ACLU wary of screening of airline passengers
Starting today, airline passengers across the nation will be subject to greater security screening before boarding flights, and civil rights advocates worry that the new checks may discriminate.The Federal Aviation Administration will phase in the computerized program through airlines to scan passenger information.
Screening will help determine whether extra security measures will be taken, such as asking passengers questions, bag inspections or bag-matching.
Although news reports said passengers' travel history and criminal records would be checked, FAA and airline officials said they would not have access to criminal records. However, they disclosed few details about what kind of information would be used because of what they called "security reasons."
"We won't be interfacing with the Bureau of Prisons or past criminal records," said Arthur Bell, manager of the FAA's Civil Aviation Security Field Office in Honolulu. "We will not be connected to any outside intelligence or law-enforcement data base."
Bell said the screening would search for "potentially higher-risk factors" among passengers.
The screening process is called CAPS -- computer-assisted passenger screening -- which operates on the airlines' computer reservation system.
Jim Faulkner, Northwest Airlines spokesman, said a computer program scans the information on a ticket that is obtained when the passenger makes a reservation. Computer prompts will then tell ticket agents what further steps they must take, if any.
The American Civil Liberties Union fears the security checks will be discriminatory.
It stands ready to handle complaints and has created a form on its Web page to do so.
"The ACLU is concerned that it will only provide a false sense of security and will target (passengers) based on race, religion or national origin," said Vanessa Chong, executive director of the ACLU of Hawaii.
Chong said the ACLU is also worried that passenger data will not be kept confidential.
The ACLU supports the idea of luggage-matching -- only taking luggage from passengers boarding the same flight, Chong said.
Some people believe the screening will be discriminatory.
"This is tacit, institutionalized racism," said Sam Husseini, spokesman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "The screening will be based on destination, travel history, place of birth. These things are all quasi-ethnic."
Dan Foley, a Honolulu attorney who has represented many civil rights cases here, said the factors the FAA and airlines use for their risk profiles will determine whether the system is discriminatory.
Prison search produces 'now sterile' Waiawa
An early morning shakedown at the Waiawa Community Correctional Center yesterday netted a small amount of codeine, crack cocaine residue, 10 to 15 tattooing machines and minor contraband weapons, said acting Warden Phil Tumminello.About 80 law enforcement officers, from state sheriffs to Honolulu police, conducted the surprise search around 2 a.m., Tumminello said.
One person was arrested.
Authorities moved in after hearing evidence of drugs and money on the grounds, Tumminello said.
"We have had a recent incident where a staff member was arrested for purchasing drugs," he said. "That individual has been removed and is currently not working with the Department of Public Safety."
Tumminello said: "The facility has been cleaned. It is now sterile."
Because the facility is a sprawling 200-acre work center, some items may have been missed, he said. "But we covered as much as is practical."
One man was arrested after codeine and crack cocaine residue were found in his cell, he said.
In the facility were prohibited items such as tattooing machines, pornography and potential weapons, including disposable razor blades removed to make crafting knives, homemade chin-up bars and tools that belonged to the facility.
All 280 inmates were moved to a holding area during the six-hour search.
Waiawa last had a shakedown about four months ago, but "we've never had anything on this scale," Tumminello said.
On Dec. 22, about 80 officers searched the Maui Community Correctional Center. One inmate was arrested when police found a pipe used to smoke crystal methamphetamine.
In May, state Public Safety Director Keith Kaneshiro vowed to keep Hawaii prisons drug-free.
Six new fire trucks go into service on Oahu later this month
The Honolulu Fire Department will be better equipped this year to handle brush fires and other alarms when six new fire trucks go into service later this month.Four engine trucks and two ladder trucks ordered last summer from Pierce Fire Trucks in Appleton, Wis., arrived in Hawaii on Dec. 22.
They will help firefighters remain at brush fires a little longer as well as lessen the reliance on another station for backup, said Honolulu Fire Chief Anthony Lopez Jr.
Lopez yesterday said each of the new engine trucks has the capacity to hold 750 gallons of water rather than the 500 gallons found in current engines, so they can stay longer at brush fires.
"Instead of getting there and running out of water at 500 gallons, and going back to the hydrant and letting the fire get away from you, that gives you that much more time to fight the fire without supply from a hydrant," Lopez said.
And he praised the new hybrid ladder trucks that can serve as engines. Unlike other ladder trucks, these vehicles also have a 300-gallon water tank and a pump for firefighting capabilities. That means the five-member crew assigned to this truck can respond as a ladder or an engine to back up the engine truck from the same station, he said.
"So you increase your capability but you haven't increased your costs because your manpower is the same," Lopez said.
Firefighter Clyde Ah Soon of the department's community relations division said the estimated costs for the vehicles are $315,000 each for the engines and $420,000 for the ladder trucks. Two engines and a ladder were paid from a federal Community Development Block Grant and the rest from the department's capital improvement budget of $1.4 million.
Ah Soon explained the block grant requires the trucks to be at stations located in low-to-moderate income areas.
Mother cheetah at zoo dies after checkup
The Honolulu Zoo has lost Mara, its female cheetah and mother to five cubs born in 1993. She died Tuesday, six days after her eighth birthday, zoo officials said.Mara had been under close observation since being diagnosed with gastritis. Zoo officials said she had recently lost much weight and not been eating properly.
The exact cause of death, however, had not been determined as of yesterday.
Mara was anesthetized in her overnight sleeping quarters Tuesday morning, then taken to the examination room of the zoo's animal health clinic.
After returning to her quarters, Mara experienced respiratory and cardiac problems. Efforts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.
Zoo officials said they suspect Mara's death may be blamed on the same thing that took the life of her mate, Duey, in 1995: progressive, irreversible kidney failure.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffFirefighters swamped with calls
Oahu firefighters were swamped with 163 fire calls over New Year's Eve -- more than in previous years -- but no injuries were reported, Capt. James Cambra said today.He estimated that 70 to 80 percent of the calls, starting at 4 p.m., were related to fireworks.
Most were brush fires, with the largest number in Nanakuli and Makakilo, he said. Firefighters were still working on those early today.
A structure fire was reported at 6:15 a.m. at 92-715 Nohona St. in Makakilo.
It was the residence of Gregory Chincio and his family. They weren't home at the time, firefighters said.
Hisako Shimizu, who lives next door to the Chincios, said she saw the fire when she woke up. "By that time, lots of people were there."
She said the fire appeared to be only in part of the garage.
Pedestrian hit, killed on Kauai
KAPAA, Kauai -- A male pedestrian was killed after being struck by a car this morning in the Wailua Homesteads area of Kapaa.Firefighters arrived at the scene at 2:45 a.m. and found a bystander administering CPR.
The man was pronounced dead at Wilcox Hospital. Police are investigating the incident and would not release any details this morning.
Maui man dies of traffic injuries
WAILUKU -- An 88-year-old Maui man died Tuesday after the car he was driving struck a light pole along Kaahumanu Avenue at the entrance of the Maui Lani Parkway in Wailuku.Kazuo Tamura of Haiku died at Maui Memorial Hospital from injuries sustained after his car veered right while traveling toward Kahului, went over a cement island and crashed into the pole at 8:43 a.m., police said.
His wife, Misao, was listed in guarded condition at the hospital.
Police said Tamura, who was not wearing a seat belt, was adjusting the climate control in his car at the time of the accident.
Police Lt. Charles Hirata said his wife was wearing a seat belt.
Kazuo Tamura is Maui's 15th traffic fatality this year, compared with 31 last year.
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