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Born in Honolulu on January 1, 1847; daughter of Samuel Northrup Castle and Mary Tenney Castle. Educated at Punahou Academy and Oberlin College.
June 12, 1876 married Charles Coleman; one child: Samuel Northrup Castle. Financial secretary of Free Kindergarten Association; active in other volunteer organizations
Died in Honolulu on December 11, 1924. Survived by brothers, William R. Castle, George P. Castle, and sisters Mrs. George Mead, Mrs. E. G. Hitchcock, and Mrs. W. D. Westervelt.

The Hawaii Bicentennial Commission was authorized in 1970 by Act 98 to plan and coordinate activities commemorating the 200th birthday of the United States in 1976. It prepared an overall program in cooperation with appropriate state departments, agencies, local public bodies and other historical, civic, philanthropic and related organizations. The Commission was authorized to accept donations of money, personal property or personal services.

The Commission was composed of nine members appointed by the Governor; one member was selected from each of the four counties, four were selected at large and one was selected from the executive branch of the State government. Commissioners Thurston Twigg-Smith, Chairman, Sam N. Okinaga, Vice Chairman, James D. Evans and John G. Simpson served continuously throughout the Commission's existence. Hideto Kono, Paul W. Goudsmit, Sandy Young, Gabriel I, Msgr. Charles A. Kekumano, Dr. Shelly M. Mark, Mrs. B. Howell Bond, Lowell S. Dillingham, Mrs. Piilani Ramler, Donald K. Tokunaga, Kenneth Harding and Turk Tokita served shorter terms as Commissioners.

Following the appointment of John Pincentich as executive director in 1972, the Commission was organized along the following lines. The Executive Committee, composed of Commission members, functioned as the executive arm of the Commission, and was responsible for budgetary matters and reviewing programs seeking Commission endorsement and funding. Citizen committee work was responsible for planning and developing the bulk of the Bicentennial program. Three basic program committees suggested by the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, Heritage '76, Festival '76, and Horizons '76 were responsible for developing and coordinating programs relating to the "historic past," the "living present" and the "challenging future," respectively. A Communications Committee was responsible for publicity, served as a liaison with other Committees, and formed and directed a Speaker's Bureau. The Government Liaison Committee was responsible for establishing and maintaining liaison with state/county departments and agencies and keeping the Commission apprised of such governmental efforts; the Military Liaison Committee was the military counterpart to the Government Liaison Committee; and Neighbor Island County Bicentennial Committees coordinated state-wide activities in their respective counties and developed their own local projects.

Although administratively placed in the office of the Governor by Act 98, the Department of Planning and Economic Development (DPED) handled all Bicentennial business until a full-time office staff was hired in October 1972. The Commission met from November 9, 1971 and June 16, 1977, and following the close of its office closed on June 30, 1977, DPED was again chosen by Governor Ariyoshi to handle any remaining Bicentennial business.

Early in 1913 the Hilo Board of Trade, uncertain that Hawaii County revenues were properly collected and spent, hired an accountant to examine the County’s financial records and produce a report of its findings. A complete and detailed audit was recommended. The Board of Trade requested the Hawaii County Board of Supervisors perform a thorough audit at County expense. The Board of Supervisors rejected the request.

The Board of Trade appealed to the Senate Hold Over Committee on Ways and Means of the 1911 Territorial Legislature to authorize the Audit Company of Hawaii, Ltd. to conduct an examination of County Auditor and Treasurer financial records. Though the audit was not exhaustive, it was found that warrants were issued in excess of seventy-one thousand dollars without authorization from the Board of Supervisors. Charles K. Maguire, County Auditor from 1905 until 1913, admitted embezzling more than twenty-seven thousand dollars.

These disclosures resulted in the passage of Act 42 (Session Laws 1913) by the Territorial Legislature, charging the Governor to appoint a Commission to investigate financial mismanagement in Hawaii County. Governor Walter F. Frear created the Hawaii County Investigation Commission on March 28, 1913. The three-member Commission was authorized to 1) audit the financial transactions of the County of Hawaii since its formation as a county in 1905; 2) probe allegations of embezzlement and misappropriation of County funds by County officials; 3) identify public officials, private businesses or individuals who embezzled or misappropriated County funds. Lastly, the Commissions findings and recommendations would be summarized in a Report to the Governor.

