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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Big Isle lawmakers extend use of landfill
HILO » The Hawaii County Council has voted to allow continued use of the Hilo landfill, reversing an earlier vote that could have caused a crisis in waste disposal on the Big Island.
The approval came Wednesday in a unanimous vote allowing Mayor Harry Kim's administration to spend $500,000 to compact trash on the sides of a 96-foot-high hill of garbage.
A council committee recommended against approving money last month to steepen the slopes.
Without the approval, the Hilo landfill would have been full, county Environmental Management Director Barbara Bell said. But the Council has been adamantly against the only alternative, trucking East Hawaii garbage to the West Hawaii landfill.
Adding trash to the sides of the hill will change the steepness to a 2-to-1 slope from a 4-to-1 slope, a letter from county Managing Director Dixie Kaetsu said. A request to the state Department of Health to authorize the new slope is pending. The steepening could extend the life of the landfill up to four years, Bell said.
The Hilo landfill was supposed to have been closed a decade ago, but the Department of Health has given repeated extensions of its use while the Council has considered alternatives, often rejecting them.
Last year, the Council voted to spend $500,000 to hire two New York companies, a law firm dealing with solid waste and an engineering company, to write a request for proposals that would attract a suitable response.
A preliminary round was completed last month, and a final round is due in October, Bell said.
Alleged artifact thief's trial is set for May
A man accused of stealing ancient Hawaiian artifacts from a Big Island cave was scheduled to be tried on two misdemeanor charges May 23.
The trial date for John Carta, 45, was set by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren. A co-defendant, Daniel Taylor, 39, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge last week.
Carta was charged in March with violating the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. He was accused of taking the artifacts from Kanupa cave in South Kohala in 2004.
The items from the Emerson collection were buried in the cave the year before by Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei. The group had received the artifacts from Bishop Museum, which bought them in the late 1880s from J.S. Emerson.
Defense attorney Rustam Barbee said Carta will enter his pleas after police reports are received.
Federal agents began an investigation after the artifacts surfaced on the black market.
What's inside your Star-Bulletin this weekend:
Saturday
KEEPING FAITH
Symbolism in Passover meal
Hebrew scriptures set the menu for the Passover feast to be celebrated next week with food symbolic of the Jews' liberation from slavery in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.
Sunday
TODAY
Flip a coin
What image would best reflect our state when the U.S. Mint creates the Hawaii quarter? More than 200 budding coin designers put their pencils to work and came up with designs incorporating Diamond Head, King Kamehameha, Iolani Palace, the Arizona Memorial, the Hokule'a and more. We've picked the 12 best Quarter Finalists, and now we're looking to you to help narrow the field to one.
BUSINESS
All aboard!
Cruise ship passengers make a valuable market for most of Hawaii's visitor industry, but some isle companies and artisans have found even more value in putting their products on board.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Devon Clarke, a sous chef aboard NCL's Pride of Aloha docked at Honolulu Harbor, holds a garden burger that has Hawaii-grown taro in it.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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WINDWARD OAHU
Police raid suspected motorcycle chop shop
Auto theft detectives raided a suspected motorcycle chop shop Wednesday night in Kailua.
The alleged chop shop was discovered after an officer went to investigate a 911 call from a Keolu Drive home earlier in the day. The home was being used as a motorcycle repair shop, police said.
The officer said he noticed a motorcycle in the house that had its vehicle identification number and engine serial numbers defaced.
Auto theft detectives were notified. After getting a search warrant, they raided the house, finding 15 motorcycles, police said. Police were attempting to contact the registered owners of the motorcycles to see if the cycles had been reported stolen.
Police arrested a 45-year-old man for investigation of defacing serial numbers and a 35-year-old woman for investigation of drug offenses and an outstanding warrant.
Fire damages kitchen of Hauula restaurant
Fire destroyed the kitchen of a Hauula plate lunch place Wednesday night.
Fire officials said the blaze at Rainbow Barbecue at 54-138 Kamehameha Highway started at 9:46 p.m. and was brought under control by firefighters by 10:07 p.m. Damage to the building and its contents was estimated at $40,000.
HONOLULU
Man hit by city bus dies from injuries
An 83-year-old man who was hit by a city bus as he crossed the street in Kalihi early Wednesday died later that night at the Queen's Medical Center.
The Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as William C. See Jr. of Honolulu.
Police said the man was in a crosswalk at Kamehameha IV Road and North School Street at 6:03 a.m. Wednesday when he was hit by a city bus that was making a left turn.
Traffic investigators said they did not know whether the bus or the victim had the right of way.
Officials from Oahu Transit Services, which operates TheBus, said the driver had no passengers in his bus and that it was his first run of the day.
Any witnesses to the accident are asked to call the Traffic Division at 529-3499 and ask for Officer Thomas, investigator for this collision.
This is the 25th traffic fatality of the year, compared with 22 fatalities for the same time last year.
Cross-dressing man robs bank in Kalihi
Police are looking for a male suspect who was dressed in women's clothing yesterday while allegedly robbing a Kalihi bank teller at gunpoint.
The man allegedly entered the Kalihi branch of Central Pacific Bank at 12:52 p.m., police said.
The man, wielding a handgun, demanded money from the teller and fled with an undisclosed amount of money.
He was last seen fleeing toward Gulick Avenue from the bank, located at 2119 N. King St.
The man is described as between 20 and 30 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 160 pounds, with a fair complexion, wearing a black-and-white printed long-sleeved blouse, dark pants and black sunglasses with large frames.
Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cell phone.
LEEWARD OAHU
Man, 20, is arrested after death of woman
Police arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with the death of an 18-year-old woman Wednesday night in Waipahu.
The woman was identified by the Medical Examiner's Office as Wendy Lealiiee of Waipahu.
Police said an officer was responding to a call about an argument along Aniani Place at about 9:45 p.m. when he heard a woman scream. The officer saw a man and a woman in a fistfight, police said.
The officer stopped the fight and was talking to the woman when she complained about having a difficult time breathing, police said.
She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m. Police arrested the man for investigation of second-degree murder.
Convicted felon found driving stolen vehicle
Police arrested a convicted felon who was allegedly driving a stolen car and burglarized a Waianae home Wednesday.
Plainclothes officers saw the suspect, a 36-year-old man, leaving the scene of a burglary at about 4:20 p.m., police said.
The officers stopped the suspect and learned that the car he was driving had been reported stolen.
The burglary victim, a 45-year-old woman, identified items in the car as belonging to her, police said. Officers also found a loaded shotgun, ammunition, drugs and drug paraphernalia in the car.
Police arrested the man for investigation of first-degree burglary, auto theft, firearm violations and drug offenses.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Arson is suspected in 3 fires at school
HILO » Three small fires in wooden buildings at Waiakea High School in Hilo were apparently caused by arson Wednesday night, the Hawaii County Fire Department said yesterday.
Firefighters responding to the 9:40 p.m. alarm found smoldering fires at two doors of Portable Building 28 and scorched steps at Portable Building 20.
The strong smell of a flammable substance was evident at the three locations, they said. The fires are under investigation. Damage was estimated at $2,500.