|
Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
|
Weed & Seed program gets $250,000 from city
The city presented the Weed & Seed program with a $250,000 grant yesterday to help continue with fighting crime in neighborhoods across Oahu.
The city makes the grants available through the federal Community Development Block Grant Program.
"In this case with Weed & Seed, the community comes out there and says, 'Enough is enough,'" Police Chief Boisse Correa said during a check presentation ceremony in Mayor Mufi Hannemann's conference room. "With the grant we're getting today ... we'll be able to make an impact and make a difference in the communities that we enforce."
Weed & Seed has helped the communities of Kalihi-Palama, Chinatown, McCully-Ala Moana, Waipahu, Ewa and Waianae with crime and drug problems.
The program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Attorney's Office and administered by YMCA of Honolulu, helps rebuild neighborhoods through law enforcement, community policing, beautification and economic development projects and prevention, intervention and treatment efforts.
Box jellyfish invade Waikiki Beach waters
The city was warning swimmers about box jellyfish yesterday after finding 100 of the stinging creatures at Waikiki Beach.
The influx was considered small. Jellyfish usually appear about 10 days after a full moon, most often in Waikiki, but they have also appeared at Ala Moana Beach, Hanauma Bay, Pokai Bay, Makaha Surfing Beach and Waimea Bay.
Anyone who gets stung is advised to flush the area with white vinegar, which is available at lifeguard towers.
UH hiring panelist resigns in protest
Finalists for the top position at the University of Hawaii at Manoa will be made public as early as this week.
However, one member of the 18-member search committee has refused to sign off on the search process and resigned in protest.
Undergraduate student body President Grant Teichman said he does not believe the student's best interests are being served by the committee charged with helping to select the UH-Manoa chancellor.
"It is my belief that the university is making the same mistakes in hiring that led us to dismiss previous controversial administrators," Teichman said in a written news release.
Teichman said he has no confidence in the search committee and is asking that it be disbanded.
UH President David McClain said Teichman resigned because a candidate that he favored was not supported by the search committee.
"I consider the route he has chosen to express his displeasure inappropriate and a disservice to his fellow students," McClain said.
Search committee Chairman Robert Bley-Vroman said there were two student representatives on the committee and that students were involved in all stages of the search.
The names for UH-Manoa chancellor were submitted to McClain, who is expected to make an announcement by the end of the month.
The candidates will meet with students and faculty. A decision is expected next month, and the chancellor is supposed to start this summer.
CASUALTY OF IRAQ WAR MOURNEDASSOCIATED PRESS/AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, ED SUBA JR.
The honor guard stood at attention Saturday as the body of Navy Hospitalman Matthew G. Conte was brought in for funeral services at Grace Church of Rootstown, Ohio. Conte, 22, of Mogadore died Feb. 1 in Iraq's Al Anbar province when a bomb exploded the Hummer he was riding. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division at Kaneohe Bay.
|
|
Fighter planes ordered by Japan return to isles
KADENA, Japan » The arrival in Japan of 12 F-22 stealth fighters has been delayed, officials said yesterday.
The planes, which were scheduled to have reached Kadena Air Base on Saturday, had to turn back after leaving Hawaii. It is the aircraft's first overseas deployment.
Officials at Kadena and at Hickam Air Force Base were unable to immediately confirm why the arrival was delayed. Plans call for the F-22s to stay in Japan for a three- to four-month training mission.
The mission is a way of showing off the fighter's strengths in a region with a complex security balance that is being challenged by the rapid growth of Chinese and North Korean military power.
The F-22A Raptor is highly maneuverable, and its stealth design makes it harder to detect. But because each plane costs about $350 million, only 183 are now slated to be built, instead of the 750 originally planned.
Veterans care facility chooses administrator
HILO » The company that will operate the 95-bed veterans care facility now under construction on the grounds of Hilo Medical Center has named Neil Oyama as the facility's administrator.
