An Oahu grand jury today heard testimony from Bishop Estate's in-house attorney Nathan Aipa as part of its investigation into allegations that two Bishop Estate trustees received kickbacks. Bishop Estate attorney
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
testifies before grand juryAipa, accompanied by attorney Howard Luke, spent less than an hour before the grand jury, which had subpoenaed his testimony.
He declined comment on the proceeding.
The grand jury, convened at the request of Attorney General Margery Bronster, previously heard testimony from Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey, estate employee Paul Cathcart and Wong's brother-in-law Jeffrey Stone.
According to Bronster, Stone bought Wong's and Peters' Makiki condominiums at inflated prices in return for what she called a sweetheart land deal in Hawaii Kai.
Wong, Peters and Stone have denied the charges.
Today's grand jury proceedings come as the state probate court will hold a hearing Friday on Bronster's request to temporarily remove all five of the estate's trustees and charge them for alleged breaches of their fiduciary duties.
Bishop Estate Archive
LIHUE -- The Hawaii Real Estate Commission has revoked the licenses of a former Kauai couple for fraud and taking kickbacks from contractors that repaired several Kauai condominiums they managed. Couple lose real estate licenses
By Trish Moore, Star-Bulletin
in fraud schemeThe commission found that Donna and Robert Klaesson took about $80,000 in Hurricane Iniki repair funds as kickbacks from contractors they had recommended to the condominium associations in their management company.
The Klaessons also diverted about $145,000 from various condo association trust accounts as payments to family and friends, said commission hearings officer Craig Uehara.
The couple was assessed fines of $115,000, or $5,000 for each of 23 violations, but Uehara says chances of recovering the fines are slim unless the Klaessons reapply for real estate licenses in Hawaii.
The couple sold RHK condominium management company to Lihue businessman William Richardson III in 1994 for $350,000 and moved to Arkansas several months later.
Inouye campaign chest dwarfs
that of opponent Crystal YoungBy Pete Pichaske, Phillips News Service WASHINGTON -- In a year when multi-million-dollar campaigns are common, Sen. Daniel Inouye is not the richest candidate running for the Senate.But he might have the biggest cash advantage over his opponent.
Inouye has raised $981,000 this year, according to the latest campaign contribution reports, the last before Tuesday's election.
His opponent, Republican Crystal Young, according to the only report she has filed with the Federal Election Commission, raised and spent $37.29.
Young, a 57-year-old astrologer, received the money from herself and spent it on "copies of congressional bills."
With no discernible spending worries, Inouye has been freed to help other Democratic candidates.
He recently gave $20,000, for example, to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is trying to hold as many seats as it can in a Senate already controlled by the GOP.
Anti-gay hate crimes will be the topic of a panel discussion tomorrow at the University of Hawaii. Discussion, movie on
anti-gay hate crimeThe event, which is open to the public, will follow a free showing of "Licensed to Kill," a documentary about violence against gay men, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the auditorium in the UH Architecture Building.
Val Kanuha, professor with the UH School of Social Work, Elliott Enoki, first assistant U.S. attorney and Carolyn and Mike Golojuch of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, will speak.
The movie, produced by independent filmmaker Arthur Dong, will be shown again at 7 p.m.
The event is sponsored by the UH department of anthropology with assistance by the Task Force on Sexual Orientation and other campus organizations.
The Board of Education is poised to approve an annual report card for the new schools superintendent based on quarterly conferences with board members and a midyear review of how well he has achieved professional standards required of the superintendent. Board of Education evaluates
superintendent's performanceIt's in addition to the annual performance evaluation conducted by the Board of Education. But the annual evaluation schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu is seeking will focus on achievable goals and what he has accomplished, rather than the processes it took to get there.
While there are many good things already in place in the public schools, LeMahieu says the challenge is ensuring many of the good ideas are pursued seriously and successfully and that expectations for students are raised.
Among the annual outcomes he is asking the board to be graded on include a plan to implement the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards and development of a school-based services model for special needs students.
U.S. defense secretary set to stop here Friday
Secretary of Defense William Cohen will stop here Friday on his way to Asia for a weeklong trip and will visit Marines during his one-night layover.Cohen will meet with Japanese officials next week on possible joint development of missile defense systems in the wake of North Korean missile test that crossed Japanese air space.
