Single mom trying to make it
off welfare, needs furnitureNadine's husband was a good provider and a churchgoing man. But he changed drastically when he was fired without any warning from his job.
Instead of turning to God for solace, he got into drugs.
Then he started taking his anger and frustration out on Nadine with his fists. She put up with it for the sake of their three children, but when he started hitting them, Nadine would not tolerate it and left.
For the past year, Nadine has been working at minimum-wage job with no benefits to support her children. Because she has never been employed before, Nadine had to start at the bottom. But she looks as it as a steppingstone to something better, and is determined to get off welfare and become self-sufficient one day.
Nadine and her kids receive a lot of support from their pastor and friends at church, but the two youngest boys are suffering psychologically from their father's absence, as well as their mom's being away at work a lot.
Since the family has no living room furniture, Nadine would appreciate a love seat for their apartment and a computer for her eldest son, who takes care of his brothers while she's working. New clothes are also needed.
If you can help, send a check to the Star-Bulletin's Good Neighbor Fund, P.O. Box 2019, Aiea 96701. Or you can donate items to the Community Clearing House in Building 914 at the Kapalama Military Reservation on the left of Sand Island Access Road, about a half-mile beyond Kilgo's. Call 845-1669 for information.
Army, EPA tour Makua Valley
Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state Department of Health and the Army were to meet today with Waianae Coast community leaders to tour the Makua Valley area and discuss residents' concerns over military weaponry and medical waste runoff.Area residents are concerned over waste from the open-burn, open-detonation site near the center of Makua Military Reservation, said Roger Furrer, vice president of Malama Makua, a community group seeking to return the valley to civilian control.
The military has used the site for almost 70 years as a disposal area for weapons and medical wastes, Furrer said. As a result, waste has been carried by runoffs onto public areas, such as a popular fishing pond.
Furrer calls today's tour and meeting part of a continuing dialogue to address concerns over possible contamination of public areas. Officials will tour the sites that residents believe are contaminated and learn about the historical and traditional Hawaiian cultural values of the Waianae coast.
Last week, the Army found two more World War II-era bombs and other unexploded small ordnance, an Army spokesman said yesterday.
Disposal of the bombs and small ordnance will be scheduled after discussion with community leaders.
Art academy, blind center win grants
More than $7 million in federal contracts and grants have been awarded to Hawaii organizations, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said.The awards, announced by Abercrombie yesterday, are:
$5 million from the U.S. Navy to Ho'opono Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired to provide food service for the Naval Security Group Activity, Schofield Barracks, Kunia Regional Signal Intelligence Operations.
Included in the total of the latest grants are two housing grants that were announced last week.
Civil rights panel gets new member, chair
Gov. Ben Cayetano has named attorney Harry Yee as chairman of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission and has named June K. Motokawa, a Kaimuki Middle School special education teacher, to the board.Yee, a former assistant attorney general with the Massachusetts attorney general's civil rights division, serves as a U.S. Department of Justice trainer for state and local law enforcement agencies on hate and bias crimes.
Motokawa, immediate past president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, has taught in public schools for 29 years. She was named to fill a seat vacant since the September death of former commission Chairman Claudio Suyat.
Cayetano taps Graulty for Circuit Court bench
State Insurance Commissioner Rey Graulty has been named by Gov. Ben Cayetano to replace retiring Circuit Judge James Aiona Jr."Rey Graulty has the integrity, intelligence and compassion to serve as a Circuit Court Judge," Cayetano said.
"As insurance commissioner, former legislator and past chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee he has demonstrated his commitment to public service," the governor said.
Graulty has been licensed to practice law in Hawaii since 1980.
He holds a law degree from the University of Hawaii and bachelor's in political science and history, magna cum laude, from the State University of New York at Albany.
Cayetano appointed Graulty insurance commissioner in February 1997.
From 1986 to 1996, Graulty served as a member of the state Senate, where he also chaired the Senate Human Services Committee.
From 1982 to 1986, Graulty served in the state House of Representatives.
Graulty's nomination must be approved by the Senate.
Racial complaint filed against school on Maui
A complaint alleging racial discrimination and harassment at Iao Intermediate School on Maui was filed yesterday by the Hawaii chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the African-American Lawyers Association.
The complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights in Seattle accuses students at the school of shouting racial epithets and physically assaulting Philliep Knox, the only black student at the Wailuku school.
The complaint says Knox, a special needs student who enrolled at the school in September, has been subject to near-constant harassment and threats of violence.
It says he was physically assaulted on two occasions, including one time in front of his mother, Shelly Knox, and a deputy district superintendent from the Department of Education.
Shelly Knox also alleges students shouted racial slurs at her.
Principal Elizabeth Ayson said she met last week with ACLU legal director Sandy Ma about the allegations, but didn't know a complaint had been filed.
