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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Painting firm runs afoul of state
The state Department of Health has filed a complaint and order against a painting contractor for allegedly violating hazardous-waste rules.
The firm, Shinco Management Inc., was cited for throwing away paint and thinner containers in trash headed for the landfill, the Health Department announced yesterday. It said employees used rags to absorb paints and thinners before dumping containers.
Paints and thinners are considered hazardous waste, and companies are required to ensure they are safe for disposal or hire a contractor to ship the trash out of state, according to the Health Department.
The alleged violations by Shinco Management were discovered in August 2006 during a state inspection.
The contractor, which works on commercial and residential buildings, faces a penalty of $32,500 and has been ordered to comply with state hazardous-waste guidelines.
Events celebrate women's history
Windward Community College will celebrate National Women's History Month with a series of inspirational films and speakers.
"Much of women's historical contributions have been unobserved in textbooks, or written from the perspective of men," said Kathleen French, director of Women's History Month at the college in Kaneohe. "Women's History Month provides an opportunity to recognize and value women's contributions to this country, and from their own voices."
All events are free, and the public is invited to join in the discussions. Films celebrating women will be shown every Tuesday in March at 12:30 p.m. in the student lounge at Hale Akoakoa. The speakers are scheduled for Wednesdays in Hale Akoakoa 105, as follows:
» Wednesday, 12:40 to 1:20 p.m.: Millicent Cummings, musician, artist and entrepreneur
» March 19, 12:40 to 1:20 p.m.: Peggy Chun, watercolor artist
» March 31, 4:30 to 6 p.m.: Tricia Allen, tattooist and researcher
For more information, contact Kathleen French at 236-9223 or kfrench@hawaii.edu.
On the Net: www.wcc.hawaii.edu/womenshistorymonth.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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Jervis makes bail in wild crash
Police released former Bishop Estate trustee Gerard Jervis yesterday after charging him with first-degree criminal property damage and collecting $40,000 in bail.
Jervis, arrested Friday, is accused of ramming his car into the back of a sport utility vehicle carrying four teenage boys, which sent the SUV up a wire hanging off a telephone pole. Before the chase, the boys had thrown eggs at Jervis' Lanikai home, police said.
Jervis' attorney, Paul Cunney, said yesterday that his client was the victim and was only trying to protect his property.
"Why is he the bad guy? These kids are the ones that instigated this by throwing eggs, and this has been going on for two or three months," said Cunney, also a Lanikai resident. "What's a guy supposed to do? The cops aren't there."
Cunney said he had talked with accident reconstruction experts.
"I guarantee he didn't ram the car," he said. "They tried to ditch him. They lost control of their own car. ... When they crashed, he slid into the back of the car."
Cunney said the boys are students at Saint Louis School.
Jervis, a 59-year-old lawyer, resigned as a Bishop Estate trustee in 1999 after a scandal over mismanagement of the trust's funds and following his involvement in a scandal with a trust lawyer at a Waikiki hotel.
Cunney said people are using Jervis' past problems to incriminate him in Friday's crash.
"People are rushing to judgment on this," said Cunney, who was in Florida yesterday. "It's almost like a character assassination that's going on out there."
WINDWARD OAHU
Inmate escapes from work furlough
Police were looking yesterday for an 18-year-old man who escaped from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.
At 10:24 a.m., Kaleo Kuahuia was on work furlough in Kailua at Hope Chapel on Keolu Drive when he took a bathroom break and fled on foot, police said.
He was wearing a black shirt and black shorts.
Highway crash hurts motorcyclist
Speed might have been a factor yesterday in a single-motorcycle crash on Pali Highway that left a 63-year-old man in critical condition, police said.
At 12:04 a.m. the Honolulu man was about a half-mile past Kamehameha Highway town-bound when he veered onto the right shoulder and hit the guardrail, police said. The crash ejected the man onto the roadway.
He was driving a 2001 black cruiser-type motorcycle and not wearing a helmet.
Police said the man was taken to an area hospital.
Airlifts rescue stranded hikers
Firefighters airlifted two hikers to safety yesterday in separate incidents.
At about 2 p.m., a 24-year-old woman sustained injuries to her head and hand after falling about 15 feet on a trail to the tide pools below the Makapuu Lighthouse, said Honolulu fire Capt. Terry Seelig.
Lifeguards arrived first by Jet Ski and called firefighters for help.
At about 3:10 p.m., firefighters airlifted the woman to Sandy Beach and turned her over to paramedics.
Rescue crews took her to the Queen's Medical Center in stable condition, said Bryan Cheplic, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Services.
Later in the day, a 51-year-old California woman injured her ankle while hiking with friends on a ridge line trail above Lanikai, Seelig said. At about 8:15 p.m., a fire helicopter lifted her from the trail and transferred her to paramedics waiting on a fairway at Mid-Pacific Country Club.