Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Thursday, October 16, 1997

Assisted-death
policy advisers seek
the public’s input

If there's a balance to be struck between the sanctity of life and the right to end it, the governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Living and Dying with Dignity has yet to find it.

"I'm not sure we can get consensus," said panel Chairman Hideto Kono.

"Our goal is to find the best thing to recommend as policy. The issue of physician-assisted suicide is a very difficult one."

The panel, which is working to forge policy recommendations on euthanasia -- as well as pain management for the dying, hospice care, advance directives and addressing religious differences -- is touring the state to gather public feedback.

"At one time, dying was as natural as childbirth," noted registered nurse and Hemlock Hawaii President Andi Van der Voort during testimony before the panel yesterday at the State Capital auditorium.

"However, with the sophisticated machines and sophisticated miracle drugs we now have, a dying person can be kept breathing for days, sometimes months and years after the body wants to shut down," she said.

"Now, who is playing God in those instances? The medical community and those who govern them."

But others argued that sanctioned assisted suicide would disproportionately affect those with little or no voice: the poor, the elderly and minorities.

Daniel P. McGivern of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation cited the American Medical Association's opposition to physician-assisted suicide based on "the physician's role as a healer."

Sex offender arrested under registration law

A 44-year-old man is the first person in the state to be arrested for allegedly not complying with the new sex-offender registration law.

Gary Keith Story was arrested Tuesday for failing to register his new address with police. He was not charged by city prosecutors.

A convicted sex offender has three days to notify police of any change in address under the state's version of "Megan's Law." The law was named after 7-year-old Megan Kanka of New Jersey, who was raped and killed by a convicted child molester on parole.

Police said Story was convicted on Guam in 1985 for molesting a 4-year-old boy.

He received a 10-year sentence, moved to Hawaii on Sept. 25, 1996, and registered his address as Aikahi Street in Kaneohe.

Police recently arrested Story for terroristic threatening, and he gave police an Aulike Street address.

Lightning takes out Christian radio station

A radio station that carries Christian programming has been off the air since its transmitter "took a direct hit by lightning," according to the station.

Del Gibbs, general manager of KAIM-AM, said heat from the lightning bolt on Friday melted several components in the station's transmitter on the west end of Molokai and welded the main transmitter tube into its socket.

Replacement parts have arrived from the mainland, and the station should be back on the air by tomorrow "at the latest," he said.

KAIM's FM station, which uses a transmitter on Oahu, was not affected, Gibbs said.

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Police/Fire


By Star-Bulletin staff

Truck driver runs light, kills man, 25, on moped

A 25-year-old man died yesterday when his moped was struck by a truck that ran a red light at the intersection of Dillingham Boulevard and North King Street.

At 8:38 p.m., a 20-year-old man driving a Toyota truck heading east on Dillingham Boulevard ran a red light and hit a moped heading north on King Street, police said.

The driver of the moped was taken to Queen's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police said speed and alcohol are not factors at this time.

An investigation is continuing but no arrest has been made.

The accident represents the 61st fatality of the year.

Nanakuli man charged in handgun incident

Police brought first-degree charges against a Nanakuli man yesterday for allegedly pulling a pistol on a 35-year-old Waianae man whom he suspected was having an affair with his girlfriend. The suspect then fled with $20 and a cellular phone.

William Momoa II, 27, was arrested Tuesday afternoon for the Oct. 8 incident.

Bail is set at $50,000.

Subway eatery robbed by man with a knife

Police are looking for a man who robbed the Subway Sandwiches and Salads restaurant on 1106 Pensacola St. yesterday.

The suspect, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 160 pounds, was wearing a brown T-shirt and black shorts, police said.

He pulled a knife on the lone employee and demanded money at about 5:35 p.m. He fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Cops hunt man who beat woman with hammer

Police are still looking for a masked suspect who beat a woman with a hammer Tuesday night.

Police said a 50-year-old woman who lives on Amana Street answered a knock at her door shortly after 11 p.m.

A man wearing a white mask forced his way into the woman's house and hit her several times on her head and body with a hammer.

Police said there are signs that the man searched her home, but police have not yet determined if anything was stolen.

The woman was taken to Queen's Hospital in serious condition.

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