The state's purchase of the Waiahole Ditch from Amfac JMB/Hawaii has been completed, giving the state ownership of the 26-mile system that provides water to Leeward Oahu farmers. Purchase of ditch a done deal
Although the final closing documents were filed late Friday, Gov. Ben Cayetano did not announce the state's ownership of the Waiahole Ditch until yesterday.
The sale of state revenue bonds totaling $8.5 million to buy the water system completed the transaction.
The Waiahole ditch system was built in 1916 to carry water to Leeward sugar fields via a tunnel bored through the Koolau Mountains from Waiahole Valley. The system carries more than 15 million gallons of water each day from Windward to Leeward Oahu farms.
Cayetano said purchase of the Waiahole Ditch signifies his administration's "commitment to diversified agriculture."
"By guaranteeing a steady source of water at an affordable price, farmers in Kunia can expand their acreage, hire more workers and double their production of crops," he said.
"Financially, this is a self-sustaining project. By collecting user fees based on water usage, the amount invested by the state will be repaid within 20 years."
Users will be charged 35 cents per 1,000 gallons of water under an agreement with the state Agribusiness Development Corp.
BEFORE there was the University of Hawaii system, with its three campuses and seven community colleges, there was its predecessor, the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, started in 1907 at Thomas Square. UH not alone
Today, Hawaii is home to many other institutions of higher learning. They include:
Brigham Young University-Hawaii: Located in Laie, it was founded in 1955 as the Church College of Hawaii; it was renamed BYUH in 1974.
Army civilian aide named
Christina Kemmer, vice president of civic affairs with Communications-Pacific Inc., has been appointed as the civilian aide to the secretary of the Army for Hawaii.She replaces Bill Paty, who served in that position from 1994-1998. Lt. Gen. E.P. Smith, commander of U.S. Army, Pacific, made the announcement Tuesday.
As a civilian aide, Kemmer will serve as a liaison with Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera by providing information about the Army's missions and objectives to Hawaii residents.
Civilian aides serve two-year terms without pay or other military benefits.
Aliamanu sewage spill prompts warning signs
About 1,000 gallons of sewage spilled from an Aliamanu area manhole into a storm drain leading to Pearl Harbor Tuesday.The city Department of Environmental Quality responded to the spill near 4420 Lawehana St. at 5:25 p.m. and stopped it by 11 p.m.
Affected areas of the roadway were disinfected and warning signs posted along Pearl Harbor.
Meeting to address waste-water discharge
The prospect of change in the amount of oils, metals and other pollutants that businesses may flush into the city wastewater system will be discussed at an informational meeting today.The session for businesses with waste-water discharge permits will be at 6 p.m. at the Blaisdell Center Maui Room.
It will cover the city's Urban Area Pretreatment Program Project, a study that may determine new pollutant limits.
Straub workers plan pro-union rally
A rally will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow at Thomas Square at King Street and Ward Avenue to discuss unionization of nonprofessional workers at Straub Clinic and Hospital.The employees asked the ILWU to help them gain a voice in workplace decisions and a National Labor Relations Board election is scheduled July 30.
Rick DeCosta, an ILWU organizer, said University of Hawaii regent Ah Quon McElrath and representatives of the Hawaii Coalition for Health and Hawaii's Methodist Churches will speak at the rally.
Rural association talk at Wahiawa hospital
The possibility of a rural health association on Oahu was to be discussed today at Wahiawa General Hospital.Such associations have already been formed on the neighbor islands, said Beth Giesting, Hawaii State Primary Care Association executive director.
"Oahu has been kind of slow about jumping on the bandwagon because officially we're all metropolitan area in this county," she said.
But Oahu does have rural areas, she pointed out, and the association and Department of Health have called people together who may be interested in a grass-roots organization.
The purpose would be to provide a unified voice for rural health, act as neutral forums for exchange of information and ideas, create conduits to network and build coalitions, educate and coordinate rural health resources and advocate and help with changes for rural health.
Last month, thieves stole 530 feet of aluminum railings from the Sand Island Access Bridge. Update
Steel to replace aluminum railings
The theft was the third case involving railings in the past year. The other sites were Pearl City and Waianae.
The thefts, which cost the state more than $200,000, have prompted transportation officials to eventually replace all 400 aluminum bridge railings on Oahu with steel.
Officials hesitated to replace the aluminum railings because steel rusts and deteriorates faster than aluminum.
Martin Okabe, an engineer for Department of Transportation, said some of the aluminum railings will be recycled and used in construction projects.
Police have identified a suspect in connection with the Sand Island theft, but no arrests have been made.
The suspect they are investigating has an arrest record with the same types of crimes, police said.
By Rod Ohira, Star-Bulletin
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Man injured, traffic blocked in Maui crash
WAILUKU -- An accident involving four vehicles and a fuel truck seriously injured a man and blocked traffic between central Maui and Lahaina yesterday for more than seven hours.Ten other people were treated at a hospital and were released.
Police said traffic between central and west Maui was halted after the accident at 12:45 p.m. yesterday. Traffic resumed between 8 and 9 last night.
Police investigator Jamie Becraft said the vehicles were in stop-and-go traffic on Honoapiilani Highway when the truck, going toward Lahaina, struck other vehicles and overturned at Maalaea.
17-year-old arrested for threats to officer
Police yesterday arrested a 17-year-old Pearl City boy for reportedly threatening to kill a police officer with a knife.An officer responded to a 911 call at 12:21 p.m. from the boy saying that he was going to kill his father and that officers should get there before he did it, police said.
Upon arrival at Komo Mai Drive, the officer saw the boy on the sidewalk. When the officer saw the boy was carrying a knife, the officer retreated behind the squad car. The boy then approached and threatened the officer, police said.
He eventually surrendered and was booked for first-degree terroristic threatening.
Police arrest boy, 15, on sex assault charge
A 15-year-old boy was arrested yesterday for allegedly abducting a woman in the downtown area in February and sexually assaulting her.The woman, 28, reported she was walking downtown on Feb. 18, when someone grabbed her, pulled her behind a building and sexually assaulted her, police said. Yesterday, she was walking around downtown again and spotted the boy at Aala Park. She called police and the boy was arrested.
COURTS
Kauai marijuana grower gets 10-year sentence
A Kauai man has been sentenced by a federal judge in Honolulu to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole after his second conviction for attempting to distribute large quantities of marijuana.Martin Luther Mills III, 51, of Kapaa was convicted in U.S. District Court in April of marijuana cultivation and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. He was sentenced Monday.
He was arrested on a trail leading to a marijuana patch he was cultivating on state-owned land in Kauai's Makaha Valley near Kokee. State enforcement officers seized about 450 marijuana plants.
At the time, Mills was on supervised release from a 1990 conviction for possession of more than 100 pounds of marijuana.
Honolulu dentist guilty of federal tax evasion
A federal jury has found Honolulu dentist Ronald S. Carlson, 55, guilty of five counts of tax evasion.Tuesday's verdict, that came after one hour of deliberations, will be followed by sentencing Nov. 1 before U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway.
U.S. Attorney Steven Alm said it was determined that Carlson evaded federal income taxes for years 1991, 1992 and 1993 by not filing returns for those years.
Carlson also was found to have concealed funds through deposits into bank accounts opened under false Social Security numbers.
Testimony indicated he received dental practice income of about $450,000 from 1991 through 1993 and failed to pay federal income tax of about $45,000 on this income, accounting for three counts in his conviction. He also was found guilty of two other counts of evading taxes, having to do with tax years in the 1980s.
Carlson faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each of the five counts.
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