Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Public input sought on Waimalu H-1 project

A meeting to discuss the widening of the Waimalu Viaduct on the H-1 Freeway begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Waimalu Elementary School in Aiea.

The meeting will be in the school's cafeteria and is open to the public.

The project will widen 1.3 miles of the H-1 Freeway in the westbound direction between the Kaonohi Street Overpass and the Pearl City off-ramp. The stretch will be widened 29 feet to accommodate an additional lane of traffic and wider shoulders.

Glitch hampers police radios

A software problem caused a seven-hour shutdown yesterday of an emergency feature of the Honolulu Police Department's new digital radio system.

Police took the emergency declaration system down at 9:45 a.m. yesterday, said Lt. Charles Chong, watch supervisor for 911 operations with HPD's communications division.

The system allows someone with an emergency to break into a conversation, override other transmissions and declare an emergency.

"Officers could still call for help; they just couldn't use the enhanced feature," Chong said.

Technicians repaired the problem by 4:30 p.m. yesterday, Chong said.

HPD switched to the new digital communication system April 9, but the system experienced problems almost immediately.

On April 17, HPD turned off its new digital radios for four hours and went back to its old analog system.

Officers could communicate with each other but not with dispatchers.

Police said the accumulation of data caused interference with the voice transmission system.

Arizona Memorial has new superintendent

VOLCANO, Hawaii >> The USS Arizona Memorial's new superintendent is currently an administrator at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island.

Doug Lentz, who is the park's management assistant, begins his new duties at Pearl Harbor on July 14. He succeeds Kathy Billings, who recently left to run Great Basin National Park in Nevada.

"One of the things I'm really looking forward to is working with the survivors of the USS Arizona, Lentz said.

Lentz, 42, has 18 years experience with the National Park Service. The native of North Carolina worked at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming before coming to Hawaii.

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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

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Traffic slowed yesterday after a two-car accident on Nimitz Highway near Alakea Street. Firefighter Keoni Abaya swept up absorbent after cleaning up a spill. No injuries were reported.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Japanese tourist dies snorkeling off Big Isle

A tourist from Japan died of an apparent drowning yesterday while snorkeling off the Kailua-Kona pier, police said.

Swimmers noticed the tourist floating face down in the water, police said, and he was taken to Kona Community Hospital in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at the hospital an hour later.

No foul play was suspected, police said.

Haleakala bike wreck kills California visitor

A 72-year-old visitor from Vallejo, Calif., died yesterday after he lost control of his bicycle just below the 9-mile marker on Haleakala Crater Road.

Robert Burkhart hit a guardrail and was thrown 40 to 50 feet down an embankment, police said. He was part of a bicycle tour group and was with his wife and daughters, emergency medical personnel told police.

WINDWARD OAHU

Homemade explosive causes $200 damage

A homemade explosive device caused an estimated $200 damage to a newspaper rack in Kaneohe this morning. The device, described by police as a mortar-type firework, went off about 3:30 a.m. fronting Yim's Kaneohe Atrium office building at 46-005 Kawa St. There were no injuries.

Police have opened a criminal property damage investigation into the incident.

Man shot by police is in fair condition

Byron Almeida, who was shot by police in Kailua Saturday, remained in fair condition at Queen's Medical Center this morning.

Police said they do not plan to file charges against Almeida until he's released from the hospital.

Almeida, 30, was shot after he allegedly attacked two police officers with a 5-foot-long pipe. He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree attempted murder, terroristic threatening and criminal property damage.

HONOLULU

Report of scary drive brings husband's arrest

Police arrested a 34-year-old man yesterday after he allegedly drove his family around for two hours, threatening them and hitting his wife in the head.

Police said the man's wife reported that her husband had been acting strangely and became increasingly angry and violent. He yelled and hit her in the head three times and told her he was going to kill her and their two young children, who also were in the car, police said.

The woman eventually was able to persuade her husband to let her drive, police said, and she took him to the Kalihi police station, where he was arrested.

Police hold 2 women for car theft and drugs

Police arrested two women who allegedly stole a vehicle, then also arrested one of them for promoting dangerous drugs.

A police officer stopped the two women on Saturday afternoon after observing the vehicle had no front license plate and determining that the vehicle was stolen.

As they were being arrested, officers saw the passenger take a small plastic bag out of her back pocket and drop it on the ground, police said. The white powdery substance was believed to be crack cocaine, police said.

Police also said both women had outstanding traffic warrants.

LEEWARD OAHU

Woman suffers burns in Nanakuli house fire

A Nanakuli woman suffered smoke inhalation and first- and second-degree burns to her arms and face trying to fight a fire that destroyed a Kapiki Street home Saturday night.

The single-story home was fully engulfed in flames and the roof had already collapsed when firefighters responded to an alarm at 9:36 p.m., a fire captain said.

The two adults and 5- and 7-year-old boys who lived in the house were next door when the fire started and were not harmed, said Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada. Two Chihuahuas were unaccounted for and may have perished in the blaze, he said.

The fire caused $140,000 damage, and the cause was under investigation, Tejada said.