Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Saturday, August 7, 1999

Molokai airport injury raises security concerns

WAILUKU -- Federal officials are investigating how a passenger injured critically by an airplane propeller gained access to a flight ramp on Molokai.

Authorities said the man had a badly severed right arm.

The man, 31, of Molokai, was in critical condition this morning at Queen's Hospital.

"We're looking very closely at security," said Thomas Rea, Pacific representative for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Rea said the man Thursday morning apparently gained access through a cargo door on the east end of the terminal, and was running or walking very fast as the pilot started the airplane engines and began briefing passengers.

Both engines were turning but the airplane apparently wasn't moving when the injury occurred, Rea said.

Sister told police she saw brother stab father

The sister of a man arrested in the stabbing death of their elderly father Thursday at their Waimanalo home told police she saw her brother do it.

In court documents filed yesterday, the sister told police she witnessed her brother stab Isabelo Taca, 73, in the left side of his chest. He died at Queen's Hospital a few hours later.

Police are seeking to charge her brother, 38, with second-degree murder.

The document did not reveal a motive.

Officer Aiku Caretti said in an affidavit that after he arrested the brother at their Mekia Street home, he removed a long brown knife scabbard from the suspect's waistband and recovered two knives that appeared to be coated with blood.

Caretti also noted that the suspect had blood on his shirt, left eyebrow and left foot.

Kobayashi appointed federal magistrate

A third federal magistrate has joined the U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

Honolulu attorney Leslie E. Kobayashi was appointed July 12. She will be officially sworn in during a ceremony at federal court Sept. 17.

She joins Hawaii's two other federal magistrates, Barry M. Kurren and Francis I. Yama-shita.

Kobayashi has civil litigation experience, considerable legal education and has received tremendous support from the bench and the Hawaii bar, said Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra.

Unlike U.S. District Court judges who are appointed by the president and serve for life, magistrates are appointed by the U.S. District Court and serve an eight-year term. They can seek reappointment.

Kobayashi will assist federal judges in misdemeanor criminal and pretrial matters, and civil trials by the consent of the parties, Ezra said.

A graduate of Boston College Law School, Kobayashi is a managing partner in the law firm of Fujiyama Duffy & Fujiyama.

Senior partner James E. Duffy Jr. who has known Koba-yashi for 17 years, described her as hard-working, well-organized and always well-prepared.

Marker is Chaminade's VP for academic affairs

David G. Marker was appointed vice president for academic affairs at Chaminade University on Aug. 2 after leaving his post as interim president of Morningside College in Iowa.

Marker had earlier been the executive director of the Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines since 1996. A native Iowan, he earned his master's and doctorate degrees in physics from Pennsylvania State University.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

Sandy Beach shooting called attempted murder

Police are searching for two men who were involved in a shooting at Sandy Beach this morning.

Two groups got into an argument while in their vehicles at the beach at 3:30 a.m., police said. When two males drove away in their pickup truck, one of them pulled out a handgun and fired three shots at the other vehicle, which was full of people.

One shot hit the back of the car, but no one was hurt.

Police have classified the case as an attempted murder.

Man beaten at 7-Eleven is in critical condition

A 19-year-old man was severely beaten this morning at a Waipahu 7-Eleven by two men who are still at large.

Two unknown suspects approached the teen-ager and started to beat him for no apparent reason at 4:45 a.m. at the Leokane Street 7-Eleven, police said. He suffered severe head trauma and remains in critical condition at Queen's Hospital.

Vehicle crashes through fence; driver killed

A 37-year-old man early this morning was found dead in a Jeep Cherokee that was in two feet of water in Keehi Lagoon, police said.

He apparently crashed through a fence and drove toward the beach at about 2 a.m., according to police.

The case tentatively has been classified as an unattended death, which rules out any obvious signs of foul play.

Possible drowning victim was resident of Kahuku

James Haiola, 47, of Kahuku, has been identified as the victim of a possible drowning Thursday at Laie's Temple Beach.

Determination of the cause of death has been deferred by the medical examiner's office.

Big Island brush fires had suspicious origins

HILO -- Two large brush fires on the Big Island began suspiciously on roadsides, according to Hawaii County Fire Battalion Chief Lloyd Narimatsu.

Brush fires have burned an estimated 15,000 acres of land in the south Kohala area, threatening rare native plants. A separate fire has burned an estimated 500 acres of brush land in Kau, authorities said.

State forestry and wildlife official Jon Giffin said that as of yesterday afternoon, no native plants had burned on state land and that 80 percent of the south Kohala fire had been contained.

He said the fire began three miles west of the Waikoloa Village turnoff and Highway 190 intersection. "It's extremely dry," Giffin said. "We've had drought conditions for two years."

National Guard helicopters made bucket drops to fight the fire on Thursday and yesterday.