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Wish of a lifetime
Washed-up tar closes several Kauai beaches
The U.S. Coast Guard and Penco, a private environmental company under contract to the state, began cleaning up tar balls that washed ashore on three to four miles of beaches on Kauai's east coast.The tar balls forced the closure of beaches from the Outrigger Beach Hotel to Anahola Bay.
The state Department of Health is advising the public to stay away from area beaches until warning signs are removed.
The Health Department and Coast Guard are investigating the cause of the spill.
Man injured on ship ferried to Honolulu
The U.S. Coast Guard was called in to ferry a 48-year-old Chilean man with a possible fractured spine to a hospital in Honolulu.The man fell 15 feet to the deck of a container ship traveling from Chile to Japan. The ship moored at Christmas Island yesterday and was met by Coast Guard aircraft from Barber's Point at 4 a.m.
The injured man is reported conscious and able to speak, although he is in severe pain from a cut to the back of his head. An Air Force medical team was aboard the aircraft to offer assistance.
Tree removal to close Manoa Falls trail
The Manoa Falls trail will be closed to the public next Thursday and Friday so the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply can remove an 80- to 100-foot banyan tree from the parking area.The tree fell during a rainstorm in early December.
Parts of the tree were cut to clear a temporary access to the trail head, but it still poses a public safety hazard and is blocking the adjacent Manoa Stream waterway.
The trail will reopen Saturday.
Apply now for federal tree and plant-care grants
Nonprofit organizations and communities wanting to help keep the islands green may qualify for federal grants to support their tree-planting or plant-care programs.Feb. 15 is the first of four deadlines this year for applications in the Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program administered by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources forestry and wildlife division. Funding up to $10,000 is available, said coordinator Teresa Trueman-Madriaga.
Projects which have received funds include Honolulu Zoo landscaping using berms and trees to create a noise barrier between animal exhibits and the stage lawn. Eighty-six volunteers planted 923 shrubs and 39 trees in the project.
Funding also went to Kona Community Hospital where a Healing Garden is being constructed to provide quiet and private space for patients, family and staff. Kahakai Elementary School received two grants to plant trees to shade and cool classrooms and a playground, and the Kailua-Kona Outdoor Circle later received money for a tree-pruning project at the school.
Information is available from Trueman-Madriaga at 672-3383 or Jackie Lee Rayla at 672-5167.
Training to close airfield to civilians
Army helicopter training will close the runway at Dillingham Airfield to civilian aircraft from 6 a.m. Tuesday through 6 p.m. Wednesday.The Army will be conducting 24-hour helicopter training at the airfield's Schofield East Range training area.
Army air traffic controllers will staff the Dillingham Airfield Unicom tower while the runway is closed.
Meter reading goes high-tech
Hotel group donates gifts to medical center
Starwood Hotels & Resorts has donated a transport incubator and three cribs to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children.The gifts, valued at $70,000, were presented at Starwood's annual global conference held in Honolulu.
"In lieu of the traditional gifts and amenities to attendees at conferences such as ours, we have chosen to use these funds to give back to the community that is hosting our conference," said Barry Sternlicht, chairman and chief executive officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
Starwood owns, manages or franchises 17 hotels and resorts under the Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels and Luxury Collection names.
Kapolei family center gets $10,500 grant
The Center for Better Communities has received a $10,500 grant from the Robert Emens Black Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation for the Kapolei Family Resource Center.The grant will be used to support expansion of the center's community building activities at Kapolei Elementary School and Villages of Kapolei.
Pepper creates endowment with leftover funds
The campaign committee of former state Rep. Lennard Pepper has donated his surplus campaign money to establish an endowment at the University of Hawaii Foundation to help Hawaii's elderly citizens.The Pepper Family Elder Law Endowment Fund is designed to enhance the UH Elder Law Program at the William S. Richardson School of Law.
Through education seminars, community outreach and other gatherings, the program provides free legal advice and information to the state's elderly who cannot afford to pay for such services.
While in office, Pepper focused on issues concerning public health, mental health and the elderly. He requested the campaign money be used for the endowment.
Community members can also contribute to the endowment, which has received donations from members of the Pepper family as well, according to a UH news release.
Corrections
The minimum personal injury coverage required by law is $10,000. A story yesterday on pay-at-the-pump auto insurance coverage gave an incorrect figure.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Man's condition critical after being shot in Kalihi
Police are searching for two suspects who shot and critically injured a city Board of Water Supply worker.The employee, a 50-year-old man, was going at work at the water supply's yard at 2442 Kini Place in Kalihi today when he was confronted by a man and a woman in a grey Honda at about 5:15 a.m., police said.
