POLICE / FIRE
Three injured as fire
guts Kalihi bakeryTaxi drivers face murder charges
By Jaymes K. Song
Teacher arrested for fondling girl
Star-BulletinFire gutted a Kalihi bakery this morning, injuring three people and forcing the closure of North School Street for almost an hour.
The fire at Grace's Bakery on Aupuni Street started at 6 a.m. Dozens of firefighters from seven fire companies controlled the blaze within 14 minutes, fire officials said.
Anthony Fraser said he was baking when a spark from thepropane tank ignited the baking oil. Fraser tried to cover the fire with a pan, but the blaze exploded and burned him on the head.
Within seconds, the small, one-story concrete building was engulfed. Next-door neighbors watched in fear as flames shot out from the store's window and door.
"It was frightening," Fraser said.
He stood in tears, a gauze pad on his head as his family comforted him.
He suffered second-degree burns to the forehead.
Two other employees, a man and woman, were treated for smoke inhalation.
A Hawaiian bookstore next door was damaged by smoke.
The bakery is a family-owned operation, turning out Samoan bread and pastries from about 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and delivering them to other businesses, Fraser said.
A total damage estimate was not available.
Teacher arrested, accused
Jaymes Song
of fondling girl
Star-BulletinA 40-year-old elementary school art teacher has been arrested for allegedly fondling a fifth-grade student. He is the third public-schoolteacher arrested in as many weeks for sexual misconduct.
The contract-hire teacher - who works at Mililani Uka Elementary, Barbers Point Elementary, Kipapa Elementary and Mauka Lani Elementary - was booked for third-degree sexual assault, police said.
He was arrested yesterday after an 11-year-old Mililani Uka girl reported being fondled by him in class.
Eight other Mililani Uka students and one at Barbers Point have reported similar occurrences, but he has not been arrested on those allegations, police and school officials said.
The teacher was part of the "Arts in the School" program and was hired in 1992, said Greg Knudsen, Department of Education spokesman. He was screened andhis background was checked at that time. He has worked at Mililani Uka for five years.
His contract was suspended following the allegations, and he has been banned from the school's campus pending the police investigation, officials said.
Knudsen said counselors and school staff are working to reassure students and to provide a supportive environment.
On March 25, Washington Middle School's registrar, William Sealy, was arrested for receiving child pornography. The same day, a Mililani Mauka Elementary teacher, Kevin Kurasaki, was charged with seven counts of sexual assault after a fifth-grade student reported she was sexually assaulted on three occasions.
Taxi drivers must
By Harold Morse
answer to murder charges
Star-BulletinTwo taxi drivers charged in the murder of Paul Salazar will stand trial in Circuit Court.
District Judge Colette Garibaldi yesterday denied bail to Keith Murauskas, 42, and Edward Martin, 28, at the close of a preliminary hearing yesterday.
She also ordered them not to go near Virginia Salazar, the victim's widow, or her residence, or to have anything to do with firearms, registered or unregistered, regardless of whether Circuit Court eventually grants bail. Originally, their bail was set at $500,000 each.
Murauskas and Martin are charged with attempted first-degree murder, second-degree murder and kidnapping.
The two reportedly had also planned to kill Salazar's wife who wasn't home at the time of Salazar's murder, detectives said.
Authorities said Murauskas is in violation of parole and that he may be involved in at least three counts of first-degree armed robbery, one of which is bank robbery.
Salazar, who rented cabs to the two, was beaten with a hammer and stabbed at his Punchbowl apartment the night of April 5.
Police found most of more than $40,000 in cash that was in a safe stolen from Salazar's apartment.
Martin was arrested at the murder scene after he locked Murauskas out of the apartment and called 911, police said. Most of the money was recovered when Murauskas was arrested last Tuesday in Pacific Palisades. A ski mask and other evidence found in Murauskas' car may link him to other robberies, police said.
