A ceremony aboard the USS Missouri marked the 57th anniversary of the Japanese surrender that ended World War II. USS Missouri site
of WWII anniversaryThe deck of the historic battleship is where Japan formally signed its surrender on Sept. 2, 1945, ending the war.
Hundreds attended yesterday's ceremony, including dozens of veterans.
Retired Vice Adm. Robert Kihune urged people to never forget the sacrifices that Americans made for freedom.
"This is what we're here to commemorate, those people and the significance of this day, that ended a war that was so devastating that we hope we'll never go back and do that again," he said.
Deadline set for the next police chief on Big Island
HILO >> The Hawaii County Police Commission has set Dec. 6 as the deadline to find a new police chief.The nine-member commission is charged with filling the vacancy created when former Chief James Correa retired last month. Correa retired to become federal security director for Kona International Airport.
Assistant Chief Lawrence Mahuna has been serving as acting police chief.
Correa had said salary was one reason behind his decision to leave. At $75,581 the current annual salary for chief is lower than the highest-paid civil servant in the Police Department, who makes $84,696.
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[Taking Notice]
Honors
>> Kaila Mercado, a seventh-grader at Kauai Christian Academy, is the $1,000 grand-prize winner of the 2002 Hawaii Pizza Hut and Hawaii State Public Library System Young Adult Summer Reading Shopping Spree Sweepstakes. Her name was drawn from among 50 entries. Mercado is entitled to a shopping spree at Pearlridge Center.Stuart Ooka, a seventh-grader at Le Jardin Academy, was the second place winner of a $500 shopping spree. Vanshj Seth, a home-schooled seventh-grader, won a $250 shopping spree.
>> The state Department of Education has selected the following employees for its Sustained Superior Performance Awards: Marian Delapenia, King Kaumualii Elementary School in Kauai, custodian; Iris Ha, Kahala Elementary in Honolulu, administrative services assistant; Rosalinda Ranne, Hawaii District, Parent Community Networking Center assistant; Rebecca "Becky" Rosenberg, Windward District, special-education resource teacher; Karen Tsutomi, Central District, secretary for student support services.
Certificates of Achievement were awarded for outstanding contributions to the improvement of government service to the following: Allison Colby, Farrington High in Honolulu, social worker; Iris Fujimoto, Anuenue School in Honolulu, school food services manger; William Von Arnswaldt, Kaiser High in Honolulu, athletic director.
>> Patrick K.S.L. Yim as been appointed trustee for the Queen Liliuokalani Trust by the Probate Court of the First Circuit, State of Hawaii. He retired from the Judiciary in 1994 after serving 23 years on the bench. Yim served as an administrative and trial judge in Probate Court, and a Family Court judge.
He received the Outstanding Advocate for Children and Youth award and the "Firestone's 100 Who Serve" award in 2001. He received the O'o Award from the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce in 1998.
>> First Circuit Court (Oahu) Judge Marcia J. Waldorf received the 2002 Franklin N. Flaschner Award in August from the American Bar Association's Judicial Division National Conference of Special Court Judges in Washington, D.C. The annual award recognizes a judge with outstanding high ideals, personal character and judicial competence. She has served as president and held other leadership positions with the Hawaii State Trial Judges Association.
>> Honolulu attorney Richard Turbin has been sworn in as a commissioner on the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission for a four-year term effective July 1, replacing businessman Jack Law, whose term expired. Turbin once served as a deputy public defender, supervising the juvenile justice section, and also served several terms on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union, Hawaii Chapter.
|"Taking Notice" runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Please send items to City Desk, Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813.
>> The phone number for tickets for Kumu Kahua Theatre's production of "Aloha Las Vegas" is 536-4441. An incorrect phone number was listed on Page D3 of yesterday's newspaper. Corrections and clarifications
>> Dann Seki, who plays Wally, is on the left, and Allan Y. Okubo, who plays Harry, is on the right in a photo accompanying a review of "Aloha Las Vegas." They were incorrectly identified on Page D3 of yesterday's newspaper.
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 staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
WINDWARD
Oahu Police pick up teenage escapee
Police captured last night the second of 10 girls who escaped Saturday from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.The 16-year-old girl was picked up on Hoolai Street downtown at 6 p.m., police said.
On Sunday, police recovered a white van that was used by the girls in the escape. The search continues for the other eight girls.
Police said the van, a 1998 Ford Windstar van with the license plate GXT 744, was recovered on Keolu Drive. The van belongs to Child and Family Services, an agency that oversees the facility since it became privatized in mid-August.
Central Oahu Road rage turns into fight in Waipio Gentry
A 27-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly struck a 17-year-old boy on the head with a metal stick during a confrontation after a traffic incident on the H-1 freeway.Police said the victim was in a white truck with nine friends traveling eastbound on the H-1 freeway when a silver truck operated by the suspect cut them off and exited the Waikele offramp at about 10:25 p.m. Sunday night.
The victim and his friends followed the suspect to Kaukahi Place at Waipio Gentry where both vehicles stopped. When the 17-year-old boy confronted the suspect, the 27-year-old man struck the victim on the head with a bar or rod, police said.
The victim's friends fought with the suspect. The suspect was arrested and taken to Queen's Medical Center for observation.
Police said the suspect, victim and his friends were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.
Girl claims sex assault at Wahiawa sleepover
Police are investigating a case involving a 13-year-old girl who told her grandmother that she was sexually assaulted early Sunday morning when she slept over at a friend's house in Wahiawa.Police said the alleged assault took place around 3 a.m. at a home at Whitmore Village. The victim told her grandmother that she was sexually assaulted by a male acquaintance in the living room when other residents were asleep.
Police said the 13-year-old girl was taken to Kapiolani Medical Center to be examined.
HONOLULU
Police seek arsonist in apartment fire
Police are looking for an arsonist or arsonists who set fire to an apartment in Kalihi where four adults and two children lived.Firefighters responded to the fire on the second floor of a four-unit building at 993 McGregor Lane at about 2:47 a.m. Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze at 3:12 a.m.
Investigators discovered two points of origin for the fire: on the ground floor under the damaged apartment near the laundry room and near the entrance to the apartment, said Honolulu Fire Capt. Richard Soo.
Damage to the building is estimated at $25,000. Soo said no one was injured. The American Red Cross is assisting the residents of the apartment.
Police arrest man in threat to family
Police arrested a 49-year-old Honolulu man yesterday after he allegedly threatened to kill his wife and daughter.Police said the suspect's wife and daughter arrived at their home on Aumoae Street around 1:15 a.m. yesterday when they found a note taped to the front door which read, "Don't bother me you mother (expletive)." After they unlocked the front door, police said the suspect confronted the wife and daughter with a knife and said, "We are all going to be with Jesus. Who wants to be first?"
Police said both women managed to leave the house and called police who arrested the man.
