Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Council of the Blind exec to speak at isle convention

Steve Spiecher, first vice president of the American Council of the Blind in Washington, D.C., will be guest speaker at the 36th annual Hawaii Association of the Blind convention March 8.

Registration will begin at 8 a.m. The program will run from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Pagoda Hotel, 1525 Rycroft St. The program will cost $5; lunch, $15.

No-host cocktails will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by a banquet that is free to members and $25 for guests.

Reservations are required by March 3. Call Mary at 861-1300 or Amelia at 923-8765.

Funds help hospital locate uninsured kids

Kahuku Hospital has received $13,500 in contributions from three organizations to help match a four-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The grant is for a project with Hawaii Covering Kids, organized to try to locate medically uninsured children and sign them up for government insurance plans.

The gifts include $7,000 from the Good Beginnings Alliance, $5,000 from the Ho'opono Ko'olauloa Community Foundation and $1,500 from the Hawaii Hotel Association.

Matching funds will be used to support an outreach worker, provide outreach materials and assist with enrollment of children and efforts to simplify the application process.

Forum will address crop biotechnology

An educational forum on genetically modified organisms in agriculture will be held Saturday on the Big Island.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa's College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources is hosting the day-long event, with the aim of providing "a secure environment where people will be encouraged to learn and form their own opinions about GMOs in the context of environmental, health and regulatory issues."

Program coordinator Ania Wieczorek, molecular ecology and biotechnology extension agent for UH, said forum presenters will address genetically modified organisms in relation to three major topics: food safety, environmental benefits and concerns, and issues in Hawaii.

Speakers will come from universities, the Hawaii Genetic Engineering Action Network, local commercial and organic farming, private organizations and the federal government.

The event will be 8:15 a.m.-5 p.m. at the King Kamehameha Hotel in Kona.

The forum is free, with a $10 charge for lunch. For more information see www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/GMO, or contact any county extension office or Wieczorek at ania@hawaii.edu or (808)956-7058.

Because of limited seating, registration is required. Registration forms must be faxed to (808) 956-3894 by Wednesday.

Mediation center offers actualization workshop

The Mediation Center of the Pacific is presenting a free workshop titled "How to Get What You Want from the Other Person."

The two-hour workshop, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, will provide a basic understanding and hands-on use of a four-step communication process, use of which "will guarantee you'll get what you need from anyone, in any situation," according to the center.

The workshop will also teach how to deal with people who use fear, guilt, shame, blaming, coercion and threats to get what they want.

The workshop will be held at the Mediation Center of the Pacific, 680 Iwilei Road, Suite 530, across from the Dole Cannery Office Building.

Seating is limited to the first 25 people. Call 521-6767 or e-mail erinedwards@hotmail.com.

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Corrections and clarifications >> Star-Bulletin photographer Ken Ige took the photo of Rubellite "Ruby" Johnson, who was featured on Page D1 in yesterday's "First Sunday Conversation" column. The photo was incorrectly credited to Gary Kubota. 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

LEEWARD OAHU

Police identify victim in pedestrian accident

A medical examiner identified the 44-year-old woman who was killed Friday in a car accident near Leeward Community College as Corliss Okamoto, of Waipahu.

Police said Okamoto was running across Farrington Highway when she was struck by a car driven by a 22-year-old woman.

Investigators said Okamoto did not use the crosswalk.

HONOLULU

Liliha man arrested in attempted murder

Police arrested a 31-year-old Liliha man yesterday for investigation of attempted murder and other charges after he allegedly rammed his girlfriend's car with his and later hit her after she got out of her car.

Police said the suspect and his 40-year-old girlfriend met near Liliuokalani Gardens about 3 p.m. yesterday and got into an argument. The woman told police her boyfriend then assaulted her, went to his vehicle and rammed her car while she was inside. After she got out of her car, the woman said her boyfriend struck her.

Police later located the man at home and arrested him. The woman was not seriously injured.

Police arrest man in shooting incident

Police arrested a 53-year-old Liliha man for investigation of attempted murder yesterday after he allegedly fired shots from a handgun at another man. Police said the 46-year-old was not injured and is a relative of the suspect.

Officers were sent to a Panui Street address off Liliha Street at 3:45 p.m. yesterday after reports of gunshots. They arrested the suspect in his home.

2 men critically hurt in single-car crash

Two men were taken to the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition yesterday after they were involved in a single-car accident on Moanalua Freeway.

Police said that at about 3:45 a.m., a 19-year-old man was traveling Waianae-bound in a silver 4Runner with a 24-year-old passenger. Police said the vehicle veered toward the right, went up an embankment and struck a tree, about 913 feet from the Ala Kapuna Street overpass.

Firefighters pried both men from the vehicle. Both men are described as being from the Pearl Harbor area.

Police said speed is a possible factor in the accident. It is unknown whether the driver and the passenger were wearing seat belts.

Fire and smoke mar military housing unit

Fire and smoke heavily damaged a single-story home yesterday afternoon in a military housing complex at 2941 Gordon St. near Honolulu Airport.

The Honolulu Fire Department responded with five trucks and had the fire under control in about five minutes, said HFD Capt. Guy Seto-Mook.

No one was injured in the blaze, which was reported shortly before 4 p.m.

Seto-Mook said he did not know the cause or origin of the fire because after extinguishing it, federal firefighters took over the investigation.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Visitor, 25, dies while diving off Paia, Maui

WAILUKU >> A 25-year-old man died while skin diving in waters off Paia, Maui, yesterday afternoon.

The man, believed to be from California, had entered the water with skin divers from the religious group Youth With A Mission, Acting Assistant Fire Chief Alan Pascua said.

When the group came out of the water they noticed he was missing, Pascua said.

Fire rescue officials were called at 3:57 p.m. They found the victim and brought him to shore, where efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, Pascua said.

The man's identity was being withheld, pending notification of next of kin.

Visitor who drowned off Molokai identified

Molokai fire officials identified the 35-year-old visitor who drowned Friday at Papohaku Beach as Scott Clay, of Tucson, Ariz.

Beachgoers attempted to revive Clay through cardiopulmonary resuscitation without success before fire rescue workers arrived at 2:01 p.m.

2 people rescued after sailboat runs aground

A sailboat ran aground yesterday afternoon in the sand in Honokohau Bay, about a quarter-mile offshore of Kailua-Kona, according to Big Island Fire Department officials.

An unidentified man and his wife were unhurt in the accident, which occurred about 2:30 p.m.

The two were rescued by a small boat launched from a passing Atlantis Submarine cruise, which was returning from a tour. Fire officials had no further details about the boat or the incident.

WINDWARD OAHU

2 hospitalized after motorcycle hits car

A 26-year-old man and 20-year-old woman were taken to Queen's Medical Center in critical condition last night after their motorcycle crashed head-on into a car in Waimanalo about 8 p.m.

Police said the male victim was driving the motorcycle south on Hihimanu Street when he attempted to make a left turn into Kakaina Street and crashed head-on into a car traveling north on Hihimanu Street.

Police said both victims were thrown from the motorcycle onto the roadway. The man was still listed as critical this morning.

The hospital was not releasing any information about the woman's condition. No one in the car was injured.

Police said the motorcycle driver appeared to have been speeding.