Retired state appellate Judge Walter Heen won the recent election for state Democratic Party chairman in a 2-to-1 vote. Heen named Democratic Party
chairman in landslide victoryHeen beat former Lt. Gov. Tom Gill, 596 to 288.
The election tally was released by Heen yesterday. Party election officials declined to release the numbers when Heen was declared the winner shortly before the party's biennial state convention ended Sunday.
His overwhelming victory means he has a mandate, said Heen, 70. "No question about it. It is mostly a mandate to go out and work hard," Heen said.
Heen, a key figure in the party's rise to power more than 40 years ago, has promised to unify Democrats, who have been split between the party's centrist and liberal wings.
He has also promised to have the party, particularly its elected officials, end the "disconnect" with mainstream Hawaii.
Gill, 76, who stressed the need for the party to regain the luster it had in the 1950s and 1960s when it stood for economic and social justice, said the contested race for chairman was "a net plus" for the party.
Heen lost an earlier bid for party chairman. Nearly two years ago, the party's key statewide Central Committee selected former City Council Chairwoman Marilyn Bornhorst -- and not Heen -- to fill the unexpired term of Richard Port, who resigned for unspecified health reasons.
The vote was 31-28. Bornhorst decided not to seek re-election.
Eight seniors from Iolani School and one from Punahou School are winners of the National Merit Corp. college-sponsored awards. Nine private school students
receive National Merit awardsSponsor institutions choose awardees from among Merit Program finalists who will attend their college.
The awardees from Iolani, announced last week, are:
Kenin Coloma, who will study engineering at Northwestern University.
The awardee from Punahou is Maura Takao, who plans to pursue a degree in medicine at Northwestern University.
Last month, the corporation announced the names of 10 Hawaii seniors who received $2,000 scholarships and two who had won corporate-sponsored scholarships.
A total of 71 Hawaii seniors have been named Merit Scholarship semifinalists.
Gov. Ben Cayetano is looking at a possible third site for a prison on the Big Island, the governor's representative said. Possible third prison site
By Craig Gima, Star-Bulletin
considered on Big IslandThe 10,000-acre parcel is near the middle of the island, along Saddle Road on the way to Mauna Kea. Big Island Sens. Andy Levin (D, Kau) and Wayne Metcalf (D, Hilo) met with the governor on Friday to tell him about the land.
Levin said the site is closer to the courts and Hilo Airport than Kau, but is far from communities that might object to a prison in their neighborhood.
"Those who are concerned about negative impact of a prison in Kau would have their concerns taken care of for the most part," he said.
There would be costs for infrastructure like water, power and sewage, but Levin said the Kau site has similar problems.
The land now is leased to Parker Ranch from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, but the lease expires soon, and the land for the most part is unsuitable for grazing, Levin said.
The news that the governor is looking at a third site apparently came as a surprise to the Public Safety and Hawaiian Home Lands departments.
"We defer all comments on the site to the governor's office," said Ted Sakai, Public Safety spokesman.
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands spokesman Francis Apoliona said late yesterday afternoon he was trying to find information about the governor's comments.
Fish washing ashore on Kauai may total a ton
LIHUE -- Kauai County workers continued cleaning up hundreds of pounds of dead akule that have washed ashore at Hanalei Bay the past two days, attracting sharks that kept swimmers out of the water.County officials believe the fish may have been killed by a commercial fishing boat that caught the fish in large nets but didn't haul in the catch.
County public-information officer Millie Wellington said workers buried more than 500 pounds of akule yesterday.
More dead fish are expected to wash ashore in today's high tide, possibly bringing the total to 2,000 pounds.
"A lot of them are pretty good-size fish. It's such a waste," Wellington said.
Hanalei beaches were closed to swimmers late last week after the reported sighting of a large tiger shark. Lifeguards said sharks were still present yesterday, according to Wellington.
Aiea phone woes to be half rectified today
Telephone service is expected to be restored today for at least half the 2,500 Aiea customers affected by a Tuesday outage, but repair work could continue through the weekend.GTE Hawaiian Tel will automatically credit users who lost service. It is not necessary to contact the company to claim the credit, said spokesman Keith Kamisugi.
He said service is being restored to increments of telephone lines as crews work around the clock.
The outage occurred Tuesday morning when a contractor accidentally damaged underground cables near Alvah Scott Elementary School.
OHA to compile roster of candidates for seat
WAILUKU -- State Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees were to discuss today compiling a list of candidates to fill a vacancy created by Maui trustee Abraham Aiona, who stepped down because of poor health.The meeting follows a lengthy conflict among trustees earlier this year to select an interim successor to the late trustee Billie Beamer.
$2 million available for Hawaiian projects
People with projects that promote social and economic self-sufficiency for native Hawaiians can apply for $2 million in awards from the federal Administration for Native Americans and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.The agency of the federal Department of Health and Human Services has allocated $1 million for fiscal year 1998 for groups working on long range, multiyear projects for native Hawaiians. OHA has matched the funding.
