A plan by Mayor Jeremy Harris to charge garbage fees has run into a new obstacle. Trash fee-water bill
plan leaksHarris wants to tack the new fees onto water bills to Oahu residents. But an opinion from the Office of Council Services, the City Council's legal arm, says doing so may violate the City Charter.
The plan proposes charging $2.20 a week, or $114 annually, to the 170,000 households that use city refuse collection. It would generate $19 million annually for the city.
A majority of Council members has expressed reservations about the proposal.
Council Chairman Mufi Hannemann said the opinion gives more ammunition to the argument the garbage fee plan should be nixed.
The opinion says the semiautonomous Board of Water Supply can only prepare bills and collect money for fees and charges related to the use of water and water-related services.
Corporation Counsel David Arakawa last night said that a different section of the Charter allows a city agency to perform the duties of another, assuming both agency heads agree.
LIHUE -- The Kauai County Council has enlisted the state Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution to mediate between environmentalists and the business community over the possible lengthening of Lihue Airport's main runway. Kauai runway tiff
goes to mediationCouncil Chairman Ron Kouchi announced the decision at yesterday's Council session. It was endorsed by representatives of the Sierra Club's Kauai chapter and the Kauai Chamber of Commerce.
The move is an attempt to head-off a stalemate like on Maui. Environmentalists and developers there have been locked in legal battles for six years over a plan to extend the Kahului Airport runway to accommodate jumbo jets.
Last fall, the state Transportation Department began work on an environmental impact statement on lengthening Lihue's runway from 6,500 feet to 10,000 feet. Public hearings on a draft version are expected in late summer.
At three public meetings since the state's announcement, opponents made it clear they will fight the expansion on several fronts, ranging from Hawaiian sovereignty to the possible introduction of alien plant and animal species.
Yesterday, the Council voted to table a resolution supporting runway expansion until the mediation process can be completed.
The Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution is an office of the state Judiciary. Director Elizabeth Kent said preliminary meetings would occur from April 22 through mid-May, with "preliminary conclusions" by July.
"Hopefully we can use this process to bring some healing to this issue," said Councilman Brian Baptiste.
LIHUE -- Kauai United Way today officially merged with Aloha United Way on Oahu, marking the first time a neighbor island has agreed to joint fund-raising efforts with the Oahu organization. Merger creates Aloha
United Way of KauaiOn Kauai, the merged agency will be called Aloha United Way of Kauai. On Oahu, the name will remain Aloha United Way.
"This offer from Aloha United Way was on the table when I came here a couple of years ago and it's always made sense to me," said Scott Giarman, executive director of Kauai United Way.
"It's just taken a while to convince people on Kauai the merger is to everyone's benefit."
Giarman said money raised on Kauai will remain on Kauai, just as money raised on Oahu will stay on that island.
The major difference is that Aloha United Way will take on many of the administrative duties now handled on Kauai.
"By comparison, we're so small and Aloha United Way is so large they can do our direct mailings and send out payments to member agencies without it ever creating a burden.
That will allow our staff on Kauai to concentrate more on fund-raising," Giarman said.
The merger includes a joint board of directors, with three of 20 seats designated for Kauai representatives.
Giarman said there will be an advisory board on Kauai to make the annual recommendations on funding of the island's 26 member agencies.
In its last fund-raising campaign, Kauai United Way set a goal of $500,000 and raised $540,000. That's just less than $10 per Kauai resident.
In contrast, Giarman said, the Aloha United Way on Oahu raises about $18 per resident.
Woman will testify against ex-boyfriend
WAILUKU -- A Maui woman today agreed to testify against former boyfriend Daniel Kosi, who is accused of killing two people.Jennifer Kong, 20, consented to become a witness in Maui Circuit Court in a plea agreement with the prosecution.
Kong's attorney, Anthony Ranken, said his client maintains she was not a willing participant.
Ranken said Kong feared she would be killed if she didn't follow Kosi's orders.
Kosi is charged in the shooting death of kickboxer Eric Vinge near his Paukukalo home and the stabbing death of Aisha Tolentino of Lanai during a police standoff at a south Maui condominium in August 1997.
Kong was scheduled to go to trial with Kosi and Anthony Carvalho in Maui Circuit Court on April 19.
With her no contest plea this morning, Kong now is scheduled to face reduced charges when she is sentenced on June 8 before Maui Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto.
Paddler postpones trip because of rough seas
Dangerously high winds and related ocean conditions have forced the postponement of canoe paddler Donna Kahakui's 140-mile solo crossing from `Upolu Point, Big Island, to Waikiki.The crossing had been schedule do begin tomorrow at daybreak.
The trip will be resceduled for late April or May.
'Wagtime Ball' to raise Humane Society funds
The Hawaiian Humane Society will host a "Wagtime Ball" April 17 in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's Monarch Room.Ragtime and New Orleans jazz is the theme of the pet-oriented fund-raising event. On the program are dinner, dancing, a silent auction, an informal fashion show with models escorted by pets, and a special video presentation of Hawaii's funniest pet videos.
