Millennium Moments
KAWAIAHAO Church on King Street was the first church built by the American Protestant missionaries who came to Hawaii from New England in 1820 aboard the brig Thaddeus. Founded with the Rev. Hiram Bingham as its first pastor, the mission began humbly in a grass-thatched structure before the present church was built in 1841. Historical church
After Hawaii became a constitutional monarchy, its ruler took the oath of office there; the first legislative sessions were held there; and it was there that Kamehameha III in 1843 spoke the words that became Hawaii's state motto: Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono ("The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness").
The state is planning to put a traffic light near the crosswalk where a 90-year-old woman was killed Sunday while walking across Pali Highway at Niolopa Street, said state Sen. Rod Tam. Senator wants Pali
stoplight built quicklyBut Tam (D, Nuuanu) is asking the state to move up the installation of the signal light at Jack Lane and Akamu Place to prevent another fatality.
Nuuanu residents had gathered petition signatures for 10 years in seeking the signal.
Approval for installation was given in May. The Department of Transportation hopes to begin construction of the traffic signal by September 2000, Tam said.
4 men convicted in widespread drug ring
A federal jury has convicted four men of participating in a drug-trafficking operation that extended from the mainland to New Zealand and Australia.Found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to possess and distribute more than 150 kilograms of cocaine were Chad Tsuneyoshi, Sosaia Liufau, Siokatame Hafoka and Richard Brown Taumoepeau.
The trial began in April. Sentencing by U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra will be in October.
The maximum sentence of life imprisonment carries a mandatory minimum term of 10 years and there is also a potential fine of up to $4 million, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Steven Alm.
Thirteen other people were charged as a result of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation which continued from 1992 to 1997. Seven pleaded guilty earlier to drug-trafficking charges.
Participating in the investigation, which included airport drug seizures, undercover drug buys and other actions, were the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Honolulu Police Department, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as well as police departments in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Australia and New Zealand.
Windward residents told to conserve water
Board of Water Supply workers continued to try to find a break in a water transmission main today, prompting calls to Windward Oahu residents to conserve water.The Board of Water Supply asked residents from Kahaluu to Waimanalo to use water for only drinking, cooking and personal hygiene or sanitary purposes last night and today.
Water officials suspect a leak in one of the larger mains that transport water from the Waihee tunnel to the Pohakupu 272 reservoir.
Residents can help by reporting any sightings of unusual water flows or heavier than normal stream flow.
Some pipes cross over streams.
Youth who fired at cop will serve up to 5 years
A 19-year-old man convicted of threatening guests with a handgun and firing shots at a uniformed police officer at a birthday party in Mililani last year will serve no more than five years in prison.Circuit Judge Michael Town today sentenced Jason Rumbawa under the youthful offender statute, cutting in half the 10-year sentence he otherwise faced for carrying a firearm to the party last August.
Town also sentenced Rumbawa to four years each, to be served concurrently, on four counts of terroristic threatening and one count of reckless endangering for firing at Officer Darren Kitagawa, who was hired to provide security at the party. No one was injured.
The parole board will decide the mandatory minimum Rumbawa will serve.
Attorney Sam King Jr., who said Rumbawa was an appropriate candidate for youthful offender sentencing, had argued that Rumbawa never meant to hurt anyone and was only trying to protect himself and his friends after they were ejected from a party they had been invited to.
But Deputy Prosecutor Susan Won, who asked that the court impose an extended term or consecutive terms of imprisonment, argued that Rumbawa had no excuse for bringing a firearm to the party unless he was expecting trouble.
Corrections
Lanikai School's Web site about water is at http://www.lanikai.k12.hi.us. An article yesterday listed another address.
Baby and man killed in Maui traffic crashes
WAILUKU, Maui -- Two people died in separate traffic accidents on Maui within 24 hours.A 21-year-old man was killed this morning in a three-vehicle crash in south Maui.
Police said the crash occurred about 3:45 a.m. near the intersection of Piilani Highway and East Lipoa Street.
Yesterday, a 2-month-old girl who was being held by her grandmother was fatally injured in a two-vehicle accident.
The grandmother, Shirley A. Medeiros, 54, was listed in critical condition this morning at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
Police said a van carrying the two and driven by Lori L. Miyazono, the baby's mother, was traveling makai on West Kuiaha when it failed to yield to a sedan traveling east on Hana Highway about 9:56 a.m.
Police said physicians tried to save the infant, also named Lori, but could not. She died at 4:48 p.m.
The deaths are the sixth and seventh traffic fatalities of the year on Maui.
Truck pins, kills driver off Big Island highway
KEAAU, Hawaii -- A Puna man died in a one-vehicle accident just after midnight yesterday morning. He ran off the Keaau-Pahoa Highway, was thrown from his pickup truck, and was pinned under it, police said.The victim was identified as Moses Kaawaloa, 54, of Hawaiian Shores subdivision.
Kaawaloa's death was the 10th traffic fatality of the year on the Big Island, compared with 18 this time last year.
In other news ...
The deputy sheriffs served 60 warrants yesterday in Hilo, Puna and Kona, police said.
The death of Roy Nakanishi was described as an apparent drowning.
Samuel A. Ingall of University Avenue was charged with second-degree attempted murder, police said. He is being held on $50,000 bail.
The noontime fire flared up in a compressor shed on the seventh-floor roof of the Miramar at Waikiki Hotel, 2345 Kuhio Ave.
The fire was extinguished by hotel employees.
The suspects asked the man for a ride at the Hillside Market in Waipio Acres, police said. They directed him to Melemanu Valley, where one boy took out a handgun and clubbed the man unconscious.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
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