Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Thursday, September 24, 1998

Tesoro spills
diesel at Barbers

Smith Maritime, as 'the responsible party,'
says the spill has already been cleaned up

By Jaymes K. Song, Star-Bulletin

Tesoro Hawaii and Smith Maritime were involved in spilling 50 gallons of diesel fuel off Barbers Point yesterday, according to officials.

The spill is the second in recent weeks involving Tesoro at Barbers Point.

Coast Guard officials described yesterday's spill, reported at about 5 p.m., as "minor."

Smith Maritime President Gordon Smith said a tugboat from Tow Boat Services and Management Inc. was fueling at one of his company's barges when the fuel overflowed and spilled into the waters. Tesoro was the fueling facility.

The cause of the spill is being investigated by the Coast Guard.

"We're the responsible party in the cleanup," Smith said. "We hired a contractor. As of this morning, it was entirely cleaned up."

Smith said his company has left some oil detectors out today in case any fuel was not cleaned up.

Tesoro Hawaii spokesman Nathan Hokama said the company is always concerned about any environmental impacts caused by spills.

He said Tesoro will cooperate with the Coast Guard in its investigation.

State Health Department spokesman Patrick Johnston said the spill was easier to assess because it occurred during daylight hours and not at night, like the one in August.

On Aug. 25, Tesoro spilled approximately 5,000 gallons of oil. The oil contaminated Kauai beaches, killed 26 birds and injured 13 others.

That spill cost Tesoro $2 million in cleanup costs, officials estimated.

Hokama said the two spills are unrelated. The first was at a terminal more than a mile off of Barbers Point, and yesterday's was inside the harbor, he said.

Suit threat causes Army to halt activity at Makua

The Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, formerly the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, says it has caused the Army to voluntarily halt training at Makua Military Reservation on the Waianae Coast by threatening to file suit.

The Army now is consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the effect of military exercises on endangered species at Makua, the environmental group said.

The group sent the Army a formal notice on behalf of its client Malama Makua -- an organization opposed to military training at Makua -- that the Army would be sued in federal court within 60 days unless it ceased activity that it says violates the Endangered Species Act.

Earthjustice Hawaii said the action follows many years of monitoring Army activities at Makua and is timely in view of recent fires there. The fires almost certainly destroyed habitat for endangered species and animals and possibly some endangered species themselves, Earthjustice said.

The Army in a news release earlier this week said it had temporarily shut down its activity at Makua while it consulted with the Fish and Wildlife Service about effects of training exercises on endangered plants and animals.

There will be no military training at Makua for about four months, the normal length of time needed for such inter-agency consultations, the Army said.

The Army could not immediately be reached for comment on Earthjustice's statement.

Kailua-bound Pali lanes to close for resurfacing

The state Department of Transportation will close lanes on Pali Highway today.

All Kailua-bound lanes on the highway will be closed between Waokanaka Street and Nuuanu Pali Drive from 8 p.m. until midnight for resurfacing work. During that time drivers will be able to use Honolulu-bound lanes instead.

An earlier closure time was changed due to a noise variance modification by the state Health Department.

Kids' advocacy group garners national award

A Hawaii organization to help children has received a national award for its volunteer work.

The Friends of the Children's Advocacy Center of Oahu was selected as the "Outstanding Volunteer Group" nationwide by the National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers.

Gay Tsukamaki, a founding board member and program director, received the award at a congressional breakfast in the nation's capital.

The group was founded in 1986 as a volunteer, nonprofit organization by the Honolulu Rotary Club to partner with the Hawaii State Judiciary to create a child-friendly center where children could be interviewed regarding reports of child sex abuse.

Since the Oahu Children's Advocacy Center opened 10 years ago, more than 5,000 children have come through its doors.

Junior League luncheon to honor its partners

The Junior League of Honolulu will kick off its 75th anniversary on Oct. 23 by honoring its partners in community service and recognizing outstanding leaders who have emerged from the league.

A luncheon will be held at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. Before lunch, from 11 a.m. to noon, league memorabilia and displays of past and ongoing projects will be on view.

Current projects include public awareness on fetal alcohol syndrome and PIC's 808, a self-esteem course for young women at risk conducted in collaboration with the Friends of the Children's Advocacy Center.

The Junior League of Honolulu is an organization of women committed to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through volunteer action.

Luncheon tickets cost $35. Call Jill MacMillan at 732-7778.

City Council criticizes new voting system

City Council members say they fear new state election procedures may have had an effect on the results of last Saturday's primary election.

Council members felt so strongly about the issue yesterday that they bypassed their regular process for resolutions and pushed through a statement:

"Expressing serious concerns over the appropriateness and effectiveness of the new voting system adopted by the state Office of Elections."

For the first time, voters were asked to mark their ballots rather than use a hole-puncher. Council members say some 10 percent of ballots cast in some precincts were spoiled or left blank by frustrated voters.

The poor placement of the Council races on the ballot may have had something to do with the high number of unmarked ballots, blank votes, in all Council races, Council members said.

At least five defeated candidates, including Council candidate Cliff Laboy, say they want recounts of their races.

Town housing plan takes a step forward

Developers of a twin-tower affordable housing project downtown have won the right to lease the land from the city for 65 years.

Councilwoman Donna Mercado Kim spent more than an hour questioning officials of Block J and Associates about the financial viability of the $167 million project. Kim said the Council is tired of broken promises from developers who have failed to carry out their projects and left the city looking bad, if not financially hurting.

Block J's developers are proposing 913 affordable housing units on the 103,000-square-foot property bounded by Pali Highway, South Beretania, Queen Emma and Kukui streets.

There would also be 100,000 square feet of commercial space and 1,896 parking stalls on what's now a municipal parking lot.