The announcement was made by Avalon Health Care. Oyama will manage the facility formally known as the Yukio Okutsu Veterans Care Home.
Born in Hilo, Oyama is a 1971 graduate of Hilo High School. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, a master's degree in public health from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a master's degree in business administration from Chaminade University.
Oyama also has a background in the Marine Corps.
Based in Salt Lake City, Avalon also runs the 289-bed Hale Nani and 108-bed Avalon Care Center in Honolulu.
The $33 million Hilo project is expected to be ready for occupancy in the fall.
SHINING STARS
Queen's Medical Center taps Yamakawa as vice president and CEO of systems
Mark Yamakawa, 50, who began working at the Queen's Medical Center 21 years ago as a senior management engineer, is the new executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Queen's Health Systems.
Yamakawa will oversee systemwide operations, serving as president of Queen Emma Land Co. as well as continuing as president of the Queen's Development Corp.
North Hawaii Community Hospital received an award recognizing that it is implementing the highest standards of cardiac care.
The hospital is the first on the Big Island and one of only 67 in the nation to receive the American Heart Association's Get With the Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease Annual Performance Achievement Award.
The hospital established a Hawaii Heart Brain Center about two years ago to address the Big Island's cardiovascular death rate, about 25 percent higher than the state average.
|
Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
|
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Kauai hiker, 61, found dead after apparent fall
A 61-year-old man apparently fell 300 feet to his death at Kokee Falls on Kauai, according to a news release from Kauai County.
The man told a friend that he had planned to hike to the summit of Milolii Ridge and return before dark on Saturday.
Friends called for help at about 10:15 yesterday morning when they could not find him. The hiker was found at the base of the 300-foot waterfall, officials said. His body was airlifted out of the area by the county rescue team.
Wailua man charged in park pavilion fire
Kauai police have charged 38-year-old David Aguiar of Wailua in connection with a fire that destroyed the Kamalani Pavilion at Lydgate Park Thursday night.
Aguiar was charged with "failure to control widely dangerous means," a misdemeanor, according to a Kauai County news release. He was being held in lieu of $100 bail.
Kauai officials initially charged Aguiar with first-degree arson, a felony, but later changed the charge to the misdemeanor, the release said. No explanation was given for the change.
2-year-old Keaau girl is run over by vehicle
A 2-year-old girl died during the weekend after being run over by a vehicle at a Puna home, Big Island police said yesterday.
Abygail Arquitola of Keaau was with her family at a friend's house in the Orchidland Subdivision when she was run over at about 6:12 p.m. on Saturday, according to police. The girl was taken to the Hilo Medical Center, where she died.
Police opened a negligent-homicide investigation, and officers are still trying to determine which vehicle ran over the girl and who was the driver. Police believe the driver might have left the scene without realizing the child was struck.
HONOLULU
Passenger, 100, hurt in recent crash dies
A 100-year-old man who was injured eight days ago in a car accident died Friday at the Queen's Medical Center, the medical examiner's office said.
He was identified as Hon Sam Hiu of Honolulu.
On Feb. 4, Hiu was a passenger in a Honda station wagon that crashed on Dole Street near Kanewai Field when his 82-year-old wife lost consciousness while driving, police said.
Hiu and his wife were taken to Queen's with critical and serious injuries, respectively.
Police said this is the 11th traffic fatality on Oahu this year.
WINDWARD OAHU
Firefighters airlift stranded paraglider
Firefighters rescued a paraglider yesterday after he made an emergency landing in a remote clearing in Kahana Valley on Windward Oahu.
The 49-year-old man's friends reported to firefighters at about 12:30 p.m. that wind trouble forced him to land with a reserve parachute. He was equipped with a cell phone and radio for contact, said Capt. Frank Johnson, of the Honolulu Fire Department.
It would have taken the man more than a day to walk out from the area, Johnson said.
A fire helicopter airlifted the man to Swanzy Beach Park at about 1:30 p.m.