Public comment period on STARS is extended
LIHUE >> The public comment period on the military's plan to revive and enlarge the STARS (Strategic Target System) program has been extended from July 10 to Aug. 10.The U.S. Army Space and Missile Command, which has responsibility for the program, made copies of the environmental assessment available at only three public libraries in Hawaii.
The document also is available at www.huntsville.edaw. com/northpacific.
STARS, which involves the use of surplus and obsolete Polaris ballistic missiles as targets for anti-missile missiles now being developed, was the topic of major confrontations between officials from the Navy's Pacific Missile Range and environmentalists on Kauai in the early 1990s.
The last STARS launch was in 1996.
The military now wants to shoot target missiles both from Kauai and from a privately owned missile facility on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
Mayor names city's new environmental director
Timothy Steinberger has been tapped by Mayor Jeremy Harris to be the city's next director of environmental services.The agency has been without a director since Harris began his new term in January. The post was held by Kenn Sprague. The appointment needs City Council confirmation.
Steinberger has been deputy environmental services director since January. Before that, he was planning branch chief with the city Department of Design and Construction.
Named as Steinberger's deputy was Frank Doyle, who has been chief of the Environmental Services Department's Refuse Collection and Disposal Division.
Former UH president tapped by Puget Energy
Former University of Hawaii President Kenneth Mortimer has been elected to the board of directors of Puget Energy, the parent company of Washington state's largest electric and natural gas utility, Puget Sound Energy.Mortimer moved back to Bellingham, Wash., after his retirement from UH June 30.
Puget Sound Energy received an award from the Edison Electric Institute last month for being the first electric company in the country to provide time-of-day price and comparative time-of-day consumption information to all customers.
The company is also known for charitable contributions and community education programs in the Puget Sound area.
"I am very pleased to be joining the board of a company recognized nationally and with such a long history of excellence and service to the community," Mortimer said in a press release.
Kauai fish sicken 8 with food poisoning
LIHUE >> Eight people have become ill with ciguatera fish poisoning from fish caught along Kauai's north shore from Anini to Na Pali over the past two months, the state Health Department said yesterday.Ciguatera poisoning historically occurs on the north shore between May and August.
The poisonings this summer were caused by roi (grouper), ulua (jack) and kole (surgeonfish). Typically, the poison affects reef fish and predators that feed on reef fish.
Symptoms vary with the amount of toxin ingested, ranging from diarrhea to weakness and aching joints to numbness around the mouth, hands and feet.
Ciguatera test kits are available at many fishing supply stores.
Korean War-era remains to arrive in Hawaii today
SEOUL >> Korean War-era remains thought to be those of a U.S. soldier were to arrive in Hawaii today. They will be taken to the Army's Central Identification Laboratory for possible identification, the U.S. military command in Seoul said.A 20-minute ceremony was held in Seoul's Yongsan Garrison before the metal coffin containing the remains was sent to the airport for a journey home, a U.S. military spokesperson said.
The remains were found on Monday by a South Korean villager on a beach near Taean, about 155 miles southwest of Seoul.
A U.S. dog tag, a 1951 map in English and other items found indicate that the remains belonged to a U.S. soldier killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, South Korean officials said earlier.
The United States fought on South Korea's side in the war. About 37,000 U.S. troops are still stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against communist North Korea.
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 staffHONOLULU Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Pair defending woman against attacker arrested
A 63-year-old man and his 23-year-old daughter face assault charges following a family confrontation in which they prevented a 41-year-old man from attacking his mother, police said.The son threatened to hit his mother with a sledgehammer, golf club and stool at their Naale Street home in Papakolea on Wednesday, police said. As the man's sister was fighting with him to protect their mother, the man's father struck his son in the chest with a toaster, police said. The son was taken to Queen's Medical Center.
Driver accused of trying to murder police officer
A 33-year-old Kapalama man was arrested yesterday for attempted murder following a scuffle with a police officer who tried to arrest him for criminal property damage.Police said the officer stopped the suspect in his car in front of his home on Colburn Street at 10:22 a.m. When the man refused to get out, the two got into a scuffle as the officer tried to remove the man from the car, police said. The man then allegedly stepped on the accelerator and dragged the officer about 50 feet before the officer fell. The 42-year-old patrol officer suffered multiple abrasions to his rib area. He was treated and released at Kaiser Medical Center. The driver was later arrested at his mother's home in Kalihi.
CENTRAL OAHU
Robber grabs cigarettes and cash from mini-mart
Police are looking for a man who robbed the Island Mini-Mart at 95-280 Kipapa Dr. in Mililani early yesterday and got away with a bag full of cigarettes and an undisclosed amount of cash.Police said the robber walked into the store just before 1 a.m. with an empty trash bag, pointed a handgun at the cashier and told her to fill the bag with cartons of cigarettes. Police said the robber then demanded money from the cash register and fled.
Pedestrian killed by car in Wahiawa identified
The Honolulu Medical Examiner has identified the woman killed in a pedestrian traffic accident in Wahiawa yesterday as Valerie Paracuelles, 45, of Wahiawa.
Police said Paracuelles was standing in the middle of Kamehameha Highway near the Karsten Thot bridge at about 4 a.m. when a car driven by a 50-year-old Haleiwa man struck her. The man put Paracuelles in his car a drove her to Wahiawa General Hospital where she later died.
Police said lighting and the woman's dark clothing may have made her less visible to the driver. They said alcohol use on her part may have also contributed.
The accident closed Kamehameha Highway during the morning commute hours.
WINDWARD OAHU
Gas station in Aikahi robbed by man with knife
The Aikahi Park Chevron station at 25 Kaneohe Bay Dr. was robbed Wednesday night by a man in his 20s brandishing a knife, police said.They said he approached the cashier, put the knife on the counter and demanded money. He then picked up the knife, pointed it at the cashier and repeated his demand in a louder voice when the cashier thought he was joking. Police said the man took about $200 from the register after the cashier opened it, then fled on foot toward Kaneohe on Kaneohe Bay Drive.
LEEWARD OAHU
Police identify man killed in traffic accident in Ewa
The Honolulu Medical Examiner has identified the man who died Tuesday in a traffic accident near St. Francis Medical Center West in Ewa as Peter Chang, 71, of Ewa Beach.Police said Chang was speeding toward Waipahu on Fort Weaver Road when his car ran a red light at the Laulaunui Way intersection and collided with another car and a city water tanker truck. The driver of the other car, a 69-year-old Ewa Beach man, remains in critical condition at Queen's Medical Center. His passenger, a 61-year-old Ewa Beach man, is in guarded condition.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Free-diver who drowned was teen from California
KAILUA-KONA >> Police have identified a man who died Wednesday after a diving accident outside Kailua Bay in Kona as Loren Maas, 18, of Ventura, Calif.For about an hour on Tuesday afternoon, Maas and another 18-year-old were taking turns diving without equipment. Then Maas failed to surface, police said.
The friend found Maas in 35-foot-deep water and surfaced to call for help from a passing boat.By the time Fire Department rescue personnel arrived and located Maas, he apparently had drifted into 70-foot-deep water, and more than 20 minutes had passed.
Rescuers detected an electrical current from Maas' heart and attempted to revive him while taking him to Kona Hospital, but he was pronounced dead the next day.
