News Flash 3

Aloha: Well, last night my wife worked till about 8:30. Got home at about 9:30, packed for her deployment and got to bed after 2a. We got up at 4a so she could be at the airport at 5:30 when they open. She flew to Honolulu via Hawaiian Airlines, then a cab ride to Hickam Air Force Base. That is when the trouble started. Drivers licences is not sufficient to get on a military aircraft so she would need either her birth certificate or a passport. Most of the Hilo group were caught in the same web. After looking in all of her "hiding" places I found her "Certificate of Live Birth" and had to run it down to Hilo and have it sent via air cargo to Honolulu where she will be able to pick it up after 4p. ($16) When I get home I get a call from my wife and they are driving her crazy. Now they say a fax will do. And it is not a military thing about the "birth certificate" but rather a FEMA thing. Now FEMA has decided that American Samoa is a part of the USA and that citizens do not need to prove citizenship to go there. Her drivers licence would have done just fine. She will still have to go get her paperwork from air cargo after 4p. Maybe she will not be able to leave Samoa and will need her "certificate" to prove she is not Samoan. For those of you who may not know my wife is Hawaiian. Close, but no cigar!

Today's weather is wet and the volcano is SOS. It looks like we got about 0.5 inches of rain last night. The overlook webcam showed the surface of the lava pond and spattering. Earthquakes and tremor keep going up and down, up and down. For the first time in a long time there was fresh tephra, not rock dust.

Oh, my wife was told that a call from Samoa will cost about $2/3 a minute so I do not think there will much talking going on between Hawaii and Samoa. I will have to check with my cell carrier and check it out.

God bless and take care. May God bless America.