Bar owner recalls the trouble Schweitzer brothers caused
HILO -- In March, Albert Ian Schweitzer traded lobsters for beers at a Pahoa bar, bar owner Frank Baker said.The Dana Ireland murder suspect returned to the bar, created a disturbance and grabbed beers from customers, Baker said when he outlined incidents to police.
Baker testified last week in a bail revocation hearing for Schweitzer's brother Shawn, also a suspect in Ireland's murder, and was expected to testify regarding Albert "Ian" Schweitzer when the hearing resumes today.
Shawn Schweitzer, 22, and Albert Ian Schweitzer, 26, are charged with murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault in the Christmas Eve, 1991 attack which left Ireland, 23, to bleed to death on the Big Island.
Judge Riki May Amano last week doubled the bail of both brothers to $140,000 pending today's hearing. Both had been free on bail but have been in the Hawaii Community Correctional Center since Thursday, unable to post the higher bail.
One of the original bail conditions was that they were not to use alcohol.Baker testified last week that Shawn Schweitzer stood outside his bar early on the morning of Feb. 28, challenging people to a fight after having been seen drinking.
In a new court document, deputy Prosecutor Lincoln Ashida said Baker also told an investigator about Albert Ian Schweitzer trading lobsters.
"There was another incident when the defendant entered the bar late at night, was very unruly, caused a disturbance, and began grabbing and drinking beers from customers," Ashida said Baker told the investigator.
Besides alcohol violations, prosecutors also allege the brothers tested positive for marijuana use in January and February, and had contact with prospective witnesses against them, both acts prohibited by their bail conditions.
Prospective witness Jesse Gonsalves testified last week that Shawn Schweitzer questioned him Feb. 27, while both were drinking heavily, about why Gonsalves' father intended to testify against him.
Gonsalves said he did not take the questions as a threat and did not know at the time that he was a possible witness himself.
Documents show that Albert Ian Schweitzer "accosted" another witness and intimidated her. The woman "feared for her safety," the documents say.
Panel OKs Kuhio Beach upgrade plan
Mayor Jeremy Harris' $12 million plan to spruce up Kuhio Beach, the most famous stretch of Waikiki, has moved out of a City Council committee, but it's far from approval.Harris wants to:
Rebuild the Waikiki police substation as well as concessions and restroom facilities.
Chief of Staff Ben Lee said an advisory task force made up of different Waikiki groups worked eight months to come up with the plan designed to "improve the pedestrian experience."
But Council members and interested parties continued to raise objections to various segments.
Council Economic Development Committee Chairman Mufi Hannemann said he wants the administration to look closer at moving the substation to the front of the Honolulu Zoo along Kapahulu Avenue.
Symphony hustles for $500,000
An anonymous Hawaii donor has promised the Honolulu Symphony $500,000, one of the largest donations in the symphony's history, if there is a matching gift by July 15.The $1 million would let the symphony eliminate debt, pay off loans to a bank consortium and allow the orchestra to begin its 1998-99 season debt free for the first time in a decade.
"This is the lead gift in our campaign to permanently stabilize the financial condition of the orchestra," said Sam Wong, the symphony's musical director."
The symphony is halfway to matching the half-million dollars: More than $250,000 has been pledged by the symphony's 40-member board of directors and about 20 members of the board of governors.
That amount includes a $100,000 gift from a couple.
The $500,000 donation has been a year in the making, said symphony director Michael Tiknis.
"This person has been watching very cautiously what the symphony has been doing the last two years and is making a very careful investment," he said.
The symphony will solicit donations from the 20,000 or so people who attended concerts in the past two years but who have not made any donation to the organization, Tiknis said.
The orchestra plans to ask all its subscribers and the concert-going public to donate.
Alleged air-bag thief sent back to New York
Maurizio Percan, nabbed on Kauai on a federal indictment for allegedly selling stolen air bags in every U.S. state including Hawaii, was transported from Oahu to New York by U.S. marshals yesterday.For security purposes, Percan's time of departure wasn't disclosed, said Wayne Kalima, U.S. marshal supervisory deputy in Honolulu.
Percan faces a 17-count indictment related to allegedly stealing air bags from cars in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, then selling them to auto parts businesses around the country.
Percan, 29, and his wife were honeymooning in Maui and Kauai when FBI agents arrested him. If convicted, he could serve up to nine years in prison.
Maui landfill operator ordered to cease work
WAILUKU -- The Maui County Planning Department has ordered a construction landfill operator to halt receiving any further waste materials until a fire is completely put out.County planner Donald Schneider said the order is being issued today but the operator, Richard "Chick" DeCoite, was informed yesterday about the decision.
