Last month Paradise Cruise, Ltd. celebrated its 40th year as Hawaii's largest sunset dinner cruise operator, with 12 separate daily cruises and over 400 employees. Established in 1957 as primarily a Pearl Harbor cruise operator, Paradise Cruise has grown in scope over the years, offering Waikiki shoreline, sunset dinner and charter cruises as well.

Its flagship boat, the Star of Honolulu is the largest cruise vessel of its kind in the United States. The 232-foot, four-deck, 1,500-person cruise ship was introduced in 1992 and features state-of-the-art stabilizers and full facilities for the physically challenged, including elevators and boarding ramps.

Paradise Cruise recently expanded by growing its catering division and purchasing the Oahu license of Grayline Hawaii to form its sister company, Super Star Hawaii Transit Service.

Over the past five years Paradise Cruise's revenues have grown by an average of 47 percent, from $18.5 million in 1991 to $28.2 million in 1996.

Ms. Pat Zell, Attorney at Law, informed SBH's Young Entrepreneurs ("YES") about the importance of employee Handbooks and personnel issues. Ms. Zell works with many local companies in representing and assisting them in the review of both employee handbooks and personnel policies.

Ms. Pat Zell spoke with "YES" about what she looks for in policy development. She recommended that each company provide an employee handbook. The handbook should be kept simple and cover topics such as: hours, safety, harassment, vacation and sick leave.

The most important part of the handbook is to have effective disclaimers. Never use words such as permanent, long-term, tenure, or good faith within any of the policies. The "YES" group also learned about setting up an effective Harassment policy. Companies should delegate both a male and a female investigator and all inquiries should be investigated immediately.

"YES" also learned about the importance of an "AT-WILL EMPLOYMENT" statement. Each employee should be issued the statement and a signed copy maintained with their personnel records. This statement should reserve the right for both parties to terminate the employment relationship at will. Zell wrapped up the session with an emphasis on maintaining good, consistent documentation on all employees.

We would all like to give a heartfelt thanks to Ms. Zell for sharing her wealth of employment knowledge with us. This month's "YES" meeting will be Thursday, September 25, 11 am at the Wisteria. Guest speaker will be Joyce Torrey, Joyce Torrey Public Relations, who will speak on The Difference Between PR and Advertising and How to Get the Right Mix For Your Business.

For more information and reservations call the SBH office 396-1724. Open to the public--regardless of age. The next "YES" Business Field Trip will be Tuesday, September 30, when "YES" will visit Aloha Key, Hawaii's largest key manufacturer, at 401 Cooke Street in Kakaako from 7:30 to 9 am. Please call Helen Rapoza (739-0400) to RSVP. Everyone is welcome!

HUMAN SERVICES EXPLAINS "CLIENT" PAYMENTS

A copy of an article that appeared under your Guest Commentary in your August issue has come to our attention. We wish to comment on it.

Your guest, Mr. Richard O. Rowland, has made comments and used numbers that do not seem to have any relation to fact. The first thing he should have done is to know the name of the organization he is writing on. If he does not bother to find out that our name is the Department of Human Services, not DSSH, one wonders if his other statements are based on any kind of research at all.

We particularly question his conclusion that only 35% of this Department's budget goes to recipients. We have, for FY 1998, a total budget of $1,137,754,450. Of this, $229,016,184 is paid to clients in cash benefits. Another $696,012,825 is spent on foster board payments, health care costs, and other services that are direct benefits to clients. These monies go to providers of services, not to departmental staff. They add up to about 81% of our budget. The delivery of services to clients takes up another 13.65% which does include departmental staff.

This will show that Mr. Rowland, in his rush to condemn, has made sweeping statements that need to be corrected and explained to the public.

What is more regrettable is Mr. Rowland's poor attempt at being witty by making some unbecoming remarks on Dr. Chandler and the Kamehameha Day Parade. He has behaved in a very ungentlemanly manner and has shown disrespect towards a festival which is dear to the hearts of many of us who live in Hawaii.

To be fair to us, I request that you publish this response.

Kathleen G. Stanley, Acting Director
State Department of Human Services

Recently I had the opportunity to enjoy fine dining in Waimanalo. Service was excellent, food superb and the portions were of a size a contractor appreciates. I was one of several employers fortunate to receive an invitation to the Hawaii Job Corps facility. Our firm has just hired our second graduate from the Hawaii Job Corps' landscape training program. We are pleased with the graduates' enthusiasm. Both have been given a strong foundation on which we can build. I suspect the food service industry is keeping their excellent culinary training program a secret.

Kevin J. Mulkern
A Licensed Landscape Contractor, Inc.

Congratulations on the ever improving Small Business Hawaii web site. I regularly check out what's happenning. Having highlights of back issues on line has proved valuable for those rare SB News issues I just can't seem to find anymore. Keep up the good work!

Aloha
Cherylle Morrow
Instrumentation & Control Systems (sent through the Internet)