Lingle: Provide skills, incentive over welfare
It should not be a state function to help people qualify for welfare, Maui Mayor Linda Lingle told a Waianae audience."No community can be healthy with a high rate of welfare. It becomes a matter of pride," said the Republican gubernatorial candidate at a campaign town meeting that attracted about 100 people last night.
Lingle responded to a comment from the audience about the high rate of welfare recipients on the Leeward Coast and the state's apparent inability to get people off the dole.
"Welfare as a concept is something we shouldn't accept," she said. "People used to be ashamed to let anyone know they received welfare. Now there are children who have never seen their parent get up and go to work."
Lingle said Hawaii has lagged behind other states that have implemented federal welfare reforms. She said she was appalled when reading a news article in which a state official said the reason for that is that Hawaii is a compassionate state.
"To help people get the job skills, to provide incentives to put them into the work force . . . that's the compassionate state," she said.
Hawaii is known as a place where state assistance is available when people step off the plane. "Other states require that you conduct a 60-day or 90-day job search."
Most welfare recipients are single mothers, often teen-agers. "Think how warped it is that the state pays for the apartment for a 15-year-old girl, making it easy to move from home. In California they require that every girl under 18 has to live at home or with a guardian and continue her education in order to receive assistance."
The resolution of the welfare question has the same answer as other ills in government here, "getting the economy back on the track," said Lingle.
USS Missouri to arrive in late June after departure delay
The USS Missouri's departure from Puget Sound has been delayed for a month and is now scheduled for mid-May.Following a week stopover in Astoria, Ore., the 887-foot dreadnought is due to arrive in Pearl Harbor by late June.
The Navy and the USS Missouri Association used the extra time to finalize agreements on the environmental and other requirements associated with the presence of polychlorinated biphenyl aboard the battleship.
Roy Yee, Missouri Association president, said the Navy has approved the association's request to begin preparing the Missouri for its departure from Bremerton, Wash. Private tugs chartered by the association will pull the 45,000-ton vessel out of its mooring at the Naval Inactive Ship Facility at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
The battleship will be towed south along the coast, then 12 miles up the Columbia River to the Port of Astoria for a one-week visit.
Yee said that although it is not required by law, the Missouri will be docked in the fresh waters of the Columbia River "to kill any marine saltwater organisms that have accumulated on its hull," removing any likelihood that the battleship will bring these organisms into Pearl Harbor.
In late May, tugs will begin the final 20- to 30-day trip to Hawaii.
Don Hess, the association's vice president for operations, said the delay helps "Mighty Mo" since sea conditions will be much better.
Governor to lay out prison ideas for Big Island
Gov. Ben Cayetano still wants the state's new prison to be built on the Big Island and will be taking his case there during the first week in April.Opposition to building a prison on the Big Island, particularly in the community of Kau, has split the island. Business, labor and other economic interests say the prison will shore up the sagging economy, especially in Kau where unemployment is nearly double the statewide average of 5 percent.
Some residents want to preserve Kau's rural lifestyle, while others oppose a prison because they believe it will bring problems to the area. Kau, a district twice as large as Oahu, is 60 miles south of Hilo.
But the governor yesterday emphasized, "The Big Island is where the prison will be."
Cayetano told reporters that he initially wanted to make the presentation during the last week in March, but said it won't be ready then.
Cayetano said the presentation, which is being prepared by state Public Safety Director Keith Kaneshiro, will list the economic benefits of constructing a prison and the impact a prison population will have on Kau.
"All these things were not explained to the people," said Cayetano, referring to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Kau earlier this month. Testimony at that hearing ran more than 2-to-1 against building a 2,300-bed medium-security facility in Kau, which depended on the sugar industry for decades.
Given the opposition during this election year, some lawmakers are suggesting that Cayetano should scale back his proposal, building instead a 1,000- to 1,300-bed medium-security facility at Kau and expand Kulani Correctional Facility.
The governor said that the expansion of Kulani -- the state's minimum-security facility located outside of Hilo with nearly 250 inmates -- also will be included in the presentation, which he expects will be held in Hilo.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffSchofield Barracks man charged in baby's death
An Oahu Grand Jury indicted a Schofield Barracks man in connection with the January slaying of his 2-month-old daughter.Carl Branch, 23, is charged with second-degree murder.
He was arrested on the warrant yesterday at 7 p.m. at a California Avenue home in Wahiawa.
He is being held on $100,000 bail, police said.
Pedestrian struck, killed on Farrington Highway
A 19-year-old man died this morning when he was hit by a pickup truck in the Nanakuli area.The man was walking in the westbound lane of Farrington Highway near Hakimo Road at about 2:40 a.m. when he was struck by a pickup truck which was also heading west, police said.
The woman driving was not injured, police said. The man was pronounced dead at 3:09 a.m.
Police charge suspect in Waikiki eatery threat
Police charged a 31-year-old man for allegedly threatening a doorman at a Waikiki restaurant with a chain saw and a sickle yesterday morning.Derek Quismorio, of Waikiki, was charged with second-degree terroristic threatening.
He was also charged with third-degree assault for an unrelated incident.
His bail is $350.
Teen driver injured in collision with trolley
A 16-year-old girl suffered a broken leg and jaw when the van she was driving collided with a Waikiki Trolley vehicle yesterday on Kalanianaole Highway between the Hawaii Kai Golf Course and Makapuu lighthouse.The girl is listed in fair condition at Queen's Hospital.
The trolley's four passengers and driver were not seriously injured.
In other news...
PAHALA, Hawaii -- Firefighters hope to put out a 500-acre brush fire in the Big Island's Kau District today after declaring it under control yesterday afternoon, the fire department said.
The suspect is described as about 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds, with a tan complexion and black hair, long in the back.
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