Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

[TAKING NOTICE]

Academic Awards

>> Hawaii Pacific University has awarded renewable four-year Spirit Scholarships, covering 50 percent tuition and valued up to $18,000, to 18 outstanding high school seniors who are active in extracurricular activities.

They are Peter Abiva Jr. of Mililani High School; Maria Cariaga, Farrington; Florencio Castillo, Damien; Cheryl Cateil, Waianae; Angela Dela Cruz and Stacey Musick, Kahuku; Franklin Du Pont, Kamehameha; Shelby Greer and Joey Sakaue, Aiea; Natalie Holomalia, Kaiser; Jacqueline Jiminez and Jessie Lee, Castle; Jessica Margeson, Kailua Christian Academy; Jasmine Orlando, St. Francis; Ervin Pasalo, King Kekaulike; Aaron Schweitzer, Kalaheo; Ariane White, Kahuku; and Yuk Kwun Yee, McKinley.

HPU also awarded scholarships, valued at more than $100,000, to four high school seniors planning to study communications. Sponsored by the Hawaii Publishers Association, the scholarships are part of the Hawaii High School Journalism Awards Program.

Recipients include Nathan Jugas of Waialua, Nanea Ming Ja Kalani of Hana, Amanda Finn of Kalaheo and Rowena Alma Vito of Waianae.

Wade Taguchi of Aiea, a senior baseball player for HPU, has been named the school's Top Female Scholar-Athlete.

>> For the second time, Paul Iinuma, a junior at Pearl City High School, is high school individual champion of the 2002 Hawaii State Scholastic Chess Championships for grades K-12. Joshua Elliot of Hanalani Schools took second; Mark Hammes of Waiakea, third; and Sean Lee of Punahou, fourth.

The following participants took grade-level titles: ninth grade, Emily Lau, home school; 10th, Darek Kawamoto, Punahou; 11th, Karl Noa, Kamehameha; 12th, Shariff Nasser, Kamehameha. Nasser and Hammes each won $1,000 scholarships from Hawaii Pacific University and Chaminade University.

Punahou took the team trophy, with Pearl City, second, and Iolani, third.

Highlands won the new intermediate school team title, and Danton Lee from that school became the intermediate school state champion.

The elementary school section's (grades 4-6) champion is John Iinuma of Pearl City Highlands. The primary section (K-3) was won by last year's champion, Ryan Jose Palomares of Kipapa Elementary.

|

Corrections and clarifications >> A Makiki apartment owned by U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie is listed as being worth between $15,001 and $50,000 and is a co-op, not a condominium, according to Abercrombie's filing with the U.S. House clerk. A June 18 story on Page A6 incorrectly listed Abercrombie as owning a condominium valued between $100,000 and $250,000. 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.

---

Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

HONOLULU

3 women charged in theft of checks in mail

Three Oahu women have been charged with conspiracy, bank fraud and possession of stolen mail for stealing checks from residential mailboxes in Windward Oahu, federal prosecutors said yesterday.

The three women -- Kimberly Huffman, 28; Maxine Lynn Rogers, 31; and Stephanie M. Sechrist, 32 -- were named in an indictment returned June 20 that was sealed by the court pending their arrests, U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo Jr. said in a statement.

The three were arrested and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren on Thursday. They are being held without bail pending detention hearings.

The indictment charges the three with stealing the checks from mailboxes and cashing them at local banks between August and October 1999, Kubo said.

"What's alleged here is outgoing mail being taken, and checks in that mail being altered, then used," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Recktenwald.

The women drove through Oahu neighborhoods, including Kailua and Kaneohe, looking for mailboxes with the red outgoing mail flags raised, a process they referred to as "red-flagging," Kubo said.

The women allegedly opened the mail and took the checks inside, which they altered so that they or others could cash the checks, Recktenwald said.

If convicted, each woman faces up to 40 years in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Big Isle house fire does $173,000 damage

HILO >> Fire caused $173,000 damage yesterday to a two-story house being reconditioned in Papaikou north of Hilo, the Fire Department said.

The probable cause was the ballast of a fluorescent fixture, fire officials said. The owner was listed as Steve Camara.

Hilo operation uproots 14,425 pakalolo plants

HILO >> Vice officers ripped up a total of 14,425 marijuana plants ranging in height from seedlings to 6 feet during a five-day eradication effort in Hilo and North Hilo that ended yesterday.

Police have arrested a suspect in the case, identified as Lenora Aitcheson, who is being held in the Hilo police cellblock pending charges.

Lt. Henry Tavares, head of the Hilo Vice Section, said the suspect will be tried in federal court due to the large number of plants growing on her property and in her indoor growing operation.

Tavares said the number of plants found during the current operation is a "significant increase in the number of plants and plots than we've found in previous months."

During May 2002, for example, a three-day marijuana eradication effort resulted in the confiscation of only 2,973 plants.