of a two-year study by the county Committee on Children and Youth.

It is aimed at wiping out the sale on Maui of so-called “smut books” by prohibiting the “printing, sale, giving away, exhibition or publication of any obscene book, pamphlet, magazine, paper, picture, image, cast, statuary, drawing, writing or presentation.”

Penalty for violation is a fine of not more than $500.