Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Aala Park to throw party for its new renovations

The city is holding a reopening ceremony for Aala Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow.

The historic park has undergone a $2.3 million renovation since December 2000 designed to make the park safer and more accessible for district youths.

The renovations include new basketball courts and softball fields, the reconstruction of a 10,000-square-foot skateboard rink, new water systems, a parking lot, driveways, a renovated restroom, new play apparatus and security lighting.

Waianae Health Academy marks 10th anniversary

The Waianae Health Academy celebrates its 10th anniversary today with a Health and Career Fair in the Waianae Annex of Leeward Community College.

The fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a formal presentation from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Waianae Health Academy is a partnership between the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, Leeward Community College and Kapiolani Community College.

Isle legal group will help women and children

Hawaii Women's Legal Foundation is accepting grant requests from nonprofit organizations for projects that improve the legal status and welfare of women and children in Hawaii.

The deadline for applications is today.

Previous grants have included carpeting the Windward Abuse Shelter and making it accessible to the disabled, and producing the Kids First video for Family Court.

Grant criteria and applications are available by e-mail, mail or by pickup in person. For further information, organizations should contact Bernice Littman at 521-9219 or blittman@cades.com.

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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 Managing Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at fbridgewater@starbulletin.com.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

LEEWARD OAHU

Man arrested in woman's kidnapping and beating

Police arrested a 24-year-old Waianae man for allegedly kidnapping and beating his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend.

Police said the ex-girlfriend went to the man's Waianae Valley Road home about 3 p.m. yesterday to get her car, but the man refused to let her take the car and began beating her.

The man held the woman against her will in his bedroom for about an hour until she got out into the front yard where he continued to beat her, police said. The woman told police she got away and started walking on Waianae Valley Road when the ex-boyfriend tried to run her over with her car, pulled her inside the vehicle and continued beating her as he drove back to his home.

Police said the woman was able to get away from the ex-boyfriend when a neighbor intervened.

HONOLULU

FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE BRUSH FIRE

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Thirty Honolulu firefighters from seven fire stations along with federal firefighters battled a brush fire yesterday on the mountain behind Kamehameha IV Housing in Kalihi. Fire officials said the blaze came to within 100 yards of homes along Kalaunu Road, but because winds blew the flames uphill, property was not at risk. The fire burned two acres of brush, fire officials said. The fire was reported at 3:50 p.m. Fire officials said four boys were trying to put out the fire with fire extinguishers and their shirts. The fire was extinguished at 7:09 p.m. At left, a Honolulu Fire Department helicopter dropped water on the fire yesterday

3 sought in 59-year-old's beating at Liliha bus stop

Police are looking for three men who beat and tried to rob a 59-year-old man waiting at a bus stop on Vineyard Boulevard this morning.

Witnesses told police the man was waiting at the bus stop near the Liliha Street intersection when three large men started beating him. The man fled to the grass median on Vineyard where the suspects caught up with him and continued to beat him, police said. Witnesses told police the suspects then fled into Mayor Wright's Housing.

When police arrived, the man was unconscious and bleeding. He was taken to Queen's Medical Center in critical condition with head injuries. His condition has been upgraded to guarded.

Police also found the man's brief case, which was smashed open. His personal effects were scattered on the roadway. Police went into the housing area but were unable to find the suspects.

Man, woman sought for ID theft, fake credit card

CRIMESTOPPERS Investigators are asking the public's help in identifying a man and woman, seen here on surveillance video, who allegedly used a stolen military ID card and a fake credit card.

CrimeStoppers and the Navy Regional Security Investigation Division want help identifying a man and woman who allegedly used a stolen military identification card and a fake credit card. A surveillance video camera recorded both suspects using the cards Tuesday at the Pearl Harbor NEX at 1475 Pierce St., police said.

Police said the victim was a soldier who reported his military ID card stolen last September at the Wahiawa McDonald's.