Governor Frear appointed Harold B. Elliot, William Williamson and Elia A.C. Long as the three-member Commission on April 8, 1913. The Commissioners designated Elliot as Chairman, Williamson as Disbursing Officer, and Long as Secretary. In addition, R.W. Breckons was retained as attorney, B.K. Dwight as stenographer and H. Gooding Field as auditor.

On April 18, 1921, Governor C.J. McCarthy called a conference of local business men to discuss labor conditions, the numerically preponderant Japanese, and the desire of several groups to import Chinese labor. A message outlining the situation was sent to the Legislature with a recommended bill establishing the Emergency Labor Commission. The bill was introduced in the Senate as S.B. 128 and subsequently passed by both houses and approved on April 27, 1921. It provided $15,000 from general revenue to establish and maintain a Commission of three men appointed by the Governor, one as Chairman. The Commission was to proceed to Washington and present House Concurrent Resolution No, 38 authorizing the President to declare a labor emergency and to import 50,000. Chinese laborers for work in the sugar fields, same to be under the Department of Labor. Walter F. Dillingham was appointed as Chairman, Charles F. Chillingworth and Albert Horner as members. C.F. Weeber was hired as Secretary, E.P. Irwin as writer on the Japanese, and after June 17, Edgar Henriques as Special Agent to conduct the community campaign in the Territory.

Conference with cabinet officials and others resulted in a changed bill, J.R. 158, introduced by Delegate Kalanianaole on June 29, 1921. Hearings were held before the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization on June 21, 1921. Objections to this bill led to the substitution of J.R. 171 by the House Committee and the hearings were closed. Sen. J.R. 82 (identical with J.R. 171) was introduced by William P. Dillingham of Vermont on July 8, and referred to the Senate Committee on Immigration. Public hearings before the House Committee were reopened from July 22 to August 12 and Senate Committee hearings held on August 13 and 18. A one-month recess by Congress and objection from the State Department because of the impending conference on limitation of armaments deferred the work of the Emergency Labor Commission until after adjournment. Its members returned to Honolulu in October, leaving Secretary Weeber in Washington. In February 1922, Chairman Dillingham returned to Washington for conferences with government, civic and labor leaders, A final hearing was held on June 7, 1922, but the Senate Committee advised waiting until December because of opposition from the American Federation of Labor. Governor Farrington then asked the Government to send a special commission to investigate the Hawaiian situation. The Department of Labor sent one of its men, Paul Scharrenberg, and four A.F.L. men to evaluate conditions. The Committee's report was never made public, but the question of alien domination was referred to Congress for action. House Report No. 1717. 67th Congress, 4th Session, favored passage of J.R. 171, but the bill was never passed, On March 29, 1923, the Territorial Legislature approved Act 18 which authorized payment of $30,000 to cover Commission expenses and those of the Commission sent from Washington. Lobbying continued, but by 1924 the efforts of the Labor Commission were diffused and absorbed by activity on behalf of other types of legislation. No specific date for its dissolution appears in the files.

The establishment of the Hawaii Equal Rights Commission was authorized by Act 212 (S.L.H. 1935) to compile and disseminate information to support equal political rights for Hawaii, prevent discriminatory federal legislation, assist in obtaining amendments to the Organic Act, and make a study of statehood and the advisability of submitting the issue to plebiscite. Similar functions had previously been performed by various legislative commissions (1919, 1921, 1923, 1925, and 1932); the Legislative Commission of 1932 had recommended that the legislature act to have the people of Hawaii correctly represented before the mainland reading public.

The commission was to be composed of five members, four appointed by the governor, with the governor presiding as ex-officio chairman. A provision, deleted in 1939, permitted the appointment of members of the legislature. The commission was empowered to employ an executive secretary. On September 2, 1935 Governor Poindexter appointed Lawrence M. Judd, Victor S. K. Houston, James L. Coke and Louis S. Cain as commissioners. In order to prepare for the anticipated visit of the Joint Congressional Committee on Hawaii in October, John Snell was hired as executive secretary in June, 1937.

