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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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eBay chief to be Punahou trustee
A Punahou School alumnus who founded the bidding Web site eBay will join the school's board of trustees, the school announced yesterday.
Pierre Omidyar, a 1984 Punahou graduate, launched eBay in 1995 as an experiment about how a level playing field would affect the efficiency of a marketplace.
Omidyar will join the school board under the chairmanship of Warren Luke, also a Punahou graduate, Punahou said in a news release.
"Punahou is a special place, and I am intrigued by what the school and its students are doing in the community," Omidyar said. "I look forward to participating in their future."
The transition of new board leadership was approved at this month's trustee annual meeting.
Feds give Weed and Seed $200K
PAHOA, Hawaii » The U.S. Department of Justice announced yesterday a $200,000 grant to the Pahoa Weed and Seed program south of Hilo.
The federal program is designed to "weed" out criminal activity and to "seed" in community development programs.
Pahoa received the Weed and Seed designation in 2004, which made it eligible for various kinds of funding but did not automatically include the money.
The program has received two federal Byrne anti-crime grants and two state grants, said Rene Siracusa, a member of the community board that oversees the program.
This is the first time the program has received money directly from the federal Weed and Seed program, she said.
Before 2004, while residents were seeking the federal designation, a drug deal was seen happening across the street from where Mayor Harry Kim was participating in an anti-drug meeting.
When U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo visited the town to review the need, a dealer tried to sell him drugs on the main street.
Once under way, the program posted video cameras around town, driving out much of the illegal activity.
This week, Prosecutor Jay Kimura announced that Phillip Baltunado of Kaneohe was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of three ounces of cocaine in the center of town on Oct. 16, 2005.
Science teacher will visit Japan
A Punahou School teacher has been chosen to travel to Japan with 39 other U.S. educators this summer under the Toyota International Teaching Program.
Richard Bilenchi, who teaches high school science and an advance-placement class on environmental science, will travel through rural and urban Japan from Tokyo to central Honshu between June 22 and July 7.
The goal of the tour is to help teachers learn about Japan, explore global issues, experience that country's culture and share their experiences with students. The program focuses on how history, education, environment and technology affect industry and society.
The teachers will visit elementary and secondary schools, factories and sites of historical and environmental importance. They were selected based on professional and leadership skills as well as on their plans to incorporate their experiences and research into their curricula.
Send in pet pics for calendar
The Hawaiian Humane Society is accepting pet photo entries for its 2008 Pets in Paradise calendar until June 30.
Entry fees of $15 and calendar sales support the society's work as a shelter for homeless animals, rescue operation, placement agency, education and advocacy organization, and pet care resource center.
Twelve top pictures and a cover photo will be selected for the calendar. All other entries will be included in a collage.
The entry form may be downloaded at www.hawaiianhumane.org; click onto the Events link. Or, call 356-2290.
Only horizontal color photo prints of pets (no people), no bigger than 6 inches wide and 4 inches tall, are eligible. Photos on Polaroid film disks, e-mail or computer-generated prints on plain paper will not be accepted. Photos will not be returned. A $15 nonrefundable entry fee per picture must be included.
Send submissions to Pets in Paradise Calendar, Hawaiian Humane Society, 2700 Waialae Ave., Honolulu, HI 96826.
The pet pinup finalists will be notified in August. The 2008 calendar will be available in October.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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COURTESY OF DON C. POOLE A fire broke out yesterday atop the condominium project 909 Kapiolani. The condos are still under construction, and the cause of the fire was still under investigation. CLICK FOR LARGE |
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HONOLULU
Builders snuff 35th-floor blaze
Construction workers building a high-rise building on Kapiolani Boulevard extinguished a pallet fire yesterday on the top floor of the building.
The two-alarm fire at 909 Kapiolani Blvd. sent up black smoke and damaged material that was on the pallet, said Honolulu fire Capt. Frank Johnson.
Firefighters sent five engines, two ladder trucks and two battalion chiefs to the 35th-floor fire. They declared it under control soon after the 3:40 p.m. call, Johnson said.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Alleged rapist, 20, held in sex assault
Police arrested a 20-year-old man who allegedly raped an acquaintance after a party in February.
Police said that on Feb. 2 a 20-year-old woman agreed to go to a party with the suspect. At about 11 p.m. while driving to the party, the suspect detoured into abandoned housing on Kobashigawa Place in the Aliamanu Military Reservation and raped the victim, police said.
The suspect was found Tuesday and arrested on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault.
2 men are found dead in apartment
Police found two males dead yesterday in an apartment in the Makamae state housing project, 21 S. Kuakini St.
One man was in his late 50s, and the other in his late 40s.
Police said a maintenance worker found them in the apartment at about 8:45 a.m.
Kalihi pedestrian attacked in street
Police arrested three people, including a teenage girl, who allegedly attacked a pedestrian they almost hit with their vehicle early yesterday.
Shortly after midnight, a 25-year-old man was in a marked crosswalk at Kaumualii Street and Waiakamilo Road in Kalihi when he was almost hit.
The vehicle stopped, and a 16-year-old girl got out and allegedly punched the victim in the face.
A 20-year-old man then got out of the car and threw a beer bottle at the victim's head, hitting him, police said. The same suspect then threw another beer bottle at a 30-year-old man who had stopped to help the pedestrian, police said.
Both victims suffered minor cuts.
The suspects fled but were stopped by a patrol officer. The teenager was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault. The man who allegedly threw the beer bottles was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault.
A 20-year-old man driving the car was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol while under 21. A fourth occupant of the car was not arrested.
EAST OAHU
Female allegedly took man's mail
Police arrested a 43-year-old woman who was allegedly picking up a man's mail without permission.
A 73-year-old man complained about his mail not being delivered. Postal workers at the Waialae-Kahala Post Office discovered his mail was put on vacation hold and was being picked up by the suspect, who pretended to be a resident of the home, police said. The suspect used an ID card with her photo, police said.
Postal inspectors detained the woman. Police arrested her Tuesday for investigation of second-degree forgery, unauthorized possession of confidential information and theft.
LEEWARD OAHU
Threats with bat spur man's arrest
Police arrested a 33-year-old Waianae man who allegedly threatened his father and sister with two baseball bats.
Police said that at about 3 p.m. Tuesday, the suspect chased his father around the house while allegedly threatening him with a baseball bat. The suspect's sister tried to intervene, when she was threatened by the suspect wielding another bat.
The suspect was arrested on suspicion of two counts of terroristic threatening.