Police said that sometime Sunday or Monday, a man used the victim's card and a fake military credit card to buy more than $4,000 worth of merchandise including a laptop computer, a 22-inch gold necklace and a gold bracelet.

On Tuesday, police said, a man and woman attempted to purchase additional items with the cards. When the sales clerk became suspicious, both suspects fled.

The male suspect is described as in his mid-20s, 5 feet 10 inches, 160 pounds, with a slim build, brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a two-tone long-sleeve shirt and jeans. The female suspect is described as in her mid-20s, 5 feet 3 inches, with a slim build and long red hair. She was last seen wearing a dark tank top and jeans.

Anyone with information may call Naval Criminal Investigator Travis Earl at 474-6205, or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellular phone.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Drain cleaner fumes send 4 people to the hospital

LIHUE >> Four employees of the Lihue Wal-Mart store were sent to the emergency room at Wilcox Memorial Hospital yesterday after inhaling fumes from a drain cleaner that were sucked into the store's air conditioning system.

The store was evacuated and closed for about an hour and a half while the Kauai Fire Department's hazardous-materials team used large fans to blow the fumes out of the store.

Fire officials said a contract plumber using the drain cleaner in an unventilated area caused the accident.

2 boys with knife rob 2 visitors at Big Isle park

Hilo police are looking for two juvenile males who robbed two visitors Wednesday at Liliuokalani Park along Banyan Drive. Police said that at about 10 p.m. the suspects, armed with a butterfly knife, confronted the victims near Lihiwai Street and demanded money.

After taking an undisclosed amount of cash, the boys fled on foot toward Banyan Drive, police said. The two visitors were not hurt.

Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Gerard Baptiste at 961-2311, 935-3311 or CrimeStoppers at 329-8181 in Kona or 961-8300 in Hilo.

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[THE COURTS]

HPD dispatchers plead not guilty to gambling

Two Honolulu Police Department civilian dispatchers and three other people accused of running a casino-style gambling operation at the Aiea home of one of the dispatchers pleaded not guilty in Circuit Court yesterday to charges of promoting gambling.

Dispatchers James Frank Ward and Trisha Takayesu, along with Iris N. Takeshita, Ray K. Takeshita and Romeo F. Marzan Jr., waived indictment.

They were charged by a March 5 criminal complaint with first-degree promotion of gambling, a Class C felony, which carries a possible five-year sentence. Takayesu was charged with an additional five counts of second-degree promotion of gambling, a misdemeanor with a one-year maximum imprisonment term.

The complaint charges the suspects accepted or received more than five bets totaling more than $500 in a seven-day period. Takayesu is charged with promoting gambling on at least six separate occasions.

Maj. Darryl Perry of the Narcotics/Vice Division said the five ran a casino-type gambling operation at Ward's Ualo Street townhouse near Pearlridge Center. An undercover investigation from July 1 to Sept. 27 uncovered what Perry had called a "full-blown gambling operation," with a Las Vegas-style craps table and two video gambling machines, which were confiscated.

Scott Collins, attorney for the five defendants, said his clients do not want the matter to go to trial and are expected to change their plea at a later date.

Circuit Judge Gail Nakatani released the five on their own recognizance.

Kainalu youth coach indicted on sex assault

The Kainalu Little League baseball coach accused of sexually assaulting one of his former players was indicted yesterday by an Oahu grand jury.

Mark Heyd, 46, was charged with two counts of sexual assault in the first degree, one count of attempted sexual assault in the first degree, three counts of sexual assault in the third degree, one count of attempted sexual assault in the third degree, kidnapping, and continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14.

The alleged offenses occurred on July 10 last year and continued to this month, according to the indictment.

Heyd was released from custody on $100,000 bail following his initial appearance yesterday in Honolulu District Court.

According to an affidavit from a Honolulu police detective who interviewed Heyd's alleged victim, a 12-year-old Kaneohe boy, Heyd picked up the boy from the boy's home to play golf and drove to a park, where he sexually assaulted the boy.