By Saundra Keyes
Advertiser Editor

One of the smartest things we did last year was invite readers to join our editorial board, the group that defines this newspaper's stands on the issues.

That invitation opened our doors to a group of smart, collegial, community-minded readers whose varied perspectives both deepened and broadened our understanding of the challenges facing Hawai'i.

That's why we're re-issuing our call for volunteers.

If you'd like to sit with us once a week for a two-month period, we'd like to hear from you.

We promised last year's volunteers the benefit of stimulating discussions and the chance to help shape the editorial agenda of Hawai'i's largest daily newspaper. By all accounts, they've enjoyed both opportunities.

But we're the ones who gained the most from readers' involvement. It has enriched our discussions even more than we expected.

For example, a fifth-grade teacher in our first group was a compelling voice in our deliberations on the contract standoff between the state and the teacher union. She didn't lobby the board, but her comments gave us insights we had lacked.

September volunteers included the director of a Waikiki nonprofit organization that serves the poor. Without his input, I doubt we'd have focused so quickly on how economic fallout from the Sept. 11 attacks would multiply the local need for social services.

Two other volunteers — a physician with expertise in disaster planning and a counter-terrorism analyst — gave us invaluable insights on state and national readiness to deal with bioterrorism and other threats.

But please don't let the mention of such specialized professional expertise discourage you from volunteering. The biggest contribution made by our volunteers, including the subject-matter experts, was their common sense and the breadth of viewpoints gained from varied life experience.

That's what we hope to gain as we enlarge our pool of potential community board members. Although we continue to draw from the thick file of letters from last year's volunteers, we're often asked how newly interested readers can join the group.

Just send us an e-mail or note (addresses are below) that tells us a bit about your interest in participating.

As in the past, we're looking for people who are interested, involved and willing to bring their ideas and experience to bear on the issues we debate. We ask readers to join us simply as interested residents, not as publicity chairmen for organizations or candidates, or in hopes of swaying the board to specific positions advanced by advocacy groups.

We won't expect you to write editorials, but rather, to participate in conversations that help focus the stands we take. Those discussions occur at hourlong meetings held at 10:30 a.m. each Wednesday here at The Advertiser building.

We've increased the volunteer rotation period from one month to two, in part because we found that last year's groups ended just as each was beginning to peak. Also, the longer rotation means a busy volunteer can miss a session or two and still make a meaningful contribution.

If you're only available in specific months, please let us know. We do our best to work around student schedules, military deployments, family reunions and other demands on readers' time.

And we've found that some employers have similar flexibility, so don't assume it would be impossible to combine board participation with work obligations.

Writing a similar column last year, I wasn't sure what to expect. Now I know.

Peter Bower

Rob Hail

Kalowena Komeiji

And like the volunteers who went before them, those readers will simultaneously prod us and help us to better fulfill that obligation.

Our most recent community board members were:

• Peter M. Bower, a former globe-trotting local, national and international executive with the YMCA and now president of The Entrepreneurial Team, a group that helps local businesses and others organize, reorganize and develop business plans.

• Rob Hail, a former businessman who is active in community organizations, many focusing on the needs of young people. He is founder of the Teen Line help telephone line, is an officer of the Sunrise Rotary, runs an e-mail foster parent program for Cambodian orphans, and likes to surf when family and community obligations allow.

• Kalowena Komeiji, executive assistant at Hawai'i Public Television, citizen member of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, and community volunteer in a variety of local civic and political causes.

To volunteer for the community editorial board, send e-mail to Saundra Keyes at skeyes@honoluluadvertiser.com or write her at The Advertiser, 605 Kapiolani Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96813. Please write "community editorial board" in the e-mail message field or on the envelope.