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Isle Air Guard units to go to Persian Gulf
For the third time in six years, Hawaii Air National Guard F-15 jet fighter pilots and support personnel will be deployed to the Persian Gulf to patrol the skies of Iraq.The latest mission will involve 250 Hawaii Air Guard flyers and crew members and will cover a three-week period beginning next month.
However, this is the first time the members of the 154th Wing will patrol the southern no-fly zone of Iraq. The southern no-fly zone operation, established in 1992, bans Iraqi flights south of the 34th parallel. Pilots flying those missions are based in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and aboard U.S. aircraft carriers in the gulf.
Previous Hawaii Air Guard deployments in 1996 and 1994 were patrols of the northern no-fly zones. That zone bans Iraqi flights north of the 36th parallel.
Pilots participating in those missions usually are based in Turkey.
In the past, jet tankers and crews from the Hawaii Air National Guard's 203rd Air Refueling Squadron have also been deployed to Turkey to participate in Bosnia and Kosovo refueling missions.
Marine corporal admits perjury in murder case
A Kaneohe Marine corporal has pleaded guilty to making a false official statement in the murder investigation into the suffocation death of her 18-month-old daughter.Tricia M. Bingham appeared before a general court-martial yesterday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
As part of her plea agreement, charges of conspiracy and obstructing justice were withdrawn.
Bingham, 22, was sentenced to five months confinement and was reduced in pay grade to private.
Her husband, Cpl. James N. Bingham, pleaded guilty Thursday to the murder of their daughter, Molly, March 11 at their home.
He was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment and a dishonorable discharge.
Tilting pole closes North Shore highway
Motorists had the choice of parking or retracing their route during a four-hour closure of Kamehameha Highway near Sunset Beach.Police closed both lanes at 1:30 p.m. yesterday after deciding that a tilting utility pole was potentially hazardous.
Traffic was not permitted between Maika Place and Iwia Place in the vicinity of the University of Hawaii experimental agriculture station, police said.
No electrical service was disrupted while the pole was braced by Hawaiian Electric workers, according to a company spokesman.
The road was reopened at 5 p.m.
Tomorrow
Some events of interest7 p.m., Aina Haina Library: Vision meeting. Contact Cynthia Bond, 523-4032.
Corrections
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Police make an arrest in Maui hit-run death
WAILUKU -- Maui police investigators have arrested a Kihei man in connection with the hit-and-run traffic death of a 36-year-old woman Friday night.The 38-year-old man was arrested at his residence at Keonekai Villages on Sunday and released after questioning, police said.
Police Lt. Charles Hirata said the man allegedly borrowed a dark brown Pontiac that had front-end damage and a missing bumper. Hirata said a bumper matching the Pontiac was left at the scene of the accident.
Bernice Vakauta of Kihei was driving south on South Kihei Road at 10:56 p.m. Friday, when a car struck her vehicle, causing it to spin and flip over on its side onto a retaining wall, police said.
Vakauta, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle.
She was pronounced dead at Maui Memorial Hospital.
Investigators hunt cause of Kaneohe school fire
Fire and police investigators will examine a damaged storage room today to try to determine what caused a fire last night at Benjamin Parker Elementary School in Kaneohe.An alarm company reported the fire near the library at 9:25 p.m., police said.
Firefighters forced their way into the school and put out a blaze in a storage room.
The fire caused $20,000 damage to the structure. An estimate of the contents was not completed.
$1,000 reward is posted in Liliha bank robbery
Police have released a sketch of the man who robbed the Liliha branch of First Hawaiian Bank on Thursday.
CrimeStoppers is offering up to a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect, who fled with an undisclosed amount of money in the 9:12 a.m. holdup.
The man was described as being about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 140 pounds, with short black hair and a brown mustache.
Highlands schoolboy arrested in bomb threats
A student at Highlands Intermediate School in Pearl City was arrested yesterday, accused of calling in bomb threats to the school last month.He is also suspected of calling in another bomb threat to the school.
