Lloyd Brent Gilliom

And now for some sad news that hits very close to home: Lloyd Brent Gilliom, a member of the MauiTime ohana, passed away on the morning of Wednesday, May 16. He was 71.

For most of Hawaii, Lloyd is the father of Amy Hanaiali’i Gilliom and Eric Gilliom, two of Maui’s biggest and most popular musicians. But he was also a straight-shooting working man who worked with his hands and did real labor (he was the proprietor of Maui Sandblasting and Maui Monument Granite).

Since August 2010, Lloyd was also one of MauiTime’s circulation drivers–one of just a handful of individuals who, each week, actually distributes the stacks of MauiTime to our various boxes and circ locations around the island. It’s not an easy job, and requires a good deal of manual labor, but Lloyd really took to it.

“He was such a strong, proud man,” said Tommy Russo, MauiTime’s publisher. “I really wish I had the chance to get to know him better. It was very cool to hear stories from the road, from when he was out delivering papers.”

Put simply, Lloyd was a good man. We depended on him to help deliver our work each to week to our readers, and he never let us down. We will miss him dearly.

“Lloyd never met anyone he did not like, and he cared about everyone he came into contact with,” said Mimi Gilliom, his wife of 53 years, in a statement on the passing sent out by Pae ‘Aina Commuications.

Services and arrangements are pending.

Photo of Lloyd Gilliom courtesy of the Gilliom family

By Anthony Pignataro

The story goes that Terryl Vencl spends a lot of time at Maui County Council budget hearings. Supposedly, she’s there every day, during the spring months when the council painstakingly reviews its proposed budget, which is hovering between $550 million and $560 million. It makes sense, because Vencl, the executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau (MVB), has a lot riding on the outcome of the seemingly endless budget meetings. About 3.5 million reasons, to be exact.

Since about 1991, the MVB–which promotes Maui as a visitor destination through advertising, marketing and “press blitzes,” which are junkets in which travel journalists get paid to fly out to Maui, stay in five-star resorts and then go home and write great things about the island–has received taxpayer money from the County of Maui (and the State of Hawaii, but I’ll get to that later). It started out as a modest grant of $150,000, but has in recent years ballooned to $3.5 million. The State of Hawaii also gives the organization roughly the same sum each year.

Whether she’s spending time at county council meetings or not, Vencl, who since 2003 has run the bureau (they’re currently headquartered in a Wailuku office park near the post office), is well paid for her work. She collects a bit more than $134,000 in salary and benefits, according to the MVB’s 2010 federal tax returns. Interestingly, tax records from 2009 and 2010 show that number stays pretty steady, regardless of whether the county gave the organization $3.6 million (as they did in 2009) or $1.9 million (during the hard times of 2010).

Anyway, it’s county budget time again–fiscal year 2013–and once again Vencl’s been spotted listening attentively at the hearings. I called her to talk about the money the MVB takes from the county every year, and the controversy it’s weathered in recent years, but Vencl refused to comment.

“I don’t comment in the midst of budget talks, and it’s still going on,” she told me. “I’d be happy to sit down with you after it’s over.”

Of course, it’s really hard to criticize anything associated with the visitor industry on Maui when newspaper headlines (like the one in The Maui News on May 10) say things like “Economist says state’s growth led by tourism.” The flying of tourists from all over the world to Maui has, for at least the last 50 years, been the backbone of the county’s economy. There’s often been talk of building up the county’s tech or agribusiness economy, but that remains talk: today, the visitor industry accounts for about 40 percent of Maui County jobs.

Statewide, the numbers are even more impressive. “Tourism is on pace to support more than 166,000 jobs annually and contribute $37 million daily into our economy in 2012,” Hawaii Tourism Authority President Mike McCartney said in a recent bulletin put out by his office. “These out-of-state dollars support kama‘aina businesses, create new industries and help our counties to improve roadways and beautify parks. These monies also support Hawai‘i Tourism Authority programs that celebrate, perpetuate and sustain our unique place, people and diverse cultures.”

