Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Monday, May 21, 2001

Those mixing medicines
offered free safety check

Paramedics from the Honolulu Emergency Services Department will be available at various sites this week to talk to people about medication.

Residents are asked to brown-bag their medicines with their original containers so paramedics can check the expiration date, sort, prioritize and prepare a medical information chart they can carry or post at home.

In celebration of Emergency Medical Services Week, starting today, the paramedics will provide handouts, cholesterol and glucose screening, blood pressure reading, keiki identification cards and other information.

Paramedics who respond to emergency calls rely on medical information. Yet, they report, the sick or injured often are not able to respond to questions.

People also place medicines in unmarked pill containers which do not identify the medication or dosage.

Paramedics may be able to advise people if they are inappropriately mixing medicines.

Their schedule is as follows:

>> Today, Kahala Mall, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
>> Tomorrow, Honolulu Hale courtyard, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
>> Wednesday, Ala Moana Center, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
>> Thursday, Windward Mall, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
>> Friday, Pearlridge Center, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
>> Saturday, Costco Waipio, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, call the Emergency Medical Services at 831-4383.

U.S. funds local college
tutoring and other aid

The U.S. Department of Education will provide more than $1.5 million in grants to support low-income, first-generation or disabled students attending college at several Hawaii campuses.

The Student Support Services Program grants will provide aid to 1,396 students in the form of tutoring, counseling, mentoring and assistance in gaining admission and financial aid at four-year, graduate and professional schools. The program was designed to help students achieve success in college.

The grants are for students attending Chaminade University, Kapiolani Community College, University of Hawaii-Hilo, UH-Manoa, Maui Community College and Windward Community College.

Samoan fire dancer reclaims championship

Pati Levasa of Samoa reclaimed the title of World Fire Dance Champion at the Polynesian Cultural Center Saturday night. Levasa previously won the competition in 1997 and 1998.

Through an interpreter, Levasa, 23, said, "It feels good to recapture the title, and I am very proud to represent my culture."

Last year, Levasa took second place to Laie's David Galeai.

In this year's competition, Levasa beat 19 other dancers. Kap Teo-Tafiti of Waianae and Conan Higa of Maui placed second and third, respectively.

Levasa started fire knife dancing 10 years ago and performs regularly in his native Samoa.

Along with winning his third championship, Levasa received a check for $4,000 and a set of three trophy fire knives worth more than $1,000.

Disbarred attorney faces sentencing in tax case

Former Honolulu attorney Riccio Masahide Tanaka has pleaded guilty to federal criminal tax charges in U.S. District Court.

Tanaka admitted he knew the law required him to pay the Internal Revenue Service employment taxes he withheld from his legal secretary's pay from 1995 through 1997, a Department of Justice release said.

Tanaka withheld nearly $16,000 in income, Social Security and Medicare taxes from the secretary's pay but did not forward that amount to the IRS.

Tanaka is to be sentenced Oct. 9. He faces a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and prosecution costs. He was disbarred from the practice of law May 3 by order of the Hawaii Supreme Court.

Corrections and clarifications The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Publisher and Editor in Chief John Flanagan at 529-4748 or email him at jflanagan@starbulletin.com.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

2 critically injured near Sandy's

FL MORRIS / STAR-BULLETIN
Two people were injured yesterday afternoon in a head-on
collision on Kalanianaole Highway in front of Sandy Beach.
The injured woman and man were taken to Queen's Medical
Center, where they were listed in critical condition.

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Love's Bakery fire closes Middle Street for an hour

Police closed Middle Street, between Kamehameha Highway and King Street, for about an hour this morning because of a two-alarm fire at Love's Bakery.

Employees at the bakery at 911 Middle St. reported they had a grease fire at 5:51 a.m. Smoke could be seen escaping from the top of the building.

The Honolulu Fire Department sent eight fire companies, but by the time they arrived, employees had evacuated. Firefighters extinguished the fire just before 6:30 a.m. Damages to the building were minimal and no injuries were reported.

A fire investigator said the fire started in a cooking vat. Baking operations continued, but Love's officials were assessing the loss from damage to the goods that were already made.

Parolee Birano faces numerous charges

Prison parolee Arthur Birano, 29, made an initial appearance in court this morning on numerous charges police said he committed during a two-week spree.

They charged him with firearm violations, being a felon in possession of firearms, kidnapping, robbery, burglary, terroristic threatening and reckless endangering. On May 2, he allegedly threatened a man in Kalihi with a gun.

On May 8, police said he fired shots at a nightclub in the Ala Moana area, fired more shots in front of KHON-TV on Piikoi Street, then crashed a stolen car on Kapiolani Boulevard. On May16, police said Birano and two other men accosted a man and a woman outside a Makiki apartment building at gunpoint, forced the man to open the apartment, then ransacked it.

The man and woman escaped. Police apprehended Birano later that evening in Kalihi.

Pearl City man reports group robbery, assault

Five men robbed and sexually assaulted a 37-year-old man Saturday near his Pearl City home, police said. The man was walking his dog between midnight and 1 a.m. when he was accosted by five men.

He told police that they took his money and sexually assaulted him before they fled.

Woman, child escape former boyfriend's attack

Police arrested a 19-year-old man for kidnapping and assault in an attack on his former girlfriend and her 2-year-old son Saturday. The man confronted the 24-year-old woman at Bellows Air Force Station when she was picking up her son, who was being watched by a sitter, police said.

He wanted to talk to her about their relationship and reached into her car, grabbed the keys and left in his car.

The man returned later and got the woman to go with him. They argued, and he beat her with his fist, police said. She persuaded him to drop off her son with her sister, and once there, she escaped and called police.

Ocean-landing survivors released from hospital

Three passengers from a plane that crash-landed Friday off the Big Island were released from the North Hawaii Community Hospital yesterday. A fourth passenger was released Saturday.

The Cessna 337 was on a tour around the island when it lost power and the pilot ditched it in the ocean off Paauilo. All five aboard survived.