Tickets are $150 a person or $1,500 for a table of 10. For tickets or more information, call 946-2187 ext. 213.
Ewa Beach Clubhouse will host open house
Ewa Beach Clubhouse will join in observance of National Boys and Girls Clubs Week as proclaimed by President Clinton for April 12-17."Working Hand in Hand" is this year's theme.
Open house at Ewa begins April 12 with an open welcome to all members. On April 14, the club will open to nonmembers ages 7-17. From 5 to 7 p.m. April 16, everyone in the community is invited to visit with the staff and check out club activities.
The club is located on the grounds of Ilima Intermediate School, 91-884 Fort Weaver Road.
Kahoolawe group giving out brochures
The Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission has an outreach project aimed at all children who get picked to represent Kahoolawe in school May Day pageants this year.The students can get some of the newest brochures about the former military target island and the cleanup of unexploded ordnance by calling the commission overseeing its restoration. Leaflets also may be ordered by other interested people. Call the commission office at 586-0761, or send an e-mail message to kirc@lava.net.
Anglers can go after catfish starting May 8
The opportunity to fish for the catfish stocked in the Nuuanu reservoir will be available starting May 8.The state Department of Land and Natural Resources will accept applications through April 23. Anglers may apply at the department's permit center -- in room 130 at 1151 Punchbowl St. -- or at licensing agents around the state.
Each applicant will be issued an entry card for a designated 4-hour time period on a Saturday or Sunday.
The time slots will be assigned by lottery.
Rust fungus to battle gorse, a noxious weed
A rust fungus will be used soon to combat gorse, a weed that is crowding out native Hawaiian plants, the U.S. Agriculture Department said."USDA has found that recruiting this biological control agent is a safe method of controlling the spread of the noxious weed gorse," said Alfred Elder, deputy administrator for plant protection and quarantine with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The department prepared an environmental assessment and concluded the fungus will not result in any significant adverse impact here.
Fund-raiser aims to fix three YWCA facilities
Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono will be chairwoman of the YWCA community division capital campaign."We are very fortunate that the lieutenant governor has agreed to chair the all-important community division of the campaign now that we have reached the half-way point through the generosity of many major donors," said Wayne Minami, a capital campaign co-chairman.
The community division drive begins May 19.
It has a fund-raising goal of $300,000 to go toward a total goal of $10 million to renovate and restore three YWCA facilities:
The YWCA pledged $2.5 million from property sale to start the capital campaign. A number of foundations also have provided grants and pledges.The 11-acre Camp Kokokahi on Kaneohe Bay;
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffPolice/Fire
Two teens allegedly beat younger boy unconscious
Police yesterday arrested two 16-year-old boys for allegedly beating a 15-year-old boy unconscious at a Kailua park.The two teens beat the other at Puhakupu Park at 2 p.m., police said. When the victim regained consciousness, he was missing a diamond earring, gold necklace and a watch.
The two 16-year-olds were arrested for second-degree robbery and second-degree assault and released to their parents.
Big Isle police issue warning about 'Danny'
PAHOA, Hawaii _ Police are warning people about a scam in which a man calling himself Danny is asking people for money for non-existent organizations including DannyUs Dojo, the Pahoa High School Kickboxing Club and the Pahoa Gymnasium.The man drives a beige Buick sedan and is sometimes seen with a young child. Anyone with information, call police at 966-5835.
Police identify person who drowned last Friday
The 21-year-old University of California-Berkeley student who drowned at Waimea Falls last week has been identified as Dan Vu Nguyen.Nguyen, of Northridge, Calif., was found at the bottom of the pond next to the falls on Friday, police said.
In other news
The Courts
Man guilty of two manslaughter counts
HILO -- A Big Island man is guilty of two counts of manslaughter, even though he originally was charged with only one count of first-degree murder, Judge Greg Nakamura ruled yesterday.A jury last month found Tetsuya "Grizzly" Yamada, 62, guilty of manslaughter for shooting his ex-wife and her daughter in 1996 while under extreme mental or emotional disturbance.
His attorney, Michael Ebesugawa, argued that the verdict should be limited to one manslaughter conviction because there was only one murder charge, although it covered two victims.
Nakamura rejected the argument. He set a sentencing hearing for April 6, sentencing for April 7.
20-year sentence ordered in sex case
HILO -- Derek M. Morishima, 43, was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison after his earlier no-contest plea to having sexual intercourse with a child, 9, at least three times last year.Morishima, of Pahoa, was the first Hawaii County person prosecuted under a 1997 law relating to "continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14 years."
The law says the prosecution has to prove three acts of sex contact, but the jury doesn't have to unanimously agree on which three out of a possibly greater number were involved, said Deputy Prosecutor Lincoln Ashida.
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