The Hawaii Equal Rights Commission was primarily engaged in informing the people on the mainland about Hawaii. For the information of the members of the Joint Congressional Committee, a pamphlet "Hawaii Integral Part of the United States of America" was prepared. Also compiled and distributed were "Statehood for Hawaii and the Visit to the Islands of the 1937 Joint Congressional Committee on Hawaii" (1937) and "Legislative Action Relating to Statehood and Equal Rights for Hawaii, Sessions 1903-1937" (1938). Among other activities, at the request of Governor Poindexter the commission prepared a series of formulae for the reapportionment of the legislature in accordance with the recommendation of the 1937 Joint Congressional Committee. It sponsored a bill (Act 243) to conduct a plebiscite on the statehood issue with the general election in 1940. Routine activities were: writing letters to editors of mainland publications, commending favorable articles or correcting misconceptions about Hawaii, and furnishing material for speakers.

In 1939 (Act 218) the Hawaii Equal Rights Commission was re-authorized with the same number of members to serve for staggered terms. The dissemination of information was consolidated in a bureau of information which was to function under the supervision of the executive secretary. As soon as practicable the governor was mandated to appoint a new commission; on July 15, 1939, Acting Governor Charles M. Hite reappointed Louis S. Cain, Victor S. K. Houston, and James L. Coke.

In 1941 a bill (H.B. 62) was introduced in the legislature that would create a statehood commission, but was defeated in the Senate on the recommendation that the Equal Rights Commission be continued with the added powers necessary to effectuate H.B. 62. In the special session of the legislature that year, the Equal Rights Commission Act was so amended. The membership of the commission was expanded to seven, five to be appointed by the governor for staggered terms and the governor and delegate to congress to serve as ex-officio members. Act 90 stipulated that the members be known supporters of statehood and that the commission compile and disseminate material intended to support the granting of statehood to Hawaii. The commission was to assist any bona fide citizens' organization formed to further the statehood movement.

A new commission was not appointed, however, until September 1942. When John Snell, executive secretary, became deputy war bonds administrator in July 1941, routine activities were performed by a clerk until January 1942. Thereafter the commission was without a staff until John Snell was reappointed executive secretary in June 1942. In September 1942, Marguerite K. Ashford, Joseph R. Farrington, Lester Petrie, and Arthur Trask were appointed commissioners. Delegate King, however, refused his commission on the grounds that it violated the Organic Act. In November, Riley H. Allen, succeeding Joseph Farrington (elected delegate to congress), and A. G. M. Robertson were appointed; Fred Patterson was appointed in April 1944, succeeding Lester Petrie whose appointment was not confirmed by the Senate.

The bombing of Pearl Harbor resulted in the printing of rumors of sabotage and fifth-column activities in the mainland press, so when the commission resumed its activities, the necessity of establishing a branch office on the mainland in order to correct the gross misrepresentation was discussed. In December 1942, the commission approved a plan to establish a bureau of information in Washington, D. C. under the supervision of the executive secretary and cooperating with the offices of the delegate. In January 1948 John Snell was sent to Washington to establish the office, and in March, John B. Terry was hired as the Washington representative. The Washington representative was to be the source of authentic information about Hawaii by answering inquiries or issuing press releases concerning the civilian war effort, but before the office made much headway, appropriations for its operations were cut off.

The Honolulu office, under Mrs. Clara West, prepared press releases, compiled "Civilian Hawaii at War," and a history of Provost Courts in Hawaii during the year following the outbreak of the war.

In 1943, the legislature, by House Bill 300, sought to include members of the legislature on the Equal Rights Commission. By a rider attached to the general appropriations act, funds for the general expenses of the commission were eliminated when H.B. 300 did not become law. This reduction in operating funds necessitated the termination of the Washington bureau. The legislature, again in 1945, attempted to make certain members of the legislature members of the commission (H.B. 130). The measure died by pocket veto, nullifying the entire appropriation for the 1945-1947 biennium. Thereafter, the commission was forced to release its staff.

The drive for statehood was renewed with the introduction of a new statehood bill in the Seventy-ninth Congress in June 1945. When a subcommittee of the House Committee on Territories conducted investigations in Hawaii in January 1946, the Hawaii Equal Rights Commission, led by A. G. M. Robertson as chief counsel, presented the case for statehood. Spurred by favorable comments and optimistic of the passage of the bill, legislative pressure mounted for the calling of a special session to create a statehood commission to mobilize mainland support for immediate statehood. At a meeting on January 25, 1946 the Equal Rights Commission urged a publicity drive, financed by contributions from friends of statehood, to marshal local support for statehood; but awaited word from Governor who was to consult congressional leaders.

