Newswatch
The City Council's Policy Committee deferred action on Sharon Black's allegations against Joseph Aveiro, assistant chief of the Special Field Operations Bureau, who retired in December.
"It was a fact-finding session, and we weren't comfortable with the facts we had," Committee Chairman Jon Yoshimura said, referring to Tuesday's closed-door session.
The case will be reviewed again either at next month's meeting or at a special executive session, Yoshimura added.
The city must decide whether it wants to fight the allegations in court or settle.
Last December, the City Council awarded $1.1 million to former police officer Clarissa Barta, who said she was sexually harassed by nine colleagues.
Attorney Michael Tanoue, who was hired by the city to mediate the Black case, and Police Chief Michael Nakamura appeared before the committee Tuesday.
As the Police Department's Project Outreach coordinator, Black assists patrol officers in dealing with mentally ill or homeless people. Aveiro was her supervisor.
Black reportedly has tapes of assault and harassment incidents.
Senior Airman Andre Taylor, 23, was named by Hickam Senior Airman Bryan Harris, who had been accused of raping another man. In exchange for a lighter sentence, Harris provided the names of 17 men with whom he said he had engaged in consensual sex.
Taylor, a fuel management specialist with Hickam's 15th Supply Squadron, said: "Harris was the root cause of all of this."
Had it not been for Harris' pretrial agreement, Taylor believes the Air Force would have never been interested in his sexual orientation. "Now my discharge form says I was kicked out because of homosexual conduct," Taylor said in a telephone interview.
While Hickam investigators never asked him about his sexual orientation, which would have been a direct violation of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Taylor said they asked him if he knew the definition of sodomy.
"That's all," said Taylor, who declined to say if he was gay. "I never made any statements to the military nor was I asked any other questions."
Harris said the plan is appalling because "it's been the counties who are doing all the cutbacks, biting the bullet and getting efficient."
Key state money officials responded that the city is overstating the effects, overlooking windfalls in other areas and ignoring the need for the money to pay for the convention center.
The House Finance Committee on Tuesday passed legislation introduced by the Cayetano administration authorizing a cap on the amount of transient accommodations taxes divvied up by the four counties.
Harris announced in January that all property owners would be paying the same taxes they did last year because the city would set aside last year's assessments.
City officials were quick to squelch any talk of more taxes yesterday.
"We're determined not to raise taxes but we can't absorb another $12.8 million drop in our revenues, and the state is way out of line trying to pick our pockets," Harris said.
Budget Director Malcolm Tom said he doesn't even want to think about whether the city would need to raise property taxes.
Identified by the Army's Central Identification Laboratory were Marine Capt. William Clay III of Henderson, N.C., and Navy Cmdr. Roger G. Emrich of Miami.
Clay was listed as missing on April 12, 1967, after the A-4E Skyhawk he was piloting was hit by enemy fire and exploded during a South Vietnam mission.
Emrich, a radar intercept officer, was on a combat air patrol mission over North Vietnam when missiles shot down his F-4B Phantom on Nov. 17, 1967.
The names and hometowns of the three Army servicemen were withheld at the request of family members.
The incident allegedly stemmed from a quarrel over money, police said.
The two allegedly are in business together.
The suspect located his cousin, a 38-year-old Waipahu man, at the Waipahu Recreation Center around 7 p.m. and ordered him into his car at gunpoint, police said. He drove the older man to Waipio Point Access Road and ordered him out of the car, saying he was going to kill him. The two struggled over the gun, and the older man wrested it away before fleeing to a nearby home to summon help.