Nonetheless, a couple Fridays ago, resident Buck Joiner drove to the county’s Kalama o Maui building in Wailuku, headed up to the eighth floor, filled out one of those little public comment cards and then did exactly that–criticize one of the most powerful players in the county’s visitor industry. For three minutes at the beginning of the May 4 Maui County Council Budget Committee hearing, Joiner railed against the Maui Visitors Bureau, a non-profit organization.

“I’m here today to ask for fairness and honesty,” Joiner said, calling attention not only to the organization’s request for $3.5 million from the County of Maui, but also to it receiving an equal from the State of Hawaii. “That’s not a small amount. Yet they come to you and say they want more.”

Though the MVB is a private organization, it’s nearly completely funded by the county and state. And in tough economic times, when Mayor Alan Arakawa can’t get the council to go along with his plans for a new sports arena and the council itself is talking about raising property taxes to help pay off the county’s $594 million in unfunded health and pension liabilities, $3.5 million is a lot of taxpayer money to lay out for something that pretty much exemplifies “corporate welfare” (see below for a breakdown of the MVB grant request).

But Joiner wasn’t done. After saying he doesn’t oppose the MVB per se, only “who pays for it,” he  insisted that the Maui Visitors Bureau behaves as though the tax dollars it receives are private donations.

“It’s basically a government organization, and we can’t find out how their money is spent,” he told the budget committee members. “I believe you’re robbing from the poor and giving to the rich.”

Just one councilmember, Don Couch, asked Joiner for clarification when his three minutes were up. After answering the question by saying the county needed to perform an audit of the MVB funds, the rest of the council moved on to other business. Well, most of the council–Mike White, a near and dear friend to the MVB (his day job is GM of the Kaanapali Beach Hotel, and he’s a former MVB board member) later referred back to Joiner. White, whose first act upon taking office in 2011 was to push for the MVB to get even more money from the county, said Joiner was all wrong, and there was plenty of accountability concerning the MVB grant.

For clarification, I called Teena Rasmussen, the director of the county’s Office of Economic Development, which administers the MVB grant.

“It’s absolutely not true there’s no accountability,” Rasmussen said. “MVB’s grant, as is true of all of our grants, is a reimbursement-only grant. Which means they spend the money, they have to give us an invoice and then we reimburse them for those invoices. So we have virtually a copy of every single invoice so we know exactly what those invoices purchased.”

Rasmussen added that her office meets with MVB officials “a minimum of every 60 days” and that they “stay in touch with them on what their goals are.”

Nontheless, Joiner’s criticism of the MVB grant merits serious attention for a few reasons. That Rasmussen’s office looks over the invoices MVB submits is great, but it’s also somewhat unique. That’s because the MVB grant doesn’t go through the usual process of being vetted by the Maui County Grants Review Committee, a seven-member body of appointees who evaluate grant applications under the Department of Housing and Human Concerns Community Partnership Grants (CPG) program. Joiner knows this well because he used to sit on that committee, which he called a sobering experience.

“We got 70-some applications,” he said. “We went through them with a fine-toothed comb. It was really grueling. Some of these people were just skin and bones. The total requests were for $3 million, but we only had $1 million to give. The only thing we could guarantee was that everyone would be disappointed.”

Running the MVB grant through a committee like that, which would hold regular public hearings, would add a layer of “accountability” to the MVB funds. But there’s a better solution: simply cut off the funds entirely, and let the visitor industry itself fund the Maui Visitors Bureau.

There’s plenty of precedent for this. In fact, before Vencl took over the MVB, she was executive director of the Maui Hotel Association (MHA), a trade group that lobbies on behalf of Maui’s big hotels and resorts (it’s also located in the same Wailuku office park as the MVB). According to the 2010 MHA tax returns, the group took in nearly $240,000, not a penny of which came from the government. There was $193,854 from membership dues and another $44,625 from fundraising.

Granted, those numbers are much lower than the $3.5 million ponied by the county, but given the gravity of the county’s budget situation, I’m sure the many hotels, resorts, restaurants and activities that make Maui County’s visitor industry–buttressed by what they continually tell us are ever-rising numbers of tourists and ever greater monthly visitor spending totals–can pass the hat for the greater good.

