A state court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 24 on Bishop Estate's request to limit what Attorney General Margery Bronster can release during her investigation into the estate's operations. Hearing set on request
to limit probe of Bishop EstateEstate trustees want to limit how the state handles sensitive information, and has asked Probate Court to prevent the state from making any of the information public -- a move opposed by Bronster.
Only the judge, the attorney general and the trustees would be authorized to see the unedited version of the report if the court approves Bishop Estate's recommendation. The estate has a similar restriction governing the annual review of its investments by a court-appointed master.
The two sides met Tuesday, and estate attorneys indicated their position personally to Bronster.
Estate spokeswoman Elisa Yadao wouldn't comment on what was said at the meeting.
The estate will cooperate with the state's investigation, Yadao said, but added that the state's largest private landowner is concerned with what the attorney general intends to do with certain information. "We have no problems disclosing information to the attorney general," she said. "We do have some concern about the publication of certain kinds of information."
With the lush Nuuanu Forest Reserve as a backdrop, land board Chairman Mike Wilson yesterday unveiled the state's plan for a sustainable forestry industry in Hawaii, particularly on the Big Island and Kauai. State unveils plan to turn
sugar land into forestBecause Hawaii has some of the best forest lands in the world, Wilson said forestry will be part of the state's economic transition from sugar cane to diversified agriculture. Despite questions from Hamakua farmers, he stressed that tree farms would only augment diversified agriculture, not replace it.
"We believe that quality agricultural lands accessible to existing irrigation systems should be reserved for other diversified agriculture like taro, papaya, ginger and other nursery crops," Wilson said.
Initial plans call for 60,000 acres of former sugar cane land, much of it private land in Hamakua, to be zoned and leased for tree farms.
Officials say this new industry could create 1,250 jobs in Hamakua to support a processed board mill, a chip export mill, a veneer mill, a saw mill and other craft wood uses.
They estimate revenue from 60,000 acres of trees could be $25 million a year.
Taiwan President Lee Teng-Hui was to arrive here today for a 30-hour layover on his way to Central and South America. Taiwan leader making
stopover here todayMembers of Hawaii's Chinese community are not planning any type of welcome or functions while Lee is here, on the advice of the State Department, Chinese leaders here said.
China already has reacted angrily to Lee's visit, partly because U.S. officials had given Beijing assurances that his visa request would not be approved. President Clinton reversed course under pressure from Congress.
The United States will also allow Lee to pass through Honolulu Sept. 17-18 on his return.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffA 4-year-old boy fell to his death from an open sixth-floor bedroom window of a Makiki apartment at 1314 Kinau St. last night, the second child to die in a fall in the past week. Another child dies in fall
from an apartment buildingHis mother was in the kitchen while her son and a 3-year-old child were playing in the bedroom. The 3-year-old ran out telling the mother her son had fallen down, police said.
She checked and saw the window screen was torn. She looked out and saw her son lying on the pavement below.
The boy was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m. at Queen's Hospital. His name was not available.
On Sunday, Yusuke Kondo, 4, of Japan, died after a fall from the 11th floor of Atkinson Towers in Waikiki.
The fire department said it will resume a search today for a 20-year-old missing hiker who was last seen near Helemano on Sunday. Search resumes for hiker
last seen Sunday morningA fire rescue helicopter and a military helicopter searched all day yesterday but did not find Daniel M. Rasmussen, a Barbers Point sailor from Corpus Christi, Texas.
Friends of the missing man said they dropped him off in on Plantation Road in Helemano Sunday at 9 a.m. The man planned to hike from Central Oahu on the Poamoho Trail to the northern Windward side. The man's friends planned to meet him Monday at Malaekahana State Recreation Area, but Rasmussen never showed up.
Barber's Point spokeswoman Sandy Miller said Rasmussen is an experienced hiker.
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