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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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COURTESY PHOTO
More than a dozen hammerhead shark pups were found dead and snagged in a gill net yesterday in Kaneohe Bay.
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Gill net snares shark pups
More than a dozen hammerhead shark pups were found dead yesterday along Windward Oahu.
Eric Conklin, a marine science adviser for the Nature Conservancy, said the 16 dead shark pups were recovered from a gill net in Kaneohe Bay near the Waikalua Fish Pond.
Lay gill nets have been banned from selected areas on Oahu, including Kaneohe Bay and nearby Kailua Bay.
The Nature Conservancy said it is illegal to leave a gill net in the water for more than four hours. The organization says it is also illegal to leave such nets unattended for more than 30 minutes.
Violators can face fines of up to $3,000.
Schofield acreage cleared by fire
The Army says 1,200 acres of land at one of the impact areas at Schofield Barracks was cleared of brush on Wednesday by using a controlled burn.
The operation was monitored by Army officials, federal firefighters and safety officers.
The Army said area residents might see some residual smoke from the burn.
Shark sighting shuts Kauai beach
HAENA, Kauai » Fire officials on Kauai say Kee Beach was closed yesterday after a shark was seen in the area. The beach is to remain closed until at least this morning. According to Ocean Safety officials, a 6- to 7-foot blacktip shark was spotted in the lagoon in the afternoon.
Signs were posted in the area warning of the shark sighting and advising no swimming was allowed.
Kamehameha statue to relocate
The King Kamehameha statue in Washington will have a new home at the U.S. Capitol by the end of the week.
The statue will be moved from Statuary Hall to Emancipation Hall in the Capitol's new visitor center, which opens Dec. 2., U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said Wednesday in a news release issued by his Washington office.
"This is a significant and exciting development in the history of the King Kamehameha statue, which has stood in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall since 1969," said Abercrombie, who signed a letter in 2003 asking the Architect of the Capitol to move the statue out of a back row of Statuary Hall and to a more visible location.
The letter stemmed from a videotaped comment by a Capitol tour guide who said the statue was placed in a back corner of Statuary Hall because Congress was upset that Kamehameha "wasn't that decently dressed."
The Architect of the Capitol had explained that the 6-ton statue, one of the heaviest in the Capitol's collection, had to be placed on a spot in Statuary Hall where the building's structure could support it.
The statue was dedicated as Hawaii's gift to the National Statuary Hall collection in 1969.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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WAIKIKI
Witnesses catch theft suspect
Witnesses chased down a purse snatching suspect in Waikiki yesterday.
Police said that at about 2:30 p.m. a 46-year-old woman was walking on a sidewalk when the suspect, who was riding a bicycle, came up from behind her, snatched her purse from her hand, and pedaled off.
Police said several witnesses chased the suspect, caught him on Olohana Street, and recovered the woman's purse.
Police arrested the suspect, a 31-year-old man, on suspicion of second-degree theft.
Hotel employees confront suspect
Police arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly burglarizing a Waikiki hotel.
At about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday the suspect allegedly entered a hotel room under renovation and took property.
Employees confronted the suspect, who fled, police said. Police eventually found the suspect in another room of the hotel and arrested him on suspicion of burglary and trespassing.
CENTRAL OAHU
Woman awakes to sexual assault
Police arrested a 20-year-old man Wednesday who allegedly sexually assaulted a 20-year-old woman after a party in Mililani.
Police said the woman went to a party and fell asleep. When she awoke, she found an acquaintance sexually assaulting her, police said.
The man fled and the woman called police.
The man surrendered to police and was arrested on suspicion of second-degree sexual assault and an outstanding traffic warrant.
He was released later pending further investigation.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Swimmer dies despite rescuers
HILO » A man believed to be in his mid-50s apparently drowned yesterday while swimming offshore from Puako village in West Hawaii, Hawaii County fire rescue personnel said.
The victim's name was withheld pending notification of his family. The exact cause of death was not immediately determined.
A Puako resident of a shoreline home saw the victim in the water calling for help at about 9:24 a.m., said Capt. Ted van Gelder. People in the area went to the man's aid and found him underwater. Residents were unsuccessfully giving the man resuscitation when police and fire rescue personnel arrived, the Fire Department said.
Convict's teen son is reported missing
HILO » The teenage son of Hyacinth Poouahi, who pleaded guilty in May to charges related to severe injuries to a young girl in her care in 2005, is reported missing on Oahu, Hawaii County police said.
Big Island police issued the statement about Hans Poouahi Jr., 17, because Honolulu police think the youth might have returned to his home island.
The state removed Hyacinth Poouahi's children from her care after a 911 call she made on Feb. 7, 2005, revealed major injuries, including rotting flesh, suffered by a 10-year-old girl left in her care about four months earlier.
The girl spent six weeks in a coma and is still recovering from the injuries.
Hyacinth Poouahi was supposed to have been sentenced this week for four charges agreed to in a plea bargain. However, sentencing was postponed until October. An attempted-murder charge against the woman was dropped.
When police first investigated the case against the woman, one of her daughters made accusations against Hans Jr., her brother.
The sister said Hans had stabbed the young girl in the ankle with a steak knife, a police report said. Because Hans Poouahi Jr. is a juvenile, any criminal proceedings against him, if there are any, would not be public record.
Big Island police describe the boy as 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 148 pounds. Anyone with information about him should call police at 935-3311 or CrimeStoppers at 961-8300.