Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Saturday, July 10, 1999

Dragon Boat Festival will feature 60 teams

The fourth annual AT&T Hawaii Dragon Boat Festival will take place at Ala Moana Beach Park on July 31.

Multicolored wooden boats decorated with fierce dragon heads, scaly bodies and tails will compete. Entertainment and food and craft booths will round out the fun-time.

Races begin at 7 a.m. and all 60 race slots are expected to be filled. The festival itself will last until 7 p.m.

Festival highlights include a traditional Buddhist ceremony and colorful lion dance, accompanied by the exploding of 1 million firecrackers.

The origins of dragon boat racing go back to activities of Chinese fishermen in the fourth century B.C. to ensure good luck.

Modern dragon boats come from Taiwan and are paddled in a way similar to Hawaiian outrigger canoes. Teams include 16 paddlers and a drummer.

For more information, call 532-7300.

Giraffes that died were in poor health already

WAILUKU -- Autopsies of the two giraffes that died while en route from Molokai to Maui showed they were in poor health before the trip started.

Veterinarian Dr. Alan Kaufman said tissue testing revealed that the giraffe Momi had chronic adhesions between the lung and chest wall.

Kaufman said testing also found that the other giraffe, Maikai, had an increase in the amount of fluid around the heart and chronic passive congestion of the liver.

Kaufman said the giraffes showed no significant signs of their medical conditions before the move but the medical problems surfaced at the time of the planned shipment on June 24.

Momi and Maikai were en route to the Keiki Zoo Maui in Kula.

Molokai Ranch had decided to donate the giraffes after closing its safari park.

ILWU says court rulings vindicate Maui action

WAILUKU -- ILWU officials say two recent court rulings vindicate them for removing a Maui resident from working as the group's business agent.

Labor union officials removed Nicanor Casumpang Jr. as an union representative in January 1998, charging he violated the group's constitution forbidding outside work.

Casumpang was campaigning to become the Maui division director for the ILWU while operating an electrical contracting business, the union alleged.

District Judge Yoshio Shigezawa ruled on June 28 that the Hawaii courts had no jurisdiction over a union disciplinary proceeding.

U.S. District Judge Alan Kay ruled on June 24 that Casumpang's case should have been filed with the U.S. secretary of labor.

Joy Yanigida, one of Casumpang's attorneys, says the judges didn't rule on the merits of the case but simply that they lacked jurisdiction to reinstate Casumpang.

Casumpang, an electrician with Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., said he is considering appealing both court rulings.

Nanakuli man arrested after Hilo man dies

HILO --- The victim of an argument over blocked traffic in the Keaukaha area of Hilo died of a single "uppercut blow" that left him unconscious for eight days until his death, the Hawaii County prosecutor's office said.

Larry Hooheno Chung, 21, of Nanakuli was indicted for manslaughter this week in the death of George Iaukea, 52, of Hilo, the prosecutor's office announced yesterday.

Chung was arrested at his home Thursday and was being held by Honolulu police.

Police earlier said the incident took place June 27 when Chung became angered because Iaukea's vehicle was blocking traffic. They said Chung slapped Iaukea on the head and hit him in the face.

Iaukea died Monday at Hilo Hospital. An autopsy showed he died of a single blow to the head, the prosecutor's office said.

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Police, Fire



By Star-Bulletin staff

Pickup truck hits car; five people are injured

Five people were injured in a two-vehicle accident early today in Wahiawa.

Police said two couples were in a car that was broadsided by a pickup truck as the car turned left from Kamananui Road onto Wilikina Drive in Wahiawa around 12:45 a.m. today.

Police said the car's driver, a 28-year-old Wahiawa woman, and an unidentified female passenger were taken to Queen's Hospital, where they remain in critical condition this morning.

Their spouses were taken to Tripler Hospital in serious condition. A hospital supervisor today said one man has been admitted, while the other is under evaluation.

The driver of the pickup truck, a 17-year-old Haleiwa youth, was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital in fair condition. He was treated and released.

Woman says pipe bomb blew up near her car

A 50-year-old old woman told police someone set off a homemade bomb near her car as she was leaving Castle High School yesterday.

Police said the woman picked up her son from Castle summer school at 1:30 p.m. and was leaving the driveway at 45-386 Kaneohe Bay Drive when she heard a loud explosion near her vehicle and realized it was a homemade bomb..

Estranged couple busted for assaulting each other

Police arrested an estranged couple after they allegedly attacked each other at a home on Kaneohe Bay Drive. Police said a 39-year-old woman came over to her estranged husband's home in Kaneohe at 3:08 p.m. yesterday, and the two got into an argument. The man, 41, told police the woman stabbed him with a fork. The man, in turn, struck the woman in the face, police said. Both were arrested around 7:30 p.m. yesterday.

Man charged after shooting brother in knee

KAILUA-KONA -- Police have charged Kenneth Bruce Dang, 43, of Honaunau, with assault, use of a firearm, and property damage in the shooting of his brother during a drunken argument at their home.Dang is being held in lieu of $12,500 bail.The 45-year-old brother suffered a single gunshot wound to the knee from a .22 caliber rifle, police said.

See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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