HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii veterans have joined efforts to get records from a classified base updated so those suffering from radiation exposure can get better medical care.
Mark Hada, of Maui, and Alan Hollingsworth, of Oahu, were assigned to the Tonopah test range — often called Area 52 in Nevada.
Hundreds of Air Force veterans stationed there now report road blocks in getting treatment. That‘s because the government won’t acknowledge their assignment.
Mark Hada in the 1980’s(Mark Hada)
Hada said he has lipomas, including a large one on the back of his neck that he had to have removed.
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He has debilitating headaches and breathing problems too.
Lipoma on Mark Hada’s neck(Mark Hada)
Hollingsworth said a lot of his friends reported having tumors — including Dave Crete, a Nevada man who also served at the site.
“I have a brain cyst. I have a tumor in my lungs. I have three tumors on my thyroid,” Crete said. He also has one on his forehead.
Dave Crete in the 1980’s(Dave Crete)
He suffers from chronic bronchitis.
“My lung function is 67%,” he said.
Crete’s kids were also born with tumors or autoimmune disorders.
Crete, Hada and Hollingsworth were all in the Air Force in the 1980s and assigned to the nuclear testing site.
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Hollingsworth has not had the chronic issues as the others, and believes that’s because he was only at Tonopah for two years. But he is worried. He does an annual physical and is closely monitored.
Alan Hollingsworth in the 1980’s(Alan Hollingsworth)
“Am I testing for the right things? Are they looking for the right things?,” Hollingsworth said.
Tonopah veterans cannot get the same care and compensation as others who were exposed to dangerous chemicals.
“Our documentation shows we were stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, but we never worked at Nellis. We always flew from Nellis,” Hada said, adding they were flown from Nellis to Tonopah Test Range, where they worked for four, 10-hour days.
They’d be flown back to Las Vegas to spend their days off.
Nuclear testing started there in the late 1950s and continued for years.
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“It was all contaminated. The soil is contaminated. The air is contaminated, the groundwater is contaminated,” said Crete, who found an environmental assessment report that was done in 1975.
The report said the areas on the range “are contaminated with plutonium from tests carried out in 1963.”
The report said more recent tests scattered “some beryllium and depleted uranium” — all highly toxic.
The document concluded with, “as long as the nation chooses to maintain an up-to-date nuclear weapon stockpile” facilities such as the “Tonopah Test Range must continue to exist.”
Crete said the water they drank, bathed in and cooked with while they all lived on the military installation, was all contaminated.
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Crete started a nonprofit group called The Invisible Enemy to help others assigned to the Nevada testing sites.
Collectively, the group of several hundred veterans have been pushing for change so they can get the care they need and other benefits.
The Invisible Enemy is gaining traction as awareness of their plight spreads.
Crete said they are not asking the government to declassify everything or reveal sensitive information. He said they just want the military to acknowledge that they were there.
“Allow us to go to the VA,” he said.
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Hada said he wants the Tonopah Test Range to be listed as a presumptive location with presumptive conditions that can be treated.
In September, a bill was introduced in Congress that would acknowledge those exposed to radiation at the Nevada Test and Training range.
The legislation is still in its infancy but does have strong bipartisan support.
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Each week before Cal plays a football game, we ask someone who covers Cal’s next opponent five questions about that opponent.
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To answer questions about Cal’s Hawaii Bowl opponent Hawaii this week we enlisted the services of Stephen Tsai, who covers Hawaii football for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and has been named Hawaii sports writer of the year seven times.
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We were particularly intrigued by his answer to Question No. 5, where Tsai noted that there would portably be no Hawaii Bowl without Rolovich, a former Hawaii head coach and Cal’s interim head coach for the Hawaii Bowl.
—1. Every team has a home-field advantage, but it seems Hawaii has been even better than most teams at home. Is that true, and if so, why?
There are several obstacles for visiting teams. There’s the time difference. Hawaii games usually kick off at 6 p.m., which is midnight on the East Coast during daylight savings time, 11 p.m. for standard time. Because the Ching Complex is a temporary home venue, there are open areas in the corners, allowing for cross winds that affect field-goal attempts. The so-called “Manoa Mist” also impacts the ball-handling positions.
The visiting team is assigned a makeshift locker room combining the neighboring baseball stadium’s locker room and part of the concourse. Before the walls were built, the concourse area was cordoned off with curtains. Nothing like being near concession stands while preparing for a football game. Because of the time difference, a team can depart the West Coast in the morning and practice in Hawaii that afternoon. In contrast, teams lose preparation time for the next game when traveling back to the mainland.
