Sally gets herself dressed every day but has no place to go. Lonely, poor, isolated woman
would like TV for companyShe sits in her room day and night, staring at the walls. She's lonely, isolated and poor. She has no friends and her family wants to forget all about her.
Sally has paranoid schizophrenia and lives in a foster home.
There's no day program for her to attend. Sometimes she feels so bored and frustrated, she explodes in emotional and sometimes physical attacks on those around her.
But beneath this persona is an intelligent person who loves to read and is interested in the world around her. Sally is able to furnish names, dates and other data on current and historical events without difficulty, and is a big fan of President Clinton.
Her social worker feels Sally would really appreciate having a television set in her room so she can keep up with world events and help her pass the time of day.
If you would like to help, send a check to the Honolulu 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 on the left of Sand Island Access Road, about a half-mile beyond Kilgo's. Call 845-1669 for information.
State seeks to ban Hanauma fish-feeding
A proposed ban on fish feeding at Hanauma Bay is the subject of a state Department of Land and Natural Resources hearing at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at Koko Head Elementary School.The department wants to make rule amendments to ban the feeding frenzy and correct a fish population imbalance.
It says populations of a few of the larger fish have increased beyond what the reef can support.
Power outage on Maui blamed on salt, rain
WAILUKU -- A blackout occurred on Maui early this morning, at one point cutting power to about half the island.Salt on electrical lines combined with a light rain caused flashovers on transmission lines, resulting in a loss of all generating power at the Maalaea substation at 1:58 a.m., said Stephen Bianco, the dispatch supervisor for Maui Electric Company, Ltd. Bianco said power was out in all of west Maui and parts of central Maui, Hana, Makawao, Haiku and Kula.
He said it was fully restored by 4:30 a.m. today.
Luke gets third term as Family Court judge
The Judicial Selection Commission has granted Linda K.C. Luke a third six-year term as District Family Court Judge of the First Judicial Circuit, effective Dec. 29. The term ends Dec. 28, 2004.
CORRECTIONS
The Department of Agriculture's "Canine Sleuth" demonstration will be held at 6 p.m. today at the Mililani Public Library. A different time was listed on Page A-3
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Police, Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPOLICE/FIRE
Woman crossing street injured by police vehicle
A 65-year-old woman was hospitalized this morning after being struck by a Honolulu Police GO-4 vehicle near the convention center.The woman was crossing Kalakaua Avenue near Makaloa Street inside or very close to a crosswalk when she was struck by the vehicle at 1:27 a.m., police said.
The officer, 26, was driving the GO-4 toward Waikiki for routine patrol. He was not responding to a call, traffic investigators said.
The woman was taken to Queen's Hospital in serious condition with head and chest injuries, and she was in guarded condition this morning. The police officer was not injured.
Whether speed was a factor in the accident is unknown at this time, police said. Alcohol may have been a factor with the pedestrian.
Police are still investigating if the woman had the walk signal or if the officer had the green light.
Roofer dies after fall from four-story building
A 52-year-old man was killed yesterday when he fell from the roof of a four-story building.The roofer was working on the Punahou Clark Building at 1646 Clark St. when he fell at about 10 a.m., police said.
He was taken to Queen's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Homeless man nabbed as purse-theft suspect
Two men caught a suspected purse-snatcher yesterday and recovered money taken from a woman in her 70s.The suspect allegedly grabbed the woman's purse at 10:15 a.m. yesterday near South King and Birch streets, police said. The woman gave chase to the man.
Two men joined in on the pursuit and called 911 from a cellular phone, police said. They cornered the suspect on Rycroft and Sheridan streets.
Her purse was found nearby and her $272 was reportedly found in the suspect's pockets, police said.
The man, who is homeless, was booked for second-degree theft.
HPD honors three men who assisted in arrests
The Honolulu Police Department yesterday presented certificates of merit to three men for assisting in the arrests of suspects in two separate purse-snatching incidents in Waikiki.Amadeo Yee, a security officer, was off-duty on the morning of Oct. 22 when he saw a man grab the purse of a woman who was drinking coffee at a fast-food restaurant.
Yee chased down the suspect, handcuffed him and held him until police arrived.
Gaylord Komoto and Dean Kawasaki, both employed by Queen Kapiolani Hotel, were recognized for capturing a suspect on Sept. 17.
Komoto chased the suspect, who was attempting to flee on a bicycle, toward a side street where Kawasaki was able to knock him off the bike.
The two men detained the suspect for police.
Rescue teams look for man missing off Big Isle
HILO -- Fire Department rescue personnel were to begin a helicopter search today for a man in a 16-foot boat missing off the Puako boat ramp in west Hawaii, they said. The man, whose identity was not released, made a radio call which was picked up by the Coast Guard shortly after 1 a.m.. The Coast Guard turned the case over to the Fire Department, an official said.
COURTS
Renee Beth Smith, 21, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her 3-month-old daughter, Shiann Amelia Smith. Mother pleads guilty to
smothering her childSmith appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra. Smith originally was charged with first-degree murder, a potential death penalty offense.
Janet Reno, U.S. attorney general, had decided in May 1998 not to seek the death penalty. For the lesser plea, the prosecution agreed not to seek a first-degree murder conviction.
Steven Alm, U.S. attorney here, said the child died Sept. 23, 1997, while Smith was socializing with a friend outside the Smith home in the Hale Moku Housing area, Pearl Harbor.
Smith briefly left her friend and went to her daughter's bedroom, where she pushed her infant daughter's face into bedding - smothering her. Smith then rejoined the friend and did not tell anyone what she had done. Another friend later found the victim, who was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital.
"The plea agreement was worked out here in Honolulu," said federal public defender Peter Wolff, who represented Smith. Reno's action and what happened here were not directly connected, Wolff said.
Any potential death penalty case has to go through a process with the U.S. Department of Justice, he explained.
Sentencing will take place April 5. The second-degree murder sentence could result in life imprisonment.
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