HILO - Former Big Island police Chief Victor Vierra has been permanently dismissed as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by a group of current and former police officers who claimed their rights were violated by cheating on promotional exams. Ex-Big Isle police chief
dismissed in lawsuitVierra's attorney, John Hoshibata, announced the dismissal yesterday in a statement which said all parties had agreed to it over a month ago. The statement said the actual dismissal document is being circulated among attorneys now for their signatures.
"It was a stressful period for myself and my family. I'm happy to be out of it and to get on with my life," said Vierra. "I was confident I would be exonerated once all the facts were in."
Vierra was selected chief in 1988 upon the sudden retirement of Chief Guy A. Paul, who had been accused of tampering with promotion procedures.
Vierra retired in 1994 and was replaced by Wayne Carvalho. He now works as a part-time disc jockey for KIPA radio.
In a complicated series of events beginning in 1991, more than a dozen officers filed a series of federal and state lawsuits regarding alleged promotion tampering.
Last year, U.S. District Judge David Ezra threw out a lawsuit against Vierra; present Chief Carvalho, who was deputy chief under Paul; and Vierra's former deputy chief, Francis De Morales, who was an inspector under Paul.
"Ezra ruled that the plaintiff police officers had failed to present any credible evidence supporting their federal claims," Hoshibata said.
The plaintiffs then filed a new suit in state court.
The present dismissal leaves the state suit still pending against Carvalho and De Morales.
Nine more Kamehameha preschools accredited
Nine more of Kamehameha Schools' preschool sites recently were accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.Kamehameha Schools has 28 preschool sites statewide, including 34 classrooms at 16 sites already accredited.
Seven more sites with nine classrooms are expected to complete the accreditation process during the upcoming school year. Recently accredited were:
East Hawaii: two classrooms each in Hilo and Waianuenue.
Community development nets 2nd award for Maui
Maui no ka oi - hana hou, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.Maui County, for the second year in a row, has been recognized for being a "leader among its peers" in community development.
The award was presented recently at the second annual Department of Housing and Urban Development Best Practices Conference in Charlotte, N.C.
Maui also received the John J. Gunther Blue Ribbon Award for Community Development and the Award for Creating Suitable Living Environments.
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Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffA 17-year-old boy was charged with second-degree murder last night in connection with Saturday's stabbing death of a homeless man at a Pearl City park. Teen-ager turns self in
to face murder chargeCrime Reduction Unit officers arrested the youth at 11:35 a.m. yesterday after he turned himself in at the Pearl City Police Station.
Police have not released his name because he is a juvenile.
A Family Court judge is expected to rule whether the youth will be tried as a juvenile or be bound over to Circuit Court and tried as an adult.
Alton J. Anderson, 23, a homeless man believed to be living at Neal Blaisdell Park, was fatally stabbed several times Saturday night by one of several people he apparently argued with.
According to a police report, Anderson was using the park restroom when he was attacked by the group.
Police said a group member stabbed him with a knife when he fought back.
Robbery did not appear to have been a motive, police said.
Mapunapuna robbery is year's 28th bank heist
The FBI and Honolulu police are searching for a man who robbed the Central Pacific Bank in Mapunapuna yesterday.The robber had brown neck- length hair, was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 160 pounds, police said. He entered the bank at about 12:18 p.m. carrying a brown envelope.
He handed a teller a demand note instructing the teller to fill the envelope with cash and "no one would get hurt."
The teller complied and he fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The robber, wearing a dark colored T-shirt and light colored shorts, was believed to have fled in a light-colored 1989 Toyota Corolla.
Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call the FBI at 521-1411 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
This was the state's 28th bank robbery of the year.
Drugs raids on Big Isle yield plants, 3 arrests
KAILUA-KONA - Big Island police, working with state and federal agents, seized 4,695 marijuana plants growing in west Hawaii areas from Holualoa to Ocean View yesterday, they said.They also arrested a man and two women while executing a search warrant at a Kealakekua home and seized three marijuana plants, two methamphetamine pipes, and a crack cocaine pipe, they said. The suspects were released pending investigation.
Three men, three teens caught in drug house
HILO - Police and state narcotics officers arrested three men, a teen-age boy, and two teen-age girls in a raid on a crack house on Kaiwiki Road yesterday, they said.They also seized 2.1 ounces of cocaine, 1.2 ounce of crack cocaine, 1.1 ounce of crystal methamphetamine or ice, and $2,134 in cash.
The suspects were released pending further investigation.
Baby's injuries believed caused by falling mirror
Police do not suspect foul play in the injury of an 13-month-old baby who was taken to Kapiolani Hospital on Monday.The Kalihi girl suffered head injuries when a mirror fell on her, police said. She remains at Kapiolani Hospital in guarded condition.
Fetus in Waikiki hotel was from a miscarriage
No charges will be filed against a woman who apparently miscarried in a Waikiki hotel room tub, police said.Police located the female guest who had been registered in the Outrigger Hobron room where a maid on Monday discovered the remains of a fetus in the tub drain.
Police said they learned the guest had miscarried on Sunday.
Medical examiners determined the fetus wasn't far enough along to be viable, and had more than likely been miscarried.
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