WHT at 50: Heat and vog envelop Kona as 19-year-old prepares for sight

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1968 | Volume I, Issue XII
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Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1968 | Volume I, Issue XII

ON THE COVER

“Kona Lions Aid In Transplants”

By Irma Chillingworth

Nineteen-year-old Prentiss Ellis and his mother Mrs. Mae Ellis will head to San Francisco next month where he will undergo a cornea transplant on both eyes.

The operation will be performed by Dr. Max Fine at Mt. Zion Hospital and Medical Center.

Arrangements for the operation were made possible through the Department of Social Service, Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Kona Lions Sight Conservation Committee.

Presenting Prentiss a check to help with incidentals was the committee chairman, Mitsugi Murobayashi. Also present is Kona icon, Norman Sakata.

“Kona Weather Changes From Flood to Smog”

No byline

For the second straight week, weather made the news in Kona. But unlike last week’s driving rains and floods, it was volcano weather as the result of increased activity at Kilauea Volcano.

“Madam Pele’s Kilauea activities resulted in a very unusual condition for the sunny Kona Coast … smog!” the article reads. “That’s right, smog, just like Los Angeles.”

Along with the thick volcano smog, which blanketed the island chain before week’s end, came a dose of near record-breaking hot weather. In Kona, the temperature reached 86 degrees, the hottest day of 1968 and the second hottest day ever to be recorded in Kona, according to U.S. Weather Observer Amy Greenwell of Captain Cook. The hottest day on record at the time was set in 1960 at 87 degrees.

“But aside from general discomfort and spoiled mauka views, the smog did little damage on this side of the island,” the article said in closing.

“Impossible Year’s Slated Here”

No byline

Opening the 1968-69 Lyceum Series in Kona will be “The Impossible Years” Friday at Hale Halawai. The series is sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education College of General Studies and The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

“2 Injured In Kuakini Accident”

No byline

A 43-year-old mother and her 23-year-old daughter people were injured in a one-car crash on Kuakini Highway when the driver of the vehicle attempted to pass two vehicles and apparently swerved to the left and ran into the guardrail on the makai side of the road.

Weekly deals:

At Sure Save Super Markets: Available Friday in Kona, never frozen pork BBQ spareribs, $0.69 per pound, and half or whole pork loin for $0.73 per pound; and Swanson TV Dinners, $0.55 each.

At KTA Superstores: Kokusai Calrose Rise, 100 (yes, 100) pounds for $11.98; SPAM, 12-ounce can, 2 for $0.97; and fresh ground hamburger, three pounds for $0.99.

At J. Kitagawa and Company, Ltd.: 1965 Comet, four-door sedan for $1,295.

At Kona Realty Company: 10,000 square feet fee simple house lots overlooking the Kona Coast, above Kailua, $1.10 per square foot; and a three bedroom, one and a half bathroom home on 3.30 acres of coffee land for $55,000.

At Kamigaki Store: One dozen medium Kona Laid Grade A Eggs for $0.59; Log Cabin Maple Syrup, 12 ounces for $0.39; and Reddi Spray Starch, two 16-ounce containers for $0.89.

Classifieds: Two bedroom apartment, partly furnished, for $145 per month.

Featured films:

At Aloha Theatre: “Barefoot In The Park” starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford; “To Kill A Mockingbird” with Gregory Peck and Mary Badham; and “Did You Hear The One About The Traveling Saleslady” featuring Phyllis Diller and Bob Denver.

At Kona Theatre: Frankie Sakai in “Kumunoue Dangoro Ichiza;” “The Graduate” starring Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross; and for adults only, “Road Devils.”