Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Kim names research chief
HILO -- Mayor Harry Kim has named Jane Testa, a 20-year veteran of the county Office of Aging, as the new director of the Research and Development Department.The announcement noted Testa's "proven expertise in the area of community-based economic development."
Testa holds bachelor's and master's degrees in eduation from the University of Hawaii.
Since joining the Office of Aging in 1980, she has written grants, assisted Hamakua residents during closing of Hamakua Sugar Co., helped Kohala residents build a community center, and served on the governor's Community-Based Economic Development Board.
Freedom of Information event to feature media critic Fallows
Media critic James Fallows and Internet scholar Jeff Cole will be guest speakers at a Freedom of Information Day Conference March 16-17 at the East-West Center.Fallows, author of "Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy" and columnist for "The Industry Standard," will be featured at an open-mike exchange at 7 p.m. March 16. It is free and open to the public.
The March 17 conference on "Democracy & Emerging Media: Partners or Adversaries?" will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will include community panels on media and democracy, the future of television news, alternative and grassroots media and new communications technology. Fallows and Cole, director of the Center for Communication Policy at the University of California at Los Angeles and author of "Surveying the Digital Future," will give keynote speeches.
The conference fee is $50 with lunch or $30 without. Discounts are offered for seniors and students.
For reservations, call 222-3035 or email bkozl@aol.com.
The event will conclude with the Honolulu Community-Media Council 30th anniversary dinner at the Halekulani Hotel. The cost is $65 and separate reservations are required.
The conference is sponsored by several companies and institutions including the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the Honolulu Advertiser and the University of Hawaii School of Communications.
Special-education workshops in Hilo next week
Two Big Island special-education workshops take place Feb. 24 at the Department of Education Hilo Annex at 480 Waianuenue Ave.A 9 a.m.-noon segment will cover using special-education evaluation data and a 1-4 p.m. segment will cover developing special-education procedures.
Registration is required by Feb. 21 to reserve a copy of training materials. Call 936-8890 on the Big Island. The workshops are presented by Assisting With Appropriate Rights in Education, AmeriCorps "Parent Support Project" and East Hawaii Community Children's Council.
Fund for crime victims receives federal grant
The Crime Victim Compensation Grant Program has received a $457,000 federal grant to be administered by the state Department of the Attorney General.The commission helps victims with their crime-related costs.
Victims who suffered physical injury, dependents of a deceased victim and Hawaii residents who were injured in a state without a compensation program would qualify for assistance.
The commission may pay compensation only after all other sources have been exhausted.
Other sources of funding might include state appropriations, inmate wages, federal grants, restitution and fees from convicted offenders.
Compensation may be provided for medical and mental health counseling expenses not paid by insurance, lost earnings, and funeral and burial expenses.
The grant is being provided by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984.
Health center to get Ford booster seats
The Waimanalo Coast Health Center will receive booster seats from the Ford Motor Co. valued at $35,000.According to Ford, which is awarding more than $1 million to 32 states, its "Boost America!" campaign is one of the largest child safety efforts ever by an auto maker.
The campaign is being held to mark National Child Passenger Safety Week, held Feb. 11-17.
The seats will be distributed through the center's three family practice clinics on the main campus and four satellite clinics in Nanakuli, Waianae, Waipahu and Kapolei.
Coping with aging is the topic of workshops
Helping older adults and their families cope with aging will be the topic of a weekly workshop series at 7 p.m. Thursdays, beginning this week and continuing through March 29 at St. Mark's Church, 530 Kapahulu Ave.Winter Park Health Foundation is presenting the workshops. The series is titled: "As Families Grow Older."
Older adults and their families are encouraged to attend. For reservations, call 732-2333 or 737-1748.
Tomorrow
Some events of interest
9 a.m., Kamamalu Building: Laws and Rules Review Committee, Real Estate Commission meeting, 2nd floor, Kapuaiwa Room. 10 a.m., Education Review Committee, same room. 11 a.m., Condominium Review Committee, same room.
Corrections
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Woman, 68, indicted in death of husband
An Oahu grand jury indicted a 68-year-old woman today for second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of her husband last Wednesday.Catherine Nakamura is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua.
Deputy Public Defender Todd Eddins said that after Nakamura is arraigned, probably within a couple of weeks, he will ask the court to appoint a panel of doctors to determine whether she is mentally fit to proceed.
"Mrs. Nakamura belongs in a mental health facility, not the criminal justice system," he said.
She has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has been in and out of treatment facilities.
Doctors have indicated she is delusional and does not have insight into her condition.
Early Wednesday, police received a call from a woman saying she had just knifed her husband at their Waianae home.
When a police officer arrived at the Puhano Street home, she said, "I knifed my husband," led the officer to a bedroom, and pointed to an elderly male lying face down in what appeared to be blood, according to an affidavit.
George Nakamura, 68, was lifeless and appeared to have sustained four puncture marks on his back and one just under the sternum.
When asked where the knife was, Catherine Nakamura pointed to a knife on the kitchen counter and said she already cleaned the blood off the knife.
Agitated man subdued with bean-bag ammo
Police subdued an 18-year-old man brandishing knives by shooting him in the groin and thigh area with bean bag ammunition at a Pearl City home last night.The man was highly agitated when he confronted police who had responded to a domestic argument complaint by a 29-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man, police said.
Police said the man was uncooperative, so a 12-gauge orange shotgun using pellets wrapped in bean bags was fired. A police supervisor said this morning they could not release information on where the incident occurred.
The suspect was taken to Pali Momi Medical Center where he was treated and released.
The man was arrested on two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening for threatening two officers at 8 p.m. yesterday.
Waiawa prison escapee may be bound for Maui
Police are searching for a Maui man who walked away from Waiawa Correctional Facility at 8 a.m. yesterday before his work assignment for janitorial duty inside the minimum security prison.
Police described John Edward Nipper, 29, as a career criminal. He was convicted of first-degree burglary, first-degree terroristic threatening and second-degree theft on Maui. Nipper has family there, and police suspect he may attempt to go to Maui.
Warden J. Phillip Tumminello said the last escape from Waiwa was three years ago.
Tumminello said Nipper was eligible for parole in December and was not considered a threat to himself or others.
He is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall, 175 pounds, medium build, with brown short hair, brown eyes, mustache, tanned, with self-inflicted scratches on his chest and scars on both biceps.
Suspect hospitalized, then arrested anew
Charges were filed against a 56-year-old Salt Lake man after drugs, guns, $50,000 to $60,000 in stolen or traded property, and $10,000 in cash were found during a search at the man's 1156 Ukana St. home, police said.The suspect, Ernest S. Ariola, complained of chest pains and was taken to the Queen's Medical Center Friday. He was rearrested after he was released from the hospital yesterday, police said.
Shed of garden chemicals burns down in Kahaluu
A fire destroyed a garden shack in Kahaluu this morning.The alarm was raised 5:30 this morning at 87-080 Kamakoi Place near Palama Road. The department's hazardous materials team was also called because the 600-square-foot shack contained garden chemicals.
Damage was estimated at $50,000.
