Honolulu-based boat helps in cocaine bust
A U.S. Coast Guard cutter home-ported in Honolulu helped seize more than 1.5 tons of cocaine, which was offloaded and turned over to federal authorities in San Diego yesterday.The Coast Guard Cutter Rush and a San Francisco-based Coast Guard helicopter crew made the seizure and detained four men Feb. 5 from a go-fast boat 100 miles south of Nicaragua.
As the 378-foot cutter approached, the four men on board the 42-foot high-speed boat set it on fire and jumped into the ocean, authorities said.
Personnel on the Rush rescued the men and extinguished the fire, the Coast Guard said.
Damaged buoy to be fixed and redeployed
A 19,250-pound buoy moored 190 miles northwest of Lihue that broke free Jan. 10 is being repaired and will be redeployed by the week of March 24, the National Weather Service said.The boat-shape buoy produces data used for high-surf forecasts on north-facing shores. It is one of four moored around the Hawaiian Islands to measure wind speed and direction, sea surface temperature, air temperature, sea level pressure, wave height and wave energy.
The Coast Guard Cutter Kukui retrieved it Feb. 4, but it was damaged.
Meanwhile, the Honolulu Forecast Office has increased use of satellite data, surf models, North and South Pacific analyses of winds and storm systems, surf observations and surf cameras to forecast wave heights.
Nightclubs to undergo surprise safety checks
The Honolulu Fire Department will begin making unannounced inspections of nightclubs this week, spokesman Capt. Kenison Tejada said.The nighttime checks come partly in response to a fire that killed 98 people at a Rhode Island nightclub and a stampede at a Chicago nightclub that killed 21 people last month, Tejada said.
Two fire inspectors will be assigned to check for overcrowding, access (locked or blocked exits) and availability of fire protection (fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems).
"There's been some overcrowding that we've been aware of," he said. "In light of everything that's been happening, we want to go out there and see where Honolulu stands."
The Fire Department will be coordinating its efforts with the Honolulu Liquor Commission and the Honolulu Police Department. |
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
WAIKIKI
Man arrested in theft of phone at knifepoint
A 37-year-old man was arrested for first-degree robbery in Waikiki this morning for allegedly stealing a woman's cellular telephone at knifepoint.The man was in Club Alley Cat at 2266 Kuhio Ave. just before 1 a.m. when the owner of the bar asked him to leave. The owner told police the man got up, picked up a cellular telephone off a nearby table and started walking out of the bar. When the telephone's owner, a 27-year-old woman, tried to get her telephone back, she said the suspect brandished a knife and continued walking out of the bar.
Police stopped the man a block away on Nahua Street and arrested him after the woman and bar owner identified him.
Visitor from Japan nearly drives off pier
A woman visiting from Japan escaped injury this morning when she drove her rental car off the pier and nearly into the water at Ala Wai Yacht Harbor.When firefighters arrived about 5:20 a.m., the car was on the edge of the pier, the engine was running and the tires were spinning, said Capt. Mel Pang, Pawaa Fire Station commander. However, there was no one inside the car.
Police caught up with the woman nearby.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Big Island residents warned of phone scam
Big Island residents are being warned about a telephone lottery scam that appears to target the elderly.An elderly woman told police she allegedly had been called by someone who claimed to represent the "Overseas Lucky Corp."
The caller told her she was one of 25 people chosen to win a $5 million lottery, and there was a one-time charge of $498 for her to enter the contest, police said.
A second caller telephoned later and told the woman she won the jackpot, and asked for her bank account number so the corporation could withdraw the $498 entry fee.
The woman later found more than $500 had been automatically withdrawn from her account, and never heard back about lottery winnings.
Anyone with information about similar scams is asked to call Det. Thomas Waltjen, of the Hilo Criminal Investigation Section, at 961-2378 or the police nonemergency number at 935-3311.
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The Courts
Pearl City man gets 17 years for meth sale
A federal judge has sentenced a 32-year-old Pearl City man to 17 years and one month in prison for selling more than six grams of methamphetamine last year.Mark E. Kinjo's prior criminal record of burglary convictions qualified him as a career offender under federal sentencing guidelines. Otherwise, he would have faced a minimum of five years when he was sentenced Wednesday.
Kinjo sold a total of about 6.36 grams of methamphetamine to an individual cooperating with the Honolulu Police Department in February 2002, according to documents filed in the case.
City worker charged with electricity theft
A Honolulu Board of Water Supply employee pleaded not guilty yesterday to diverting electricity to his home by bypassing an electric meter over a period of nearly eight years.
CORRECTION
Saturday, March 8, 2003» George Williams Jr., who pleaded not guilty to first-degree theft of a utility service, is a former employee of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. A brief on Page A7 yesterday incorrectly reported that he was still a board employee.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.George Williams Jr. waived indictment yesterday and was charged via complaint with first-degree theft of utility services.
According to the Feb. 19 complaint, Williams allegedly diverted electricity to his home between January 1996 and September 2002, a benefit valued at more than $300.
The charge carries penalties of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
Williams' attorney, Scott Collins, declined comment. Trial has been set for May 5.
