Newswatch
Verizon still trying to restore isle service
About 5,400 Verizon Hawaii customers statewide were still without phone service yesterday, according to spokesman Bill Kula, down from 5,600 Wednesday.About 4,700 of the lines were out of service on Oahu.
About 300 Verizon Hawaii technicians statewide are working to restore service as quickly as possible, Kula said.
Since Dec. 1 about 7,700 phone lines out of service due to the rainy weather were repaired, while water saturation continues to knock out additional lines.
Kula anticipated at least 800 phone lines were to be repaired yesterday. About 1,200 phone lines were repaired on Wednesday, he said.
The highest amount of trouble continues to occur in Aiea and Pearl City with pockets of disruption in Kaimuki, Puuloa, Kalihi, Puunui and Windward Oahu.
For businesses at Pearlridge Center, "crew members are working around the clock to restore service for our business customers."
AT&T Hawaii donates monitors to schools
Six public schools are getting early Christmas presents from AT&T Hawaii: 100 computer monitors.The company recently bought 21-inch monitors for its growing call center, replacing 17-inch monitors that were less than a year old.
"We immediately thought that the students and schools could benefit," said Jackie Ingamells, AT&T Hawaii managing director.
AT&T employees helped set up 30 monitors yesterday at Ala Wai Elementary School. The remaining computers will go to Kalaheo, Mililani, Kahuku, Kalani and Roosevelt high schools.
The company worked with the Department of Education to determine which schools needed the equipment the most.
Online state surveys gauge schools' quality
People curious about the quality of their local public school can check online to see the results of surveys given last spring to students, parents and teachers at each of Hawaii's 284 public schools.The School Quality Survey is conducted every two years by the Department of Education to gauge perceptions of schools by those who know them best, and help guide improvement efforts.
Questions cover about 50 items, including instruction, teaching quality, adequacy of resources, staff responsiveness, parental involvement, discipline and safety.
Because return rates for the written survey vary considerably among schools and different groups within a school, it can be misleading to compare results. The higher the response rate, the more likely the results are representative of the whole group.
The reports are posted at the Department of Education's "Accountability Resource Center-Hawaii" Web site, arch.k12.hi.us.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffANCHORS AUWE!
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
A diver salvaged items from a 29-foot parasailing boat that sunk at its mooring in Kewalo Basin just after 7 a.m. yesterday. Fire rescue crews said no one was on board at the time.
WAIKIKI
Man allegedly passed counterfeit $100 bill
Police arrested a 41-year-old man early yesterday after he allegedly tried to pay his Waikiki hotel room tab with a counterfeit $100 bill.The man was checking out at about 12:55 a.m. when the front desk clerk determined the texture of the bill was different and noticed it did not have security thread running through it, police said.
Police were called, and the suspect was arrested. Later, police arrested the man again, after drugs and drug parapher- nalia were found in his room.
HONOLULU
Suspect arrested in assault of girl, 15
Police arrested a 26-year-old man Wednesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Kalihi.Police said the teenager told a teacher she had been sexually assaulted by a family friend.
The suspect was arrested in Waikiki for third-degree sexual assault and released pending investigation.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Big Island man killed by dump truck
A 51-year-old Big Island man died Wednesday after being hit by a dump truck while changing a tire along a highway, police said.Police said Charles McCall, of Captain Cook, was changing a tire near the 23-mile marker of Route 190 in Puuanahulu before 3:51 p.m.
He was hit in the southbound lane by a dump truck driven by a 40-year-old Kailua-Kona man, police said.
McCall was pronounced dead at Kona Community Hospital.
Kauai fire causes $140,000 in damage
Fire destroyed a house and caused an estimated $140,000 damage Wednesday in Omao, Kauai.Firefighters were called at 5:39 p.m. to 4251 Omao Road. The fire was brought under control by 6:30 p.m., according to a Kauai Fire Department official.
No one was injured.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