Of course, there’s also the nearly $3 million that Maui gets from the Hawaii Tourism Authority this year. When added to the county’s MVB grant, it totals more than $6 million in taxpayer grants to the MVB. Joiner mentioned this money in his criticism at the May 4 Budget Committee hearing, though the figure he cited was $8 million.

“Eight million dollars with absolutely no accountability,” Joiner said. “We can’t find out how their state money is spent. That’s considered top secret.”

Momi Akimeseu, a spokesperson for the Hawaii Tourism Authority, told me the MVB is receiving $2,906,436 from them this year, on top of $2,790,018 they took from the HTA last year. Akimeseu also said the HTA gave $248,782 to visitor efforts on Molokai and $144,000 to efforts on Lanai (those grant numbers were the same in 2011).

As far as what the money is going towards, the HTA only published a vague list back in January of “community and cultural events” the organization has supported: Whale Day, the Maui Marathon, Lahaina Plantation Days, Wailuku First Friday, stuff like that. But exactly what that support entails isn’t made public.

In any case, the Maui County Council as a whole will take up the proposed budget on Friday, May 24. They have until June 10 to pass a fiscal year 2013 budget. Past years have shown the council to be very friendly to Vencl’s requests, but maybe the best we can hope for is that she’ll finally decide to talk to us about her plans for the taxpayer’s money.

*   *   *

MAUI VISITORS BUREAU GRANT REQUEST BREAKDOWN

Domestic Marketing/Advertising  $ 770,000
Trade Shows  $ 125,000
Golf Hawaii   $ 28,000
Maui Invitational   $ 360,000
Golf Marketing & Media  $ 150,000
Sports Marketing (Xterra)  $ 184,000
Events (other)  $ 100,000
MCI Advertising/Trade Shows (Sales)  $ 20,000
MCI Advertising/Trade Shows (Marketing)  $ 100,000
PR (Blitzes & Press Trips)  $ 195,000
Promotions/Trip Winners  $ 40,000
Film Office  $ 32,500
Developing Markets/Asia  $ 225,000
Activities Owners Association  $ 30,000
Fulfillment/Collateral     $ 220,500
Promo/Collateral Marketing  $ 40,000
Market Research  $ 5,000
Production  $ 125,000
Accounting/Admin  $ 350,000

TOTAL  $ 3,100,000
Molokai  $ 200,000
Lanai  $ 200,000

GRANT TOTAL  $ 3,500,000

[SOURCE: Maui Visitors Bureau Grant Request FY 2013]

This goes out to that old fart with the massive sense of entitlement who parks his van in the Baldwin Beach lifeguard spot, while the rest of us respect the law and leave it free for the lifeguards and their emergency vehicles. Oh, and I noticed that right after you let your white, ugly dog crap our beach, you went to Mana Foods and again parked right at the door where the blue lines and “no parking” sign. Have you ever thought of just leaving Maui? Perhaps you might try New York, where they already have plenty of assholes like you. And please take your dog crap with you.

Illustration by Ron Pitts

Cailin Goodier and Tracy Ruggiero have opened a new fitness business aimed at moms. It’s called Stroller Strides of Maui. The franchise is one of the largest growing fitness businesses in the nation and is recognized by Entrepreneur magazine. It operates more than 1,200 locations in the US.

Stroller Strides of Maui is operating three days a week in Kihei on Hope Chapel’s campus. Classes are Thursday and Friday at 8am and Mondays at 9am. Drop-ins are $10 but they have lots of membership options. Classes emphasize cardiovascular activities and muscle-strengthening exercises using resistance bands and strollers, allowing moms to interact with their babies throughout their hour long workout.

“Stroller Strides is a great way to get back in shape, as well as stay in shape,” said Goodier and Ruggiero. “We present a fun opportunity for the moms of the Maui community to turn their strollers into a workout.”

Stroller Strides is a total fitness program for new moms that they can do with their babies. It includes power walking and intervals of body toning using exercise tubing and the stroller. Taught by nationally certified instructors, it’s a great workout for any level of exerciser. In 60 minutes, you get a total body workout improving your cardiovascular endurance, your strength and your flexibility. The classes are equally beneficial for babies as instructors will weave songs through the workout and incorporate activities to make it fun.

