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KAILUA-KONA -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources closed a 70-foot length of the Kailua-Kona pier Wednesday because the pier has become undermined and is unsafe, the state agency said. Inspections lead to partial closure
of pier at Kailua-KonaThe effect on businesses using the pier, especially cruise operators, was not immediately clear.
Employees of Body Glove Cruises and Roberts Hawaii Tours, which operates Captain Bean's Cruises, said members of their management met with state officials Wednesday night.
"As necessary, boating activities in the area will be redirected by the end of the week," the DLNR statement said.
The partial closure was decided on after two underwater inspections confirmed that the bay bottom under the pier was eroded by years of winter storms, the statement said.
The facility was built more than 50 years ago as a means of transferring cattle to ships, the statement said.
The pier was transferred from the Department of Transportation to the DLNR in 1994. Since then, DLNR has spent $225,000 on repairs. Gov. Ben Cayetano has a request for $3 million for repairs pending in the Legislature.
Meanwhile Cayetano yesterday released $800,000, previously appropriated by the Legislature, for immediate repairs.
Crash near Pearlridge hospitalizes three
Alcohol appeared to be a factor in a three-car crash this morning near the Pearlridge Center that hospitalized three people.A 1993 Honda Civic, driven by a 25-year-old Aiea man, was headed west on Moanalua Road when it crossed the center line and slammed into a east-bound 1983 Honda Accord near the Sizzler restaurant at 4:54 a.m., police traffic investigators said.
The Accord went airborne, landing on the front of a 1999 Cadillac Seville, also east-bound, police said.
The 20-year-old male driver of the Accord, and an 18-year-old female passenger were taken to Queen's Hospital, where they were listed in guarded condition.
The driver of the Civic was in good condition in hospital, police said. The driver of the Cadillac was not hurt.
A portion of Moanalua Road was closed for more than three hours.
Peters loses request for interlocutory appeal
Former Bishop Estate trustee Henry Peters cannot file an interlocutory appeal of his August 1999 temporary removal from the trust, a state judge ruled today.Probate Judge Kevin Chang denied Peters' request for an interlocutory appeal with the state Supreme Court after the former trustee's attorney failed to show up for a hearing on the matter this morning.
Chang also ruled that Probate Judge Colleen Hirai's Aug. 31 temporary removal order is part of an ongoing process involving the trust's accounts and could not be appealed at this point.
Hirai's ruling found that Peters and fellow trustee Richard "Dickie" Wong violated court orders by taking extra income on capital projects and accumulating trust income, made imprudent investment decisions and failed to implement a management system headed by a chief executive officer.
Peters permanently resigned from the trust in December but the issues raised in Hirai's order are among the claims raised by the attorney general's office in its suit to surcharge the former trustee.
30-ton whale carcass buried on Big Island
WAILEA BAY, Hawaii -- Hawaii County officials have buried a dead, rotting, 30-ton whale carcass in a pit inland from the west Hawaii shore where it was discovered Sunday.A quick reconnaissance Wednesday showed there were no archaeological sites in the area between Hapuna Beach State Park and Wailea Bay, said county Public Works chief Robert Yanabu.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources granted a permit for the county to build a temporary road on state land across the rocky shore to the carcass, he said.
A private contractor using a bulldozer, a front end loader and a crane dug a hole, moved the carcass to the hole and buried it yesterday.
The park at Hapuna remained closed until sharks attracted by the carcass leave the area, county Civil Defense staffer Bruce Butts said.
Mink seeks to restore Kealia Pond wetlands
Congresswoman Patsy Mink wants a study to determine ways to restore natural wetlands at Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge on Maui.She testified before a House subcommittee in favor of a bill she introduced to provide the study. The bill would fund the study with $250,000.
The 691-acre Maui refuge is home to two endangered native Hawaiian birds -- the Hawaiian stilt and the Hawaiian coot. The pond also supports migratory waterfowl and shorebirds.
"My constituents recognize the value of the pond and its contribution to preserving native Hawaiian endangered species," Mink said. "They want to see Kealia Pond restored to its natural state with its native fauna."
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Blaze guts Moiliili house
50 yards away from fire station
Police say man assaults wife, then two officers
Two police officers were reportedly assaulted and injured last night while breaking up a domestic dispute in Wahiawa.An off-duty police officer heard the couple arguing at a Waipahu Street home at 9:31 p.m. and called 911, police said.
When the officer knocked on the door to see if the woman was alright, the husband answered the door.
