By CHRIS HAMILTON Staff Writer
POSTED: June 22, 2008
KAUNAKAKAI — Officially, Mildred “Millie” Hirose’s last day on the job as a Molokai Lodge housekeeper was May 22, six weeks after the 60,000-acre ranch ceased all operations after losing a bitter public fight with residents over an ambitious luxury residential development project.
After 11 years at the Molokai Ranch resort, Hirose, 58, was among 120 residents on this island of 7,500 suddenly out of work.
“It’s been hard just staying home, being bored and keeping away from the stores,” Hirose said last week while sitting outside the Manila camp home she shares with her retired husband, Harry, and 21-year-old daughter, Jennifer.
“I wish I were working,” she said. “I need to because of the medical insurance and the money. . . . In my sleep, I just worry about how I’m going to pay for everything.”
Despite the ranch’s unexpected closure, overall unemployment rates on Molokai actually went down from 7 percent in January to.
..
Read More...