Following the receipt of a letter from Governor Stainback in February, suggesting the organization of a citizens' committee to enlist mainland support for the statehood movement, the Equal Rights Commission approved such a plan, and authorized Acting Governor Corbett to consider means of financing the program. The committee would be separate from the Equal Rights Commission which would merely organize the group. Circular letters were sent to all organizations in the Territory inviting their cooperation.

On May 10, 1946, by executive order, Governor Stainback set up the Citizens' Statehood Committee, and appropriated $10,000 from the Governor's Contingent Fund. The committee was divided into five sections: legislative section composed of all members of the Twenty-third Legislature; Equal Rights Commission section, of members of the Equal Rights Commission; county government section, of the mayor of the City and County of Honolulu and chairman of the Board of Supervisors of the counties; the organizations section, of persons nominated by various organizations; the individual citizens section, of individual citizens of the several counties. The Citizens' Statehood Committee was to be headed by a fifteen-member executive board, with the governor as chairman. The governor had the authority to appoint an executive secretary. The committee would serve in an advisory capacity, and was to be dissolved at the next session of the legislature.

The following members were appointed to the Executive Board: Senator Eugene Capellas, M. B. Carson, William H. Heen, Representative Charles Kauhane, A. T. Longley, Mrs. Harriet Magoon, Representative A. Q. Marcalleno, Katsuro Miho, Representative Manuel Paschoal, Fred Patterson, Senator Harold W. Rice, A. G. M. Robertson, David Trask, Farrant L. Turner, and Roy A. Vitousek.

At the first meeting of the executive board on May 18, A. G. M. Robertson was elected vice-chairman; George McLane was hired as temporary executive secretary, and Roy A. Vitousek and David Trask were named to a special committee to assist the executive secretary in formulating a plan of action. The board also voted to contact Delegate Farrington to ascertain his views on any necessary action.

In June, a sub-committee, chaired by Senator Heen, was appointed to prepare and formulate a national campaign. The program, approved in September, included opening an office in Washington, preparation of an official statehood handbook, and retaining a public relations counsel.

Another sub-committee, chaired by Judge Robertson, was empowered to revise H. R. 3643 and develop an enabling act to be introduced in the next session of Congress. It was approved in December 1946.

With the convening of a new congress and hopeful of the immediate passage of the statehood bill, in December 1946, the Citizens' Statehood Committee, under George McLane, opened an office in Washington. The opening of such office was discussed at the first meeting of the executive board and was urged by Delegate Farrington. In February, the Washington office issued the first of a series of newsletters.

By the governor' s action in December, and approved by the Hawaii Equal Rights Commission in January, the staff of the Citizens' Statehood Committee was transferred to the Equal Rights Commission in order to make disbursements legal. For publicity purposes, the paid staff continued to use the name of Citizens' Statehood Committee.

The Hawaii Equal Rights Commission was abolished on July 1, 1947, pursuant to Act 115 (S.L.H. 1947) which authorized the creation of the Hawaii Statehood Commission. All records, personnel and contracts of the Hawaii Equal Rights Commission were transferred to the Hawaii Statehood Commission with power to complete unfinished business.

The Hawaii Information Network Corporation (HAWAII INC) was established by Act 1, Special Session Laws of Hawaii, 1988.

In 1990, the marketing and networking advisory councils were established (Section 206-P, Hawaii Revised Statutes).

In 1991, the corporation unveiled Hawaii FYI, a state-operated network which allowed people with personal computers or videotext terminals to electronically access a wide range of information products and services. Access to information on the network was generally free. Yo! FYI Raps and Interact (chat services) were fee-based subscription services. Information providers were assessed usage, billing services, annual service, modem leasing and other fees.

In 1993 and 1994 the corporation hosted conferences with internationally prominent speakers and local experts who presented new technological developments and ideas. In 1994 and 1995, HAWAII INC assisted Bank of Hawaii in the development of a financial online service. It also provided access to state government information such as news releases from the Office of the Governor, water quality reports, a bulletin board service for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, the driver's license renewal test, voter information, the Hawaii State Public Library online catalog and hours of operations, legislative information, and the University of Hawaii Library online catalog.

The corporation received two awards for developing Hawaii FYI, the Award for Outstanding Achievement presented by the National Association of State Information Resource Executives, and a Certificate of Recognition presented at the Southwest Regional Government Technology Conference.

HAWAII INC ceased operations on June 30, 1995 due to budget cuts. Its function to provide access to public information was transferred to the Information and Communications Division (ICSD) of the Department of Accounting and General Services.