A state judge has set a Dec. 13 date for the trial over permanent removal of Bishop Estate trustees Richard "Dickie" Wong and Henry Peters. Trial to oust trustees set
to start Dec. 13Probate Judge Kevin Chang yesterday also set a Nov. 29 deadline for parties involved in the suit to depose witnesses and introduce evidence.
The trial arises from a suit by Bishop Estate's interim board of trustees, which is seeking the permanent removal of Peters, Wong, Gerard Jervis and Lokelani Lindsey.
Chang in May appointed the interim board after he removed the four.
The May removals were in response to a threat by the Internal Revenue Service that it would revoke the estate's tax-exempt status if the former board members were not removed.
Jervis has since resigned on a permanent basis and Lindsey was removed by Circuit Judge Bambi Weil after a five-month trial.
Trustee Oswald Stender also has resigned, pending the permanent removal of his fellow trustees.
Bishop Estate Archive
Forbes Magazine publisher Rich Karlgaard will speak at the Friday's Straight Talk Business Breakfast sponsored by Hawaiian Island Ministries. Forbes publisher to speak Friday
Speakers at the monthly event explore business ethics, faith in the marketplace and Christian perspectives for business people.
Tickets are $20 for the 7 a.m. gathering at the Pacific Club. Reservations may be made by calling 988-9777.
Other speakers scheduled for the 1999-2000 season include Paul Edwards, a senior vice president with Reebok/CCS Fitness Inc. and former Promise Keepers leader; Dave Busch, owner/president of Horizon Amusement Group Inc.; Hawaii's first lady, Vicky Cayetano, president and chief executive of United Laundry Services; and Glenn Lockwood, director of disaster services in Hawaii for the American Red Cross.
High-tech in Hawaii shifting into high gear
Hawaii's high technology industry is showing growth, according to a survey for the state.The survey, conducted by Mattson Sunderland Research & Planning Associates Inc., shows the industry in Hawaii generated $1.8 billion in gross revenues last year and employed more than 16,600 people in manufacturing, communications, computer and software services, science, research and development, and engineering services, said Gov. Ben Cayetano.
Cayetano said 10 years ago, there were just 166 technology companies in Hawaii. Now there are 629 companies. Companies such as Digital Island, Square USA, Cybercom and LavaNet are some of the software and Internet companies that are responsible for the growth, he said.
The survey was conducted through the High Technology Development Corp., a state agency, along with the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
California firm buying Outrigger Prince Kuhio
The Outrigger Prince Kuhio Hotel in Waikiki soon will belong to Stanford Hotels Corp. of San Francisco, which is in the process of purchasing the 625-room hotel for an undisclosed sum.With the close of the sale, planned for mid-October, Stanford will own its first Hawaii property. It now manages 17 hotels in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida and Virginia.
The company anticipates that most Prince Kuhio employees will be kept on.
Outrigger acquired the hotel at 2500 Kuhio Ave. in 1982, after it had been in operation two years.
Outrigger Enterprises President David Carey said sale proceeds will be reinvested in Hawaii, especially at the recently acquired Outrigger Waikoloa Beach Hotel on the Big Island and the Outrigger Wailea Resort on Maui.
"This sale fits with our strategy of positioning the Outrigger brand on upscale beachfront hotels and resorts throughout Hawaii and the Pacific," Carey said.
Xerox Hawaii donates to Palolo Chinese Home
Xerox Hawaii has donated $25,000 to the Palolo Chinese Home so it can purchase specialized computer software.Administrators at the state's largest adult residential care facility intend to create an internal computer system aimed at increasing staff efficiency.
Correction
The name of Hula Halau 'O Ku'uleinani of San Carlos, Calif., which performed at a luau Sunday in 3Com Park in San Francisco, was misspelled in an article Monday.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Bank robbery suspect surrenders at airport
Federal agents this morning arrested a 31-year-old Laie man in connection with a 1998 bank robbery.Robin H. Ho Ching was arrested at Honolulu Airport, the FBI said. He apparently fled after the July 20, 1998, robbery of the Wahiawa First Hawaiian Bank and had been residing in Western and American Samoa.
A complaint was filed last year charging Ho Ching with one count of bank robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.
