Newswatch
"This is not being vindictive," Cayetano said yesterday, explaining his decision to side with friend Toguchi. "I accepted (Toguchi's) recommendation because I can't afford to have people on the same team who don't respect each other and can't get along."
Woo, spokesman for former city prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, had expected to stay on staff when Kaneshiro became the state Director of Public Safety.
The dispute started after the 1982 elections, when then-state Sen. Toguchi said Woo, then a KGMB-TV reporter, broadcast a false story about him being investigated by the Hawaii Republican Party for voter fraud.
Woo denied the allegations.
Cayetano said: "Charles Toguchi, my chief of staff, my close friend, a man with whom I've been friends for more than 20 years, who I respect, who has the greatest deal of integrity, believes that Doug Woo should not be hired. It was the first time I'd ever seen Charles Toguchi feel that strongly about someone."
So Cayetano stood by his man.
"It was a very quick decision. I looked at Charlie, I (heard) the conviction in his voice, I knew that he was sincere about what he meant and what he felt. And as far as I'm concerned, that was good enough for me."
Cayetano said if it weren't for the differences between Woo and Toguchi, he would have offered Woo a job.
"I like Doug Woo. I respect Doug Woo. I wish Doug well and he's a good man."
The growers say the hoax resulted in wholesale distribution of mislabeled Central American beans as "kona coffee."
The growers, all relatively small operators, refer to the Oct. 24, 1996, indictment of California distributor Michael Norton in Oakland on wire fraud and money laundering counts in a scheme to distribute 3.5 million pounds of bogus kona coffee nationwide from 1987 to 1996. Norton owns Kona Kai Coffee, which is being sued along with prime coffee distributors such as Starbucks, Gloria Jeans and Nestle Beverage.
It's alleged that Norton worked a scam that cost consumers from $50 million to $75 million and that he pocketed $5 million in illegal profits.
Kona coffee sells for $6 to $8 a pound wholesale, while beans from Costa Rica and Panama cost less than $2 a pound. Norton allegedly fraudulently sold these Central American beans at the higher prices as fake kona coffee.
Three law firms filed the Kona growers' suit in federal court here yesterday. The firms are Honolulu-based Davis Levin Livingston Grande, and Price Okamoto Himeno & Lum; and Milbert Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach of San Diego.
The suit calls for a judgment that the alleged false designation of the coffee's geographical origin be found in violation of federal and Hawaii law; that the growers recover triple damages determined to have been sustained with interest plus court costs; and additional relief as is determined just and proper.
Roughly $107 million in UH budget cuts the past eight years have affected not only positions but also the upkeep of campus facilities statewide, Mortimer told the Senate Ways and Means Committee yesterday.
With $16 million a year needed to maintain buildings - such as Manoa's Pacific Ocean Science and Technology building and Windward Community College's Community Services building - the continued "under-investment" in facilities jeopardizes the university's ability to meet the needs of students and faculty, Mortimer said.
Over the long run, he said, this deterioration will undermine the UH's institutional mission.
"Among the most serious and perhaps least-recognized problems the university currently faces is the deteriorating condition of its physical plant on all campuses," he said.
Last year, the state Legislature approved $2 million in capital improvement funds for the UH to modernize and improve classrooms.
Still, UH officials warn there are numerous other repair, renovation and maintenance projects that need attention. For example, buildings at Leeward Community College are more than 25 years old and need to be repaired.
The Hawaii State Teachers Association's Board of Directors meets at 6:30 p.m. at HSTA headquarters. HSTA spokeswoman Danielle Lum said the meeting would likely last until about 11 p.m and results would be available tomorrow.
"It's going to be a gut-wrenching decision," Lum said, but she refused to predict the outcome.
If a majority of board members vote "yes" tonight, that would authorize the entire membership to vote on whether to strike. If it does eventually vote to strike, the union must give 10 days notice before walking out.
Public school teachers have been working without a new contract since June 1995. The union seeks a 14 percent pay hike over two years.
An unconfirmed report circulated yesterday that Gov. Ben Cayetano had offered teachers a 13 percent pay increase over four years, retroactive to 1995. It reportedly offered 2 percent raises each in 1995 and 1996, 7 percent in 1997 and 2 percent in 1998.
Cayetano spokeswoman Kathleen Racuya-Markrich would confirm only that an informal deal was offered.
He suffered head injuries and was flown to Tripler Hospital after the driver of the private vehicle took him to Wahiawa General Hospital.
The driver apparently decided to take a shortcut onto a dirt road off Kamehameha Highway somewhere between Haleiwa and Helemano Plantation when the Jeep hit a bump, traffic investigators said.
The victim, a rear seat passenger, was thrown out of the open Jeep. He apparently was not wearing a seat belt, police said.
The driver and the front-seat passenger were not injured.
Traffic investigators last night couldn't find the location of the accident and were expected to return to the area at daybreak today.
Lt. Gordon Isoda said they tried to telephone the families yesterday, but are waiting for some of those they attempted to notify to return the calls.
They have still to make arrangements for family members to identify the bodies.
The three unidentified victims were in a vehicle with Tibor Jesze, who Isoda said appears to be about 30.
Police have been unable to talk with Jesze, who remains critically injured in Wilcox Hospital's intensive care unit, or to find a permanent address for him.
None of the four is believed to be from Kauai, however.
The car carrying them was struck head-on at 10 p.m. Tuesday when a vehicle driven by Arnel Cacal, 29, of Kekaha, crossed the center line of Kaumualii Highway. Cacal and the others died at the scene.
Isoda said police requested full toxicology reports on the four who died in the crash and it likely will be at least a week before the results are back.
"Fighting crime is the number one priority of my administration, and I want to make sure that we have plenty of community support as we ask the Legislature to pass important crime fighting measures in our new Safe Streets package," Harris said.
The mayor said community policing efforts are critical in fighting crime and drugs in neighborhoods.