The city is also getting annual lease payments, a onetime $8 million premium and development of the long-awaited Smith-Beretania Park in Chinatown.

Council members told Kim the Council will have other chances to kill off the project in the future.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

School bus driver erred, police say; five injured

Police said the driver of a Campbell High School bus involved in a traffic accident yesterday afternoon did not have the right of way.

The school bus, carrying 15 students, was attempting to turn left from Farrington Highway onto Laaloa Street when two cars slammed into it at about 2 p.m., police said.

The cars and the bus all had a green light, but the bus had to yield, police said.

Two students suffered minor injuries. One was taken to St. Francis-West Hospital for examination, while the other was treated at the scene.

The 47-year-old male driver of the first car that smashed into the bus was airlifted to Queen's Hospital with a broken leg.

A man, 30, and a woman, 24, in the second car were also airlifted for treatment of minor injuries.

The driver of the bus was uninjured.

Police have not issued any citations as of this morning and are continuing the investigation.

Waipahu man is slashed with glass in robbery

Police are looking for a male suspect who cut a Waipahu man with broken glass during a robbery attempt.

The suspect approached the Waipahu man at his home on Waikele Loop at about 10:30 p.m., police said. When the man refused demands for money, the suspect lifted him up and slammed him on the road.

The suspect then cut the man several times in the head, face and arm with a piece of broken glass. The suspect ran away when the man's wife screamed for help, police said.

The victim was treated and released at St. Francis-West Hospital.

Police have classified the case as an attempted murder.

English visitor arrested in head-butt injury

Police this morning arrested a 34-year-old man from England for allegedly head-butting a Kaimuki man at a Waikiki nightclub and knocking out two of his teeth.

Both men, who know each other, were drinking at nightclub at 2463 Kuhio Avenue when they started arguing about a woman, police said.

The suspect later approached the other man, 46, and offered a handshake. Once the tourist had the man's hand, he reportedly pulled and head-butted him.

The suspect ran away but was arrested at 1:30 a.m. after being followed by a witness who flagged down police.

The suspect faces second-degree assault charges. The Kaimuki man refused medical treatment.

Marijuana plants seized within Kau District

KAILUA-KONA -- Police, the National Guard, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized 13,012 marijuana plants in two days of operations in the area around Naalehu in the Kau District, they announced yesterday.

Police said they seized 2,700 plants on Monday and 10,312 plants on Tuesday.

There were no incidents, they said.

Kaneohe fire destroys third floor of home

Fire investigators this morning were examining the cause of a blaze that caused $300,000 damage to a Kaneohe home.

The fire at 47-160 Ahuimanu Road started at 11:22 p.m. yesterday, fire officials said. It was completely extinguished at about 2:20 a.m.

Officials believe the blaze started on the third floor of the home, which was destroyed.

No injuries were reported. It was unknown this morning whether anyone was inside the house when the fire started.

Man arrested in sale of undersized aku, ahi

An Ewa Beach man who was peddling illegally undersized fish was cited by Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement officers and could face jail or a $1,000 fine.

Danilo Z. Edrosolan, 49, was arrested yesterday at his roadside stand where a sign offered "Fresh baby aku, baby ahi," according to the department.

An off-duty conservation officer found 143 baby ahi, weighing between 1 and 16 ounces, and 111 baby aku in Edrosolan's cooler.

State law forbids the sale of ahi weighing less than 3 pounds, and requires anyone selling local marine life to get a license.

Edrosolan was charged with violating both laws.

IN THE COURTS

State retirement system sues Kihanos

The state Employees' Retirement System is seeking to recover mortgage money on Ewa property owned by former state House Speaker Daniel Kihano and wife JoAnn, who filed for bankruptcy July 9.

The Kihanos claimed debts then of $500,000 to $1 million. Their filing indicated they had $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and lacked funds to pay unsecured creditors.

Kihano was sentenced in June to two years in federal prison for taking $27,000 from his campaign fund for personal use.

In ill health, Kihano was allowed to remain free for some weeks and turn himself in Aug. 3 to begin serving the sentence.

The Circuit Court suit filed yesterday centers on a $216,500 promissory note transferred from Finance Factors to the Employees' Retirement System. The transfer took place in July 1996.

The suit says that Kihano and his wife have stopped making the mortgage payments and in default they owe a total of $215,992.22 plus interest.

Drug dealer sentenced to 37 months in prison

An Oahu man has been sentenced to 37 months in prison and five years of supervised release for dealing crystal methamphetamine and money laundering.

Kenneth Lau, 23, was one of 16 people charged with conspiring to make and sell crystal methamphetamine, also known as "ice," as well as cocaine and marijuana in California, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii, starting about November 1994 to July 1996.

U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor sentenced Lau, who was one of seven Oahu men allegedly involved in the drug dealing along with nine others from the mainland.

Draft plan on lawyer conduct now available

A draft plan regarding lawyer conduct may be picked up at Hawaii State Judiciary law libraries on each island or on the Internet at www.ncsc.dni.us/ccj/natlplan.htm.

Comments are sought on this "National Action Plan on Lawyer Conduct and Professionalism," which will an important item of business at a meeting of chief justices in January 1999.

The plan recommends ways to improve lawyer conduct and enhance professionalism.

"This Action Plan is an important initiative based on the unique and authoritative role of each state's highest court to regulate members of the profession and to supervise trial court proceedings," said Hawaii Chief Just Ronald T.Y. Moon.

"The Conference of Chief Justices believes it has a responsibility to develop a National Action Plan on Lawyer Conduct and Professionalism in a form that will provide definitive standards for each state supreme court to consider."

Comments should be sent by Oct. 31 to Public Affairs Office, Hawaii State Judiciary, 417 S. King St., Honolulu 96813, fax 808/539-4801.

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