Ground broken for 8 ball fields at Sand Island
Young baseball players soon will have more space to play, thanks to eight new baseball fields to break ground today at Sand Island State Recreation Area.Gov. Ben Cayetano, community leaders and youth baseball players were to participate in a ceremony this morning at the park.
The fields will provide needed recreational space for youth baseball and other field sports and help relieve overcrowding in urban Honolulu parks.
The fields will be built with volunteer labor and donated equipment, saving the state an estimated $2 million. Construction is to be completed in June.
Indianapolis survivors to be at Pearl Harbor
More than a dozen survivors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during World War II will participate in the decommissioning of a namesake submarine at Pearl Harbor tomorrow.The cruiser Indianapolis carried a crew of 1,196 when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the South Pacific on July 30, 1945. Nearly 900 survived the sinking, but all but 316 died while adrift for five days in shark-infested waters.
The skipper of the vessel, Capt. Charles McVay III, was court-martialed for failing to sail the Indianapolis on an evasive zigzag course. McVay's son, Honolulu promoter Kimo Wilder McVay, has been working for many years to have his father exonerated.
His efforts got a big boost when Florida schoolboy Hunter Scott, working on a history project, took up the cause. Scott, 12, is expected to be in Washington, D.C., when his congressman, Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Pensacola), introduces a bill to exonerate McVay and award the cruiser a Presidential Unit Citation.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffOne of four people indicted in November for allegedly conspiring to manufacture crystal methamphetamine in a Kalihi apartment has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. User in 'ice' case
By Linda Hosek, Star-Bulletin
pleads guilty to possessionRandolph Freitas, 39, on Friday admitted that he possessed the illegal drug. He faces up to one year in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kawahara said drug enforcement agents determined Freitas had pipes with "ice" residue in his room but wasn't part of the lab operation.
He said the government would recommend a six-month term when he is sentenced April 6.
Richard Gronna, Freitas' attorney, said the government was fair in recognizing his client's role and letting him plead to the appropriate charge.
The remaining co-defendants, including Freitas' brother Lyle, pleaded guilty earlier last week to conspiring to manufacture and distribute crystal methamphetamine.
Lyle Freitas, Michael Freitas (no relation) and Vanessa Katayama face prison terms of 10 years to life. Michael Freitas and Katayama, his girlfriend, will be sentenced May 26. Lyle Freitas will be sentenced June 8.
In the incident, agents intercepted a package containing 375 grams of methamphetamine powder addressed to Lyle Freitas, who lived with his mother and brother in a Kalihi apartment.
Michael Freitas joined Lyle Freitas and both opened the package, which had a beeper to alert agents, Kawahara said.
When agents arrived, both had tracking powder on their hands. Agents also searched Michael Freitas' Salt Lake home, finding lab equipment.
They also arrested Katayama for assisting Michael Freitas in converting the powder form of the drug into a crystal form.
Moped rider killed in Mokulele crash
Speed and possibly alcohol appear to be contributing factors in a fatal crash involving a moped last night near the 55-300 block of Mokulele Drive, say police vehicular homicide investigators.A Kaneohe man, 31, who was not wearing a helmet, died in Castle Hospital about an hour after the 10:40 p.m. crash. The man was headed toward Kaneohe when he apparently lost control of his moped, which hit a curb and crashed into a tree, said police.
The death is Oahu's fourth traffic death of the year as compared with nine at this time in 1997.
Injured woman, left at hospital, improves
A bruised North Shore woman who was dropped off at Kahuku Hospital last night, bleeding from a cut on her hand, was upgraded from critical to guarded condition today in Queen's Hospital.The woman said she cut her hand on a glass cup, but attending emergency room physicians notified police because her injuries appear to be more consistent with an assault, said Lt. Robert Naylor.
The Pupukea resident was taken to Kahuku Hospital at 9:25 p.m. by her boyfriend, who left the scene, said police. She was transferred to Queen's by helicopter.
Waimanalo suspect held in sexual assault
Police charged a Waimanalo man, 49, on multiple counts of sexual assault, kidnapping and terroristic threatening stemming from an incident involving his estranged girlfriend a week ago.Webster Kalai was arrested Friday in Waimanalo and charged Saturday with seven counts each of first- and third-degree sexual assault, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of first-degree terroristic threatening. He is being held in lieu of $490,000 bail.
In other news . . .
Police arrested a man and a woman in connection with a January kidnapping, robbery and promoting dangerous drugs in Waikiki, police said yesterday. The victim was a guest at the Outrigger Hotel. The victim and a witness identified a man, 19, and a woman, 18, as the suspects. They were charged Saturday.
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