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About 1,000 runners will depart from Fort DeRussey Park at 6:30 p.m. today as part of the Special Olympics First Hawaiian Troy Barboza Law Enforcement Torch Run. Special Olympics
Torch Run will kick off
Summer Games todayThe route will start from the park, go down Kalakaua Avenue, up Kapahulu Avenue, across the University of Hawaii's Lower Campus Drive, and into Rainbow Stadium for the official opening of the Special Olympics Hawaii 32nd Annual State Summer Games.
The ceremony will begin with the Parade of Athletes, including 800 children and adults with mental retardation and the torch runners. The lighting of the cauldron and entertainment from The Krush will follow. For more information, contact Noreen Conlin at 531-1888, extension 25 or 256-1101.
New phone scam aims at seniors, police warn
Police are warning the public about a new telephone scam apparently targeting Hawaii senior citizens.A Windward woman received a call this week saying she had won $250,000 in a Reader's Digest sweepstakes, said detective Letha DeCaires, the CrimeStoppers coordinator. The male caller asked the woman to pay $3,000 for taxes to collect the winnings.
When she told the caller she couldn't afford $3,000, the caller agreed to lower the amount to $1,400. The caller told the woman not to tell anyone about the call and said agents from the Internal Revenue Service and FBI, with credentials, would meet her to get the money.
"She was smart. She didn't give them money, and called us," DeCaires said.
When police contacted Reader's Digest, the company said two other people from Hawaii also had been called about an alleged sweepstakes winning.
A Reader's Digest official said it would never ask for money to claim a prize.
Girl Scouts to adorn vets' graves Sunday
The Hawaii Girl Scouts will place flags and leis on more than 4,000 grave sites at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe at 1 p.m. Sunday in honor of Memorial Day.More than 500 Girl Scouts and 100 adult volunteers are involved in the project. This will be the sixth year they have provided this service.
Triathlon to affect Big Island traffic
An alert has gone out to Big Islanders that the makai lane of Alii Drive and the shoulder along Queen Kaahumanu Highway will be used for Sunday's Keauhou Kona Triathlon.Bicyclists will use Alii Drive and the highway shoulder from Makala Boulevard to the 78-mile marker from 6:45 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Runners will use Alii Drive from Huggo's Restaurant to south of Keauhou from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The Alii Drive makai lane from Kuakini Highway to Kam III Road will be closed to vehicles from 6:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Whale sanctuary seeks advisers for its council
The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is seeking nine members for its advisory council.The council provides advice and recommendations to the sanctuary program.
The voluntary positions open include business/commerce, citizen-at-large, commercial shipping, conservation, fishing, native Hawaiian, ocean recreation, tourism and whale watching.
Members serve without pay for a two-year term but are given air fare to attend meetings. Applicants must be Hawaii residents, since the council meets about every three months.
For an application, call 397-2651.
Deadline for application submittal is June 30.
Mental health program accredited for 3 years
Mental Help Hawaii has received accreditation for three years from an international body for its mental health programs, case management and community housing.It is the second consecutive accreditation awarded to the organization by the Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission.
Mental Help Hawaii provides residential facilities and social rehabilitation services to meet the physical, social and psychological needs of persons who are recovering from mental illnesses.
Grants to aid legal work done for women, kids
The Hawaii Women's Legal Foundation is accepting applications for 1999 grant requests from organizations and projects that help improve the legal status of women and children in Hawaii.Deadline for grant applications is June 13.
For information, call Bernice Littman at 521-9219.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Kauai woman, 86, struck by car, critically hurt
An 86-year-old Kauai woman was in critical condition this morning after being struck by a car while walking on Hekili Road in Kapaa.Police said the woman was walking toward Kawaihau Road when a car traveling in the same direction struck her at 7:10 a.m. yesterday.
The woman suffered leg and head injuries and was taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Queen's Medical Center on Oahu.
San Jose man drowns trying to rescue wife
A 44-year-old San Jose, Calif., visitor who entered the ocean to save his wife died yesterday in North Kauai, the fire department said.Battalion Fire Chief Paul P. Silva Jr. said a fire rescue crew was unsuccessful in trying to revive the man at Kee Beach in Haena, after responding to an emergency call at 4:56 p.m.
Silva said the ocean seemed calm and that an autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of death.
Silva said that according to bystanders, the man thought his wife was in trouble in the water and went to help her. Silva said the wife managed to get out of the water but could not find her husband and called the fire department for help.
Schoolboy, 16, arrested in 'Columbine' threat
Police arrested a 16-year-old boy at his Schofield Barracks home after he allegedly uttered to another boy that there would be another "Columbine" at a high school in Hawaii.The boy who heard the threat yesterday on the bus at about 2:30 p.m. told his parents, who contacted the school principal, police said.
A police report was made, and the suspect was arrested at his home at 4 a.m. today for terroristic threatening.
Big Island police pull 14,070 pakalolo plants
HILO -- Police seized 14,070 marijuana plants in three days ending Wednesday, they announced yesterday.The Counter-Cannabis Field Operation was conducted in parts of the Puna District and areas around Hilo, they said.
Target shooting in park leads to arrest of man, 71
A 71-year-old man was arrested yesterday for firing his gun in an Ewa park, police said.Police responded to a report of gunshots fired in Asing Park at 11:18 a.m. Officers located the man practicing target shooting at the park.
Roadblocks through graduation season
Police will be conducting checkpoints this weekend and through the graduation season to try to reduce the number of drunken and drug-impaired drivers.The roadblocks will be set up at unannounced times and locations.
As of yesterday, there have been 25 traffic deaths on Oahu compared with 17 during the same time last year.
About 25 percent were drug and/or alcohol related.
