Millennium Moments
The towering emerald peaks of Nuuanu Pali once were as treacherous to cross as they are breathtakingly scenic. Long, rocky road from climbers
to cars over Nuuanu PaliA footpath carved into the cliffs in 1837 took climbers over the mountain range to Kaneohe and Kailua, says "Hawaii the Electric Century" by Carl Myatt and Deborah Uchida. By 1845, the path had become a trail for horses and on June 27, King Kamehameha III and his party made the first official horseback journey on this route.
Soon, heavy traffic by four-wheeled horse-drawn carriages brought about some improvement to the cobblestoned Pali Road, the authors say, but it wasn't until century's end that a real road was built. In 1897, eight months after being awarded the contract, Stanford University engineering graduates John H. Wilson and Louis M. Whitehouse completed the road.
Construction on a four-lane Pali Highway began on Aug. 1, 1955, a $3 million tunneled project that opened to traffic on May 11, 1957.
'Fast Eddie' posts bail after being indicted
An Oahu grand jury yesterday indicted Edward Martin "Fast Eddie" Rothman on charges of kidnapping, first-degree burglary and first-degree extortion in connection with a Nov. 23 incident.Rothman is free after posting $300,000 bond pending a Jan. 3 preliminary hearing.
According to court documents, Rothman is charged with barging into the North Shore home of Phillip Koontz, demanding the title to a truck owned by Koontz's friend, and assaulting Koontz.
Koontz had told police that Rothman threatened to kill his sister, girlfriend and cousin if he didn't turn over the truck's "pink slip."
Rothman, 50, headed a group called Hui O He'e Nalu or the "Black Trunks."
In the late 1980s, a jury acquitted him of charges that he ran a cocaine distribution ring on the North Shore.
Remembering minority sailors
Corrections
The first name of Neal Yokota, the new owner of Stryker Weiner & Yokota Public Relations, was misspelled in a Hawaii Inc. story yesterday.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Cop injured as fleeing suspects ram patrol car
A Honolulu police officer escaped serious injury early today when her marked patrol car was struck in the parking garage of a Moiliili-area condominium by a car fleeing the scene of a reported theft.The officer was treated at Straub Hospital for a cut near her eye and a chipped tooth. She was injured when the suspect vehicle hit her car's door, forcing it back into her face.
The officer and another patrol unit went to Iolani Court Plaza at 2499 Kapiolani Blvd. in response to a 3:08 a.m. call from a security guard who reported someone breaking into cars in the parking garage. The officer was attempting to get out of her car on the third floor of the garage when a silver Acura sped up and struck her door, said Sgt. Mark Mikami.
Two men were in the suspect vehicle, which was later located in lower Manoa Valley. The car had been stolen, police said.
The suspects at still at large.
Police are investigating the case as a murder attempt on a police officer.
Motorcyclist, pedestrian hurt in separate mishaps
A motorcyclist and pedestrian were seriously injured in separate traffic incidents yesterday in Hawaii Kai and Waianae.The motorcyclist, a 50-year-old man, and woman pedestrian, 80, are both in critical condition at Queen's Hospital.
The man was injured at 3:10 p.m. when his motorcycle was struck by a Volvo sedan while turning onto Kawaihae Street from Kalanianaole Highway with a green light.
A 73-year-old woman who was driving the car was not injured.
The pedestrian was hit from behind by a car while walking on the shoulder of Farrington Highway near her Moua Street residence at 6:12 a.m.
A witness told police the car, which fled the scene, was a maroon foreign compact with tinted windows.
A man was driving the car, which should have some damage to the passenger-side hood and possibly the windshield, police said.
