Our little city of Italy is truly a very pretty place to live. Everything is kept clean and looking good. But what everyone probably does not know is that a big part of the reason for our city being so clean and pretty is Lou Martina.

Lou Martina can be seen at around 5:30 am every morning except on Saturday in his red pick up truck downtown Italy sweeping streets and picking up trash. If you see him out in town working he always has a wave and a smile headed your way.

Lou Martina is eighty-two years old and a World War II veteran. Lou served as a member of the Seabeas. The Seabees is the Navy Construction Battalion branch of the military service. As part of their job they hopped from island to island during the time of World War II building bases, paving roads and building air strips. Lou was a welder for the Seabees for about two years and remembers traveling to Port Waianae Island of Oahu of the pacific coast to build a landing strip. “After the war my duty was to fix anything that needed to be fixed,” explained Lou smilingly.

Martina has been working for the city for seven years now and when asked why he does this, he replied, “I love Italy, it is a great place to live. If I want the city to stay clean, instead of complaining, I help keep it that way. Mayor Jackson is a jewel to work for, the whole city staff is great.”