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Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Tuesday, February 29, 2000

Quarry blast releases apparent 800-lb. bomb

Diggers at Grace Pacific Quarry in Makakilo uncovered what appeared to be an 800-pound bomb yesterday.

Police said excavators blasted out the object about 12:30 p.m. from the side of a mountain where they recover rocks. Police said the canister, 4 feet by 1 foot, resembled a bomb, possibly from World War II.

Henry Kitaoka, who works for Grace Pacific, said he didn't believe it was a bomb because workers had been blasting the area when the canister rolled out from the rubble.

"I believe it was nothing. If it was a bomb it should have blown up," he said.

Police arrived and called the Army explosive ordnance division, which removed the object. The Army was going to try to detonate it today.

KC-135 order grounds only one Guard plane

Only one of Hawaii Air National Guard's nine KC-135 jet tankers are among the 198 Air Force refueling aircraft grounded after problems were discovered with a stabilizer part on the tail section.

Some lower-priority missions that KC-135s normally would perform will be postponed or canceled while the 198 aircraft are grounded, the Air Mobility Command public affairs office said. The Air Force has 546 of the planes.

The Air Force said the grounding of the KC-135s is "in no way connected" to the crash in January of an Alaska Airlines MD-83 jetliner whose crew reported problems with the aircraft's horizontal stabilizer and were trying to correct them when the plane crashed, killing all 88 aboard.

A Hawaii Air National Guard spokesman said the one KC-135 tanker belonging to the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron and affected by the grounding order was already in a Hickam Air Force Base hangar undergoing routine maintenance when the problem was discovered.

The grounding of the KC-135s was described by the Air Force as a precautionary measure.

Can Do

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Paul Umda, who routinely finds cans for recycling in the
Ala Wai Yacht Harbor area, says it takes as long as a month
to collect 200 pounds of cans - about $86 worth under the
current rate. He estimates he can collect as many
as 300 cans in one day.

Fishery agency eyes limit on blue shark fins

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is expected to recommend that only 50,000 blue sharks a year be caught to meet the demand for shark fins.

The controversial practice of de-finning sharks is the top item on the agenda, and the council will accept public comment tomorrow morning, said Roy Morioka, co-chairman of the council's Pelagic Standing Committee.

The council will meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Ala Moana Hotel to discuss the shark-finning quota. The session is part of a four-day conference that began yesterday.

The recommendation may become an official regulation enforced by the council by early next year, Morioka said.

The council also is scheduled to make recommendations on a coral reef management plan, a lobster and bottomfish management plan, and an assessment of Hawaiian monk seal recovery efforts. It also will consider the limitations on longline fishing to protect turtles, and banning of large vessel fishing in American Samoa.

African-American donor needed to help patient

Child and Family Services is hosting a bone marrow drive to help one of its own, a counselor for at-risk teens, this Friday.

Willie "Maurice" Osby, 31, an African American, has been diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Child and Family Services will host the bone marrow recruitment drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ewa Community Center, 91-1841 Ft. Weaver Road, in Ewa Beach.

Corrections A 29-year-old woman was arrested last Tuesday in Wahiawa for allegedly making death threats with a spear. A story Wednesday said incorrectly that a man had been arrested.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

Evacuated

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Guests wait outside the Outrigger Hobron hotel in Waikiki
today after a fire forced evacuation. The fire started when
guests left towels on the stove, said Fire Captain Richard Soo.
It was extinguished by hotel staff. Damage
was estimated at $3,000.

Tip yields one arrest in school computer theft

A CrimeStoppers tip helped police arrest a 21-year-old Kailua man for stealing computers and electronic equipment from Lanikai Elementary School.

Police said fingerprints at the scene matched the suspect. The CrimeStoppers information from an anonymous caller came last Thursday. Police found and arrested the man the same day.

The man was released pending further investigation. Police said they are seeking two other suspects.

Some of the stolen equipment has been recovered and returned to the school, police said.

Computers, a camcorder and other electronic equipment valued at $10,000 was taken from the school's library during the Presidents Day weekend.

Police said do not believe the Lanikai School case is connected with vandalism at Kailua and Hauula Elementary Schools the same weekend, and they are still seeking leads on those incidents.

Man arrested in attack on pregnant girlfriend

Police arrested a 20-year-old man in Kaneohe for allegedly attacking and robbing his pregnant girlfriend last night.

The couple started arguing at 9 p.m. when the 18-year-old woman said she wanted to stay at her uncle's house, police said.

The man allegedly grabbed her necklace and called her names as she walked to a bus stop near Kamehameha Highway and Kahuhipa Street.

He then pushed her down to the curb near Star Market, assaulted her, grabbed her purse and ran away, police said.

The woman, who is six months pregnant, was assisted by bystanders who called police.

Passenger accused of slapping bus driver

A 48-year-old man was arrested yesterday after he reportedly slapped a city bus driver in Enchanted Lake.

The suspect, who was boarding the bus, reportedly hit the driver after refusing to wait for a disabled passenger trying to get off the bus at Keolu Drive 11:38 a.m., police said.

He was booked for "interference with the operation of a public transit vehicle," which is a felony.

Police ask help in murder of bulldozer operator

HILO -- Big Island police are asking for the public's help in solving the murder of Clayton Larry Alani, 38, found on Sept. 12, 1997, in what looked like an industrial accident in Orchidland subdivision.

The bulldozer he was operating appeared to have run over him after he accidentally fell from it.

An autopsy showed he was actually killed by a small caliber bullet wound in the head.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 961-2252 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.

Two boys seriously hurt when hit by car in Ewa

Two boys were seriously injured this morning after being hit by a car in Ewa.

The boys were crossing near Fort Weaver Road and Karayan Street when they were struck at 8:41 a.m., police said.

One boy was taken to St. Francis-West Hospital and the other to Queen's. Both were initially listed in critical, but have been upgraded to guarded condition.

Suspicious dump site fire spread over two acres

HONOKAA, Hawaii -- A fire of suspicious origin at a former Hamakua Sugar dump site spread to a surrounding two-acre area before being put out last night, the Fire Department said.

Firefighters responding to the fire below Paauhau Camp about 4 p.m. found tires burning amidst large piles of iron roofing and other debris, they said.

The fire spread to brush in a gulch but was declared out at 10 p.m.