Monthly Archives: April 2013

On Monday, April 15th, 2013 (Hawaii time) or April 16, 2013 (East Coast time), I submitted and filed my fiction writing project with the U.S. Copyright Office. I’m currently working on my 5th draft. I hope to be completely finished with my work by my 6th draft. We’ll see. Everytime I look at it, there are things I want to change.

On 4/7/2013, I finished my 4th draft of my fictional writing project that includes 78,378 words. The core of my story came to me when I couldn’t sleep on the evening of 10/11/2006 until the morning of 10/12/2006. I completed a great majority of the work in the last two years. However, I’m still not satisfied. I believe I need to go through at least two more drafts.

For the 1st quarter of 2013 ending on March 31, 2013, I achieved 6.7% of my 2013 Resolutions. I am going to keep working hard to increase the amount of goals I achieve by the 2nd quarter.

On Easter – in the evening of Sunday, March 31, 2013, I enjoyed dinner with my extended family at the Akimoto family house in Kapahulu of Honolulu, Hawaii.

On Saturday, March 30, 2013, I saw a couple of movies, went to Ala Moana Beach Park, ate dinner, and talked politics with my friend Brandon Mitsuda.

On Thursday, March 28, 2013, at 2:00 P.M. before the House Judiciary Committee, I testified in support of measure, SB978 that imposes a mandatory sentence of one year of imprisonment on a defendant convicted of cruelty to animals in the second degree involving five or more pet animals in any one instance. I testified in opposition HB68 SD1 that gives the court discretion on the maximum incarceration terms when sentencing drug offenders in certain class B and class C felony cases.

At 2:45 P.M., Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tricia Nakamatsu attended the joint Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and House Committee on Public Safety informational briefing for the Council of State Government Justice Center (CSG) to provide an update to the Legislature on their analyses progress on Justice Reinvestment.

At 3:00 P.M., I attended a meeting with Hawaii State Representative K. Mark Takai at his office regarding Veterans Court.

At 3:15 P.M., before the House Finance Committee, I testified SB635 SD1 HD2 that establishes felony and misdemeanor offenses for injuring or killing an animal engaged in law enforcement or corrections activities.

In the evening I had dinner with my friends Brandon Mituda and his wife Ellen Mitsuda at Utage restaurant in Kalihi of Honolulu, Hawaii.

On Wednesday, March 27, 2013, at 4:45 P.M. before the House Finance Committee, I testified in support of our measure, SB879 SD1 HD1 that Amends section 621-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to increase the per diem payments for out-of-state witnesses in criminal cases. It provides an additional per diem payment for witnesses from any island other than the island on which the court is located, when that witness is required to stay overnight.

I testified in opposition to SB886 that proposes a constitutional amendment to increase the mandatory retirement age for justices and judges from 70 to 80 years of age. The Department believes the drafters of our state constitution wanted to retire judges at the age of 70 to allow new qualified judges with with good judicial temperament and analytical skills to come onto the bench.

I testified in support of our measure, SB873 SD2 HD1 that will help the state collect restitution from offenders for the injury and/or damage they caused to victims. The measure would allow income withholding, tax refund withholding, and bail to be applied to restitution.