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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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STAR-BULLETIN / 2005 Hula draws fans from all over the world, including these ladies from Japan who performed at Ala Moana Center in 2005. CLICK FOR LARGE |
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Hula is focus of 3-day conference
Organizers of the first international hula conference want to use the dance to get more people familiar with Hawaiian language, culture and traditions.
The hula has continued to gain interest throughout the world despite limited opportunities to learn from native Hawaiians.
The conference is capped at 1,000 participants, who will learn from dozens of Hawaii's best-known hula teachers. Instructors will teach dance, costume, lei-making, language, history, songs and music at the three-day event, Nov. 15-17 at the Hawaii Convention Center.
"Hula has traveled and has found its way into the hearts of people all over the world," said Marnie Weeks, producer of the conference and the nightly hula shows at Kuhio Beach. "Hula is something that once it gets under your skin and into your heart, it just stays with you."
Organizers opened registration yesterday for the conference. The cost for three days of workshops is $250 for visitors, and $200 for Hawaii residents and for members of groups of 10 or more.
The gathering is expected to attract dancers and would-be dancers from all over the world. Many visitors will likely come from Japan, where there is a large demand to learn the dance but few practitioners to teach it, said Rick Egged, executive director of the Waikiki Improvement Association, which will host the conference.
For more information, visit www.waikikihulaconference.com.
Stores to close for Outrigger party
Some restaurants and shops at Waikiki Beach Walk will be closed for a few hours Friday to host a private party by Outrigger Hotels and Resorts.
Restaurants that will be closed between 4:30 and 9 p.m. include Roy's Waikiki, Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steak House and Holokai Grill. Businesses on the Diamond Head side of Lewers Street will be open.
The party will celebrate Outrigger's 60th birthday and the Beach Walk project.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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Man charged with sex assault
An Oahu grand jury has indicted a Kaneohe baseball coach for allegedly touching one of his 10-year-old female players during a sleepover at his home.
William W.K. Perry, who coaches boys and girls baseball in a mixed league, was charged with two counts of third-degree sexual assault, according to prosecutors. Bail was set at $10,000.
The girl apparently was friends with Perry's daughter, who is her teammate, according to the indictment.
Visitor drowns at Waimea Valley
A 27-year-old San Francisco man fell while posing for a photo and apparently drowned at the Waimea Valley Audubon Center yesterday morning, according to a fire official.
Fire Capt. Robert Main said the man was with his wife, swimming at the pool, and had climbed up onto the rocks to pose in front of the waterfall. He may have been tired from the climb and gotten into trouble there, Main said.
Waimea Falls staff, including a lifeguard on duty, searched for the man in the murky water to no avail.
Firefighters from the Sunset Beach station, arriving at 11:18 a.m., tried to find the man with snorkels and masks, but could go to a depth of only 15 feet. A fire rescue crew in scuba gear later found the body at a depth of 26 feet.
Police said there were no signs of foul play.
"We are devastated about the apparent drowning that occurred at the center this morning," said Waimea Valley Audubon Center Director Diana King. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim's friends and family."
The center will be closed today out of respect for the victim and his loved ones.
HONOLULU
Web sex sting nets man's arrest
Police arrested a 23-year-old Moiliili man yesterday morning on suspicion of first-degree electronic enticement of a child.
The man communicated with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl in an Internet chat room, police said.
He allegedly arranged to meet "her" at Kahala Mall and take her to his apartment to have sex, according to the Department of the Attorney General. But the girl was actually undercover officers, and when he arrived at the designated meeting place, detectives arrested him.
The arrest resulted from efforts by the Hawaii Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Department of the Attorney General, police, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Attorney General's office said in a news release.
Homeless man accused of assault
A 35-year-old homeless man was arrested Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting another homeless person in Kakaako in April.
Police said a 33-year-old woman told them she was sexually assaulted by her friend's boyfriend at about 3 a.m. on April 28.
She filed no police report earlier because the man had threatened her, police said.
Attack on woman followed argument
Police have arrested a 23-year-old man who allegedly choked a woman in Chinatown on Saturday afternoon.
Police said that about 3:30 p.m., the man was drunk and allegedly started arguing with the 21-year-old woman he lived with on River Street. He allegedly pushed her onto the bed and choked her twice. An off-duty officer who lived nearby heard her screams for help. She was able to break away from the man and opened the door for the officer, police said.
Boyfriend arrested for alleged abuse
Police have arrested a 21-year-old man for allegedly abusing his girlfriend.
On Sunday, a 20-year-old woman asked police to accompany her to return some property to the man, who she had just broken up with, in Moiliili.
She told the officers she had been assaulted by the boyfriend on Friday and Saturday. She also alleged he threatened her with a kitchen knife in February. He was arrested for investigation of first- and third-degree assault, and terroristic threatening.
EAST OAHU
3 guns stolen from Hawaii Kai home
Police are investigating the theft of firearms from a Hawaii Kai home safe earlier this month.
On May 5, a Hawaii Kai man came home from work and found his back door unlocked and a hole cut in the door of his gun safe, police said.
The man had gone to work at 7:30 a.m., and upon his return at 9:30 p.m., he found three firearms missing from the safe, police said.