Island hula teacher Howell K. "Chinky" Mahoe Jr. pleaded no contest yesterday to five felony counts of sexual assault involving charges that he fondled four of his young male dancers. Hula teacher Mahoe
pleads ‘no contest’He also pleaded no contest to a sixth misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault charge.
Mahoe, 42, will be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. March 4 and could be imprisoned for a maximum of 26 years.
City Deputy Prosecutor Darryl Wong said after yesterday's brief court session that he was very pleased with Mahoe's decision to change his plea.
Wong said the episode has been difficult for "both the boys and the families who were alienated for coming forth."
The boys, all members of Mahoe's hula troupe in Kailua, were between the ages of 9 and 14 when the six incidents occurred between 1994 to 1996, Wong said.
A 51-year-old Kalihi man is in police custody today after the early morning shooting death of his daughter's boyfriend. Kalihi man held
in fatal shootingThe suspect's wife, Adelina Regasa, said her family had a temporary restraining order against the boyfriend, who was in his mid-20s.
She said the man had threatened to kill her daughter and family, and even after the restraining order was issued, repeatedly tried to contact the daughter.
Early this morning, Regasa woke up and heard her daughter screaming.
She said she rushed to the back part of the family's Kahanu Street home and found her husband, her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend.
Regasa said her husband told her to call police, because he had shot the boyfriend.
Police said the man, who was shot at 1:18 a.m., was taken to St. Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
A new State Child Health Insurance Program will offer health insurance for children who fall outside Medicaid and other insurance coverage. Health insurance plan
for children offered by stateHawaii is to receive from $9 million to $11 million in federal funds for children's health care under the comprehensive Balanced Budget Bill signed Aug. 5 by President Clinton.
The bill authorizes $23.4 million in grants to states to provide health coverage for about 3.4 million children nationwide, many of whom were uninsured. Costs will be partially offset by an increase in cigarette taxes.
The new setup has nothing to do with the old State Health Insurance Program, which served gap group people who were not qualified for Medicaid but couldn't afford private health insurance, said Beth Giesting, executive director of the Hawaii State Primary Care Association.
The QUEST program, which took over from the health insurance program, provides coverage for low-income "children, but it's basically for families who qualify for Medicaid," Giesting said."There are a lot of families that don't have very much income who still don't qualify for the Medicaid program," she said.
The new program will take care of children from families whose income is about twice the poverty income level as determined by federal guidelines, she said. Right now, most children whose family income is 33 percent above the poverty line don't qualify for QUEST, Giesting said.
A family of four living on $15,569 or less a year is considered at the poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The chest pains and swelling in her thighs still plague Pearl Noveras, three months after she stopped taking weight-loss pills prescribed by her doctor. Isle pharmacies pull
pair of diet drugsShe believes the symptoms, including constant headaches, lightheadedness, excessive fatigue and a recently diagnosed heart murmur may have been caused by one or a combination of three diet pills she has been taking since December 1995.
Yesterday, the federal Food and Drug Administration asked for the voluntary removal of dexfenfluramine, marketed as Redux, and fenfluramine, marketed as Pondimin, from pharmacy shelves after more reports surfaced linking the drugs to damage of the heart valves.
Fenfluramine is half of the popular combination called fen-phen, an appetite suppressant used by millions of people to lose weight. The recall does not affect phentermine, the other half of fen-phen.
Wyeth-Ayerst, which distributes Redux and whose parent company manufactures Pondimin, has agreed to stop withdraw the drugs.
The state Health Department yesterday asked local pharmacies to pull the diet drugs off pharmacy shelves and expected no compliance problems, spokesman Patrick Johnson said. "Because of the seriousness of the problem and fact that it's received widespread media coverage, we don't anticipate a lot of resistance with the voluntary recall. The pharmacies recognize it's in their best interest to remove the product from shelves."
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffOCEAN VIEW, Hawaii -- A 12-year-old girl died and three other people were injured when a pickup truck they were riding in overturned in rural Ocean View subdivision 40 miles south of Kailua-Kona yesterday, police said. Girl killed, 3 injured
in Big Island accidentThe victim, Natasha Watai of Ocean View, had been riding in the back of the truck when the driver lost control going downhill on Outrigger Drive about 6:49 a.m.
The driver, Esminia Kanoeau, 53, of Ocean View was taken to Kona Hospital in satisfactory condition.
Her daughter Cindy, 13, a passenger in the cab, and Watai's sister, Mililani, 14, riding in the back, were also treated at the hospital and then released.
Since Ocean View roads are private, Natasha Watai's death will not be included in the year's traffic fatality count.
WAILUKU --A team of six pig hunters helped to find four youths yesterday deep in the Waikamoi watershed in east Maui. Pig hunters help find
four youths on MauiThe youths, ages 14 to 20, were reported missing Sunday after failing to return from a pig hunting trip.
Assistant Fire Chief Clayton Ishikawa said the youths were found in dense forest at about 10:15 a.m. yesterday about three to four miles above the end of Olinda Road.
"I think they were tired, probably got disoriented," Ishikawa said.
He said the six pig hunters who guided fire rescue workers through the forest were Ed Ramos, Michael Lucas, Aaron Pacheco, Gundy Dancil, Troy Hunter and David Medeiros.
