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President and Publisher

Editorial Page Editor

Dennis Francis

Lucy Young-Oda
Stephen J. Downes
lyoungoda@staradvertiser.com Editorial Page Staff
Maureen O’Connell / Vicki Viotti
529-4831

Vice President / Editor

Frank Bridgewater

Deputy Editorial Page Editor

QUESTIONS WITH …

MICHAELCARR
The Battleship Missouri Memorial chief works to preserve
living history, especially on this 75th year marking WWII’s end

Board of Directors

Dennis Francis
Larry Johnson

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM

comed aboard the 9-millionth
visitor since the ship became amuseum in 1999. What’s driving
the visitor draw?
The Battleship Missouri is one ofthe U.S. Navy’s most famous ships.
She was the last battleship evercommissioned by the U.S. and thelast battleship to be decommissioned in the world. She was thesite of the ceremony which ended
World War II. There are so manystories that tell her history throughthree wars, including the liberationof Kuwait in 1991.
We are continually refreshing
and adding displays to help sharethese stories, including our newly
renovated Kamikaze Exhibit. Thisexhibit tells the story of the attack
on April 11, 1945, and the aftermath that ensued. I think people
like to return to the Mighty Mo toview the progress we are making as
we continue to restore the ship, a
top priority of our mission.
closing in March and2 Afterfacing financial challenges
tied to COVID-19, the memorial
reopened on June 24. What’s thestrategy to attract more visitors
now and in the next few months,
given the loss of tourism?
The loss of revenue over thepast three months has been financially devastating — as it has been
for all businesses that depend on ahealthy visitor industry. Until
trans-Pacific travelers begin to return in numbers, our strategy, inconcert with other Pearl Harbor
Historic Partners, has been to focus on our kamaaina and militaryfamilies with a Pearl Harbor Kamaaina Pass that includes accessto all historic sites.
Our numbers have been small,but we hope to see an increase
with the Arizona restarting theboats to its memorial on July 10.
However, we do not expect ourbusiness to rebound to pre-COVID
numbers until at least 2022.
What’s in the works for
3 thisyear’s 75th anniversary of the end of WWII?
At this time, our planning tocommemorate the end of WorldWar II in the Pacific, currently managed by the Governor’s SelectCommittee, is ongoing as we work
to honor our service members,
while still ensuring the safety of
the citizens of Hawaii. It is import-

THE BIO FILE>> Professional: Bank ofHawaii 1977-89, left as
visitor industry manager;
president of Polynesian
Adventure Tours, 1989-2004;
president of the Battleship
Missouri Memorial since2008.
>> Personal: Grew up inAsia; graduated high schoolfrom Canadian Academy in
Kobe, Japan; visited Hawaii
often in the late 1960s. After
the Army in 1974, moved toOahu.
>> Family: Wife Connie (42years), three children, twograndchildren with two
more on the way>> Education: Graduatedfrom Claremont-McKenna
College; then from InfantryOfficers Candidate School atFort Benning (Ga.) andserved two years at Fort
Polk (La.); also graduate ofPacific Coast Banking
School.
>> Other community roles:
Among others, Hawaii
Convention Park Council(as president), which
played key role in legislationthat created the Hawaii
Convention Center; current
president of the Historic
Naval Ships Association.
>> One more thing: “Mypassion is reading history,
particularly medieval
European history.”

ant we take the time to honor themen and women from the “Greatest Generation,” especially those
who are with us today. With thatbeing said, as the (coronavirus) situation changes in Hawaii, we aremodifying, postponing, or cancelling activities to ensure we are operating responsibly during thistime of uncertainty.
Currently, the events scheduled
to occur beginning on Aug. 28 include educational forums, a community open house, flyovers andwill culminate with the official 75th
WWII Commemoration Ceremonyon Sept. 2 at the Battleship Missouri.

