In my last post I described how 3,150 Christmas  trees were banned from Hawaii due to the discovery of invasive species on the trees. (See the previous post) The Christmas trees were infested with hornets and other unknown bugs.

Anyone who has been to Hawaii, knows  you need to fill out State Agriculture Forms declaring that you are not bringing any agriculture products, animals or reptiles into the state. Hawaii has a frail eco-system and any foreign produce or animals could cause untold damage here.

So what happened to the 3,150 Christmas trees that were not allowed to be unloaded from the jet that brought them?

Here is a story you will not hear about in newspaper, or television report. Radio stations and websites, have no idea what happened. As a matter of fact, the word on the street is: nobody knows what happened.

You can say the is an exclusive for Hawaii Secret Dot Com Blog.  You read it right here, first.

Here’s the story:

I ran into Moana Pacatang, who was interviewed for the last post in this blog.
(See Previous Post Below)

  I asked : “Mona, what ever did happen to those Chirstmas trees that were banned from Hawaii?”

“Albert” she explained. “The trees had come from a Christmas tree farm in Oregon. The owners of the farm felt terrible that the trees did not pass agricultue inspection.”

“So they were sent back to Oregon?” I asked.

“No, not exactly” she continued. “The plane that brought the trees, left Hawaii and flew to Alaska. Once the plane landed, it was decided that the trees would be unloaded there. Then a funny thing happened. The owners of the trees asked if the trees could be sold to make money for charity. And that is what finally happened.”

“All of the tees were sold to families in Alaska. All the money from the sale of the trees was donated to a local charity.”

So although some families in Hawaii  got stiffed by not having a Christmas tree, the Spirit of Christmas lived on through the donation to charity, by the sale of the trees. Plus, a bunch of Alaskan families got to enjoy the trees as well.

We have a kind of Gift of the Magi, thing going on here. This to me sounds like a fair trade indeed.

Everyone knows, it is more blessed to give than to receive. So there you have it, an exclusive story and a modern day Christmas Tree Tale. Remember you read it here, first.

Aloha,

Pizza on Earth, Good Will to All!

Albert Grande
Junior Elf in Training
http://albertgrande.com
http://pizzatherapy.com
http://lawofreciprocity.info

P.S. If you are interested in Internet Marketing, you need to check out:, my lasted post at: http://albertgrande.com

The Grinch really is at work on the Islands. A planeload of Christmas trees, from Oregon, was recently rejected and told to go home after Agriculture Inspectors found many non-native species on the trees. Many of the trees had been purchased by non-profit groups for fundraising. A portion of the trees were purchased by private vendors.

Agricultural inspectors found wasps, hornets and other non-native insects in the cargo hold during a routine inspection.  The inspectors did try to salvage some of the trees by separating them, however since the trees were all stored in the same giant cargo hold, this was impossible.

Inspectors also had the idea to fumigate the entire plane. The idea was rejected by the planes pilots who explained the chemicals would corrode the metal parts of the plane.

Janelle Saneishi, spokesperson for the Hawaii Department of Agriculture said: “Sadly, there were some schools with fundraising trees on that flight, but they had to send it back.” Selling Christmas trees has long been a fundraising tradition for many schools in Hawaii. 

Moana Pacatang, Parent, Community facilitator of Waialua High and Intermediate School explained “It’s frustrating because we were excited to get our trees.” She said without the 150 trees ordered, the school fundraisers will have to give back $5,000.

“All we can do” she concluded “is explain to our customers that our trees did not pass inspection. We’re short 2,500 trees on the island”.

A sad day for Hawaii, indeed. OK Grinch, maybe you had your way today, but tomorrow is another day…We’ll still have a great Christmas in Hawaii.

Are we excited here in Hawaii to have an undefeated football team?

You bet we are! UH beat the University of Washington  to erase any doubt that this team is the real deal.

The game was not an easy win as UH was down 21 points in the first Quarter. It seemed at times that the game was surely lost, however, the UH team was tenacious. The game was hard fought by both teams, and UH in the end came out on top.

In the local neighborhoods, you could hear the roar of the fans as they cheered on the UH Warriors. Hawaii has no professional sports teams so everyone rallies around the University of Hawaii.

There was a scare in Mililani, as the power went out for most of the day. Hawaiian Electriccrews worked overtim to restore power just 15 minutes before kick-off.

You can see an excellent slide show created by The Honolulu Star-Bulletinn,
click here.

For more links and commentary on the University of Hawaii Football team, you need to check out the best UH fan blog: go here. Here is the link:
http://uhfootball.blogspot.com/

Next stop, an invitation to play in one of the Bowl Games.

Congratulations to the entire Rainbow team. Go Bows!

Aloha,

Albert Grande
http://pizzatherapy.com
http://albertgrande.com