Restaurant Row plans to evict its open market
Restaurant Row will become a ghost town during the day if an open market there is shut down by the end of the month as planned, says Eva Puahi, a regular shopper."This is so choice," she said, feeling a papaya and carrying a bag of romaine lettuce. "If this place goes, it's empty."
Fresh vegetables, low prices and helpful vendors who suggest ways to cook the produce lure Puahi from her downtown office to the market weekly.
"I hope they save this place," she said. "It's a really good place."
About 25 vendors -- from straw bag craftspeople to orchid flower growers -- have created a slice of a Marrakesh bazaar from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the courtyard of Restaurant Row.
The center recently fell into receivership after a New York pension fund filed a foreclosure action last year because of $4 million in delinquent mortgage payments.
Court-appointed receiver Wendell Brooks told the open market it must go when its lease expires June 30.
"I used my judgment," Brooks said. "I don't wish to explain it."
Rodriguez found guilty in January slaying of wife
An Army panel yesterday convicted Sgt. Jose Rodriguez of third-degree murder in the Jan. 3 death of his wife, Angela.The five-member panel convicted Rodriguez of an offense defined as "murder caused by an intentional act inherently dangerous to another, although without an intent to cause the death."
Example of this degree of murder include throwing a live grenade toward another in jest, the Army said.
The maximum sentence Rodriguez could receive is life imprisonment. The sentence has not yet been decided.
Prosecutors said Rodriguez killed his wife and then made up a story that the couple were abducted and taken to Puu O Mahuku Heiau in Pupukea, where Angela Rodriguez's body was found in their car shortly after 1 a.m. on Jan. 5.
Hammer-killer faces life without parole
Monte L. Young, who used a hammer to murder a man waiting for coffee at the University Avenue Burger King last year, now faces life in prison without parole.Circuit Administrative Judge Victoria Marks yesterday ruled that the state law to eliminate parole for murders that are especially "atrocious, cruel and heinous" was constitutional.
Marks, who convicted Young last month of murder in a nonjury trial, also said she thought his crime fit the criteria.
She said Young repeatedly struck Paul Ulbrich with the blunt and claw end of a hammer, at times using both hands. She said the attack was unprovoked and that the sounds of the blows could be heard over traffic 20 feet away.
"Is that especially heinous? Is that atrocious? Is that cruel?" she asked. "I think so."
She set Young's sentencing for Sept. 15, when she will make a final ruling after arguments from the prosecution and defense.
UH professor's appeal denied
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied an appeal from a University of Hawaii professor who claimed UH violated his academic freedom when it investigated claims of sexual harassment against him.State Attorney General Margery Bronster yesterday said UH religion Professor Ramdas Lamb appealed an earlier U.S. District Court decision that found the UH did not violate his First Amendment right of academic freedom.
The university had conducted an investigation of Lamb after complaints by former student Michelle Gretzinger that Lamb had coerced her into a sexual relationship with him.
Bronster said the three-judge appeals panel affirmed the District Court's decision. It ruled the UH was obligated under federal law to investigate the charge of sexual harassment, and therefore could not have violated Lamb's constitutional rights.
Further, it said a college professor's classroom speech is not clearly protected by the First Amendment.
"The decision proves that the University of Hawaii and its employees properly investigated the sexual harassment charges against Lamb without violating his constitutional rights," Bronster said.
HPD video wins award for behind-scenes look
The Honolulu Police Department won a national award for a 30-minute television show giving a behind-the-scenes look at officers in action.The show "HPD: Inside 801," was given an award of excellence from the Videographer Awards national program, which judges in government, corporate, commercial and special-events categories, according to the department.
The video was produced by the department's Maka'i Video Production unit.
It shows scenes of a single night of duty, including a homicide call and a narcotics raid.
It was shown in February and March and will be telecast again at 7:30 p.m. June 13 on KFVE Channel 5.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staff14-year-old tells police a man abducted her
Police are searching for a man who allegedly kidnapped and demanded sex from a 14-year-old girl walking in Pearl City yesterday.The girl was on Waimano Home Road and Noelani Street when she was reportedly abducted by a man in a black Toyota or Nissan sedan at about 2:45 p.m., police said. The man then drove around the area and demanded sex from the girl.
She was able to escape when she bit the man, police said.
Three teens arrested for robbing taxi driver
Three Kalihi teens were arrested Wednesday night for robbing a taxi driver at knifepoint.The boys, 15, 15 and 16, were picked up by the driver about 11:30 p.m. on North King Street and Akepo Lane, police said.
They ordered the man to drive to Judd Street, then fled with the man's wallet and keys to the cab.
Officers arrested the boys, who were booked for first-degree robbery.
Pearl City man arrested in home invasion robbery
Police yesterday arrested and charged a Pearl City man in connection with an April robbery of a Kaimuki home.Tae Chon, 35, was charged with first-degree robbery and two counts of kidnapping, police said. He is being held on $150,000 bail.
Police said Chon and two other men allegedly entered the 12th Avenue home on April 10 and demanded money from a man, 33, and a woman, 42.
The suspects reportedly beat the residents with a golf club, threatened them with a knife and held them for more than an hour.
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