Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Thursday, October 5, 2000

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
A sedan was ripped in half and two men were killed in a
Kaukonahua Road crash with a pickup truck this morning.

Wahiawa crash with truck
kills 2 men in sedan

Two men were killed in a two-vehicle crash in Wahiawa this morning on Kamananui Road between Kaukonahua Road and Wilikina Drive.

The crash, involving a sedan and pickup truck, occurred at about 9:30 a.m., police said. The men were inside the sedan and died at the scene.

A 23-year-old woman in the pickup truck was taken to the Queen's Medical Center. She was reported in guarded condition.

Texas ohana donate
$500 to food bank

The "Ohana o Hawaii Association of Texas," made up of former Hawaii residents living mostly in San Antonio, has donated $500 to the Hawaii Foodbank for the fourth year in a row.

The Ohana chairman, Edward G. Altamirano, planned to personally present the check today to food bank President Dick Grimm.

Altamirano and several other executive board members flew to Hawaii this week to cheer on a member participating in a car and motorcycle show, and decided to hand deliver the check while they were here.

Altamirano said the club had chosen to donate to the Hawaii Foodbank because "we know about the high cost of living in Hawaii."

"Most of us have lived or been born and raised in Hawaii and realize how difficult it is for families to make it. It fits in with the idea of ohana, and part of the aloha spirit is to help families," he said.

The club also regularly donates to the San Antonio Food Bank using proceeds from their annual "Aloha Week City-Wide Luau" in September.

Each year, proceeds from the luau are divided between the Texas and Hawaii food banks, he said.

Grimm said the Hawaii Foodbank distributed 7.6 million pounds of food last year through various agencies that give the food away.

Ohana 'O Hawaii Association of Texas 109 Elm Spring, San Antonio, TX 78231-1412 (210) 492-6134

Kapiolani Medical gets
$500,000 in federal aid

Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children is one of 56 children's teaching hospitals in the nation awarded federal funds to support training of pediatric resident doctors.

The Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Program is presenting nearly $40 million in payments to the hospitals under congressional legislation signed by President Clinton in December.

The awards, to be announced today at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., include more than $500,000 for Kapiolani Hospital.

Dean Tateyama, Kapiolani's director of contracts and reimbursements, said it isn't a typical grant but a federal assistance program recognizing "that now we're going to start having an avenue to help children's hospitals.

"All these years, although the federal government supported teaching hospitals throughout the nation quite substantially," he said, "it never provided support for children's teaching hospitals."

A lot of federal support is funneled through the Medicare program, which children's hospitals don't use, he said.

Consequently, they receive $374 per resident from the federal government while other teaching facilities receive $87,000 per resident, Tateyama said.

Left out of the Medicare funding stream, children's hospitals have been supporting residency training in pediatrics at a big cost, said Dr. Chris Deraus, director of Kapiolani's pediatric residency program.

"Obviously, these days with hospitals having financial difficulties, it's a potential risk to continuation of residency programs if they don't get assistance in supporting them," he said.

Deraus said Kapiolani has 41 residents and about 45 or 46 part-time faculty members associated with the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Japanese consul presents
commendations

Two groups and two individuals received the Japanese consul general's Commendation Award yesterday in ceremonies at the official residence of Consul General Gotaro Ogawa.

Recipients were the Japan-America Institute of Management Science, for educating and training young people in Japan-U.S. business skills; Japanese Language Teachers of Maui, for enhancement of Japanese language and culture on Maui; Helen Rauer, for counseling and assisting in criminal trials of Japanese people; and Kakuko Shoji, for contributions to Japanese language education at the University of Hawaii and student exchanges between Hawaii and Japan.

Rauer is a program specialist in the counseling and probation division of Honolulu District Court. Shoji is a UH Japanese language teacher.

The purpose of the Commendation Award is to recognize and praise individuals and groups who have assisted in efficient functioning of the Japanese Consulate by promoting mutual understanding and friendship and furthering cooperation in economic and technical fields between Japan and other countries.

Traffic signal to go up at Moiliili crosswalk

A traffic light will be installed at King and Hausten streets near Star Market and the Moiliili Community Center, according to City Councilman Andy Mirikitani.

The King Street crosswalk is one of the most heavily used in Moiliili. No installment date has been set.