If funded, second- and third-year grants are noncompetitive.
The deadline to apply is July 1.
To apply, contact the Administration for Native Americans, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, Mail Stop HHH 348F, Washington, D.C. 20447-0001. Or call (202) 690-7441.
Farrington's judged best high school paper
Farrington High School's newspaper, The Governor, was named overall state winner of the 1998 Hawaii State High School Journalism Contest.The paper, with editor Muon Van and adviser Ellen Manago, also won the award for layout and design.
The contest, sponsored by the Hawaii Publishers Association and the Hawaii Newspaper Agency, is in its 29th year.
Thirty-one public and private schools entered the contest.
Statewide winners in other categories were:
Supreme Court disbars former art gallery exec
The Hawaii Supreme Court has disbarred former Center Art Gallery executive William D. Mett, who was sentenced last year for embezzling $1.6 million from the employee pension fund of the now-defunct company.The court earlier restrained Mett from the practice of law after a 1990 conviction on fraud charges for misrepresenting art sold at the gallery while he was its president.
Mett, 54, was sentenced by a federal judge last November to about six years' imprisonment but remains free on bail while the case is on appeal.
He was released in May 1997 after serving 36 months in prison in the earlier case.
He had been convicted of misrepresenting lithographs and etchings, particularly works of Salvador Dali, as originals.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffA local man involved in a conspiracy to distribute five pounds of crystal methamphetamine to a Central Oahu prison inmate has received a 20-year term in federal prison. 'Ice' distributor gets a
By Linda Hosek, Star-Bulletin
20-year termFrancis Kalani Lii faced 30 years to life, but got a break after the government filed a motion for less time for his cooperation in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni said yesterday.
U.S. District Judge Alan C. Kay dropped Lii's sentence to 20 years and gave him five years of supervised release after he serves his term.
Lii was one of seven indicted in December 1995 based on information obtained from 16 telephone conversations from Dec. 18, 1994, to Jan. 14, 1995.
Others indicted were: Ronald Malta; Malta's wife, Brenda; Malta's brother, James; Leslie Kalani Naki; Catarino "Pops" Candelaria and Kelly Garcia. Candelaria and Garcia were from California.
The government alleged that their conspiracy involved purchasing five pounds of "ice" from the two Los Angeles-based suppliers for Ronald Malta, an inmate at Waiawa Correctional Facility.
Lii is the son of Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific head Josiah Lii, who was slain in 1977.
Man shot in hand near Waipahu is hospitalized
A man who was shot in the hand near Waipahu early this morning was reported in stable condition at St. Francis West Hospital.The 36-year-old man was brought to the hospital around 4 a.m., according to a nursing supervisor. Police are investigating.
Suspect wanted in isles is found in Minneapolis
A woman wanted for promoting gambling and illegal ownership of a business in Hawaii was stopped in Minneapolis early today, police said.The woman is being extradited to Hawaii to face pending charges, according to police.
Alarm leads firefighters to house in Kahului
WAILUKU -- A fire caused $2,500 in damage to a bedroom and its contents in a two-story house in Kahului last night.Assistant Fire Chief Clayton Ishikawa said although no one was home at the time of the fire, an alarm system alerted fire officials about the blaze at 647 Maalo St.
The fire was extinguished 14 minutes after it was reported at 9:24 p.m., he said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
First Hawaiian's Makiki branch robbed
The Makiki branch of First Hawaiian Bank was robbed yesterday by a man the FBI believes is responsible for a bank robbery last Wednesday.The suspect has wavy brown hair and a goatee.
He is about 6 feet tall and 240 weighs pounds.
He entered the bank at 1235 Wilder Ave. at 11:30 a.m. yesterday, presented a demand note to a teller and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The robber fits the description of a man who robbed Bank of Hawaii's Mapunapuna branch last Wednesday.
Yesterday's robbery was the state's 17th of the year.
Gunman hijacks car downtown, robs three
Three people were robbed at gunpoint in their parked car downtown last night, police said.A gunman surprised two men, ages 22 and 24, and a 24-year-old woman sitting in their parked car around 9 p.m. near Beretania Street and Fort Street Mall, according to police.
The man pointing a handgun opened the passenger door and allegedly ordered the front-seat passenger to the back seat. Then the suspect, in his 20s, ordered the man behind the wheel to drive to a remote area near Kalihi.
The suspect allegedly robbed the three people of their jewelry, money and cell phones and left the car.
He told them not to look back or he would kill them, police said. The victims lost sight of the robber and drove off, police said. Police are looking for the suspect.
In other news . . .
A California resident died yesterday in Waikiki after a wheel of his motorized wheelchair fell off the curb, causing him to fall into the street, according to police.The 56-year-old man was operating his wheelchair on the sidewalk of Kalia Road around 3:45 p.m.
When one of the wheels went off the side, he and his wheelchair fell into the road, police said.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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