———
Asked by Maureen O’Connell, Star-Advertiser

the coming “Salute4 Beyond
Their Service, Honor TheirHope” anniversary events, what
are your top short- and longterm plans?
Over the past five years, we havespent almost $12 million on ship
repairs, including a complete restoration of its forward and aft superstructures. Also, the restoration of
the teak deck (all 50,000 squarefeet) is nearing completion. Whilethese are the visible projects,
much more goes on under the water line and in the depths of the interior — that no one ever sees
— that are just as vital to the maintenance of structural integrity.
The ship is now in the best condition it has ever been since theUSS Missouri Memorial Association
took over in 1998. Furthermore, weare now completing our new Education Resource Center, which will
preserve thousands of artifacts anddocuments in a temperature-controlled environment so that they
can be used by scholars and students for research purposes.
… Given our financial challenges
over the next few years due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, we will focus
on maintenance and preservationof the ship more than big capitalprojects.
have been serving as
5 You
both CEO and president of
the association for nearly sixyears. What do you enjoy mostin your work?
I have been president now forover 12 years and have enjoyedthis role more than any I have everhad. When I was first hired, thecharge given to me by the board ofdirectors was to make the association a successful business, which I
believe we have achieved. Ourboard is engaged and very supportive. We have a remarkable anddedicated crew who work here because of their love for the ship andwhat she stands for.
Aside from leading our crew
through many achievements, themost enjoyable part has been
meeting and interacting with many
incredible individuals, includingBill and Melinda Gates, Chief Justice John Roberts, Gen. Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense RobertGates, and the list goes on. TheMighty Mo has been featured in numerous movies and TV shows, andinteracting with stars and directors
has also been fun.

Jeffrey Watanabe
Michael WoMaybe Trump shouldn’t save
Dem-run cities under siege

MARC A.

THIESSENA

this year, Battleship
1 EarlierMissouri Memorial wel-A11

s protests continue tospin out of control inPortland, Ore., President Donald Trump said thisweek that Democrat-run cities have become “like warzones” and that his administration will soon announcemeasures to restore order.
For those alarmed at thisprospect, the alternative is tolet the cities burn.
Trump is right when hesays that as “far-left mayors
are escalating the anti-cop
crusade … violent crime isspiraling in their cities.” In
New York City, shootings
during one week in Junewere up 358% over the previous year, while the numberof police retirements has skyrocketed 411% — a vote ofno confidence in the city’sleft-wing leadership. In Atlanta, murders are up 86%. In
Minneapolis, shootings areup 47%. In Philadelphia,
shootings involving children
are up 43%, and 96% of thevictims are black. In Chicago,
106 people were shot during
a single weekend in June, 14of them fatally, while thispast weekend, 64 people
were shot, and 11 died. Allthese cities are run by Democrats.
Then there is the spinelessresponse of these local Democratic leaders to violent
protests in their cities. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan
called the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, which took
over several city blocks anda park, a “block party” andcompared it to the “summerof love” — only to see multiple assaults and two murders take place in thepolice-free zone she permitted to exist for nearly amonth.
In Portland, Ore. — a hotbed of antifa violence —mayhem has raged for nearly
two months as violent protesters have set more than
100 fires, looted businessand done millions of dollars
in property damage to local
businesses. Rioters have attacked police with rocks,
glass bottles, soup cans, frozen water bottles, bricks andfireworks, according to court
documents filed by police.
The mayor seems unable orunwilling to quell the violence.
Trump declared thatenough is enough and thathe and Attorney General William Barr will soon unveil aplan to “to straighten thingsout.” But maybe heshouldn’t. The genius of ourfederal system is that states
and localities serve as what
the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis calledlaboratories of democracythat can “try novel social andeconomic experiments without risk to the rest of thecountry.” Right now, many ofAmerica’s cities are conducting social experiments in lawlessness, showing the rest of
the country what happens
when local leaders join calls
to “defund the police” andcower in the face of violence.
There is an argument forjust letting those experiments play out. After all, we
are told elections have consequences. Well, the people
in those cities voted for weak
Democratic mayors and city
council members. Maybe ifthey experience the consequences of incompetent
Democratic leadership,
they’ll do what New Yorkers
did in the 1990s and vote intough-on-crime Republicans
to restore law and order.
Or they can move. As Milton Friedman explained in“Capitalism and Freedom,”
the beauty of our system ofdispersed power is that, “if I
do not like what my local
community does … I canmove to another local community… . If I do not likewhat my state does, I canmove to another. [But] if I do
not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives
in this world of jealous nations.” In recent years, growing numbers of Americans
quit high-tax blue states suchas California for low-tax red
states like Texas. If disastrous fiscal policies canspark this kind of migration,
maybe disastrous policing
policies will do the same.
Of course, the counterargument is: What about thepeople in Portland, Seattle
and other cities where violence is out of hand who did
not vote for feckless Democrats? Why should they besubjected to violence? Moreover, although wealthier residents may be able to pick up
and leave, the poorer citizens of these cities who depend on social assistanceand public housing don’t
have the resources to do so.
And what about small business owners who havepoured their life savings into
enterprises that have beenlooted and vandalized? Ifthey pick up and leave, theylose everything.
It’s unfair to leave theseAmericans defenseless. Andit’s arguably the president’s
responsibility to do something about it.
———
Marc A. Thiessen is a columnist for The Washington Post.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Seattle’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) isshown here on June 22.

Prickly City >> By Scott Stantis

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