Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Jury indicts isle lawyer for failing to pay taxes
A federal grand jury has indicted Honolulu attorney Riccio M. Tanaka for failing to file personal income tax returns and for failing to pay employment taxes withheld from an employee's pay.Tanaka practiced law here from 1995 to 1997 and withheld employment taxes from his employee's pay, the indictment says. But during that time he deliberately failed to pay the Internal Revenue Service the nearly $16,000 that, as an employer, he owed the federal government, according to the indictment.
The maximum penalty for failing to pay employment taxes is five years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and costs of prosecution.
For each failure to file an individual return, Tanaka faces up to one year in jail, a $100,000 fine and costs of prosecution, the Justice Department said.
State high court calls Lindsey's appeal moot
The state Supreme Court said the appeal by former Kamehameha Schools trustee Lokelani Lindsey of her historic removal from the $6 billion trust appears to be moot.In a two-page order filed Wednesday, the court gave Lindsey 15 days to explain why it should not dismiss her appeal.
The Attorney General's Office moved to dismiss the appeal on the grounds of being moot since Lindsey had already permanently resigned as a trustee.
Michael Green, Lindsey's lawyer, disagreed with the high court's order. He said the removal violated Lindsey's right to a fair trial since she was not allowed to rebut many of the witnesses who testified against her. Green said Lindsey wants the judgment set aside since many findings in the removal order damaged her integrity.
In her May 1999 order, Circuit Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo found that Lindsey intimidated staffers, wasted trust assets and mismanaged the schools' educational programs.
Wednesday's order was made by the five substitute justices for the high court. The Supreme Court's justices have recused themselves from hearing cases involving the Kamehameha Schools since they had appointed its former trustees.
Car accident cuts down
utility pole in Manoa
Water Board hosts tours of four facilities
Tours have resumed at the Halawa Shaft and Underground Pumping Station on Wednesdays and Saturdays each month. The tour includes descending 140 feet to see one of the largest freshwater sources on Oahu and taking a guided tour of the Halawa Xeriscape Garden.The Board of Water Supply is also continuing tours of the Waihee Tunnel on Thursdays and one Saturday a month, and offering tours at the Fred Ohrt Water Museum on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The Honouliuli Water Recycling Facility is also open to tours for groups of 15 to 30 from grade 4 and older.
The tours are free. Age and group restrictions apply. Book reservations at least two weeks in advance at 527-6113.
Local IRS offices can help with tax returns
The Internal Revenue Service office in the Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Building will be open Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning tomorrow and throughout the tax-filing season.The Honolulu IRS office, 300 Ala Moana Blvd., opens Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The IRS office in Hilo, 101 Aupuni St., opens Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 4:30 p.m.
The Wailuku office in the One Main Plaza Building, 2200 Main St., opens Monday through Friday from 8 to 11 a.m., and noon to 4:30 p.m.
Taxpayers will find forms, publications and people to help them at the offices. Assistance also is available 24 hours by calling 1-800-829-1040 or accessing the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov.
The deadline for filing federal returns this year is Monday, April 16.
Asthma plan can reduce risk, study finds
A written asthma action plan can significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, according to a recent study.Peter Flachsbart, president of the American Lung Association of Hawaii, called attention to a report in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine showing a written asthma action plan reduced risk of death 70 percent.
Use of oral steroids to control a severe asthma attack reduced the risk of death by 90 percent, he said.
In an editorial regarding the study in the journal, Dr. Richard Beasley and Julian Crane of the School of Medicine in Wellington, New Zealand, wrote that most self-management plans are based on regular long-term use of inhaled corticosteroid therapy and oral corticosteroids for major exacerbations.
Asthma is the leading serious chronic disease among Hawaii's children and the major cause of lost school days, Flachsbart noted.
The American Lung Association of Hawaii has programs that teach children and adults how to detect warning signs of asthma and ways to prevent an attack. For more information, call 537-5966.
Kahuku library group holds annual book sale
The Friends of Kahuku Public and School Library will conduct its annual book sale tomorrow at the Kahuku High and Intermediate School campus.The book sale will be held in the library's conference room from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. Most books will cost between 50 cents and a dollar. A small collection of audio cassettes, videos and magazines will also be available.
Kahuku Public & School Library is at the Kahuku High and Intermediate School campus at 56-490 Kamehameha Highway. For more information, call 293-8935.
