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Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Friday, April 21, 2000

Campbell gift will help
voyaging society promote culture

The Polynesian Voyaging Society is $100,000 richer thanks to a contribution from Campbell Foundation.

"We are grateful for the Campbell Foundation's ... gift and for its support and interest in promoting Hawaiian cultural education," said Nainoa Thompson, society program manager.

"The Campbell family is proud of its Hawaiian heritage and they can take equal pride in knowing that they are bringing our educational and voyaging programs to an even higher level and reaching out to more young people."

The society's future plans include a statewide sail to 31 communities, establishment of a Hawaiian Ocean Learning Center, development of environmental and ocean education programs for students and construction of a modern sailing canoe to serve as an ocean classroom.

Section 8 advocates score
two wins, aim for more

Section 8 tenants of two Honolulu apartment complexes will be able to stay in place for at least five more years, but affordable renting advocates say their fight continues.

The McCully Circle Tenants Association yesterday presented property owner Frederick Chun a certificate of appreciation for committing to keep his 99-unit building in Section 8 for five more years.

Rents are kept lower for tenants of buildings designated for Section 8 through subsidies. But affordable housing advocates fear that with many of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development agreements expiring, many property owners may be choosing to go on the open market rather than renew.

Last year, McCully Circle was identified as one building whose 25-year Section 8 agreement with HUD was due to expire.

The 380-unit Maunakea Tower in Chinatown was identified as another building in danger of losing its Section 8 designation. But its building owner recently signed a pact that would keep it affordable for another 15 to 30 years, said Craig Castellanet of the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii.

Officials with the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance say, however, that their fight to maintain homes for the needy continues. A bill now before the state Legislature would require new owners of project-based Section 8 housing to maintain affordable rents for at least 30 years if they use state funding.

Probe opened in case of vanished worker

LIHUE -- The state Occupational Safety and Health Division has opened an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of an Amfac/JMB Lihue Plantation sugar factory employee who vanished while working at the mill early Saturday.

Jennifer Shishido, state OSHA administrator, said yesterday that since no one has located Davis Cortez Jr., 29, her investigators will help Kauai police follow their theory that he fell into the cane processing machinery and that nothing remains of his body.

Kauai police are waiting the outcome of chemical tests.

"We're going to treat it as an industrial accident," she said.

Cortez was last seen near a cane cutting machine at 1 a.m. Saturday. At the end of his shift, his car was still in the company parking lot. His car keys and other belongings were in the company break room.

Amfac officials have said they don't believe anyone could fall into the machinery by accident because of the way it is designed.

Help: Hanauma Bay cleanup tomorrow

Friends of Hanauma Bay is seeking volunteers to help clean the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, including the beach, park and Kalanianaole Highway from Keahole Street to Blow Hole from 8:30 to 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Volunteers are to meet in the Hanauma Bay upper parking lot to receive work assignments and garbage bags. Residents should bring a photo identification to avoid paying the beach access fee.

Groups and individuals can call event coordinator Harvey Shapiro at 395-1217 for more information. Advance calls aren't necessary and volunteers are invited to just show up.

Sound out your ideas for a 'Liveable Waikiki'

The city has received a $300,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration to help fund a mobility plan for Waikiki.

The "Liveable Waikiki" project seeks to solicit community input for means to ease traffic in the area.

Program to aid 50 kids with big medical needs

Fifty children with extensive medical needs will be able to receive care in their own homes instead of hospitals and nursing facilities under a new state program.

The children will be returned to their families under a three-year Department of Human Services demonstration project approved by the federal Health Care Financing Administration.

The Medically Fragile Children's Waiver Program will apply to Medicaid-eligible children under age 21 who face long hospital stays and need 24-hour-a-day oversight of their health status and extensive multidisciplinary care.

The program "is customized to suit individual needs," said Susan Chandler, state Human Services director. Each family can choose a case manager and select from services such as respite, specialized day care, specialized medical equipment and supplies, she said.

Two isle students win corporate scholarships

Two Hawaii students are among 1,200 seniors across the nation to win corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, financed by companies, foundations and other business organizations.

Orian J. Lee of Punahou School, who looks to a future in law and government, won a GTE Corp. Merit Scholarship. Jessica M. Dennis, a Maui High School senior interested in law, received a Xerox Foundation Merit Scholarship.

Correction Kaipo Ikemoto is among the finalists for the Sterling Scholar Awards. A list yesterday spelled his last name incorrectly.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

Woman killed, passenger injured in Kona accident

KAILUA-KONA -- One woman was killed and another was critically injured in a one-car accident on Mamalahoa Highway 22 miles northeast of Kailua-Kona yesterday, police said.

Daisy Thompson, 46, of Kona Palisades, the driver of a 1998 Oldsmobile Cutlass, was killed when she failed to make a turn at Puuanahulu and hit a utility pole about 3:35 a.m.

Passenger Cathleen Ishizu, 28, of Holualoa was taken to Kona Community Hospital in critical condition.

Speeding appears to have been a factor in the accident, police said. Thompson's death is the 10th traffic fatality of the year on the Big Island compared to four at the same time last year.

Suspect caught, two flee in Mililani robbery

A 19-year-old Ewa Beach man is in police custody in connection with an armed robbery in Mililani yesterday.

He is accused of entering a Waikalani Drive apartment at 2 a.m. yesterday with two other men, police said. The suspects, armed with a shotgun and a pistol, reportedly robbed the residents of their jewelry, wallet, cash and car.

During the robbery, one suspect fired the shotgun at the floor, police said. Two women and a man suffered minor injuries from ricocheting pellets.

The suspects were found in Ewa Beach switching license plates on four stolen cars, including one stolen in the robbery, police said.

Two suspects ran away and were still at large this morning.

A sawed-off shotgun allegedly used in the robbery and a rifle were seized during the arrest.

Kailua schoolboy cited; threatened the principal

A 14-year-old Kailua Intermediate School boy was arrested for allegedly threatening to harm the principal on the first anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

The boy said he expressed a desire to shoot the principal yesterday, police said. He was arrested for first-degree terroristic threatening at 8:20 a.m. and later released to his parents.