Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Wednesday, December 22, 1999

Millennium Moments

Mauliola helped
build Sand Island

Sand Island, that flat, 641-acre industrial community in Honolulu Harbor, once was two islands.

In 1940, the island was joined with a smaller one, according to "Place Names of Hawaii" by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Elbert and Esther Mookini.

That smaller isle originally was called Mauliola (after a god of health) or Quarantine Island, since it housed a quarantine station in 1869.

Sand Island itself, less than 10 feet in elevation, was built up on Kaholaloa Reef, partly by dredging the harbor.

Pounding in the New Year

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Mochi pounding for the traditional Japanese New Year
began earlier this week at the Maruoka residence in
Kapolei. Ashley Fukumae pounds while sister, Christie,
watches. Dad, Darryl Fukumae folds the sticky
hot rice in between the pounding.

Veterans' med center
wins accreditation

A national health organization has awarded accreditation to the Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical and Regional Office Center, located on the grounds of Tripler Hospital.

The center scored in the top 18 percent of health care facilities surveyed this year by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, said David Burge, director of the Matsunaga center.

The survey and inspection also covered the center's outpatient clinics on Kauai, Maui and Hawaii.

The center, which also has a clinic on Guam, provides a broad range of medical services and benefits to about 127,000 veterans throughout Hawaii and the Pacific islands.

Jury pool forming for next Ireland-case trial

HILO -- Individual questioning of more than 200 potential jurors is under way for the second trial in the Dana Ireland murder case.

The goal is to have a jury begin hearing the case Jan. 24.

The defendant is Albert Ian Schweitzer, 28, accused of murder, kidnapping, and rape in the 1991 attack on Ireland, 23, who was staying with her sister on the Big Island.

Schweitzer was described as the leader of the attack in an earlier trial for Frank Pauline Jr., 26. Schweitzer's brother, Shawn, 24, is scheduled for a separate trial starting Mar. 6.

With 7 1/2 years of publicity leading up to Pauline's trial this summer, and intense media coverage of the trial itself, Circuit Judge Riki May Amano and prosecution and defense attorneys are asking potential jurors what they have heard.

Despite the publicity, some prospective jurors say they can't remember any details.

The questioning, which started Dec. 10, will continue until Jan. 5.

Police chief to present awards to HPD officers

Police Sgt. Deborah Wilson was to receive Employee of the Quarter honors for her work in the Police Training Division in a ceremony today at the second-floor courtyard of Alapai Police Headquarters.

Chief Lee Donohue also planned to present a Unit of the Quarter award to the Homicide Unit and Task Force for work in the third quarter of 1999 and Certificates of Merit to Officers Paul Stetser and Ondre Tuisano and Evidence Specialist Dana Shinozuka.

Stetser and Tuisano saved a distraught woman from jumping from an apartment ledge in November. Shinozuka identified a burglary suspect from latent fingerprints on a banana tree leaf.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

Man arrested for allegedly firing shots near children

Police arrested a man in Ewa Beach yesterday for allegedly firing several gunshots where children were playing.

The suspect reportedly put the gun to a woman's head and threatened to kill her, near Kilaha and Kilipoe streets at 12:30 p.m., police said.

He drove away, but returned and fired several shots into the air from his car near an area where children were playing, police said.

The suspect was arrested for first-degree terroristic-threatening and reckless endangerment.

Oahu man released after arrest in Hilo for drugs

HILO -- Following up on a tip, police arrested a 34-year-old Oahu man at Hilo airport with 2.5 ounces of crystal methamphetamine or "ice" yesterday, they said.

The suspect was also found in possession of a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, they said.

He was released pending federal prosecution.

Power company worker suffers electrical shock

A Hawaiian Electric Co. employee was hospitalized this morning after he suffered an electrical shock in a vault at the HECO building on Richards Street in downtown Honolulu.

The man was doing maintenance work when he suffered the injury. He was taken to a nearby hospital, said a HECO spokesman. His condition was unknown as of this morning.

The 8:30 a.m. accident caused a blackout at the HECO building for about an hour.