Tomorrow

Some events of interest

8:30 a.m., Kamamalu Building, Second Floor: Examination Committee Board of Public Accountancy meeting, Kuhina Nui Room.

9 a.m., Kamamalu Building, Second Floor: Legislation and Rules Committee, Board of Public Accountancy meeting, Kuhina Nui Room.

9:30 a.m., Kamamalu Building, Second Floor: Board of Public Accountancy meeting, Kuhina Nui Room.

Clarification U.S. District Senior Judge Samuel P. King has recused himself from a case filed Monday by attorney John Carroll against the state and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The case has been reassigned to Chief Judge David Alan Ezra, according to the court clerk's office. Correction Mark David Chapman, convicted of killing John Lennon, left Hawaii in October 1980. A story Tuesday had an incorrect date. (It has was corrected in the online edition.)

---

Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

Trial dates set in two Kauai murder cases

LIHUE -- Trial dates have been set in Kauai Circuit Court for two accused murderers.

The trial for Gregory Aguiar, originally scheduled for Oct. 30, was reset for Dec. 4. Aguiar is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Miu Lan Esposo-Aguiar.

Aguiar is accused of pouring gasoline on his wife and setting her on fire during an argument at their Eleele home March 12. She died March 31.

Judge George Masuoka ruled yesterday that Aguiar is mentally competent to stand trial, but he did not rule out an insanity defense.

Trial for Harold Giddens was set for Jan. 16, after Giddens pleaded not guilty to a series of charges including second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder at his arraignment in Circuit Court yesterday.

Giddens, 27, is accused of killing his neighbor, Colan Fernandes, with a shotgun on Sept. 18. He also is charged with wounding a transient, Nelson Cuba, at Hanamaulu Beach Park and endangering another neighbor. Giddens has confessed to the shootings, but said he was protecting himself and his family from people who were conspiring to kill him.

Autopsy to ID skeleton of man found on Maui

LAHAINA, Maui -- Maui police detectives are awaiting an autopsy to determine the cause of death and identity of a male skeleton found Sunday at the bottom of a steep ravine mauka of Lahainaluna High School.

Police Lt. Lenie Lawrence said the coroner will be matching the remains with dental records of a 42-year-old San Francisco hiker reported missing in June 1997.

The skeleton had on tattered clothing and sneakers. There was no apparent indication of foul play, Lawrence said.

Big Isle police revise fatal accident report

HILO -- Police have issued a correction about the way a fatal accident took place in North Kohala in June.

Initially they said Clifford Ignacio, 52, of Kawaihae was headed north in the wrong lane on June 12 when he hit a car driven by Emily Stark, 90, of Hawi.

An investigation showed the reverse was true. Stark was headed north in the wrong lane when she hit Ignacio, they said.

The error was due to both cars spinning off the road and to mistaken information from a witness, they said.

Stark and Ignacio were killed in the accident, and Stark's passenger, Dr. Barton Eveleth, 87, of Hawi, died a week later.

Dad booked for taking 2-year-old surfing

A 42-year-old man was arrested yesterday for reportedly endangering the safety of his 2-year-old son by taking the boy surfing earlier this year.

The boy suffered an 8-inch cut across his neck from surfing at Makaha Beach with his father on March 19, police said. He was treated for shock and taken to Queen's Medical Center for treatment.

According to police, the surf was 3 to 5 feet that day.

Lifeguards told police they warned the father on several occasions of the dangers of taking a small child into the surfing area. But the father had ignored the warnings, police said.

He was booked for endangering the welfare of a minor.

California man dies after going snorkeling

A 57-year-old man from California died yesterday after snorkeling at Makaha Beach.

The man was snorkeling when he apparently suffered an anxiety attack at 1 p.m., police said. His nephew towed him to shore.

The man was unable to walk on the beach and collapsed before lifeguards came to his aid, police said.

He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m.

Ewa Beach man arrested for threatening wife

A 77-year-old man was arrested yesterday in Ewa Beach for allegedly threatening to kill his 70-year-old wife with scissors.

The man got angry at his wife, got some scissors from his fanny pack and allegedly threatened to kill her at their Hanaloa Street home, police said.

The couple's daughter witnessed the threat and was able to distract her father so her mother could escape, police said.