The attorney for a firm that made a losing bid for Waikiki's only nonprofit beachboy concession stand says his client had exclusive rights to the contract. Beachboy concession
disputes losing bidPalekaiko Beachboys Club Inc. won the three-year rights to the concession in an open bid process, beating out Hawaii Beach Service by bidding $1,750 to $1,633.
Attorney Richard Gronna said Hawaii Beach Service was set up exclusively in 1990 as a nonprofit to benefit old-time beachboys threatened by for-profit groups.
The company was awarded the contract in 1995, when there were no other interested parties, city officials said. But they said other nonprofit groups with the stated purpose of helping beachboys were since created, forcing them to go through the normal bid process, as they do with three for-profit beachboy concessions.
Ron Nakano, concessions officer for the Department of Enterprise Services, said groups seeking the nonprofit stand had to be registered with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and open to all qualifying beachboys.
He said Palekaiko meets the city's definition of a nonprofit beachboy operation: "to perpetuate Hawaiian beachboy tradition and use profits from the organization to better the beachboys by providing them with medical, retirement and other benefits."
The three for-profit entities winning Waikiki concessions were C&K Beach Services, Gilbert Hisatake and Curtis Iaukea IV.
Dead whale spurs Kauai shark warnings
ANAHOLA, Kauai -- State officials posted shark warnings today along a beach near this northeast Kauai community where a decomposed sperm whale washed ashore Wednesday."The number one thing that will attract large sharks to a beach area is a decomposing whale," said Kauai District aquatic biologist Don Heacock. The carcass washed ashore about a quarter-mile south of Kahala Point, at the southeast tip of Anahola Bay.
Parolee is charged in Diamond Head theft
Police charged a 39-year-old Kalihi Valley man with first-degree burglary stemming from the attempted theft of a daily planner early Sunday morning at a Diamond Head residence where MTV is filming its "Real World" series.Bail for Lepo Utu, also known as Lepo Taliese, is $15,000.
Utu was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1982 for the 1980 murder of fellow prison inmate Milton Nihipali.
According to Hawaii Paroling Authority records, Utu's sentence was commuted in November 1994 by Gov. John Waihee to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Utu later was released.
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Police, Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPOLICE/FIRE
Baby's head injuries prompt assault case
Police have opened an assault case after a 6-week-old Laie infant was found to have suspicious head injuries.The mother took her child to a physician in Kahuku because the baby would not cry and seemed lethargic, police said.
The baby, whose gender was not disclosed, was taken to Kapiolani Hospital Wednesday. Kapiolani doctors found the infant to have unexplainable head injuries.
In other news . . .
Police are investigating an attempted purse-snatching Wednesday in Kapahulu in which the suspect fled in a stolen car driven by another man.
The incident occurred on the 400 block of Kapahulu Avenue near First Hawaiian Bank at 1:30 p.m. A visitor from Japan, who videotaped the suspect before the incident, struggled with him.
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