A SINKING FEELING AT KAPIOLANI PARK
COURTESY PHOTO / D. GIRE
A soccer match between Damien Memorial High School and Pac-Five was called with 10 minutes left yesterday after a hole appeared in field No. 1 at Kapiolani Park. Witnesses said the hole, 5-feet deep and a yard wide, was created by a leaking underground water pipe. No one was hurt. Pac-Five won the game 6-0.
Hotel chef's killer gets sentenced to life term
A hotel pantry worker who claimed he was insane when he stabbed Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel's executive chef Thomas Matsuda to death two years ago was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole yesterday.Tam Van Huynh, 40, did not give a statement at his sentencing, but his attorney has indicated they will appeal.
Circuit Judge Sandra Simms ruled in June after a jury-waived trial that Huynh knew right from wrong and could control his actions when he attacked his boss with a kitchen knife on Dec. 1, 2000.
Huynh apparently had been notified of schedule changes and was told his help was needed in another area. Five minutes later, he walked to Matsuda and stabbed him to death, said Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader.
At the time of his death, Matsuda, 49, was at the peak of his career, having worked his way up the ranks to executive chef at Sheraton-Waikiki without the benefit of culinary school, Trader said.
The Matsuda family was dealt another blow when eldest son Warren, 27, fell 200 feet near the Makapuu Lighthouse during a fishing trip in September.
Family of slain cyclist unfazed by apology
Alfred James Willard III said not a day goes by that he does not think of the day nearly two years ago when he drove a van into a 21-year-old man riding his bicycle along Fort Weaver Road.And that's exactly what the family of Theron Keoki Nicodemus wants -- that Willard never forgets.
"Mr. Willard lost his right to peace of mind when he robbed us of ours," Geraldine Helenihi, Nicodemus' grandmother, said yesterday at Willard's sentencing.
Circuit Judge Marie Milks sentenced Willard, 33, of Ewa Beach, to the maximum 10 years yesterday for fleeing the scene in a borrowed van after striking Nicodemus from behind. He had pleaded no contest to charges of fleeing the scene and second-degree negligent homicide.
At his sentencing yesterday, Willard said he thinks about what happened every day and he apologized to Nicodemus' family.
Outside the courtroom, Edith Muromoto, Nicodemus' mother, said she could not accept the apology. "If he was sorry, he would have stayed at the scene and helped my son."
Early on March 7, 2001, Nicodemus, who had turned 21 two days earlier, was struck by the van while riding his bike home to Ewa Beach after work. He died of his injuries a day later.
|
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
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
West Maui forest fire burns about 45 acres
WAILUKU >> A forest fire in west Maui burned an estimated 45 acres of brush before state forestry workers were able to control it yesterday, state forestry official Glenn Shishido said.Fire officials were called at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday about the fire on state land above Lahainaluna High School and had contained it by 1 a.m. Monday, after it scorched about 12 acres of land.
But the fire flared up Monday and then again yesterday. Helicopters carrying large buckets of water helped the forestry workers battle the blaze.
Big Isle police find suspect under a bed
Big Island police said they found a 28-year-old woman wanted on four arrest warrants hiding under a bed earlier this week.Acting on an anonymous tip, South Kohala officers found Rebecca Kehaulani Pelfrey at a Waikoloa apartment complex at 7:45 a.m. on Monday.