Maalaea residents have complained about the smell from a smoldering fire at the construction landfill, located less than a mile from their homes.
DeCoite was scheduled today to ask the Planning Commission to renew a special-use permit for his operation.
Residents plan to challenge his request and have asked the commission to hold a contested case hearing before rendering a decision.
Council split could push back city reorganization
Portions of Mayor Jeremy Harris' reorganization plan requiring amendments to the City Charter may not make it to the voters this fall.By 5-4 votes, the City Council's Policy Committee yesterday moved proposals to merge the Planning Department with the Land Utilization Department to create a new Planning and Permitting Department; combine the Budget and Finance departments into a Budget, Fiscal and Technology Services Department; and exempt deputy directors from civil service requirements.
Six of nine Council members, however, must give final approval to the proposals because amendments to the City Charter require a two-thirds majority to make it onto the ballot.
The new five-member majority of the Council, which supports a reorganization, needs one more vote to get the proposals in this fall's election. The administration majority has until Aug. 5 to get the one vote.
A reorganization proposal to dissolve the Housing Department moved out of the committee 9-0. That plan also requires a Charter amendment.
A separate plan to eliminate the Office of Information and Complaint and create a new Office of Customer Services also was passed 9-0. No Charter amendment is needed for that proposal.
Applications for Kailua July 4 parade are out
If you want to enter a float, walking unit or any other exhibit in the 1998 Kailua Fourth of July parade, contact the Kailua Chamber of Commerce at 261-2727 or fax 262-5355.Applications may be picked up at the Chamber office at 146 Hekili St., Suite 201.
Application deadline is June 15.
Former school clerk guilty of taking money
Valerie Lau, a former Waimea Elementary and Intermediate School accounts clerk, has been found guilty of two counts of second-degree theft, the state attorney general's office said.A jury returned the verdict after a two-week trial in Hilo before Judge Greg Nakamura.
Lau was convicted of taking proceeds of a Halloween Fun Night fund-raiser put on by the school's parent-teacher-student association.
She also was convicted of taking money collected for such things as excursions and student yearbooks.
Sentencing, which could result in up to five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on each count, is set for June 29.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffHauula shotgun firing called an accident
Police have classified Sunday's shooting in Hauula, where a woman was shot in the hip, as accidental.A 25-year-old woman told police she retrieved her boyfriend's shotgun from their closet and placed it beside her on the living room couch at about 1:52 a.m.
While drinking beer, the woman reached over to see if the shotgun's safety was on when the weapon discharged, striking the woman in the left hip.
Police said the woman then panicked and disposed of the shotgun in a river behind her Kamehameha Highway home.
The woman told officials that she was unaware of the gunshot wound until she saw blood.
She was taken to Queen's Hospital where she is listed in stable condition.
Pair in car hospitalized after Kahuku accident
A passenger in a car was taken to Queen's Hospital in serious condition last night after firefighters freed him from a Honda sedan that sideswiped a pickup truck and then hit a tree in Kahuku.The man driving the sedan, who also went to Queen's, seemed in relatively good condition, a firefighter said.
Official condition reports from Queen's were not available.
The accident occurred shortly after 9 p.m. at 56-373 Kamehameha Highway, police said.
Both vehicles were northbound.
The pickup had just pulled onto the highway from a dirt road that goes mauka and had been headed makai before it turned onto the highway in the northbound lane, police said.
A woman and child who were pickup passengers received minor injuries.
They went to Kahuku Hospital and were treated and released.
The pickup driver was unhurt, police said.
Grass fire continues near Waikoloa Village
WAIKOLOA, Hawaii -- Firefighters were continuing to battle a 1,200-acre Big Island grassland fire today about 6 miles mauka of Waikoloa Village, they said.The fire, believed to have been caused by a cigarette, broke out at 2 p.m. yesterday on state land above the Mamalahoa Highway, the fire department said.
The fire is at a higher elevation than one in the area that broke out below the highway on April 28 and burned more than 6,000 acres.
Fire shuts down Haleiwa sandwich shop
Kua 'Aina Sandwich in Haleiwa will be closed for a couple of days because of a $15,000 fire caused by a chain of events -- including an accident that knocked out much of Haleiwa's power and rerouted traffic.It was the second fire there in less than two years.
"The power went out in town, and we lost our exhaust, and the grill flamed up and caught on fire," said Terry Thompson, owner of the eating establishment.Three employees were there at the time, but no one was injured, he said.
The previous Kua 'Aina fire took place June 16, 1996.
That one caused an estimated $135,000 worth of damage.
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