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—2. How much will the absence of all-conference wide receiver Jackson Harris affect Hawaii’s offense?
Aside from the deep threat — he had four TDs of 70-plus yards — Harris was sure-handed (three drops in 74 targets), clutch on scramble plays (37 of his 49 receptions resulted in first downs), and used his height and reach to attack 50-50 balls. As the left wideout, Harris benefited from left-handed QB Micah Alejado’s rollouts and left slotback Pofele Ashlock’s decoy routes.
Hawaii has experienced wideouts in Karsyn Pupunu and Brandon White, but the Warriors will have to be creative to make up for Harris’ deep-pass threat.
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—3. Assess the abilities of Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado.
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Alejado is accurate and has a coach’s knowledge of the Warriors’ read-and-attack, four-wide offense. He’s quick to decipher schemes with pre-snap reads. At 5-10, Alejado is like the detective behind a one-way mirror. He can find receivers yet it is a challenge for defenders to see him behind a taller offensive line.
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—4. Who are the top two or three players on Hawaii’s offense and defense?
Alejado, running back Landon Sims and left guard and Zhen Sotelo are the impact players on offense. Jalen Smith, who can play both linebacker spots, and De’Jon Benton, who lines up as 3-tech tackle or end, provide defensive versatility. An opposing coach mused that UH could run a 1-10 formation with Benton.
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—5. Do Hawaii fans still remember Nick Rolovich, who is Cal’s interim head coach for the Hawaii Bowl?
Without Rolo, there probably would not be a Hawaii Bowl. He threw eight touchdown passes to help the Warriors stomp then-unbeaten BYU in the 2001 regular-season finale. But with no postseason bowl invitation for the 9-3 Warriors, the leaders of UH, WAC and ESPN created the Hawaii Bowl the next year.
Rolo was innovative as a UH offensive coordinator and play-calling head coach. He ran his variation of June Jones’ run-and-shoot offense. He also provided entertainment, bringing an Elvis impersonator to media day; awarding a scholarship at a wrestling match and another in a koala cage at an Australian zoo; and designing a rivalry trophy for the matchup against UNLV.
On the road, he once conducted a quarterbacks’ meeting in the hotel jacuzzi. He also coined the popular phrase: Live aloha, play Warrior.
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Honolulu police opened a murder investigation today after finding the body of a 60-year-old woman while doing a welfare check at a Hawaii Kai home.
Police said officers arrested the victim’s 29-year-old son and a 27-year-old woman who were inside the residence and identified as suspects.
After receiving a 10:25 a.m. welfare check call, HPD officers responded to a home on the 6200 block of Upolo Place and found a woman dead on the floor inside the residence.
“Preliminary investigation revealed the woman sustained fatal injuries,” HPD said.
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The two suspects were arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder and the investigation is ongoing, according to police.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A group of nonprofits are asking the public to help support efforts to return Maunawili Valley to community care.
Dean Wilhelm, co-executive director of Ho’okuaaina, Reyna Ramolete Hayashi, aloha aina project manager at Trust for Public Land, and Kaleo Wong, executive director of Kauluakalana, joined HNN’s Sunrise to talk about more than a decade of work by Hui Maunawili–Kawainui, a coalition of nonprofits and generational ohana to purchase and protect more than 1,000 acres on windward Oahu to benefit the community.
“Our Hoihoi Maunawili fundraising campaign is four nonprofits working together to raise $500,000 for the future stewardship of the land. The nonprofit partners are Kauluakalana, Ho’okua’aina, Hawaii Land Trust, and Trust for Public Land,” Hayashi said.
Nonprofit leaders say Hoihoi Maunawili is working with the current landowner, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, to transfer stewardship of the land.
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“These lands include the most fertile growing soil in all Hawaii, important cultural sites, and freshwater streams and springs that will be forever protected. Capital funds have been secured to purchase the land,” Hayashi said.
“This land has sustained generations. By returning it to the community and restoring it for shared use and cultural renewal, we will safeguard resources for future generations and increase our community’s resilience,” Wilhelm said.
“Until the 1960s, this land was very productive. It was the ‘Breadbasket of Oahu.’ Alii specifically would ask for kalo grown on these lands. This effort seeks to return it to its former abundance, ultimately improving local food security and water security through community-led agriculture that strengthens Hawaii food systems and creates green jobs for a sustainable local economy.”
“Buying and protecting the land is only the beginning,” Wong said. “In this season of giving, we are asking the community to join us in this movement to restore water, food, culture and community in Maunawili.”
To donate and learn more, visit hoihoimaunawili.org. The public can also support by volunteering or joining a talk story.
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