He also will visit Hong Kong and South Korea, then return to the Pentagon on Nov. 6.
At each stop, he will be meet with leaders to discuss security issues and U.S. interests. He also plans several visits with U.S. troops stationed in Japan and South Korea.
The United States has almost 100,000 troops based in the Asian region.
Plan to save bottomfish to be presented tonight
State efforts to prevent collapse of the bottomfish fishery will be discussed tonight at Windward Community College.Christopher Kelley, with the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, will describe the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' bottomfish project from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Hale Imiloa, Room 123.
He will discuss genetic and fishery hatchery techniques and other scientific work being done to try to save Hawaii's bottomfish, which include deepwater Pacific snappers such onaga, opakapaka, ehu and kalekale.
He will show video segments he filmed from a submersible while collecting data on the bottomfish, which live in cold waters 200 to 1,000 feet below the ocean surface.
The talk is one in a series sponsored by the department with the Kaneohe Bay Regional Council, Kaneohe Outdoor Circle and the marine institute.
For more information, call 236-7456.
CORRECTIONS
State Senate candidate Joe Pickard (Kaneohe, Kahuku, Heeia) was unsuccessful in his bid for City Council in 1994, not 1996 as reported in Saturday's editions.
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Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffMoiliili man arrested in his mother's beating
A 31-year-old Moiliili man was arrested today for allegedly attacking two police officers and beating his 60-year-old mother.The woman was brought to Queen's Hospital by her younger son, 29, at about 2:10 a.m. this morning, said police. She is in critical condition, with broken ribs, wrists and most of her teeth knocked out.
When officers were called to the upscale King's Gate apartment complex where the woman and the suspect live on Kahoaloha Lane, the man reportedly attacked two officers by kicking, punching and head-butting them, said detective Terry Bledsoe. The two officers suffered minor injuries.
The 31-year-old was arrested at 4:50 a.m. and booked for second-degree assault and two counts of assaulting a police officer.
Police said the man had been drinking but was not legally drunk.
Apartment manager Weylin Hokutan said he has had no problems with the tenants.
In other news . . .
The victim, Stanley M. Rouse, 57, of Kailua-Kona was pronounced dead at Kona Hospital following the 6:17 p.m. accident.
THE COURTS
Four teens indicted for attempted murder
An Oahu grand jury yesterday indicted four Wahiawa teens for allegedly beating an undercover police officer and another man with baseball bats last month in Wahiawa.Anastacio Martinez III and Donald Ramirez, both 17, Mark Calicdan and Kalani Agosto, both 16, were indicted for attempted first-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.
Bail for each was set at $250,000.
The teens will be tried as adults after the Family Court waived jurisdiction over them.
They are charged with trying to kill undercover police officer Donald Marumoto, 46, and Gary Santos, 30, on Sept. 17.
Marumoto and Santos, who was assisting police, went to Palm Place to purchase stolen computers in an undercover operation.
The assailants struck the two men repeatedly with baseball bats in an alley near the Palm Terrace public housing in Wahiawa and then fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said. Both men were hospitalized with concussions, cuts and bruises.
Attempted first-degree murder, the attempted killing of more than one person, is punishable by a mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Attempted second-degree murder carries a mandatory term of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Another sentence given in Chinatown drug raid
The fourth man to be sentenced in federal court in connection with a cocaine distribution pipeline to Chinatown received 57 months in prison this week.U.S. District Judge Alan Kay on Monday sentenced Joseph Soares Jr. to four years and nine months each for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, money laundering and a firearms offense. Kay ordered that the terms be served concurrently.
Soares was arrested in January and admitted that he and a "cooperating source" purchased two kilograms of cocaine for sale in Honolulu, police said.
The arrest came in an investigation during which police and federal agents raided residences and a Chinatown pool hall.
They found money, cars, a gun, several grams of crystal methamphetamine and several kilograms of cocaine.
Yong Keun "Andy" Kim and his son, Swallow Ocean Kim, were sentenced in September to 57 months in prison in the case while Michael Edward Kanthack last week received a 39-month prison term, according to court records.
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