The FBI was assisted by investigators and public safety officials in Samoa, who negotiated the voluntary surrender of Ho Ching to FBI agents.
Of the 40 bank robberies in 1998, 38 have been solved, according to the FBI.
Armed man 'invades' occupied Waikele home
Police are investigating a home-invasion robbery yesterday in Waikele.A man answered a knock at his apartment door at 2:30 p.m., and encountered a woman who asked for another woman, police said.
An armed man then burst into the 94-249 Waikele Road apartment and ordered the resident to sit down, police said.
The man went into a bedroom where there were three women, according to police. He said he wanted "his thing," took one woman's wallet, slapped another and then ran away.
Police have classified the case as first-degree robbery.
Police hunt two suspects in traffic altercation
Police are searching for two men who damaged a car with a metal pipe following a traffic altercation yesterday.The suspect got out of his car and threatened another driver after a traffic incident on North Nimitz Highway at 11:54 a.m., police said.
When the driver took off, the suspect chased him.
While the cars were moving about 25 to 35 mph, a man in the back seat of the suspect's car allegedly struck the victim's car three or four times with a metal pipe, police said.
Beating victim dies; murder charges filed
Police charged Wallace K. Curtis last night with second-degree murder in the fatal beating of an 80-year-old woman at a Waipahu residential care facility.Bail was set at $100,000 for Curtis, 52, of the facility at 94-1011 Akihiloa St. in Waipahu.
The victim died in Queen's Hospital Wednesday after she was beaten the day before with a wooden cane during an argument.
The victim's name has not been released yet.
Police said the argument started at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. A caregiver separated the two, but upon returning a short time later found the man yelling and the elderly woman on the floor.
If you saw fatal accident in Hilo, please call police
HILO -- Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed a fatal auto accident on Kilauea Avenue Wednesday to call them.Pedestrian Wendal Kepaa, 41, of Hilo, died about nine hours after being struck by a sedan while crossing Kilauea Avenue near Hoku Street at about noon, they said.
The 20-year-old driver of the sedan was not arrested, but a standard negligent homicide investigation is being conducted.
Couple and their dog rescued by Coast Guard
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter rescued a couple and their dog yesterday after their sailboat almost sank about 10 miles off Makapuu Point.Rick Sherma sent a distress call about 2:15 p.m. from the 33-foot Charisma, which was about to be swamped after it lost its keel.
The Coast Guard said Sherma, his wife Tamlyn and their dog, all in life-jackets, clung to the capsized boat until the helicopter was able to pick them up at about 3 p.m.
Sherma hopes to salvage the boat, which stayed afloat, the Coast Guard said.
The Shemas were going to Maui. They had left Kaneohe Marine Base marina at 10 a.m.
The Courts
FBI: Al Phillips' employee embezzled $49,000
Kelly M. Gray, 28, arrested yesterday at her Salt Lake residence, is charged in a federal criminal complaint with bank fraud for allegedly embezzling more than $49,000 from her employer, Al Phillips the Cleaner.FBI Special Agent William S. Denson said in an affidavit that a complaint was filed June 2 against Gray, accusing her of embezzling $47,000 from Al Phillips by writing company checks to herself.
She admitted to the agent that she forged the company owner's signature on checks payable to herself, Denson said.
Gray concealed her activities by writing the original check to herself and altering the copies to show expenditures for legitimate bills, Denson said. The company owner identified 35 checks with forged signatures totaling $49,032.90, he said.
Gray also said she used money taken from Al Phillips for personal expenses, such as a $10,000 down payment on a vehicle .
Molester, aged 80, in hospital after suicide try
An 80-year-old sex offender who was scheduled to begin a five-year prison term Wednesday remained in stable condition yesterday at Tripler Hospital after an attempted suicide.Richard Pittenger was convicted three years ago for sex offenses involving a minor and was sentenced to probation, Deputy Prosecutor Victor Bakke said earlier this week. His probation was revoked in March because he had unsupervised contact with another young girl.
He was sentenced to five years in prison last month and failed to appear in court on Wednesday.
Pittenger was admitted to Tripler on Tuesday after sending his probation officer a suicide note.
