[ Taking Notice ]
GRANTS
>> The Centennial Committee of Korean Immigration to the United States has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the First Hawaiian Foundation, the charitable arm of First Hawaiian Bank. The money will be used to assist with publication of "Century of the Tiger: One Hundred Years of Korean Culture in America: 1903-2003.">> Saint Francis School has received $14,170 from the Hawaii Community Foundation's Robert E. Black Fund. The funds were used to offset the cost of the school's strategic planning process, which was contracted to mainland facilitators.
>> Aloha Airlines has begun to transport free of charge textbooks that have been collected at Okanagan University College in British Columbia, Canada, to post-secondary students enrolled in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. OUC geography associate professor Fes de Scally started the collection in 1997, and worked with an airline to transport the books until it went bankrupt in 2001. Aloha's first flight linking Rarotonga to Vancouver via Honolulu began Dec. 9.
>> The Hartley Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant, to be distributed over three years, to Special Olympics Hawaii for sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
>> Hawaii has received $5,494,026 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund housing and services for the homeless. The amount was part of a $1.1 billion national assistance effort to end homelessness. Agencies that received funding include Mental Health Kokua, East Hawaii Coalition for the Homeless Inc., Steadfast Housing Development Corp., the City and County of Honolulu, Ho'omau Ke Ola, Catholic Charities Community and Immigrant Services, and the Salvation Army.
>> The Mililani High School Key Club has given the Institute for Human Services Inc. $5,000 they earned by contributing 100 hours of volunteer work at the homeless shelter. The funds were provided by way of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation's "Educating the Heart" program. The foundation also awarded IHS a check for $100,000.
Church gives $50,000 for supertyphoon relief
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has donated $50,000 to the Salvation Army's Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Division to help Guam residents affected by Supertyphoon Pongsona.The money will go toward setting up a food voucher program for residents ineligible for food stamps.
Pongsona, which swept through Guam on Dec. 8 with winds of more than 180 mph, has been called the worst typhoon to hit the island in 50 years.
Afternoon fire disrupts building water heaters
Residents in a Kalakaua Avenue apartment complex had to take cold showers on Christmas after fire destroyed the water heaters that supply hot water to Building D at a complex at 1551 Kalakaua Ave. yesterday afternoon.The fire caused $5,000 in estimated damage, but no one was injured and damage was limited to the water heaters and the exterior of the three-story concrete block building.
The fire was reported at 3:26 p.m. and extinguished within minutes after firefighters arrived.
Douglas Hirata, 19, who lives in a nearby building, said he was playing video games when he smelled smoke.
"I came out, and I seen this cloud of smoke," he said. Hirata said he and another man knocked on doors to alert residents to the fire.
Civil Defense test is set for Thursday
The next monthly statewide test of Civil Defense sirens in the Emergency Alert System will take place at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday. The test is conducted on the first working day of the month.
High court refuses to reconsider ruling
HILO >> The state Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its recent ruling that overturned the 1999 manslaughter convictions of a Big Island man.Last month, the state appealed the high court's decision to overturn the convictions of Tetsuya Yamada, who was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter in the shotgun slayings of his ex-wife, Carla Russell, 50, and her daughter, Rachel De Cambra, 23. The court also ordered a new trial for Yamada, saying jurors received improper instructions before deliberations.
Prosecutors' requests to reconsider those decisions were denied last week.
Russell and De Cambra lived next door to Yamada and were found dead in their Waiakea Uka home on Sept. 29, 1996.
Yamada, whose mental fitness became an issue at trial, originally was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and burglary.
He was convicted on two counts of manslaughter and sentenced to two consecutive 20-year prison terms.
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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. Corrections and clarifications
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
WINDWARD OAHU
HPD holds ex-customer in restaurant robbery
Police arrested a 21-year-old Kaneohe man after he allegedly robbed a restaurant owner in the Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center on Christmas Eve.Police said a man entered Tasty BarBQ at 46-047 Kamehameha Highway at about 9:25 p.m. and grabbed the owner's shoulder bag, which contained $2,000 in cash.
When the owner resisted, the robber punched her in the head and fled with the purse, police said. The woman, 40, suffered cuts and bruises to her head, arms and legs.
Police said the owner, recognizing the robber "as a past customer, job applicant and a former security guard for the shopping complex." She called police who then arrested the suspect at his home.
HONOLULU
Waikiki man critically hurt in moped stunt
A 39-year-old Waikiki man remained in critical condition this morning at Queen's Medical Center after a moped accident at the Aloha gas station at 1403 N. School St.Police said the man turned left into the gas station from Houghtailing Street about 1:40 p.m. yesterday and tried to do a wheelie in the driveway. He lost control of the moped and fell on his head.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Single-car crash leaves 1 dead, another hurt
A 22-year-old man died and another man was hospitalized at Maui Memorial Medical Center yesterday morning after a single-car crash on Honoapiilani Highway in Lahaina.Police said a car driven by 23-year-old Sione Masaniai went out of control near Leialii Parkway, hit a rock and utility pole and overturned about 1:20 a.m.
Esau Fononga, 22, died at the scene. Masaniai was thrown from the vehicle and was in guarded condition, police said. Both men are from Lahaina. Police said neither man was wearing a seat belt.
LEEWARD OAHU
3 teens injured when truck overturns on H-2
A 19-year-old man was injured critically early yesterday after the truck he was driving hit a metal light pole and overturned on the H-2 Freeway.Two passengers, both 18-year-old men, also were injured. All the victims were taken to Queen's Medical Center.
The truck veered off the Waianae offramp, climbed a steep dirt embankment and slammed into a pole shortly after midnight, police said. The driver was thrown from the truck.