Host families needed for exchange students
The International Hospitality Center is looking for families on all islands to host high school-age exchange students attending Hawaii public schools during the 2001-2002 academic year.No remuneration is given for the students' room and board, but expenses are tax-deductible. Students will have their own spending money and health and accident insurance
For information: 521-3554.
Tomorrow
An event of interest
11 a.m., Windward Community College: Habilitat's 30th-anniversary celebration luau and auction.
Clarification
An article Wednesday about the Society of Professional Journalists summer internships did not include the deadline for applications. They should be postmarked by Feb. 20.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Waianae police catch prison escapee
After a week on the loose and several sightings, prison escapee Kerbert Silva was finally chased down, tackled and caught by a Waianae police officer yesterday afternoon in Makakilo.He was found sleeping in a recently vacated Makakilo townhouse by a tenant who had returned to check the unit. The tenant closed the door, went to his wife's workplace and called police.
Officer Herbert Soria responded and spoke to Silva, at first not realizing who it was. But when Silva saw that Soria recognized him, police said he fled by jumping off a balcony.
Silva then scaled a wooden fence and stole a bicycle. However, Soria ran after him and was able to pull him off the bike. After a struggle, Soria subdued Silva at 92-1360 Panana St.
Silva, 36, escaped from Oahu Community Correctional Center Jan. 17 by climbing over a razor wire fence. He was spotted numerous times in Waianae and Nanakuli.
He was arraigned in District Court this morning on charges of escape. He also faces charges of trespassing and resisting arrest.
Candle blamed in $27,000 fire
An unattended candle ignited a fire, gutting an apartment at 1040 Kinau St. early this morning. The fire began in the living room near the window and traveled to the bedroom window.Firefighters responded to the 1:02 a.m. alarm in one minute and had the fire extinguished by 1:18 a.m.
A 19-year-old woman was at home with her visiting 11-year-old brother, along with a 7-month Rottweiler puppy. All escaped unharmed. Structural damage was put at $20,000, and damage to the contents at $7,000.
A $240,000 fire gutted two rental units of a duplex at 735 Makaleka Ave. between Date Street and Kapahulu Avenue last night. No one was hurt. Two rental apartments damaged
by fire; losses put at $240,000The cause of the two-alarm 7:52 p.m. fire was under investigation.
Two males and one female who occupy the mauka unit where the fire started in a bedroom were not home at the time, said Capt. Richard Soo, Fire Department spokesman.
Occupants of the other unit, also two adult males and one female, noticed smoke and called 911.
The Red Cross is assisting the occupants, Soo said. Each unit had two bedrooms and one bath, Soo said.
Two other residential structures sustained exposure damage to exterior walls -- the front house at 735 Makaleka Ave. and another at 743-B Makaleka Ave., he said.
An estimated total of $150,000 worth of structural damage occurred with $90,000 worth of damage to contents, the Fire Department said.
The first fire company arrived at 7:56 p.m. The fire was under control at 8:12 p.m., Soo said.
About 25 firefighters were on the scene as four engines, one ladder company, one rescue squad and a battalion chief responded, Soo said.
Super Bowl weekend roadblocks up
Super Bowl weekend will include police roadblock checkpoints for impaired drivers at unannounced times and places, starting tonight and continuing into Monday.There have been four deaths in four traffic collisions on Oahu this year. One of the four deaths has been determined to be alcohol- or drug-related.
Identity theft suspect identified
Celene Chun has been identified as a stolen-identity suspect, police said. A CrimeStoppers news release said she was in possession of a computer-generated Hawaii driver's license and computer-generated information for the "real" person.Chun was located as a result of information given to CrimeStoppers, police said. She was arrested by the Kalihi Crime Reduction Unit Jan. 18 at a Salt Lake residence. She is in custody awaiting trial.
Police hunt man who abducted tourist
HILO -- Big Island police are looking for a man who abducted a Japanese woman tourist Wednesday and attempted to sexually assault her.At midmorning, the woman got a ride at the downtown post office from a man who took her to the Piihonua area above Hilo, tried to fondle her and pulled a knife when she resisted.
She escaped and described her attacker to police as a slim, tanned man in his mid-30s with a foreign accent. He drove a light green Toyota Tacoma with a white camper shell, she said.
Anyone with knowledge about the case is asked to call police at 961-2255 or CrimeStoppers at 961-8300.
