Don't fix something that isn't broken at Noelani Elementary School by moving sixth-graders up to be with seventh- and eighth-graders, parents say. Noelani parents quiz
BOE on new systemThe school board's Regular Education Committee is considering whether to embrace middle schools in a statewide policy. The committee deferred voting on two policies yesterday.
Noelani parents presented the board with a report that said middle-school philosophy is still experimental in Hawaii and suggested more research on its effects before the policy is adopted.
Parents said they became concerned the school's sixth grade would be eliminated after receiving fliers.
But Milton Shishido, Honolulu District Superintendent, said no such decision has been made.
Punchbowl graves can be decorated
Potted plants and artificial flowers may be placed at grave sites in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl, beginning today for Easter, cemetery officials said.They will be removed on April 14.
Also, officials said no permanent plantings, statues, vigil lights, glass objects of any kind or any other types of commemorative items, such as toys, are permitted.
Floral items and other decorations may not be secured to headstones or markers, and metal hooks may not be used to secure plants or decorations because they present safety hazards during mowing operations.
Hawaii Pacific grad assisting NATO forces
An Ewa Beach man and Hawaii Pacific University graduate is helping with emergency Red Cross communications between U.S. military personnel involved in NATO operations in Europe and their families back home.Angelo Raymundo Galas is with American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services and working with service members in Germany.
In his fifth year with the Red Cross, he spent time earlier with the Hawaii chapter and at Pearl Harbor.
Water supply board awards new contracts
The Board of Water Supply has awarded six construction contracts totaling more than $2.9 million to renovate water systems and facilities.Projects include a $255,983 contract in Makiki; a $385,500 contract in Nuuanu; a $284,569 contract in Kaneohe; a $1.3 million contract in Waipahu; a $519,377 contract in Kunia; and a $156,515 contract in Maili.
Construction to close Hana road weekdays
WAILUKU -- The road leading to rural Hana is expected to be closed for most of the workday starting in April due to highway construction, state officials said.The closure is expected to last for more than seven months.
Work is needed because a lane of the two-lane road is slipping down a 200-foot cliff into Honomanu Bay.
A contractor will be cutting about 50 feet into the mountain to provide a new section of road.
The proposed schedule for road closure would be from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. and from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. on work days. The road would be open on weekends and holidays, officials said.
Lupus Foundation urges self-screening
The Lupus Foundation of America urges everyone to take a self-screening test for the disease on April 1 -- Lupus Alert Day.Lupus is a potentially fatal autoimmune disease that fools people because victims don't look sick and symptoms don't appear serious, the group said.
Yet it can cause life-threatening damage, the foundation stressed.
Symptoms include:
Aching, painful or swollen joints for months.
For more information, call the Hawaii Lupus Foundation Inc. at 538-1522, or see Stop the Sickness! at http://www.lupus.org/lupus
Correction
An article Saturday about plans for a Hilo Trading Center at Hilo Airport incorrectly described Honolulu businessman Tom Enomoto's connection to the project. Enomoto is an adviser.
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Police, Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPolice/Fire
Teen who used cleaver in making threat is arrested
A 14-year-old Wahiawa boy was arrested yesterday for threatening an 11-year-old boy with a meat cleaver.The suspect allegedly threatened the boy last week while holding a meat cleaver at a Lake View Circle address, police said.
The teen was arrested for first-degree terroristic threatening yesterday.
CrimeStoppers seeks leads on jewelry store robber
A hooded robber who held up Royal Hawaiian Heritage, a Kaneohe jewelry store, March 20 is a CrimeStoppers target.At 3:45 p.m. on an afternoon featuring intermittent rain, the man walked in wearing a blue raincoat and hood with oversized sunglasses.
Brandishing a silver pistol, he ordered employees and customers to the store rear.
He taped their hands and feet together and forced an employee to open display cases and give him several pieces of jewelry.
Placing the items in a green duffel bag, he then walked out in the Kailua-bound direction.
The store is located near Windward Mall at 46-028 Kawa St.
Police described the suspect as in his 20s or 30s, between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall, 140-150 pounds, slim, pale complexioned, with light brown hair. He also was clad in beige pants and casual shoes.
CrimeStoppers, 955-8300, will give a reward of up to $1,000 for information on the man.
The Courts
Man pleads not guilty in Chinatown killing
A homeless man pleaded not guilty yesterday to the second-degree murder of another homeless man in Chinatown on March 14.Mark Tynes, 39, is accused of fatally slashing the throat of Harry Bryant, also known as Natasha, a 40-year-old transvestite, near the River of Life Mission.
Father said he shook baby, detective testifies
A detective has testified that a father admitted he shook his baby on three occasions in March, the last time holding his 6-week-old son upside down by the ankles and swinging him.The hospitalized baby now suffers from severe brain damage and is blind and deaf.
The father, Samita William Hall Sr., faces charges of attempted murder in the second degree.
At a preliminary hearing yesterday, District Judge I. Norman Lewis ruled there was probable cause in the case and set April 12 for Hall's arraignment and plea.
"He told me he threw the baby up a couple of times and spun him around," Detective Jerry Trinidad said yesterday. "After he set the baby down, the baby wasn't the same. The first thing he (Hall) noticed was the baby's eyes rolled back."
Hall, 22, of Laie told Trinidad that the baby, Samita Jr., wouldn't eat and vomited, the detective said. On March 17 the baby was taken to the hospital. Trinidad testified that a doctor told him "it took a tremendous amount of force to lacerate the brain," in this case, extreme shaking.
Public defender Debra Loy said the baby also allegedly fell out of a hospital bed, bumped heads hard with Hall, and was hit over the head with a spoon by a sibling.
Judge Suemori begins 2nd term at Family Court
Judge Allene Suemori has been granted a second six-year term at the District Family Court.Her new term starts tomorrow.
In granting Suemori's petition for retention, the Judicial Selection Commission evaluated Suemori's qualifications, character and other information, according to a press release from the state Judiciary.
Man trading in fake cash, drugs to serve 13 months
Frank Park, 27, has been sentenced to 13 months in prison and fined $1,000 for passing counterfeit bills and distributing a small amount of crystal methamphetamine.The counterfeit $100 and $20 bills, produced with an ink jet printer, were passed to a video store clerk.
Park gave the clerk crystal methamphetamine in return for the clerk's exchanging genuine currency for the counterfeit bills, the U.S. attorney's office said.
When Park was arrested, he had more than $3,500 in counterfeit bills and almost 2 grams of crystal methamphetamine, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Attorney is reprimanded by Supreme Court
Attorney H.K. Bruss Keppeler received a reprimand from the Hawaii Supreme Court for failing to file general excise tax returns for 1992, 1993 and 1994.The Office of Disciplinary Counsel and Keppeler earlier entered into a stipulation.
Although the reprimand does not prevent Keppeler from continuing to practice law here, it remains on his record and could be a factor should he be found in violation of ethical rules in the future.
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