"The next step is to get these documents in the public eye," said Gary Galiher in response to the Liggett Group agreement announced this week.
Hawaii attorney general Margery Bronster was with other states' attorneys at a news conference in Washington, D.C., yesterday to announce the terms of the Liggett settlement.
The smallest of the five major tobacco companies completed its defection from the rest of the industry yesterday, agreeing to settle lawsuits in 22 states and to help state prosecutors go after the nation's biggest cigarette manufacturers.
The settlement was seen as a historic turning point in the three-decade-long war on smoking in this country, the first step in changing the way cigarettes are sold and consumed. For the first time, a tobacco company has admitted that nicotine is addictive, that smoking causes cancer and that the industry targets young people.
Those admissions, together with thousands of pages of damning documents and the promised testimony of current and former employees, is expected to help both state and federal prosecutors bring the big tobacco companies to their knees.
"All they're selling is free-based nicotine," said Galiher, who was contracted to handle the case when the state filed a lawsuit in February against the manufacturers and their research and public relations arms.
"It should be regulated as a drug and they shouldn't be able to pander to children."
Many have predicted a peaceful transition of power to a "collective leadership" in China after the death last month of longtime leader Deng Xiaoping. But Wu said Chinese history shows that group leadership has never happened and that leaders kill to get to the top.
"The next five to 10 years are very pessimistic," Wu said last night in a talk sponsored by the University of Hawaii College of Continuing Education and Community Service.
"China today is facing a very critical situation.... At the top they are no longer able to rule the old way, and at the bottom they no longer accept the old way."
The controversial Wu, branded by the Chinese as a counterrevolutionary rightist, moved to the United States and became a naturalized citizen after he was released from prison in 1985.
The proposal was made in response to the committee's request to all state agencies to find ways to cut their budgets by 8 percent, said Karen Knudsen, Board of Education chairwoman.
Librarian Bart Kane sought response from librarians on how to deal with such a cut, she said. Geographic distribution and use of facilities was considered in determining which branches could be closed, she said.
"I don't think the entire community should be penalized because of a few bad apples," Harris said.
A bill banning alcohol at the Shell moved out of the Council Parks and Safety Committee on Wednesday and appears poised for final passage.
The victim, whose name was not released, was taken to Kona Hospital with a compound fracture of one leg, bruised ribs and multiple cuts and scrapes.
The department got word of what happened at 10:22 a.m. but needed two hours to reach Mauna Kea's summit.
The 21/2-mile-high altitude of the mountain prevented using a helicopter, so rescuers had to hike down to the victim using more than one-fourth mile of rope.
He was placed on a litter and dragged upslope by a winch attached to a rescue vehicle. From there he was driven down to Saddle Road where a helicopter took him to Kona.
He was booked at 12:15 a.m. for auto theft, kidnapping and a drug offense. The victim was with him.
His former girlfriend, 31, and her mother-
in-law were driving out of Pearl City Tow on Lehua Street just before noon yesterday as the suspect pulled in. He allegedly got out of his car, grabbed his ex-girlfriend and forced her into his car.
He was seen driving away in a gray four-door Buick.
- Parolee attempts to run over two
- Woman threatened with knife
- Police to set up checkpoints