Newswatch
Estate critic calls Yim's act 'overkill'
Court-appointed fact finder Patrick Yim's destruction of files relating to his highly critical report of Kamehameha Schools management raises questions about the report's credibility, according to a critic of the Bishop Estate.During a private meeting in Circuit Judge Colleen Hirai's chambers last month, Yim disclosed that he destroyed records of interviews with Kamehameha Schools staffers to preserve confidentiality.
Beadie Kanahele Dawson, attorney for Na Pua a Ke Ali'i Pauahi, which has faulted trustees' management of the schools, Friday said Yim was under court order to keep his sources' identities confidential.
But he was not required to destroy documents after the report was completed, she said.
"It's almost as if he had destroyed his own credibility," Dawson said. "It does seem like overkill."
Yim had no response, saying through a spokeswoman that he had informed lawyers for the estate and the attorney general's office about a month ago. An estate spokesman had no comment.
Bishop Estate urgest rejection of petition for union at Kamehameha
Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate believes that all of its faculty members statewide belong to an "ohana," or family, and play a managerial role in the governance of the various campuses.It wants the National Labor Relations Board to reject a petition from members of Kamehameha Schools who want to form a labor union. A hearing on the matter continues Monday.
On Dec. 23, teachers at the Kapalama Heights campus filed a petition with the NLRB seeking a faculty vote on whether a union can be formed.
Seventy percent of Kamehameha's faculty, or about 260 full-time teachers, signed the petition.
Assisted suicide may come to ballot
Hawaii residents may get a chance to vote on the issue of physician-assisted suicide, according to a blue-ribbon panel that has studied the subject for more than a year.But members stressed that further, in-depth discussion by the panel and the public is vital before the controversial topic gets on the ballot.
The 18-member Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Living and Dying with Dignity yesterday generally decided much more work is needed before it can make any policy recommendations to Gov. Ben Cayetano or the state Legislature.
It agreed to study:
Greater personal autonomy and control over the timely manner of death;
Maui nights 'too cold' to hunt for fugitive snakes
WAILUKU -- State officials have suspended night searches for two snakes in Makawao after deciding the temperatures were too cold after daylight for the reptiles to venture out.Domingo Cravalho, a state quarantine inspector, said experts feel the Burmese python will hunt during the daytime, when it's warmer.
Temperatures in the vicinity of the search have been in the high 40s at night, Cravalho said.
State officials planed to search for a few hours Saturday.
After consulting with experts familiar with the snakes, the search has focused on wooded areas within a half mile of Haleakala Ranch offices.
The molted skin of the python, measuring at least 15 feet long, was found Jan. 2, and the skin of a 5- to 8-foot-long boa constrictor was found about 200 feet away Monday in a stable area.
Speeding suspected in year's first fatal crash
Police said speeding may have caused a fatal car accident in Waikiki Saturday morning.Two Honda sedans were Ewa-bound on Ala Wai Boulevard at about 2 a.m. when one of them attempted to pass a car and hit the second, police said.
After making contact near Kalaimoku Street, the first vehicle lost control and struck a tree at the intersection of Ala Wai and Olohana Street, according to police.
The impact with the tree sent car parts flying up to the second story of a nearby apartment complex, and caused the tree to fall.
The 25-year-old driver of the first vehicle was pronounced dead by the time police arrived at 2:09 a.m. The driver and a passenger in the second car suffered no injuries.
The boulevard around the accident site were closed for 5 1/2 hours.
Residents said such an accident was inevitable. "We hear the racing all the time," said resident Maurice Lucas.
The accident was the first Oahu traffic fatality of the year.