Happy leap-birthday

Kihei resident, 96 years on Earth, celebrates 24th birthday today

A Kihei resident, who has lived 96 years but is celebrating his 24th birthday today, is one of only about 4 million leaplings worldwide.

Feb. 29, leap day, comes every four years. It's the day Lloyd Stephen Riford Jr. was born back in 1924 in New York.

But when it's not a leap year, which day do leap year babies celebrate -- Feb. 28 or March 1?

"When I was a little kid, we always celebrated on the last day of the month, or whichever the weekend landed on," Riford said Wednesday in a phone interview. "When I got older, we ignored it. It saved a lot of bother."

The Gregorian Calendar is designed to sync with the Earth's rotations around the sun. Since it takes a little over 365 days to complete a full orbit, over time the calendar days won't match up. Adding a leap day -- Feb. 29 -- every fourth year keeps everything aligned.

Riford served as a defender of leaplings' rights while a New York state senator from 1983 to 1986. The issue was raising the legal drinking age from 18 to 21.

The first draft of the bill said that alcohol could not be purchased or consumed until the individual's 21st birthday.

"I pointed out that that discriminated against people born on Feb. 29 because they may not reach their 21st birthday until they've aged biologically 84 years, so they changed the language of the bill to say '21 years of age,' '' he said.

In the late 1980s, Riford moved to Maui but ran into a problem while getting a new driver's license.

"That computer knew that there was no Feb. 29th, so we had an awful time," he said. "They had to call Honolulu, and I don't know what they had to do there, but it took a long time to get it straightened out."

According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, the chances of being born on a leap day is about 1 in 1,500.

Having a leap day birthday "always drew a lot of attention," Riford said.

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.