Lindsey did not weep,
By Mary Adamski
her attorney says
Star-BulletinNews accounts of a Monday speech by Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey were inaccurate in the way they depicted her demeanor, her lawyer said yesterday. Attorney William Harrison said the Monday story in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin was incorrect in reporting that she wept and lashed out at her critics during the speech to the Honolulu Sunrise Rotary.
"Miss Lindsey never openly weeped. . . . She didn’t challenge her critics," said Harrison, who called a news conference to air the grievance.
Lindsey’s public relations consultant Doug Carlson said "she teared up" but did not weep.
The Star-Bulletin account was picked up by the Associated Press and dispensed to other news media by the wire service. The Associated Press story was used by the Honolulu Advertiser yesterday.
Harrison said he was considering asking the state attorney general to investigate the apparent "collusion" between the two independent newspapers because one paper "wholeheartedly adopted the reporting of the other."
Harrison said the Star-Bulletin front-page cartoon yesterday depicted a weeping Lindsey, "incorporating and expanding the inaccuracy," although Carlson had already objected to the newspaper.
"There’s been a lot of negative reporting of Miss Lindsey, and we’ve taken it for the last six months or so, and we’re just tired of it," the attorney said.
"I’ve consulted my trusty Webster’s Dictionary and am satisfied that ‘teared up’ falls within the meaning of ‘wept,’ " said David Shapiro, managing editor of the Star-Bulletin. "If anybody doubts our determination to cover this story fairly, look at the ridiculous amount of news space we’re devoting to the asinine hair-splitting and ludicrous collusion charges of Ms. Lindsey’s spin doctors."
Bishop Estate Archive
Cop kicked, punched man in custody, witnesses say
Honolulu Police Officer Joseph Alejado was angry over a punch he received while responding to a call about loud music and drinking at Waipahu Recreation Center Jan. 4, 1995.Instead of getting treatment for a bloody mouth, he grabbed arrested suspect Sam Tupuola and banged his head against a wall at the Pearl City substation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peggy Kuo said this morning in opening statements in Alejado's civil rights trial.
"And while Sam Tupuola was handcuffed, Officer Alejado punched his face several times," said Kuo, a trial attorney from the Civil Rights division in Washington, D.C.
Kuo said two officers saw Alejado kick and punch Tupuola at the station and that Alejado tried to persuade them to not say what happened.
She asked federal jurors to find Alejado guilty of depriving Tupuola of his constitutional rights and of witness tampering. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the two felony counts.
But Birney Bervar, Alejado's attorney, said his client didn't assault Tupuola or try to persuade any officers "to testify in any way other than the truth."
Council wavers a bit in Home Depot case
City Council support for a Home Depot outlet at Pearl City Junction may be wavering.Zoning Chairwoman Donna Mercado Kim said growing opposition to the project has Council members taking a second look at the rezoning issue.
Home Depot received a 3-1 vote from the Zoning Committee yesterday allowing a 130,000-square-foot outlet across from the Pearl Highlands Shopping Center. Councilman Steve Holmes, who voted for the project previously, cast the dissenting vote.
Kim said she's undecided on the issue but voted to move the measure to the Council because "it's important enough all nine members should have a say on this."
City Council Chairman John DeSoto, who previously favored the project, said after the meeting that he is only "leaning" in favor of approval.
More than 90 signed up to testify yesterday. Opponents wore "No Home Depot" buttons, while supporters donned T-shirts proclaiming "Home Depot Yes!"
A group of local businesses, the Alliance for Responsible Growth, says that the Atlanta-
based Home Depot is getting special favors and a speedy approval because the city's sale of the 13.75-acre property to the outlet for $17.5 million is contingent on upzoning.
"We just don't like government getting involved in the free market," said David Lundquist of Hardware Hawaii.
Campbell Estate to check into gripes on shoreline access
A Campbell Estate official says he will check into complaints about access to the shoreline at Paradise Cove and Lanikuhonua.David Rae, Campbell manager for community and government services, said he will order that a sign blocking public shoreline access after 5 p.m. be removed from Paradise Cove.
He also said he'll look into complaints that naupaka, a seashore shrub, is overgrown and blocking access along the shoreline.
Rae's comments came after city Land Utilization Department officials presented pictures to the City Council Zoning Committee yesterday that showed apparent access violations.
Land Utilization officials told Council members that they intended to notify Campbell about the violations and get them fixed.
The department was following up on complaints made by a Honolulu resident, Doug Meller.
Paradise Cove and Lanikuhonua, which Campbell leases to a private cultural institution, are adjacent to and share an entryway with the Ko Olina Resort.
Kaulukukui nominated for Liliuokalani trustee
Former state Circuit Court Judge Thomas K. Kaulukukui Jr. has been nominated to be a Liliuokalani Trust trustee, succeeding Monsignor Charles Kekumano, who died Jan. 19.If his nomination by trustees David Peters and First Hawaiian Bank's Trust Division is approved by the Probate Court, his term would run until he reaches age 70.
Vice president for community affairs for The Queen's Health Systems, Kaulukukui graduated from Kamehameha Schools and earned a bachelor's degree in education from Michigan State University.
He earned a law degree in 1977 from the University of Hawaii's William S. Richardson School of Law and worked as a clerk for U.S. District Judge Samuel P. King. He entered private practice until 1988 when appointed to the Circuit Court. He resigned in 1993 to join The Queen's Health Systems.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffSuspects sought in fire set at Waipahu business
Police are looking for suspects in connection with gunshots last night and a suspicious fire at Leolane Tow Co. in Waipahu.The five gunshots were heard at the 94-263 Pupuole St. business at about 9:35 p.m., and a small car sped away shortly after, police said.
Police responded to the report of gunshots and saw smoke coming from the warehouse.
Four fire companies extinguished the fire at 9:55 p.m. It appeared to have been set maliciously because two cars in the warehouse had burned flares on their seats, said Fire Capt. Dennis Yamada of Waipahu Station.
There were three older cars in the warehouse, all damaged by fire, Yamada said.
He thought total damage to the contents, just the cars, might come to about $4,000, with only about $200 worth of damage to the building.
In other news . . .
A 19-year-old man was critically injured yesterday near Pearl Harbor when his car was hit by a sedan that ran a red light.
He was taken to Queen's Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
It was the state's seventh bank robbery of the year.
The woman entered the bank located at 1108 12th Ave. at 10:15 a.m. and presented a teller with a demand note.
She is about 5 feet 4 and 130 pounds with dark, mid-back length bushy hair.
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call the FBI at 521-1411 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
Police turned the animal over to the state Department of Agriculture.
Officials don't know where the animal came from.
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