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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff
and wire service
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Keawe's funeral set for next week
A funeral service for Hawaiian entertainer Genoa Keawe will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at Borthwick Mortuary.
Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the mortuary and from 9 a.m. to noon Friday at the Laie Hawaii North Stake, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 55-110 Lanihuli St., Laie.
Because of the large crowd expected and limited parking at the downtown mortuary, organizers suggest that people arrange to carpool, be dropped off or park elsewhere.
Keawe, 89, died Monday at her home. The foremost female Hawaiian falsetto singer, she was a professional entertainer for more than 60 years.
She is survived by sons Gary P. Keawe-Aiko, Eli Kaeo Paalua and Eric K. Keawe; hanai daughters Suzie Harrison and Roberta Silva; 40 grandchildren; 98 great-grandchildren; and 81 great-great-grandchildren.
Astronomy center cuts 6 workers
HILO » The Imiloa Astronomy Education Center in Hilo has cut six of its staff positions, leaving it with 22 employees, because of slow growth in visitors counts and cuts in federal aid, officials said.
Despite the belt-tightening, the 42,000-square-foot center will celebrate its second anniversary tomorrow with a free open house from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The center combines exhibits on modern astronomy with those on ancient Hawaiian celestial navigation and has a three-dimensional planetarium show. It sits on the upper campus of the University of Hawaii at Hilo but is an independent organization.
Imiloa had 53,000 visitors last year and has not yet approached the long-term goal of 100,000 a year, said its director, Peter Giles. "It's growing. It's not growing fast enough," he said.
The visitor profile breaks down to 84 percent Hawaii residents and 16 percent tourists, he said.
The center also suffered a $110,457 decrease in funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, he said.
Cell phone waiting spots open
New cell phone waiting areas are now open at airports on the Big Island, Maui and Kauai to help reduce traffic congestion in the baggage claim area, state transportation officials announced yesterday.
The waiting areas, which are a few minutes away from the terminals, provide a free place to park for motorists who are waiting to receive a cell phone call from arriving passengers. The sites will be open daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Not only will it reduce traffic congestion at the baggage claim area, it also will eliminate the need for motorists to drive around the airport while waiting for passengers to arrive, transportation officials said. Motorists are allowed to wait in the designated areas for up to an hour. Unattended vehicles will be cited and towed. Commercial vehicles are not allowed in the area.
The cell phone waiting areas are in the following places:
» Hilo Airport: At the commuter air terminal, west of the main passenger terminal.
» Kahului Airport: Curbside along Hemaloa Street next to the UPS cargo facilities.
» Lihue Airport: Curbside along Hoolimalima Place next to the car rental sites.
A cell phone waiting lot opened in November at Honolulu Airport.
Democrats delay caucus recount
The Democratic Party of Hawaii says it will postpone by one week a recount scheduled for this weekend of the ballots cast during the party's presidential caucuses.
The party had planned the recount to generate a certified final tally of the vote that gave Hawaii-born Barack Obama a convincing win over Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But party Chairwoman Jeani Withington says the large volume of information to be processed has forced officials to postpone the recount. The results will be announced next Saturday.
A record number of voters showed up to caucus Feb. 19, casting more than 37,500 ballots.
Obama won an estimated 14 delegates to the Democratic National Convention versus Clinton's six, but those numbers could change pending the results of the recount.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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HONOLULU
Man allegedly faked identity
Police arrested a 36-year-old Village Park man yesterday who allegedly posed as a landscaping company owner and entered into a written contract with a 47-year-old man in Honolulu.
Police said the man who allegedly fraudulently represented himself as a landscaping company owner entered into a contract with the other man at 9 a.m. Sept. 23 in Honolulu.
When the victim tried to make a partial payment with the company, he discovered the company had no contract with him, police said.
When the man he had been dealing with met with him yesterday afternoon, police arrested him on suspicion of second-degree forgery.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Cause of inmate's death still unclear
Preliminary autopsy results were inconclusive about what caused the death Wednesday of a 47-year-old woman in police custody on the Big Island, police said yesterday.
A pathologist has deferred the cause of death pending the outcome of toxicology tests, police said.
Ann Marie Lewis was found unresponsive in a Hilo police cell at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. She was arrested at 10:53 p.m. Tuesday upon release from the Hilo Medical Center.
Lewis was arrested for two outstanding warrants for revocation of probation.
