Pali hairpin turn gets safety scrub-down today
The Kailua-bound lanes of the Pali Highway were to be closed from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. today so that state highway workers could scrub a dangerously slick portion of the road.Kailua police estimate there have been a dozen accidents this month because of a moss or algae-type growth along the hairpin turn on the Kailua-bound side of the highway.
State transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali said yesterday the problem is that drains that should keep water from flowing across the road have been blocked by a rock slide, resulting in the ponding of water.
Kailua-bound traffic will be rerouted at Waokanaka Street and contra-flowed using Honolulu-bound lanes.
Officials want to move quickly on extradition
Hawaii officials say they will work quickly to have an ex-Marine extradited from Indiana to face a charge of killing a 13-year-old girl 26 years ago.Delmar Edmonds, 46, is charged with the shooting death of Dawn Bustamante, who was abducted in Kailua, Hawaii, on March 14, 1975.
A judge delayed his extradition hearing until Aug. 28. Gov. Ben Cayetano said he would sign the extradition petition for Edmonds when he receives it.
Man pleads not guilty to gun charge
A drifter accused of murdering Big Island national park ranger Steve Makuakane-Jarrell in December 1999 pleaded not guilty yesterday to additional firearms charges.Eugene Frederick Boyce, 30, was charged in a superseding indictment earlier this month with using a firearm in the slaying and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He is expected to go to trial as scheduled on Oct. 16. The court declared him competent to proceed to trial in January.
When asked by U.S. Magistrate Barry Kurren whether he understood the additional charges against him, Boyce said, "Yeah, but I don't think it's ... it's not right."
Makuakane-Jarrell, 47, was investigating complaints of wild dogs in the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park in Kona when he was shot. The dogs apparently belonged to Boyce.
Boyce told the FBI he struggled with Makuakane-Jarrell over the ranger's gun and it went off.
Health plan meetings to address rural needs
Meetings will be held next month in 15 rural Hawaii communities to put their voices on paper for a statewide Comprehensive Rural Health Plan.The Hawaii Rural Health Association and state Office of Rural Health will conduct the meetings, to be convened by the County Rural Health Associations.
The plan will be used as a community, state and federal resource for rural health needs.
Maya Yonting-Dornes, a meeting facilitator, said, "As a resident of Puna, I am very familiar with being mined for information and left to wonder how the information will be used."
As a result, she said, "We are using a process that generates results that communities can use before we even leave."
She said the groups will return to each community "to ensure that we have heard them correctly and to provide them with results of other rural communities."
Mary Jo Sweeney, Hawaii Rural Health Association president, said the state Office of Rural Health is demonstrating that "this is a community-up process rather than the typical top-down process that communities have had imposed on them in the past."
The Office of Rural Health's role is to facilitate and advocate for residents living in rural areas, said Val Yin, the office director.
"It is imperative that the voices and messages of these residents are reflected in the CRHP," she said.
For more information, dates, times and locations, call Sweeney at 241-3427, or Kirk Lange and Stephen Jiang at the rural health office, 586-4188.
Ceremony celebrates a new 4-lane Kauai road
LIHUE >> Kauai will get its second four-lane road.A ground-breaking ceremony was scheduled for late today to signal the beginning of the widening of Rice Street, the main street through Lihue.
The existing four-lane road is Nawiliwili Road.
Contractor for the $6.8 million Rice Street project is Goodfellow Brothers and the project will take nine months to complete.
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. Corrections and clarifications
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffLEEWARD OAHU Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Ewa Beach man dies in Fort Weaver Road crash
A 71-year-old Ewa Beach man died yesterday in a traffic accident near St. Francis Medical Center West in Ewa.Police said the man was driving his vehicle toward Waipahu on Fort Weaver Road just before 9 a.m. when he ran a red light and collided with another car and a city water tanker truck at the Laulaunui Way intersection.
The man was taken to St. Francis where he was pronounced dead.
The occupants of the other car, the driver, a 69-year-old man and his passenger, a 61-year-old man, both of Ewa Beach, were taken to Queen's Medical Center.
The driver was in critical condition and the passenger in stable. The driver of the water tanker, a 44-year-old Honolulu man, was not injured.
Police said the first car was speeding when it ran the red light.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Maui police identify Kahului drowning victim
WAILUKU >> Police have identified the man whose naked body was found in waters off Kanaha Beach in Kahului on July 8 as Stephen Vaczi of Honolulu.Police Lt. Glenn Cuomo said Vaczi, 20, had arrived on Maui several days earlier.
A fisherman found Vaczi's body about 30 to 40 feet offshore.
Police said preliminary results of an autopsy revealed Vaczi drowned and there were no apparent signs of foul play.
Search fails to find cause of fire that killed woman
WAILUKU >> The cause of a fire that killed a 42-year-old Maui woman may never be known for sure, according to a fire investigator."I don't believe we'll be able to swear in court what the cause was," Fire Capt. Neal Bal said.
Bal said the victim, Beth Whitcomb of Maui Meadows, did smoke, but the fire last Friday night caused too much destruction for investigators to find clues.
Preliminary autopsy results indicated Whitcomb died of smoke inhalation, Police Lt. Glenn Cuomo said.
Bal said the fire apparently began in the living room on the second floor and spread outward. Whitcomb's body was found in the bathroom.
Drug raid at Kona hotel nets arrests of 5 people
KAILUA-KONA >> Police arrested five people and seized a variety of drugs during a raid on a room at King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel Monday, they announced yesterday.Drugs recovered included 23.3 grams of cocaine, 3.3 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 3.9 grams of marijuana, and 21 "harmful" pills, police said.
Police also seized drug paraphernalia and $1,185 in currency. The suspects are three men and a woman in their early 20s and teenage girl, all from Kona. All were released without charges pending further investigation.
