Community experts speak out

Advertiser Staff

Vigorous and informed discussion of public education, the military, public transit and the work of the recently completed 2004 Legislature marked the meetings of the most recent group of Advertiser Community Editorial Board members.

Those who served included:

• Don Berndt, a retired journalist and longtime Hawai'i resident who worked as a military journalist in Korea and Japan in the 1950s.

• Lance Grolla, a former community planner and budget analyst who worked in several Mainland jurisdictions before moving to the Islands. He is particularly interested in environmental and transportation issues.

• Jon Nouchi, a planner and analyst with O'ahu Transit Services who has planning and development degrees from University of Southern California and a Hawaiian-language degree from the University of Hawai'i.

• Alice Patton, school liaison for the 15th Airlift Wing at Hickam Air Force Base, where she is the primary link between newly arrived families and the Department of Education.

• Carina Tagupa, director of the state Senate Minority Research Office and a former legislative researcher, radio news reporter and television news producer.

• Shawn Ouye-Nakama, senior researcher for special projects at the Legislative Reference Bureau, who has experience in retail, the hotel industry and public affairs.