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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Ala Wai dock contractor chosen
Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. was selected yesterday by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to replace three aging floating docks at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor.
Docks B, C and D and the fixed crossed dock will be replaced with engineered aluminum floating dock systems.
Costs to replace the docks are estimated at $2.715 million. Installation is slated to start by the end of this year and be completed by May. The docks were built in 1972. Eight of the 172 slips at the docks are currently out of service.
Board members also approved SANACT Inc. to replace plumbing fixtures at the boat harbor with water-saving fixtures and other related work. Cost to replace the fixtures is estimated at $100,000. Work is slated to start early next year and be completed by summer. State funding for the project is available through the Drought Mitigation Funding.
Bellows to be closed for training
Bellows Field Beach Park will be closed to the public this weekend and July 18-21 for the Rim of the Pacific 2008 Exercise, the city announced yesterday.
Bellows will be open to the public during the Fourth of July weekend, but all campers must leave by 8 a.m. July 7.
New group battles anti-rail drive
A newly formed group supporting the city's $4 billion rail transit project is offering people who sign an anti-rail petition a way to rescind their support.
Support Rail Transit, a nonprofit group formed by public relations firm McNeil Wilson, provides a form and instructions for those who feel they have been "misled" into signing a petition to stop the rail project to have their names removed.
Stop Rail Now, another nonprofit organization, has collected more than 25,000 of the nearly 45,000 signatures needed to place a question on the November ballot that will ask voters to adopt an ordinance stopping rail.
Support Rail Transit's Web site, supportrailtransit.com, allows the public to download a form and submit it to the city Clerk's Office.
The group, which has placed television and radio advertisements supporting the city's project, said in a statement Thursday that this "gives a second chance to residents suffering signer's remorse because they were misled by inaccurate anti-rail arguments."
David Wilson, a principal of the company, has declined to release names and individuals associated with Support Rail Transit.
Group seeks isles' best librarian
Readers across the state are invited to nominate their favorite librarian as 2008 Public Librarian of the Year.
The Friends of the Library of Hawaii will select a librarian and a library support staff member for its annual awards, designed to highlight outstanding service and contributions to Hawaii's public libraries.
The Public Librarian of the Year will earn a $1,000 gift certificate from Borders for his or her branch. Both winners will earn $500 from the Friends of the Library of Hawaii for their branches.
Nomination forms are available at all public libraries and online at www.friendsofthelibraryofhawaii.org. Nominations will be accepted until July 6.
Fund drive to aid typhoon victims
Several community groups are holding a fundraising drive for the victims of Typhoon Fengshen in the Philippines. The drive is being held today at the Filipino Community Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Radio station KNDI will be broadcasting live from the center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Typhoon Fengshen has left 540 people dead and 277 missing throughout the Philippines. In addition, a ferry carrying more than 850 people capsized. Only 56 survivors from the ferry have been found.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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EAST HONOLULU
Woman is pulled from Hanauma Bay
Lifeguards found a 54-year-old woman floating face down in Hanauma Bay yesterday morning.
Lifeguards pulled the woman to shore at about 10 a.m. and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, said Emergency Services Department spokesman Bryan Cheplic.
She was taken in critical condition to Straub Clinic & Hospital, Cheplic said.
CENTRAL OAHU
Man allegedly hits girlfriend's car
Police arrested a 45-year-old Wahiawa man Thursday who allegedly rammed his ex-girlfriend's car with his car and then threatened her with a knife.
Police said that at 7:34 p.m. Wednesday, a 42-year-old woman was driving in Honolulu when her car was hit by a vehicle driven by the suspect. Police said the suspect grabbed and threatened the woman with a knife while she was still in the car, then drove away.
Police found the suspect at his Ohai Place home at 2 a.m. Thursday, where he was arrested on suspicion of first-degree criminal property damage, unauthorized entry into a vehicle, first-degree terroristic threatening and abuse.
WAIKIKI
Man allegedly uses hand in stickup
Police arrested a 35-year-old Ala Moana man who allegedly robbed a Waikiki store yesterday afternoon.
The man walked up to the store counter at 3:34 p.m. yesterday with a bandanna covering his face, allegedly "made a gun with his hand" and pointed it at the cashier and demanded money, police said.
The cashier did not take him seriously until he pushed her hand aside and allegedly tried to open the register, police said.
The cashier took the key out and called for help, police said.
Another man heard the cashier yelling for help, followed the man and flagged down a police officer, police said.
Police arrested the suspect on Kuhio Avenue. He allegedly had drugs and drug paraphernalia on his person. He was being held in an investigation into second-degree robbery, second-degree promotion of dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Marketplace business robbed
Police are looking for a man who robbed a business at the International Marketplace in Waikiki.
Police said that at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday a man approached a cashier inside the business, passed her a note saying he had a gun and demanded money.
After getting an undisclosed amount of cash, the suspect fled on foot, police said. He is described as being in his mid-30s and about 5 feet 10 inches tall. He was wearing a black baseball cap, white T-shirt with an "AX" logo on it and shorts.
HONOLULU
2 suspects sought in couple's robbery
Police are looking for two men who robbed a man and woman at knifepoint Wednesday at the Puu Wai Momi Housing on Kohomua Street in Halawa.
Police said the Pearl City man and Mililani woman, both 37, were inside an apartment when two men walked into the apartment through an unlocked screen door. The first suspect, a man described as in his early 20s, lifted up his shirt and displayed the handle of a pistol tucked inside his waistband and demanded money from the two.
He took cash and a cell phone from the man, then took cash and a purse from the woman, police said. The second suspect stood and watched, police said.
Both men fled the scene on foot. The first suspect is described as 5 foot 5 inches tall, about 150 pounds, with a medium build, spiky hair, brown eyes and a goatee. He was wearing black shorts. The second suspect was described as in his early 40s, about 6 foot 2 inches tall, weighing 250 pounds, with a heavy build, black braided hair, brown eyes and a teardrop tattoo under his left eye.
NORTH SHORE
Suspect arrested in car break-in
Police arrested a 34-year-old man Wednesday after he was seen allegedly breaking into a parked car in Haleiwa.
At 12:24 a.m. Wednesday, police received a call about a suspicious-looking man looking into cars. When police arrived at the 6600 block of Kamehameha Highway, they found the suspect allegedly looking inside the trunk of a car.
Officers searched the suspect and found a 44-year-old man's wallet on him, as well as drugs and drug paraphernalia, police said. He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree unauthorized entry into a vehicle, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and possession of drug paraphernalia.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Firefighters control West Maui blaze
WAILUKU » Firefighters have contained a fire that burned a 95-acre area in the West Maui Mountains and possibly damaged native species.
John Cumming, Maui manager for the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife, said officials will probably conduct a survey next week to assess the damage.
Cumming said rain showers and less wind helped firefighting efforts yesterday.
The fire, reported west of the wind turbines Wednesday evening, was out of control for more than a day along Hanaulaiki ridge and gulches at Papalaua, as winds sometimes blew at 45 mph. Officials said the fire left patches of burned areas and did not completely destroy places known to contain native species, including plants and snails.