Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Friday, May 21, 1999

Golden pup becomes 'first dog'

Courtesy photo
Pumpkin, a 6-week-old golden retriever just adopted by
Mayor Jeremy Harris, carries on a long tradition of "first
dogs" at Honolulu Hale. In the beginning, there was Gino,
former Mayor Frank Fasi's springer spaniel. After Harris
became the city's top official, visitors to the mayor's office
were occasionally greeted by Koa, a golden retriever. He
died in December after a long illness. At right, Pumpkin is
pictured with her mistress, Ramona Harris. The Harrises
also have a pet cockatiel named Kramer.

Inouye helped sway Senate
gun vote Democrats' way

By Pete Pichaske, Phillips News Service

WASHINGTON -- The dramatic success of a Senate gun control bill yesterday, a similar version of which was killed just last week, can be credited in part to Hawaii's Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Inouye, long a supporter of gun control, was in California last week when the earlier version of the bill requiring background checks for all sales at gun shows was narrowly defeated.

He was back by yesterday and voted for the bill. His vote, that of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., who was also absent last week, and the decision to switch votes by Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., carried the bill to a 50-50 tie.

Vice President Al Gore stepped in to break the tie, giving gun control advocates a rare victory in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The background checks requirement is one of several gun-control measures included in a larger measure dealing with juvenile violence.

WWII redress funds coming to
isle families left out earlier

Pete Pichaske, Phillips News Service

WASHINGTON -- The $15 billion measure approved by Congress this week to pay for the fighting in Yugoslavia included an array of additional spending, including one item that will be especially welcomed by some families in Hawaii.

The measure included $4.3 million for a special fund set up to redress Japanese-American families imprisoned in Latin America during World War II.

The redress program ended last year, but hundreds of cases were left unresolved, including many in Hawaii. Among these were about 50 individuals ruled eligible for payments after they initially were turned down.

The fund, meanwhile, has run out of money. The $4.3 million is to replenish the fund to cover the added cases.

"The funds previously appropriated for this purpose did not fully fund payments to all eligible individuals," said Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, a member of the House-Senate committee that worked out details of the $15 billion funding measure.

"This is the final, unfinished chapter in one of the darkest episodes in American constitutional and human rights history," Inouye said. "This is justice long overdue."

New wardens coming to 3 Oahu prisons

Three Oahu prisons will get new wardens beginning next month.

Women's Community Correctional Center: John Kellam.

Oahu Community Correctional Center: Clayton Frank.

Halawa Correctional Facility: Nolan Espinda.

Kellam will replace Edwin Shimoda, who will return to his old job as division administrator overseeing all of the state's eight correctional facilities.

Kellam is now assistant to the department's deputy director.

Frank, who has been with the Department of Public Safety since 1983, will replace Espinda, who has been acting warden at OCCC.

Espinda, also a 16-year veteran of the state's prison system, will replace retiring Halawa warden Eric Penarosa.

Accountant charged with embezzlement

A former Persis Corp. accountant was indicted yesterday on federal charges of diverting and embezzling $85,488 from her employer between January 1997 and March 1998.

The 11-count indictment alleges that Nancy Nguyen created about 185 Persis checks, most payable to her son, V.T. Nguyen, without the authorization of her employer.

Nguyen deposited Persis checks into her Huntington Beach, Calif., bank account two ways: by automated teller machine and later through the mail, says the indictment.

The indictment alleges that to conceal the embezzlement, Nguyen manipulated the Persis accounting system so that the name of the payee on the diverted checks was falsely reflected as a utility company.

Coast Guard to host safe-boating event

The Coast Guard is observing National Safe Boating Week with an open house at the Sand Island Coast Guard base from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow.

"Baywatch Hawaii" cast member Stacy Kamano will make an appearance, and there will be search-and-rescue demonstrations with a Coast Guard helicopter and boat. The cutter Rush and patrol boat Washington will also be open for tours.

During Safe Boating Week, the Department of Land and Natural Resources will provide courtesy vessel safety checks at different boat launches and harbors on Oahu.

See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
See our [Search] [Info] section for subscription information.

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Police, Fire



By Star-Bulletin staff

Father allegedly dared vice principal to fight

The parent of a 9-year-old student at Nanaikapono Elementary School was arrested for allegedly challenging the vice principal to a fistfight after complaining his child was being bullied.

The parent, a 29-year-old Nanakuli man, was upset that his boy was being bullied on his first day of school, police said. The parent went to visit the vice principal yesterday at 9:55 a.m. and challenged him to a fight.

The parent was booked for first-degree terroristic threatening and later released.

Mom charged in beating of 12-year-old daughter

Police yesterday charged a 52-year-old mother with second-degree assault for beating her daughter with a baseball bat.

Ethel Charles is being held on $11,000 bail, police said.

The daughter, 12, reported that Charles hit her three times in the back and ribs with a baseball bat on Monday. The girl was hospitalized and placed in protective custody.

Firefighters rescue pair of stranded hikers

Waianae firefighters last night rescued two hikers stranded in the mountain behind Ala Akai Street. Four people who saw the hikers in trouble on the mountain from the street called 911 at 7:34 p.m. to report the incident.

"They did those hikers a big favor because it was getting dark," Waianae fire Capt. Kenny Doane said of Ernest Ramos III, 13; Cedric Ramos, 16; Jason Evasco, 24; and Pake Balderama, 22.

The man and woman rescued are from Alabama, said Doane.

Police seek man, 34, who fled after his sentencing

State court and public safety officers are seeking the public's help in locating Frederico Edrozo, who fled from Circuit Court on Tuesday after being sentenced to six months in jail and five months' probation for operating a stolen vehicle.

Edrozo, 34, was allowed to leave the courtroom to talk with his girlfriend after sentencing and fled when a bailiff went to get him.

Edrozo is 5 feet 6, 155 pounds and has a short ponytail. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.

In other news ...

Police yesterday arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with the robbery of a visitor from Las Vegas at knifepoint.

The tourist, 36, was reportedly robbed at 2284 Kalakaua Ave., in Waikiki at 10 p.m., police said.

See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
See our [Search] [Info] section for subscription information.