Native Hawaiian leaders and the Waianae Neighborhood Board were to meet today with military brass and Gov. Ben Cayetano to discuss their opposition to Marines landing at Makua Beach next week. Makua maneuvers
being discussedCayetano and Adm. Joseph Prueher, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, scheduled today's meeting at Camp Smith after conferring for an hour yesterday.
Before yesterday's talk, Cayetano said he would ask Prueher and other military leaders to indefinitely postpone the exercise.
"I think the timing is not good," Cayetano said. "But in the end, the military will make its own decisions. They may have their own reasons as to why they want to go forward at this particular time."
The five-day exercise, which will begin Sept. 4, has five air-cushion landing craft hitting the beach with 590 Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Accompanying the Marines will be 17 light amphibious craft, 12 five-ton trucks, 35 Humvees and 12 amphibious assault vehicles.
The police union has raised questions about whether letting officers take an exam at different times might allow cheating. SHOPO: Exam procedure
may encourage cheatingThe State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers complained to the city personnel department that six officers were allowed to take a promotional exam either before or after the July 12 exam date.
More than 500 officers took the exam on the scheduled date. The exams offers officers a chance to become sergeants or lieutenants.
Police spokeswoman Jean Motoyama said if officers have been studying for the exam and a family emergency comes up, the department has in the past allowed those officers to reschedule the test.
"There are some things you cannot anticipate," Motoyama said. "There has been precedence set to allow those who have been on military or funeral leave to take the test at another time."
Motoyama and SHOPO attorney Michael Green agree that it appears as if no cheating has occurred.
Motoyama questioned what officers would gain by sharing the questions with those who may do better than them on the test.
Green said, "It's just the appearance of impropriety."
Joseph was not the father of Jesus. Judas Iscariot did not betray Jesus. Jesus did not come from a virgin birth. Read the Gospels as stories,
not as history, bishop saysThese ideas are found in Episcopal Bishop Jack Spong's most recent book, "Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes." He was scheduled to lecture from his book today in St. Andrew's Cathedral's Tenney Hall and will speak Sunday on Kauai at St. Thomas Church.
Spong, bishop of the Diocese of Newark, N.J., shocked the Christian world in 1988 with "Living in Sin," a book in which he argued that homosexuals and lesbians should not be excluded from priesthood.
He hopes that readers of his new book will "gain a new way to look at the Bible, from the intention of the writers."
Spong believes the Gospels should not be viewed as objective history. He thinks many of the New Testament stories are merely retold tales from the Old Testament.
The 66-year-old bishop said the Gospels were written in the Jewish tradition of "Midrash," a style commonly used by Jewish writers that retells another story. He noted that all authors of the New Testament were Jewish.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPolice suspect arson caused a fire at a Kunia Road horse ranch yesterday. Police suspect arson
at Kunia Road ranchPolice said witnesses saw three trucks speed away from a fire that damaged two buildings on the Kaluhiokalani Ranch yesterday shortly before 8 p.m.
Police said no humans or animals were injured in the blaze that caused $40,000 in damage to the contents and $5,000 in damages to the structures of two sheds.
Other Police/Fire items:
Foul play ruled out in death of Army man
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