He punched his wife, and the off-duty officer attempted to stop the fight when he was struck in the face with a ceramic statue, police said.
The suspect attempted to grab for his fanny pack, which contained a knife, but he was confronted by a second off-duty officer, police said. He hit the second officer in the face with the fanny pack and ran away.
The husband was arrested shortly after for felony abuse and two counts of assault, police said. His wife suffered bruises and swelling to her head. The officers suffered cuts to the face, neck and arms.
Hilo man meant to kidnap someone else, police say
HILO -- Police have charged George Kailiawa Jr., 27, of Hilo with kidnapping, terroristic threatening and assault in connection with his alleged abduction of a teenage girl Tuesday night.Kailiawa let the girl go after discovering he meant to kidnap someone else, police said.
Kailiawa is being held in lieu of $26,000 bail.
Homeless man released while killing investigated
The 35-year-old homeless man who was arrested in connection with Tuesday's slaying at Kaneohe Civic Center Park was released from police custody yesterday afternoon.Police said he was released pending further investigation at 4 p.m.
He was arrested for allegedly slaying a 42-year-old homeless man with a shovel.
Man who allegedly fired at trio arrested by police
A 19-year-old man was arrested yesterday in connection with firing a handgun at three people in Ewa Beach on March 10.He is accused of firing a handgun at a man and two women from inside a car on Fort Weaver Road, police said. No injuries were reported.
Yesterday, while police served an unrelated arrest warrant on another suspect at a Halawa home, they spotted the teen-age suspect and arrested him for attempted murder.
Female prisoner allegedly attacks two guards
An inmate was arrested yesterday at the Women's Community Correctional Center for allegedly attacking two prison guards.The female inmate refused to leave the shower area yesterday at 7:30 a.m., police said.
When she was escorted out of the showers by two adult corrections officers, she punched one and bit the other.
The guards were treated at Castle Hospital.
Police arrest suspect in Tuesday sex assault
HILO -- Police have charged Mark Silva, 22, of no permanent address, with four counts of sexual assault for an attack on a woman in the Kanoelehua Industrial Area Tuesday night, they said.Silva is being held in lieu of $26,000 bail.
In the Courts
Trial begins in dramatic police-chase incident
A jury trial began yesterday for a man accused of leading police on a 40-minute chase from Fort DeRussy to Kaimuki, which included two car crashes and a police officer being dragged along a speeding car.Jose Luis Valdivia is charged with kidnapping, terroristic threatening, refusing police orders to stop, reckless driving and other charges stemming from the Nov. 3 incident.
Man accused of injuring baby denied release
Judge Michael Town denied a second request for release yesterday from a man accused of shaking his 7-week-old son a year ago and causing extensive brain damage to the boy.Samita William Hall Sr., 22, awaiting trail on an attempted second-degree murder charge, was denied his request for supervised release.
But Town reduced his bail from $100,000 to $25,000 on condition that Hall not come into contact with young children, including his own, unless Child Protective Services allows it and adults are on hand for the visits.
A request last August for supervised release or reduction of bail was denied because of the seriousness of the offense and because the court considered Hall a flight risk.
According to court documents, Hall told police he bit his son on the cheek "in play" and shook him to make the infant stop crying on various occasions between March 15 and March 17, 1999.
Suspect in kicking death gets reduction in bail
Bail was reduced from $200,000 to $100,000 for a man accused of delivering a fatal kick to another man's head.Judge Michael Town denied a release request from the defendant, Tali Fai, 18.
Fai is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal beating of Vaovai Faateleupu, also 18, in August.
Fai was part of a group that allegedly accosted Faateleupu outside the Waipahu 7-Eleven because of remark he reportedly had made the night before to a girlfriend of one of Fai's friends.
State Supreme Court adopts amended rules
Jurors in Hawaii courts may suggest questions of witnesses as of July 1.Recent amendments to court rules adopted by the Hawaii Supreme Court also will allow parties in court cases to make brief opening statements to potential jurors before jury selection.
All expert testimony will be scheduled in one solid block of proceedings in civil and family court cases, and jurors will receive copies of jury instructions before closing arguments.
Jurors will be allowed to take notes during trial, and judges will be able to "pre-instruct" a jury on technical matters.
The amendments were backed by the Committee on Jury Innovations for the 21st Century in its Final Report of the Hawaii Committee on Jury Innovations. The Hawaii Supreme Court established the committee in 1998.
