Kauai nurse will wed Internet British beau
LONDON -- An Internet bride-to-be is swapping sunny Hawaii for soggy South Yorkshire.Marji Robinson, a nurse whose parents were born on Kauai, is saying goodbye to paradise for the gritty former mining town of Wath upon Dearne in northern England.
Robinson, 40, "met" her husband-to-be John Beachill, 41, while surfing the Internet for pen friends last September, and the two divorcees started corresponding by e-mail.
Beachill, a part-time lecturer, flew to Kauai to propose last month. She accepted and will move to Wath after the wedding.
"I felt I had to warn her that life will be very different," he said. "When you walk out of (her) house, you are greeted by palm trees and beautiful flowers. In Wath, all she will see when she looks out of the window are the terraced houses across the road."
Robinson's only worry? "I know it can be cold and wet in England."
Neighbor arrested in woman's murder
Police last night arrested a 43-year-old man in connection with the slaying of a 35-year-old woman found dead in her Waikiki apartment Friday morning.The man walked into police headquarters at 9:30 p.m., accompanied by an attorney, and was booked for second-degree murder, said homicide detective Cliff Rubio.
The man is believed to be the woman's boyfriend, police said.
According to arrest records, the man lives in unit 44, directly beneath the apartment of the victim, identified by the medical examiner as Jolene Schott.
Police said Schott had been in Hawaii for awhile, but her family is from Pennsylvania. Neighbors said Schott was planning to move back to the mainland.
According to autopsy reports, Schott died of "suffocation and strangulation." There were injuries to the body and head, police said.
Police found her in her fifth-floor unit at Park Plaza Apartments at 8:20 a.m. Friday, detectives said. She had been dead for several days.
Her employer, the Red Lobster on Hobron Lane and Ala Moana Boulevard, reported to police that she had been missing since Feb. 23.
Soldier accused of murdering wife tried to kill himself, police say
A Schofield Barracks soldier tried unsuccessfully to kill himself several times after allegedly murdering his wife.Mark Wiese, Honolulu police detective, yesterday testified that he found evidence that Sgt. Jose "Joe" Luis Rodriguez tried to hang himself, electrocute himself and even contemplated jumping off a cliff at Pupukea.
But after flunking a polygraph test at police headquarters on June 6, Wiese said, Rodriguez, 27, confessed to killing his wife, Angela, 22.
Army investigators believe the slaying occurred about 9 a.m. Jan. 3. But Spec. Clance Corder told investigators that he believes he saw Angela Rodriguez leave her home with her husband between 10 a.m. and noon Jan. 3.
On Friday, Spec. Cameron Shoemaker, a close friend of thedefendant's, said Rodriguez told him during a visit at the Ford Island brig that he accidentally killed his wife in the couple's bedroom during a struggle.
Army Maj. Jefferson Won is conducting the Article 32 hearing, similar to a preliminary hearing, and will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to court martial Rodriguez, who has been in the Army for seven years.
If found guilty, Rodriguez could be executed.
Thefts on Oahu jumped in January
Reported thefts on Oahu skyrocketed in January compared with December 1997, according to Honolulu Police Department statistics.The number of reported shoplifting cases more than doubled from 132 to 288, a 118 percent increase. Thefts from vehicles climbed 133 percent, from 273 to 635, while thefts of vehicle accessories grew 135 percent from 88 to 207, according to the preliminary incident count report released by the department's Research and Development Division.
"There's no reason," said Lt. Jerrold Perreira, of the East Honolulu Theft Detail.
"That's how crime is -- it goes up and down like a roller coaster. It fluctuates. There's no factors we can put our finger on, in regards to the numbers."
Bicycle thefts also rose 89 percent from 48 incidents in December to 91 in January, and thefts from buildings almost doubled from 130 to 257.
Businesses help in search for schools superintendent
The private sector will once again support the Board of Education's nationwide search for a new schools superintendent, education officials say.The search for a new schools chief began last month after Superintendent Herman Aizawa announced his decision to step down June 30, the end of the fiscal year, saying he could not continue without a contract.
The current board is in the same situation the board was in four years ago, with no money to fly candidates to Hawaii for interviews.
When neither the state nor the Legislature offered to help, the board contemplated doing phone interviews and two-way TV setups.
But hotelier Richard Kelley provided lodging and an anonymous donor stepped in at the last minute to fly in three mainland candidates who made the final cut.
"Indications are that will be accommodated once the search is narrowed down," school board Chairwoman Karen Knudsen said yesterday.
Board member Francis McMillen had mixed feelings about the news. "I'm pleased to hear that perhaps someone in the community will be happy to help us, but this is a state problem," he said. "It's difficult to understand our own Legislature and our own government."
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffKalihi store robbed of cash and beer
Police are searching for two suspects who allegedly robbed a Kalihi Street convenience store last night.Police were told the two entered the store at 9:30 p.m. and that one suspect grabbed four 12-packs of beer and the other demanded money as he displayed a handgun tucked in his pants.
The two then fled with an undisclosed amount of cash and the beer, police said.
Saddle Road wreck takes Hilo man's life
Daison M. Morita, 33, of Hilo died yesterday after an early morning, head-on collision on Saddle Road. It was the eighth traffic fatality on the Big Island this year, as compared to five at this time last year. He was pronounced dead at the Hilo Medical Center.Police said Morita's westbound car overtook another car near the 32-mile marker and collided with an oncoming vehicle before 6 a.m.
The driver of that vehicle, John Gallagher, 41, of Kailua-Kona was in satisfactory condition this morning at Hilo Hospital.
Police said Saddle Road was closed from 6 to 9:30 a.m.
A routine autopsy is scheduled. Alcohol is not believed to have contributed to the accident, police said.
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