The suspects asked the employee for cigarettes, police said.
After he gave them a couple of cigarettes, one of the suspects shot him in the back, police said. The suspects then drove away and had not been apprehended as of mid-morning.
The victim was taken to Queen's Hospital in critical condition.
Man wielding gun demands cash at Moiliili store
Police were searching for an armed man who robbed a Moiliili store this morning.The man entered the store in the 2400 block of South King Street with a gun and demanded money at about 9:30 a.m., police said. He drove away with an undisclosed amount of cash.
66-year-old man arrested in two bank robbery cases
Honolulu police arrested a 66-year-old Kalihi man last night in connection with two bank robberies in Kalihi earlier this week, the FBI announced today.Thomas Kiyoshi Kakuno allegedly passed a demand note to a teller at the Kamehameha Shopping Center branch of American Savings Bank about 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, then escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash. Thirty minutes earlier, he allegedly attempted to rob the Kalihi branch of Hawaii National Bank, but left without money.
Third torture-kidnapping suspect turns himself in
A man wanted in connection with the alleged kidnapping and torture of a woman from her Ala Moana apartment, turned himself in to the Sheriff's Department yesterday afternoon without incident.Gaylen Aleka, 35, was the last of three suspects arrested for the alleged crime. Police said Aleka allegedly aided Hidehisa Semba, 52, and Kaleilani Perreira, 27, in kidnapping Semba's ex-wife. The woman was allegedly taken to an airport hotel and tortured for more than 12 hours with a stun gun, authorities said.
An Oahu grand jury indicted all three suspects Tuesday.
Big Isle police hunting man who shot at cop
Big Island police detectives arrested one suspect and are looking for another man who allegedly shot at a police officer Sunday.A 20-year-old Kona man was arrested yesterday in the parking lot of a state courthouse in Kealakekua. He had been scheduled to stand trial yesterday in a separate case.
Police are still looking for a 22-year-old suspect .
Courts
Accused robber takes attempted theft plea
One of three men awaiting trial in a botched robbery last January in which a woman was shot in the face has pleaded to a lesser charge.Roland Ragasa, 32, of Pearl City, charged with first-degree robbery, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree attempted theft under a plea agreement.
He now faces up to five years imprisonment, instead of 20.
Judge Richard Perkins granted the defense attorney's request that Ragasa be placed on supervised release until his sentencing March 24.
Prosecutors say Ragasa was one of three men who accompanied the alleged gunman to California Market in Wahiawa on Jan. 8.
Tomas Quirantes, 20, has pleaded not guilty to shooting the store owner's wife, when she walked in on the robbery attempt, and attempting to shoot her husband.
Quirantes and another defendant, Damien Kaahu, await trial in April. A fourth defendant, Farrington Governor Santos, 25, committed suicide in prison Feb. 11.
Church theft suspect is former bookkeeper
A former church bookkeeper has pleaded not guilty to stealing at least $80,000 from St. Elizabeth's in Aiea.Hilda Morse, 67, who was extradited from California, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Circuit Court on a first-degree theft charge.
Church collections began declining in late 1994 and early 1995, resulting in an investigation.
Morse is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail. Her trial is set for March 28.
Skateboarder nabbed with drugs at airport
A skateboarder who popularized the trick move the "Christ Air" was arrested at Honolulu Airport on Wednesday for carrying nearly 1 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.Christian R. Hosoi, 31, formerly of Lanikai and one of America's top 40 ranked professional skateboarders in the 1980s, was wearing a waist pack containing the drugs when he walked off a flight from Los Angeles, according to a criminal complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court.
A detention hearing is set for Tuesday. The amount recovered, two wrapped bundles weighing 690.5 grams, is consistent with distribution, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration task force detective.
Although Hosoi did not consent to a pat down, he was arrested after a drug-sniffing dog detected the scent of controlled substances from his carry-on bags and because of the way he was behaving.
He appeared nervous, was perspiring profusely and appeared very pale, according to the complaint.
To do the Christ Air, the skateboarder goes airborne, grabs the skateboard from under his feet with two hands outstretched and legs together to form a crucifix shape.
Hosoi, who started his own company at 17, also designed the Hosoi Hammerhead, named for the shape of the board's nose.