The first name of Kelvin Bloom, the former president of Castle Resorts & Hotels who has been appointed executive vice president of Aston Hotels & Resorts, was misspelled in yesterday's Hawaii Inc. CORRECTION
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Police, Fire
By Star-Bulletin staff3 kidnap suspects arrested
Police yesterday arrested a man and two women in connection with Sunday's downtown robbery and kidnapping.The man and four women allegedly kidnapped a woman and took her to a downtown apartment building on Sunday at about 8 a.m., police said.
The woman was forced to surrender her credit cards and personal identification numbers.
The group then allegedly robbed the woman of her jewelry.
The other two women suspects have not been apprehended.
2 men face smuggling charges
Two Maui men face drug smuggling charges after agents found them with 10,000 tablets of anabolic steroids.State narcotics officials said yesterday that Eulan Udo and Alexander Clark, both 23, were arrested last week after customs agents found the steroid pills in their baggage during a routine check.
They also recovered 56 ampuls of steroids.
Officials said the two men bought the steroids in Thailand and planned to sell them on Maui. They said the pair paid about $200 for the steroids, which have a street value in Hawaii of between $50,000 and $60,000.
Udo and Clark each face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Agents said 99 percent of the steroids in Hawaii are smuggled in.
It is illegal to possess steroids in Hawaii without a prescription.
In other news...
A 37-year-old city employee was arrested yesterday for allegedly stealing a camera from the city. The man allegedly took the camera and pawned it in June, police said. The man was arrested when it was recovered.
COURTS
Release denied for teen jailed in stabbing
A 17-year-old Village Park youth accused of trying to stab a teen to death in March was denied supervised release today for the second time.Jacob Dano was returned to the Oahu Community Correctional Center, where he is in custody in lieu of $120,000 bail.
Circuit Court Judge Wendell Huddy also denied a motion to reduce his bail today.
Dano pleaded no contest last month to a reduced charge of second-degree assault for stabbing another teen. He was charged as an adult after Family Court waived jurisdiction over the case.
Gilbert Dano, the boy's father, today testified he would be willing to take full responsibility for his son and make sure he doesn't violate the conditions of release.
Circuit Court Judge Wendell Huddy, in denying the motion, said he was not satisfied that there were conditions of release that would ensure Jacob Dano would not pose a risk to the community.
Dano also faces sentencing in another assault that occurred two weeks before the stabbing.
Fire dancer found guilty in shooting
A 61-year-old man convicted of fatally shooting a roommate and firing shots at another faced a Circuit Court judge and a jury yesterday, thanking them for bringing his trial to a conclusion.The man, one of Hawaii's top fire dancers, also wished them a "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."
After deliberating more than a day and half, the jury yesterday found Falefia Moe guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter based on extreme mental and emotional distress in the killing of Clint Fleishour in April 1997.
The jury also found Moe guilty of a lesser charge of second-degree reckless endangering for shooting at another roommate, Leigh Josephson, who was not injured. They found Moe not guilty of a first-degree attempted murder charge.
Moe, a performer on entertainer Danny Kaleikini's show for nearly two decades, faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced Feb. 12.
Moe's son, Tino, said his family accepts the jury's verdict. "It's all in God's hands."
While Fleishour's family was not present for the verdict, Deputy Prosecutor Randy Lee said they are disappointed that at age 20, Fleishour never had a chance to get his life off the ground.
Jury decides stabbing was reckless, not murder
Relatives of a man who stabbed his brother to death say they are disappointed by a jury's decision to find him guilty, even on a lesser charge.After 3-1/2 days of deliberating, a Circuit Court jury yesterday rejected a second-degree murder charge and found Timothy Culkin, 40, guilty of manslaughter by reckless conduct in the death of his younger brother, Thomas.
He was also found guilty of second-degree reckless endangering for firing a handgun in the air to scare his brother's female companion.
Culkin faces up to 20 years' imprisonment when he is sentenced Feb. 25.
Culkin's sister Theresa Culkin said he had rejected two plea bargains because he wanted to take the stand and tell his story. "It was important for him. He wanted all to know he didn't murder his brother."
"It's a situation he's gonna have to deal with for the rest of his life," she said. "He doesn't deserve to be locked up."
The defense contended Thomas Culkin was high on ice when the brothers argued on July 27, 1997, and that Timothy Culkin stabbed him with a steak knife to protect himself.
Dr. Randall Baselt, an internationally renown toxicologist, testified there were 3.66 milligrams of methamphetamine per liter of blood in Thomas Culkin's system at the time of his death.
Timothy Culkin testified he never intended to kill his brother but simply wanted to stop him after his brother "rushed" him.
"Tim always looked after Tom," said their father, Mike Culkin. "He loved his brother, no question about it."
But Deputy Prosecutor Marcus Sierra argued that Timothy Culkin "drew first blood" by throwing his younger brother against the wall.
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