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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Rockslide work to shut highway
The state will close Kamehameha Highway near Waimea Bay for two hours tomorrow morning as crews continue to work at the site of the April 7 rockslide.
The highway is scheduled to be closed from 9 to 11 a.m. so workers can further inspect the cliff side. State Department of Transportation officials said city buses and emergency vehicles will be escorted through the area during the closure. Pedestrians also will be escorted along the sidewalk.
TOM FINNEGAN / TFINNEGAN@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kauai's Kalalau Trail was closed yesterday due to safety concerns called in by hikers. Last month, hikers along Kalalau Trail were forced to get down on all fours in steep, slippery sections along the trail. CLICK FOR LARGE
Kauai trail closed for safety
LIHUE » The state has closed portions of Kalalau Trail on Kauai due to concerns about the trail's safety.
Camping on remote Kalalau Beach, accessible only by ocean and by the 11-mile trail, has been suspended until work crews can examine the area. Kayaking to the northwest-facing Kalalau Beach is not recommended until summer, Department of Land and Natural Resources officials said.
The trail remains open to day hikers who want to access Hanakapiai Valley, two miles into the trail, and for those with valid camping permits for Hanakoa Valley, a campsite near the six-mile marker.
A maintenance crew flew in via helicopter yesterday to "inspect the trail, verify the condition and take any necessary action," said DLNR Director Peter Young. They will return tomorrow and a determination will be made then whether the trail can be reopened.
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SHINING STARS
Colleen Wong named outstanding lawyer
The
Hawaii Women Lawyers honored
Colleen Wong, chief legal officer of Kamehameha Schools, as its Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year for 2006.
Circuit Court Judge Sabrina S. McKenna was given the Outstanding Judicial Achievement Award; Shimeji Ryusaki Kanazawa, a longtime appointee on the state Commission of Aging, the Advocate for the Aging Award; Carol Mon Lee, retired associate dean of the University of Hawaii law school, the Distinguished Service Award; and U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, the President's Award.
Brandi Boatner, a first-year communications graduate student at Hawaii Pacific University, was elected vice president of advocacy for the 2007 to 2008 Public Relations Student Society of America National Committee. She assumes leadership June 1.
The Hawaii Education Association received $2,500 from the First Hawaiian Foundation to be used toward its annual Creative Writing Festival. The statewide literary contest attracts hundreds of entries from public school students of all grade levels, culminating in a spring awards program.
"Shining Stars" runs Monday through Thursday.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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Man arrested in fatal accident
Police arrested a 30-year-old Wahiawa man yesterday on a charge of first-degree negligent homicide in the June 16, 2005, auto accident that killed a 23-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier.
Armando F. Peters was indicted March 7 by an Oahu grand jury. He turned himself in at the main Honolulu police station yesterday.
Peters allegedly was drinking prior to the accident when the car he was driving rear-ended a pickup truck stopped on Kamehameha Highway near the intersection with Leilehua Golf Course Road across from Wheeler Army Air Field.
The impact pushed the truck across the median and the town-bound lanes onto the shoulder, where it overturned.
The soldier was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital, where he died less than an hour later. Peters was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Police said speed was a factor in the accident.
Peters was released yesterday afternoon on $50,000 bail.
Pipe bombs discovered in park
Workers cleaning Newtown Neighborhood Park found two similar homemade pipe bombs yesterday and Monday.
A city park employee discovered an unexploded pipe bomb at 10:50 a.m. Monday while cleaning the park. Police said the 12-inch PVC pipe had blue tape wrapped at both ends and a 1-inch fuse at one end.
The area was cleared, and Specialized Services Division dismantled the device.
Yesterday about 10:10 a.m., Oahu Community Correctional Center inmates on work furlough found a second pipe bomb similar to the one found Monday in the same area -- the makai side of the park.
Specialized Services Division officers recovered the pipe bomb.
No suspects were arrested.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Roof-repair scam leads to arrest
The U.S. Marshals Service and the Hawaii Fugitive Task Force arrested a 46-year-old man at his Hilo home Monday for allegedly running a roofing scam in Beaumont, Texas, after Hurricane Rita in September 2005.
The man allegedly posed as a roofing contractor after Hurricane Rita and allegedly stole money from residents.
Kimball Dean Strickland was arrested on an arrest warrant for $36,000 in roofing repairs, and other cases are pending in Texas.
LEEWARD OAHU
Suspected thief jumps into ocean
Police arrested a 35-year-old man who was allegedly seen driving a stolen car and then tried to escape by jumping into the ocean.
Police said a patrol officer recognized the stolen car as it was being driven in Maili about 1:10 a.m. Monday.
He called for backup because he was transporting a prisoner at the time and could not pursue the car. A second officer saw the car turn into the beach area off Farrington Highway across from Mailiili Road.
The suspect got out of the car and fled on foot before jumping into the ocean, police said.
Officers waited for about 10 minutes before the suspect came out of the water. He was arrested for investigation of auto theft.
HONOLULU
Inmate allegedly threatens guard
A 37-year-old inmate at the Oahu Community Correctional Center was arrested for allegedly threatening a guard.
About 4:30 Sunday afternoon, the suspect allegedly threatened the life of an on-duty prison guard.
Police were called and arrested the suspect on suspicion of first-degree terroristic threatening.