Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Saturday, March 15, 1997

A daytime burglary ring made up of eight or nine teen-agers and young adults has been on a tear since January, targeting Ala Hapuu and Ala Ilima area homes and condominium units in Salt Lake, police said.

"It's frightening, especially for the older people," said Grant Tanimoto, chairman of the Aliamanu/Salt Lake/Foster Village Neighborhood Board.

"Some victims have told us they feel like they're under surveillance in their own homes because kids who live in the same condominium appear to be watching (their movements)," he added. "To me, that's a scary thing."

Through fingerprints recovered at different burglary scenes, police have been able to identify at least six juvenile suspects, ages 14 to 16.

"We can tie them into 12 to 15 cases, but we think they've done more," said police Lt. Thomas Nitta, head of the Kalihi burglary/theft detail.

The ring may be responsible for more than half of the estimated 40 burglaries that have been reported in the area since late December, Nitta said. Police have worked out problems they've encountered with the juvenile-charging criteria, he said.

"The ring is still operating, but we're closing in," Nitta said. "We have them identified, and they are going to be prosecuted at some point.

"Until we catch them, we're asking neighbors to watch out for each other," he added.

Numbers from the February sweeps show the Fox affiliate maintaining its longtime hold on the 6 and 10 p.m. news slots and also taking top ratings in local morning news and in its two hours of prime time.

ABC affiliate KITV-4 took top honors at 5 p.m. for news programming followed by KGMB, the CBS affiliate, grabbing second place just ahead of NBC affiliate KHNL. (KHON does not broadcast news at 5 p.m.)

KITV-4 also took first in the 5:30 p.m. news slot with the network's national newscast with Peter Jennings, followed by KHON with Moore, KGMB with Dan Rather and KHNL with Tom Brokaw.

Most surprising in the just released ratings-share scores, however, was the Fox station's top ranking in "common prime" - weekdays from 7 to 9 p.m. - the only two hours Fox competes with the other networks in prime time. KHON took a 10 rating, 17 share, edging the local NBC affiliate's 9-16 ratings-share. For normal prime time viewership - from 7 to 10 p.m. - KHON tied KHNL for No. 1 with a 10-17.

"We're happily surprised at the common prime time numbers," said Robert Pennybacker, KHON's promotions director. "Those numbers run against the common perception that Fox is not a player with the other networks."

Gov. Ben Cayetano was mulling withdrawal of the controversial nomination yesterday and planned to confer with Pai soon.

"The governor is considering the Senate's request," Cayetano spokeswoman Kathleen Racuya Markrich said yesterday afternoon. "He understands where the Senate is coming from. He needs to speak with Greg Pai before he decides."

Senate leaders have threatened to vote down the nomination on the Senate floor.

They are concerned that the Senate's constitutional advise-and-consent powers over gubernatorial appointments appear to have been usurped in Pai's case, said Sen. Rosalyn Baker, co-chairwoman of the Consumer Protection Committee, to which Pai's nomination had been referred.

The focus is on the constitutional issue and not on Pai's qualifications to serve on the three-member panel that regulates public utility and transportation companies, she said.

The Senate plans to adopt a resolution that addresses the procedures when a governor makes and then withdraws a nomination and then gives the same person an interim appointment to the post, Baker said.

Cayetano named the former state planning director and bank economist to the PUC a year ago, but then withdrew the nomination in April after learning there was some Senate opposition to the appointment. Some senators expressed concern that Pai didn't have a telecommunications background.

After the 1996 legislative session, Cayetano gave Pai an interim appointment to the $70,000-a-year post.

In remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Malama Solomon questioned whether the interim appointment was constitutional after sending his name to the Senate and then withdrawing it.

Cayetano, meanwhile, questioned whether Solomon had another motive in her objection, suggesting it had to do with another senator wanting to get the PUC post.