In addition to the classes, Stroller Strides offers playgroups and mom’s night out, giving women an opportunity to socialize and further relationships.

“We provide the outlet that moms need to enjoy time with other moms, while also focusing on the much needed exercise to fuel their demanding lives,” Goodier said. “You can make new friends, get into shape and enjoy time with your baby.”

For more information, call 808-663-3148 or email cailingoodier@strollerstrides.net. For more rates and hours of class, please visit their website at strollerstrides.com.

Sleeping on the job at 46 N. Market Street is encouraged, but only if you’re a charity group looking for a way to raise cash. Richard Dan of Kama’aina Loan in Wailuku has drummed up a brilliant marketing play in which live models  sleep in the window, exemplifying his message, “People sleep well when they trust their valuables with Kama‘aina Loan.”

The campaign was launched with First Friday on May 4 with Alexis Dascoulias, executive director of Maui Onstage, as the first sleeping beauty to hit the pillow in the window. “Nobody could believe I was real,” said Dascoulias. “They kept knocking on the window.”

The live action sleeping window was going strong Monday afternoon when I dropped by to check it out. In fact, she was sleeping all the way to the bank.

Models have been playing sleeping beauty Monday through Friday from 11am to 1pm. A special surprise celebrity has already been scheduled to sleep during the June 1 “First Friday” event, but other opportunities are still available.

Kama‘aina Loan loans money on just about any collateral (item) as well as buy items outright, privately and professionally. For more information visit KamaainaLoan.com. They have been in business over 25 years on Maui.

Charities who want their moment in the window are encouraged to inquire with Krystal at Kama‘aina Loan about future openings by calling 808-242-5555 or by emailing Richard Dan at me@bigrich.com.

Duke’s Beach House donated $1,892 to Autism Bridge Maui, a grass roots organization that supports services for Maui’s residents with autism and other developmental disorders. Dukes has a Legacy of Aloha program that supports local organizations with funds raised from special events and employee donations. In this case, the money was raised through the restaurant’s evening Tasting Menu.

“Our Duke’s Tasting Menu is the perfect opportunity for guests to enjoy a nice evening out while also supporting local organizations such as Autism Bridges Maui,” said Duke’s General Manager Shaughn Helliar. “An employee from our home office is closely involved with this organization, so we’re more than happy to show our support.”

The Chef’s Tasting Menu is offered every night from 4:45 to 5:45 pm in the main dining room. The three-course menu includes a pupu, entrée and dessert for just $25.95 per person, and generates monies for nonprofits in their Legacy of Aloha program.

For reservations or more information, call 808-662-2900 or visit dukesmaui.com for details. For more information on Autism Maui call 808-264-5000, or visit autismbridgesmaui.org.

Margaret “Peggy” Sanchez was recently chosen as Hawaii’s Senior Hero, a dedicated volunteer that is utilizing her golden years to give back to the community. Home Instead Senior Care decided to recognize the hard work and impact that seniors make in their neighborhoods. The winner will receive $5,000 to give to a nonprofit of his or her choice. They received more than 1,500 entries through the US and Canada. The average age of the nominees was 76 and the oldest was 106 years old.

As one of 50 state winners, Sanches, 68, earned a spot in the Salute to Senior Service Wall of Fame on the SalutetoSeniorService.com website, where her nomination story has been posted. As a state winner, Sanches is now considered for the national Salute to Senior Service award.

It was Sanches’ dedication to the senior-citizen volunteer mentor for Kupuna and Keiki Together, Giving Back’s Brain Gym Intergenerational Mentoring Program (IMP), that won the attention of the judges. Brain Gym IMP pairs senior citizens trained in educational kinesiology with school children in need of special help with school work. The pairs work together on Brain Gym exercises during weekly sessions over the course of the school year.

In her role as a mentor at IMP, Sanches works with three children. Through her assistance, her children have experienced significant increases in interpersonal strengths and reading skills, decreases in problem behaviors and hyperactivity and improvement in self-esteem.

“Margaret is a valued member of the community and a senior hero to many,” said President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Huber of Home Instead, Inc.  “She has shown that volunteer opportunities for older adults should not diminish because of age. Seniors such as Margaret are making important contributions to their communities through charities, nonprofit organizations and faith communities.”

