Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Monday, September 8, 1997

Kaimuki recovery home
for prostitutes may close

Crystal began selling her body on the streets of Honolulu when she was 13. She begged God to take her life every day before coming to the Hale.

After 14 months at the Hale Ho'omaka Na Wahine, the only transitional home for recovering prostitutes in Hawaii, Crystal has a new prayer.

"Now the first thing I do each morning is thank God for my life," Crystal said. "They believed in me here. That's made the difference."

Today, Crystal is an executive assistant in a high-profile corporation and is attending college. Still, she wonders what will happen to her without the Hale.

The life-transforming program that has helped people like Crystal since 1991 is shutting down at the end of the year due to lack of funds.

The Rev. Pam Vessels, Hale founder, said it would take $100,000 to keep the 2,000-square-foot home in Kaimuki open to women who want to escape prostitution. It's unlikely the money will come, but "we see miracles in our home every day," she said.

Vessels said the economic climate has made it difficult for nonprofits to keep operating.

Kauai cop firing by chief
illegal, arbitrator says

LIHUE -- The Kauai Police Department's discipline policies don't allow the chief's firing last year of a police sergeant who was supervising officers when an exotic dancer was sexually fondled and photographed at the Lihue police station, an arbitrator's report says.

Oahu arbitrator Andrew Winer in July ordered the reinstatement of Melvin Rapozo, who was among three officers fired after the September 1995 incident. Two others resigned.

In his report, which was recently released, Winer concluded that the department did not have "just and proper cause" to terminate Rapozo and ordered him reinstated at a lower rank and without back pay for the 393 days he was off work.

Rapozo, who owns a private detective agency in Lihue, said he doesn't know whether he will return to the Police Department. He appealed the demotion in court and is awaiting a ruling.

Hawaii ranks high in
new transportation plan

WASHINGTON -- Hawaii would remain among the most well-funded states in the nation under a long-awaited new formula for distributing federal transportation money unveiled last week by the House Transportation Committee.

Under the new formula, Hawaii would slip from second to third in the nation in the amount of transportation money it receives compared to the highway taxes it pays.

The state, due to receive $107 million this year, would receive $108 million next year.

The following year, Hawaii would receive $119 million, and the state would receive $132 million the year after that.

Although the three-year total is about $7 million less than the state would have been allotted under the current formula, making Hawaii one of only three states where the increase is lower, at least one isle lawmaker was pleased.

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Police/Fire


By Star-Bulletin staff

'Suspicious' fire ruins
electric company office

Firefighters on the Big Island said a suspicious blaze destroyed the Honokaa office of Enserch Development Corp. last night.

When firefighters arrived on the scene at 7:20, they found the wooden building at the former Haina Mill camp engulfed in flames. There was no water source available, so tankers had to bring water from Waimea and South Kohala.

A fire inspector was expected at the scene this morning. A fire department report described the origin of the fire as "suspicious and under investigation."

Enserch was building an electrical generating operation at the old Hamakua Sugar site after waging a battle for the right to sell electricity.

Last year, the Public Utilities Commission ordered Hawaii Electric Light Co. to work with Enserch in the production of electricity. A tentative agreement between the two companies was reached earlier this year.

Man, 31, and boy, 17,
suspected of break-in

Police are seeking to charge a 31-year-old man and 17-year-old boy in connection with a robbery and burglary that occurred yesterday at a Makakilo residence.

The two suspects allegedly forced their way into a Panana Street residence shortly before 2 p.m. and used a knife to break into a locked bedroom.

The suspects fled with property taken from the home, police said.

Both suspects were arrested later in the day.

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