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The Tsunami Warning Center and Oahu and state civil defense agencies received calls today from residents from the North Shore to East Honolulu who felt a small earthquake between 9:22 and 9:40 a.m. Wee earthquake felt on Oahu
Geophysicist Barry Hirshorn, of the warning center, said small disturbances happen all the time that generally aren't strong enough to be felt.
Earthquakes usually measure 2.5 to 3 on the Richter scale before they're widely felt and can be located, he said. He estimated today's disturbance was smaller than 2 on the scale --"at the top edge of tiny and the bottom edge of felt."
A Tantalus resident called the Star-Bulletin to say she felt the earth shaking, while Hirshorn said a Niu Valley resident "was pretty definite about how she felt it."
"She said things were rattling a little bit."
Police chief aces annual evaluation
Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue easily passed his annual Police Commission performance evaluation.The commission gave him high marks on leadership qualities, managerial skills and interaction with the commission.
He also scored at the top on achievement of goals of community policing, manpower, traffic management and communication with commissioners.
His leadership helped overcome budget woes with reduced overtime allotment while maintaining high quality of police service, the commission said.
It credited Donohue with a positive and refreshing philosophy, forthrightness, openness and responsiveness.
Crime reduction and fewer citizens complaints, paving the way for strategy to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the department, plus freeway and main thoroughfare traffic improvements were among other Donohue accomplishments the commission called praiseworthy.
Judges' pay will rise in two increments
The salary for Circuit Court judges will go up to $106,922 under a bill signed into law by Gov. Ben Cayetano.The governor's action yesterday fixes the salary amounts that were provided when the state Legislature last year voted for annual judicial pay increases of 4 percent to 11 percent.
The lawmakers' action came after the state Judiciary complained that inadequate pay was leading to the resignations of several judges.
The bill fixes raises in two increments. The first, retroactive to July 1, 1999, sets the following salaries: District Court, $90,776; Circuit Court, $96,326; Intermediate Appellate Court, $99,656, and chief judge, $101,321; Hawaii Supreme Court, $104,096, and chief justice, $105,206.
As of next July 1, the salaries will increase to: District Court, $100,761; Circuit Court, $106,922; Intermediate Appellate Court, $110,618, and chief judge, $112,466; Hawaii Supreme Court, $115,547, and chief justice, $116,779.
Expect some noise at wastewater plant
Neighbors of the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant might hear some sleep-disrupting noise tomorrow night.The plant will use three emergency generators for about two hours because electrical maintenance work requires Hawaiian Electric Co. to shut down its substation on the property.
The increased noise level will be from 10 to 11 p.m. tomorrow and from 4 to 5 a.m. Saturday.
The utility company is required to do the work at a time of lowest power usage at the treatment plant, according to a city announcement.
21 recipients chosen for school grants
Twenty-one organizations have been chosen to receive federal funds to plan charter schools.The awards of $96,000 each will support start-up development for schools that will come under the state's New Century Charter Schools.
State law provides for 25 such schools. So far, Waialae Elementary School and Lanikai Elementary School are the state's only New Century Charter Schools.
Eight other applicants are affiliated with existing public schools, such as Hawaiian immersion and school-within-a-school programs for students outside the mainstream.
One program, E-School, the Department of Education's Internet-based educational program, is statewide, and 14 are on the neighbor islands.
A nine-member committee of educators and community representatives chose the grant recipients.
Lawyer's resignation heads off court action
The Hawaii Supreme Court has accepted Maui attorney Mark G. Lawyer's resignation from the practice of law in lieu of discipline.Lawyer submitted an affidavit acknowledging he could not successfully defend himself if the court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel proceeded with charges against him that were being investigated.
Under the procedure, no disclosure of the charges is made.
Corrections
Matt MacDonagh is the Castle High boys' soccer coach. A story in the sports section yesterday gave an incorrect name.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Police ask help to find paraplegic's stolen bike
Honolulu Police are asking for the public's help in recovering a bicycle owned by a disabled man and catching the man who stole it.The Lightning brand cycle with a chrome finish is one of only two on the island. It is owned by a 58-year-old paraplegic who operated the bike by pedaling with his hands. The bicycle was stolen from the Scandia Towers in Waikiki at bout 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. A video surveillance camera recorded the suspect walking into the building, driving out on a bicycle and towing the hand cycle.
The suspect is also believed to be responsible for a series of bicycle thefts downtown. He's described as a male in his 20s, 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet tall, weighing about 170 pounds and of muscular build. He was wearing a dark T-shirt and light colored shorts, sneakers and backpack.
Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
Girl, 17, walking home from school, assaulted
Police are investigating the reported rape of a 17-year-old girl yesterday in Wahiawa.The victim told police she was walking home from school between 5:45 and 6 p.m. when approached by the suspect, who lured her to a secluded area on California Avenue where the alleged attack occurred.
The suspect fled the scene and is still at large.
It is not known whether there's any connection between yesterday's attack and the early-morning rape of an Army woman Jan. 24 in the parking lot of a bank on California Avenue and the Jan. 7 abduction of a 13-year-old girl at 5 p.m. near Kanoelani Elementary School in Waipio Gentry.
No arrests have been reported in those two cases.
Makiki man arrested in reported rape
A 27-year-old Makiki man was arrested for questioning yesterday on a complaint filed by a woman who said he sexually assaulted her two girls.The victims, whose ages were not released by police, were playing in the man's apartment on Liholiho Street, where the alleged rape occurred between 3 and 5 p.m. The man is a neighbor of the victims.
Maui boy, 3, dies after being hit by car
WAILUKU -- A 3-year-old boy died after being struck by a car on a residential street in west Maui, police said.Steven Nguyen was hit by a car on Laalo Street in Lahaina at about 2:53 p.m. yesterday.
Maui Police Sgt. Clarence Kenui said the investigators are reviewing whether speed or alcohol might have been factors in the accident, although there is no such indication at this time.
The 51-year-old driver was released after questioning.
Heart attack killed man thought to have drowned
KAILUA-KONA -- An autopsy has determined that a man found floating face down in waters off Keei, South Kona, on Monday died of a heart attack, police said.The man was previously identified as Jonathan Andrade, 36, of Keei. He was initially thought to have drowned.
Reward rising on Maui for poisoner of dogs
WAILUKU -- More dogs have apparently died of paraquat poisoning on Maui and the reward for the conviction of the person responsible is now $5,750.Animal cruelty investigator Aimee Anderson said two red-nose pit bull dogs living near Makawao Elementary School died of paraquat poisoning in late January, and a dog in Kihei is suspected of dying of the poison Tuesday.
She said the pit bulls were confined to the yard and suspects they were targeted for the poisonings.
Paraquat is a liquid herbicide used in weed control.
Twelve animals have been poisoned by paraquat this year.