The national award was presented to Clark Paradise of Lakewood, NJ, who was honored for his work with Your Grandmother’s Cupboard, a nonprofit organization that he and his wife founded to  meet the needs of the thousands of homeless families throughout New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania.

For more information about the Brain Gym IMP, please visit the Giving Back website at: www.givingbackmentoring.org

Danny Agsalog

County of Maui Finance Department Director Danilo “Danny” Agsalog was recently the subject of an investigation involving his conduct in the office, two individuals with knowledge of the investigation said this week.

County Communications Director Rod Antone confirmed on May 14 there was an investigation involving Agsalog, but said he couldn’t comment on specific allegations.

“It is done,” Antone said of the investigation. “It was concluded last week.”

An individual claiming to have considerable knowledge of the investigation first alerted MauiTime to the investigation. That individual and another county staffer with knowledge of the investigation said it involved Agsalog “yelling” and “swearing” at Jeremiah Savage, the Deputy Director of Finance, and pounding on a desk back in back in April.

“It was two guys not getting along,” one of the sources said. “Savage felt threatened.”

Antone said because it was a personnel matter and he would not comment on specific allegations. “The county is like any other workplace,” he said. “People say things they don’t mean sometimes, and sometimes these need to be investigated.”

Antone did confirm that, in a highly unusual move, Savage was moved out of the Department of Finance and into the Mayor’s Office itself. “As of right now, he’s still there,” Antone said on May 14.

Agsalog also would not comment on the matter. “It’s a personnel matter, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment,” he said on May 14. Savage didn’t return a phone call asking for comment.

When asked if the investigation would result in any corrective action, Antone said yes, though he would not elaborate on what action that might be, or what may happen to Agsalog. “There were recommendations,” was all he would say.

One individual at the county with knowledge of the investigation did say that while the investigation didn’t conclude that the allegations reached the level of “harassment,” it did find that the yelling and desk pounding should not have occurred. “There will be some fallout,” the source said.

Both sources, who requested anonymity because they couldn’t publicly discuss personnel matters, said the Maui County Corporation Counsel’s office conducted the investigation. Antone would only say that it was carried out “by an unbiased third party, as is policy” and Corporation Counsel Patrick Wong didn’t return a phone call asking for comment.

Antone added that none of the allegations against Agsalog had anything to do with finance. “Bottom line, this is not affecting public service,” Antone said. He also wouldn’t say how many people complained against Agsalog in the first place, beyond that there were “not several complaints.”

Agsalog has significant previous public service dating back nearly a decade, though his resume is rather unique. After moving to Maui from the Philippines in 1979, he reportedly found work as a restaurant dishwasher and as a stockboy in a supermarket. After enlisting in the US Air Force and later the Air National Guard, he eventually got a job as loan fund manager for Maui Economic Opportunity’s Microenterprise Program, and later, as Budget Director during current Mayor Alan Arakawa’s first administration.

He held that job for two years, then in January 2005 took over as head of the county’s Civil Defense office. Though he told The Maui News at the time that the job was his “calling,” he held it for just two weeks before flying to Oahu to take over as then-Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s Emergency Services Department Director, which he held for a number of years. When Arakawa won reelection in 2010, he nominated Agsalog to be Finance Department Director.

Antone added that when Mayor Alan Arakawa first entered office in 2010, one of the first act was to institute a “policy of professionalism. No matter your rank, he’s serious about that.”

That policy includes the following language: “[W]e must emphasize our commitment to conducting ourselves with the highest standards of professional conduct. As representatives of our administration and the county, we are all expected and required to conduct ourselves professionally both in and out of the office. Failure to act accordingly will receive immediate attention, including any appropriate disciplinary action.”

One of the old Halakeala Trail posts

And now here’s some slightly good news for fans of the old Haleakala Trail, that ancient path leading from Makawao to the dormant volcano’s summit. Located on Haleakala Ranch land, the trail’s been closed for years. Then on May 11, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) voted to allow “limited” public access to the trail, which is itself apparently owned by the State of Hawaii.

