Millennium Moments
Want to travel through time? Old Hawaii sites are well preserved
There are opportunities aplenty in the Hawaiian Islands, where significant archaeological sites are well preserved and accessible. A sampling, as mentioned by Patrick V. Kirch in "Atlas of Hawaii," edited by Sonia and James Juvik:
Big Island: Temple sites used by Kamehameha I at Mookini and Puukohola in Kohala; the Koaie fishing village at Lapakahi, today a state historical park; large petroglyph complexes at Puako, Kalahuipuaa, Anaehoomalu, and Puu Loa; footprints of Keoua Kuahuula's army preserved in Kau Desert volcanic ash from the 1790 Kilauea eruption, in today's Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Hawaii Laser Eye Institute contest an eye-opener
Laser Eye Institute of Hawaii is holding a contest for the best worst experience while wearing glasses or contact lenses. The winner will receive corrective laser eye surgery for both eyes worth $4,000.The contest promotes the center's most popular procedure, LASIK, the latest in laser refractive surgery. LASIK corrects nearsightedness, astigmatism and farsightedness. "But we can't get rid of your reading glasses," Dr. Tyrie Lee Jenkins said.
Jenkins, the first to perform LASIK in Hawaii, described it as reshaping the cornea with a laser. The surgeon creates a corneal flap, leaving a hinge. The flap is replaced and most patients can drive without glasses the next day.
She and Dr. Carlos Omphroy each have performed more laser refractive surgeries than any other surgeon in Honolulu. The millionth LASIK procedure was performed last month.
The contest ends Nov. 29.
Campaign seeks $25,000 for abused children
The Y2 Keiki campaign is under way to raise $25,000 to help the Hale Na'au Pono Mental Health Center.Gov. Ben Cayetano will receive the first pin commemorating the protection for sexually abused children during a presentation at the Capitol at 9:30 a.m., Monday.
The campaign runs through January. The public is invited to join a community fund-raiser at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Captain Zacks in the International Marketplace in Waikiki. For a $15 donation, the Y2 Keiki Jam features five local bands. For information, call Traci Bogan at 388-7544.
Opposing changes in subsidized housing
Tree purchases benefit Mental Health Association
Just preorder a Christmas tree or wreath from Tobias Christmas Trees, mention you want to benefit the Mental Health Association of Hawaii, and $6 of the purchase price will go to the association.To preorder, call 228-1002 and make your wishes known.
Or you can pick up your purchase later -- any time from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 1-19 at the Pearl City Elementary School parking lot (Waimano Home Road, across from Daiei), and a flat $2 per tree of the purchase price will go to the association, said Greg Farstrup, association spokesman.
Full-size trees are sheared Douglas firs, and table-top varieties are mixed evergreen and pine cone. Wreaths are juniper berry.
Prices range from $19 for small trees to $60 for the largest. Wreaths are $26.
The Mental Health Association 19th annual Benefit Christmas Tree Sale supports efforts to improve services for Hawaii children and adults recovering from mental illnesses.
Nearly a year ago, Eva Marie Rita Cosier was killed in a hit-and-run crash on the H-1 freeway near the Liliha Street overpass. Update
Killer still loose
The driver who rear-ended her car in the Nov. 14 incident was never apprehended.
The case remains open, but police are doubtful any arrest will be made without an eyewitness coming forward.
CrimeStoppers did field a few calls, but nothing came of them, said Detective Letha DeCaires.
Police believe the suspect vehicle is a large, older-model domestic car with round headlights, similar to a Chevrolet Impala or Ford Torino.
Cosier, 33, and her newlywed husband were ejected from their sports utility vehicle after the collision. Her husband survived, but Cosier died at Queen's Hospital a few hours after the crash.
Cosier was a waitress at Olomana Golf Club and a graduate of Castle High School.
Her mother described her as someone who loved and cherished life.
Jaymes K. Song, Star-Bulletin
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Ringleader in beatings gets life, no parole
The alleged ringleader of a group of boys who beat an undercover police officer and informant unconscious with baseball bats in a botched sting was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Circuit Judge Marie Milks yesterday had no choice but hand Darwin Ramirez, 18, a mandatory sentence for his first-degree attempted murder conviction for trying to kill two men in September 1998.
His attorney, Jonathan Burge has indicated his client will appeal.
Prosecutors say Ramirez, who was 17 at the time, was one of five juveniles who lured two men into a dark alley in September 1998, attacked them with baseball bats until they lost consciousness and robbed the officer of $150. The officer was hoping to purchase stolen computers from the youths. "This was basically a cold, vicious, predatory rip-off," said deputy prosecutor Glenn Kim.
The boys were unaware one of their victims was a police officer. Ramirez's first-degree attempted murder conviction stemmed from the two victims and not because one was a police officer, Kim said.
Burge had argued that Ramirez only planned to scare the informant.
Other defendants in the case were sent to Family Court or received sentences of 5 to 8 years in prison. One is still awaiting sentencing.
Negotiator says Kaua had wanted to die
An armed gunman who held his wife and another woman hostage at a Pearl City home a year ago referred to the John Miranda incident while speaking to police negotiators.Wayman Kaua said if he was coming out, "he was gonna make the Miranda incident look small," testified Det. Ted Coons yesterday at Kaua's trial.
Coons spoke with Kaua intermittently over a period of nine hours to get him to surrender.
Kaua barricaded himself and the two women in a Waimano Home Road residence for nearly 24 hours after police officers arrived to arrest him for violating parole in October 1998. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted of attempting to kill three police officers.
The incident paralyzed residents in Pacific Palisades who were unable to enter or leave their homes because the road was within sight distance from where Kaua had holed up.
At one point in their conversations, Kaua asked Coons, "Am I rocking Palisades?"
Kaua knew that if he gave himself up, he was going back to jail for the rest of his life, Coons said. "There's no way I'm going back to jail," Kaua told him.
Kaua wanted to die and was ready to die, Coons said. But he wanted police to kill him.
Man robs bank, escapes on mountain bicycle
A man robbed the American Savings Bank in Kailua and then made his getaway on a mountain bike, police said.Wearing a white baseball cap and a bandage on his chin, the man gave a note to a teller demanding 20-, 50- and 100-dollar bills at 3:50 p.m., police said. He then rode away on his bike.
Police describe him as 5-foot-9, 180 pounds, with short curly hair.
Fishing boat overdue on return from Midway
Two fishermen were reported overdue on their 44-foot vessel yesterday afternoon, according to the Coast Guard.The men were on the boat, Imua, and were expected to return to Kewalo Basin by Tuesday night. The men originally went to Nihoa, near Midway Atoll.
The Coast Guard put out hourly urgent marine broadcasts asking boaters if they've seen the Imua.
Checkpoints to be set up through the weekend
Honolulu police will conduct drinking-driver checkpoints for the Veterans Day holiday weekend. The roadblocks will be set up at unannounced times and locations from today through Monday.To date, 39 people have died in 36 traffic collisions on Oahu, compared to 52 fatalities from 51 collisions last year. Of the 36 fatal collisions this year, 25 percent were alcohol-related, compared to 43 percent during the same period last year.
No foul play suspected in Kapiolani man's death
Police are investigating the death of a 27-year-old man who was found seriously injured in his Kapiolani apartment yesterday.Officers responded to a 911 call from the man's Kapiolani Boulevard apartment at 3:26 p.m., police said.
The caller hung up on the 911 dispatcher without saying anything.
The man is found in the apartment with serious injuries.
He was transported to Queen's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police have tentatively ruled out foul play and classified the case as an unattended death.
