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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Homeland Security sending $2.4M
Hawaii and Honolulu will receive more than $2.4 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The largest grant -- $1.6 million -- is for port security.
Honolulu will get about $400,000 from the department's bus transit security grant program. The state will also receive $385,000 for a program to secure power plants and other high-risk facilities.
"These federal funds are most welcome because they will help to ensure that Hawaii is protected and, if necessary, able to respond to and recover from terrorist attacks, natural disasters and other emergencies," U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said in a news release issued by his Washington office.
Inouye is chairman of the Senate's Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, is a member of the Committee on Homeland Security.
Holiday to alter Punchbowl traffic
Traffic patterns will be one-way within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl for the Memorial Day weekend, May 25-28.
According to a release, traffic will flow counterclockwise, with cemetery personnel directing traffic to accommodate thousands of extra visitors.
Also affected will be three intersections outside the cemetery, which will be under the direction of a police officer: Tantalus and Puowaina drives; Puowaina Drive and Hookui Street; and Hookui and Auwaiolimu streets. Left turns from Hookui Street to Auwaiolimu Street will be prohibited.
Traffic will be coordinated between cemetery personnel and the police to ensure backlogs are kept to a minimum. For more information, call the cemetery at 532-3720.
Mail carriers lug food for needy
Mail carriers in Hawaii will be collecting food donations tomorrow in a nationwide effort to "Stamp Out Hunger."
It is the 15th annual National Association of Letter Carriers' Food Drive.
Residents can help feed families in need by placing nonperishable food items next to their mailbox for pickup tomorrow before their usual pickup time.
Mail carriers will take the food donations back to their post offices, where postal workers and their families will sort them and deliver the items to the nearest food banks.
Post offices without residential delivery will be collecting items until tomorrow.
Items most in demand are canned meats, pasta, soups, beans, fruits and vegetables. Other items include packaged dry beans, cereal, rice and pasta.
Last year, about 1,000 Hawaii mail carriers collected a record total of more than 386,000 pounds of food. More than 70 million pounds was collected nationwide.
Coming this weekend in your Star-Bulletin:
Sunday
Today: Rarely viewed portraits of Hawaiian nobility from the Mission Houses Museum collection are on display in the exhibition "Larger Than Life: Portraits and Portrait Making."
Business: Business: Hawaiian healing center Moku Ola offers a respite and a reminder of the old Hawaiian ways.
Also, colleges nationwide are cracking down on a black market for hard-to-get graduation tickets.
Sports: This weekend, state championships will be handed out in high school baseball, girls water polo, and boys and girls tennis. Punahou School is in command at the tennis championships being held on Maui, and will be favored in baseball as well. Perennial OIA power Kahuku is trying to win its first championship in water polo.
Travel: Just Live offers zip-line tours, rock wall climbing, ropes course challenges and other eco-adventures in a magnificent 5-acre forest between Lihue and Poipu on Kauai. Its programs -- including tours for visitors, teen adventure camps and corporate training -- are designed to promote teamwork, trust, respect, creative problem-solving and positive communication.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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Mom busted in school disruption
Police arrested the mother of two Hauula Elementary School students yesterday when she refused to leave the campus after an argument with a teacher.
Davina Sanders said she went to the school to pay for her children's field trip to St. Andrew's Cathedral. But she ended up getting into an argument with a teacher, whom she claims goes to the school intoxicated.
Sanders argues she was "harassed" by the school staff after saying she wanted to come along with her children when the teacher takes them on the trip May 21.
Hauula Principal Bradley Odagiri declined comment.
Calling the issue a personnel matter, Greg Knudsen, spokesman for the Department of Education, said, "People who create disruption on a school campus can be removed."
He said the department would investigate the allegations made against the teacher.
Sanders was charged with trespassing and released on $100 bail, police said.
LEEWARD OAHU
Stolen motorcycle gets rider arrested
A 40-year-old man is being held in lieu of $11,000 bail after being accused of stealing a motorcycle.
The suspect was stopped for allegedly speeding in Waianae at about midnight Tuesday. The officer realized the bike was stolen, and arrested the man.
The suspect has been charged with unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle.
HONOLULU
Public can assist missing-man case
CrimeStoppers is asking for help in locating a man last seen April 13.
Robert P. Cepeda, 39, has been known to frequent Aala Park and the Kalihi area. He has always been in contact with his family in Saipan but has not been seen or heard from since.
He has brown eyes with black hair, is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 135 to 145 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
Family is target of alleged threat
Police charged a 28-year-old man with second-degree terroristic threatening Wednesday for allegedly threatening his wife's family.
A 27-year-old woman alleges that her estranged husband, the suspect, walked by her Kalihi apartment Saturday and said he was going to kill her and her family.
Bail was set at $300.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Officers nab pair in home invasion
Patrol officers have arrested two Kau men in connection with a home-invasion robbery Saturday in the Discovery Harbour subdivision.
The 21-year-old and 26-year-old are in custody at the Kona police station cellblock.
The victim reported that a masked man entered his home with a knife and forced him to the floor before removing items from the house.
"This incident is not typical of this area," said Lt. Robert Wagner, of the Area II Criminal Investigations Section. "It is believed to be an isolated incident."
Police believe one of the suspects used a residential telephone in the area just after the break-in.
Police ask anyone with information about the call or any other information about the case to call Detective Greg Yamada at 326-4646, ext. 228, Detective Regino Saludares at 326-4646, ext. 277, or the Police Department's nonemergency number at 935-3311.
Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call CrimeStoppers at 329-8181 in Kona or 961-8300 in Hilo. All CrimeStoppers information is kept confidential.