The key word here is “limited.” The board approved the scheduling of at least two public hikes per year “on such dates and during such times as the [Haleakala Ranch] shall determine in coordination with [Department of Land and Natural Resources].”

If that seems, well, completely unsatisfactory, you’re not alone. “In essence, DLNR’s Request is asking BLNR to abdicate its statutory duties and violate its own rules, including asking BLNR to put the rights of HRC ahead of the public’s rights–something that has already been occurring for at least a decade,” said Tom Pierce, a Makawao-based attorney for Public Access Trails Hawaii (PATH), a group that wants a lot more than two hikes on the trail per year, in written comments to the BLNR.

According to PATH, the trail is historic and still in existence. In fact, many of the old posts marking the trail are still pointing skyward.

“The trail has shown up on very good government survey maps since the 1880s,” states PATH in its comments to the BLNR. “The trail was dramatically improved at great cost by the Territory of Hawaii in 1905, at which time it was not only surveyed but also its position carefully established on the ground with rock cairns and finger posts, many of which remain fully visible on the ground today, as well as portions of the trail, which may be seen from indentations in the ground.”

The May 11 BLNR decision notwithstanding, PATH is continuing in its quest to open the trail completely. They’re currently suing the state and Haleakala Ranch, and say their case is scheduled to come up in January 2013.

“On Maui, the state is closing many more trails than it is opening,” PATH president David Brown said in a May 13 statement. “This case is about requiring BLNR to follow its legislative mandate to protect public lands, and obtaining respect from private landowners who deny public access over clearly public trails.”

Photo courtesy PATH

Dr. James Leary going after a 'high value target'

It might be the best job ever. You go up in a helicopter, fly over some of the most beautiful and remote forests on Maui, hover within 100 feet of the green, then pick up a paintball gun loaded with herbicide and start blasting away at invasive species.

For the last two years, Dr. James Leary of the University of Hawaii has done exactly that. He says he’s gone out on 10 or so “missions” to take out “high value targets”–so far, just miconia plants, highly invasive plants from Central and South America that can form an umbrella over watersheds and kill off native species. He says the best “platform” for the gun–what he refers to as “herbicide ballistic technology” (HBT)–is the helicopter.

“It allows real-time target elimination during surveillance operations,” Leary said, talking more like an Navy SEAL sniper than a scientist. “It’s effectively cut our helicopter time in half. This technology comes from Hawaii and it really is made for Hawaii. The EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] has reviewed it, but it only exists in Hawaii.”

The HBT is really quite simple: a paintball gun is loaded with herbicide instead of paint. Leary says his helicopter pilots (“some of the best in the world”) are so good they can hover over a cliff side or watershed within 100 feet of an invasive plant, which is within the gun’s effective range. Using the gun and helicopter allows Leary to “eliminate” the target plant without causing collateral damage to native plants growing nearby. Leary half-jokingly calls his missions “weedectomies.”

Military sniper talk aside, a remarkable three-minute gun-camera video Leary shared of a recent mission has all the hallmarks of old Vietnam war footage (minus the napalming of people, of course): emerald green jungle growth, the lazy spin of the helicopter blades’ shadows on the ground, even the clack-clack-clack-clack of the gun (you can watch the video here). But through it all, Leary is clearly precise, laying down herbicide nodules on individual plants.

“I appreciate people’s concerns about herbicides,” Leary said. “We’re trying to be as discreet, surgical, as we can.”

So far Leary’s only been shooting at miconia, but he’s been working closely with the Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC), training new shooters, if you will, and wants to take on pampas grass next.

“It’s great,” said Teya Penniman, MISC’s manager. “You can use it in areas that are otherwise hard to reach. Penniman added that her group put Leary’s technology on display for state officials as part of the Hawaii Invasive Species Committee‘s first ever neighbor island meeting on Maui on May 8, though she laughingly refused to say how the officials performed in the test firings.

As for Leary, he freely admitted that his job is a lot of fun, but it’s also still a lot of work.

“We’re definitely flying into some of the most beautiful forests on Maui,” he said. “But the fun factor can work against us. We’re not out there shooting plants for the thrill of it.”

Photo: Josh Atwood