Millennium Moments
Enter Father Damien
IN January 1866, after being abruptly rounded up and torn from families, the first Hansen's disease patients were banished to the isolated leprosy settlement in Kalawao, Molokai. Fear of the unknown and a growing epidemic in the 1860s had fueled the actions.
On May 10, 1873, nine years after coming to Hawaii, Father Damien de Veuster, 33, arrived on Molokai to aid the patients. He was joined in 1888 by Mother Marianne Cope and a small group of Franciscan nuns from Syracuse, N.Y., who were answering a call from the Kingdom of Hawaii to help nurse those with leprosy. On any given day, the settlement averaged about 800 patients.
Father Damien was diagnosed with the disease in 1885; on April 15, 1889, at age 49, he died of the illness there. He was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1995, the second step in a three-step process toward sainthood.
Quarantine within the Kalaupapa settlement ended in 1969, and the area is now a National Park and historical site, though visitors are limited. Longtime residents remain, having known no other life beyond the settlement's 4 square miles.
Jellyfish will likely invade this weekend
Stinging box jellyfish will be invading Honolulu beaches over a four-day period beginning Sunday.The city Ocean Safety Division said the influx is expected to peak Monday and Tuesday. Among the areas most commonly affected are Ala Moana Beach Park and Waikiki.
Cop says free-speech rights were violated
A Honolulu police officer yesterday filed a suit in U.S. District Court accusing the city, the department and one of its chiefs of violating his free-speech rights.The lawsuit was filed by officer David Hernandez, an 18-year veteran of the force, and seeks unspecified damages.
The suit accuses Assistant Police Chief Boisse Correa of ordering Hernandez not to testify or go to the state legislative hearings regarding police procedures and proposed legislation dealing with pawnshops, said Hernandez's attorney Venetia Carpenter-Asui.
Hernandez claimed the department retaliated against him by transferring him and ordering him to undergo psychological evaluation.
The Honolulu Police Department refused to comment.
Hepatitis immunization project reports progress
A hepatitis B immunization project at two Honolulu high schools succeeded in getting 740 teen-agers to complete the three-shot series.About 22 percent of the students at Kaimuki High School and McKinley High School have been immunized against the disease, which infects the liver and is spread by blood and other bodily fluids.
The project was the brainchild of the Keiki Booster Coalition of public and private health care organizations, which aims to raise the immunization levels of youngsters in the state. The state Department of Health and Department of Education cooperated in the effort. Local businesses provided incentives including T-shirts, surfboards, cash and gift certificates.
Health Director Bruce Anderson said the state is considering requiring hepatitis B immunization of middle school students.
Fire danger closes part of Waimea Canyon Park
LIHUE -- Due to what it terms "extreme fire danger," the Department of Land and Natural Resources will close the portion of Waimea Canyon State Park west of Kokee Road and south of Kauhao Valley and halt overnight camping in all of Kokee State Park, effective tomorrow. Access roads to privately leased lots will remain open.State forestry land around Kokee closed last month will remain closed. That includes Hunting Areas A and J, the Kekaha Game Management Area and the Puuka Pele Forest Reserve up to Kauhao Stream. The 16-day August trout-fishing season at the Kokee Public Fishing Area has been canceled, tentatively.
Army couple honored for aiding victims
Army Lt. Col. Michael Bianchi has been honored for coming to the aid of the victims of the Sacred Falls rock slide last month.Bianchi, chief of the networks operations management division at the U.S. Pacific Command, received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. His wife, Deborah, also received the certificate of commendation for giving aid during the May 9 tragedy that killed eight people and injured 50 others.
Correction
A $135,000 fine was levied by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration against Hawaii Stevedores for an employee accident in December. An item yesterday said incorrectly that the fine was connected to the May 25 death of a worker at Barbers Point harbor.
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Police, Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPhony pipe bomb found at scene of teen suicide
A Pearl City condominium complex was evacuated for 3 hours yesterday when suspicious devices were found in the unit where a 17-year-old boy hanged himself.Police went to the Waiau Gardens Kai complex at 98-1368 Nola St. at about noon to investigate the discovery of a body in the bedroom of a unit and found a device that looked like a pipe bomb. The device was not explosive.
Man, 30, is arrested in dog's stabbing death
Police arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with the stabbing death of a dog yesterday.The suspect went to the home of his mother's 59-year-old boyfriend at 85-904 Niihau St. where he stabbed the resident's dog in the throat at 8:15 a.m., police said. The suspect then threatened the man.
Police said the 2-year-old dog bled to death.
The suspect was booked for cruelty to animals and first-degree terroristic threatening.
Big Isle probe nets 13 in drugs-for-loot scheme
Thirteen people were arrested yesterday for selling drugs in return for stolen items following a yearlong investigation on the Big Island, police said.The arrests were made in the Ainaloa and Paradise Park subdivisions of Puna and Kaiwiki area of Hilo.
An investigation revealed suspects were selling drugs in return for stolen items, police said.
Autopsy report due today on body found in Waipio
HILO -- Police are expecting the results of an autopsy today on a body found partly buried near a black sand beach in the Big Island's Waipio Valley.
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