Youth kit to combat sexual exploitation
The Hawaii Youth Services Network is offering educational kits to groups concerned about commercial sexual exploitation of youths.The kits contain videotaped and print materials explaining the types of exploitation, warning signs, how youths are recruited and other information.
The network is distributing a limited number of kits for free to organizations that use them for education. The kits can be used in schools, youth programs, churches, parent education programs, community groups, social workers' training and by counselors, educators, youth workers, clergy and law enforcement and legal professions.
To obtain a free kit or more information, call 531-2198 or e-mail hinet@pixi.com.
The network is collaborating with members of Protect Our Children from Sexual Exploitation to conduct a public and professional awareness campaign.
Legislators and AARP to discuss elder care
Residents are invited to join AARP and legislators at two community forums next week to discuss the quality of care in care homes.The forums will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Manana Community Park, Pearl City; and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. next Thursday at the Japanese Cultural Center.
Call 843-1906 to respond.
March 29 lupus talk set for Maui, Big Isle
The Hawaii Lupus Foundation Inc. is sponsoring group discussions on "Living with Lupus" March 29 on Maui and the Big Island.John Terada will facilitate the discussion at 4:30 p.m. at the Lahaina Seventh-day Adventist Church, 655 Wainee St., Maui. Dr. Craig Kadooka will lead a discussion at 1 p.m. at the Hilo Medical Center, ground floor, Conference Room C.
The forums will discuss coping with a chronic illness in the family, workplace and school.
For more information, call the foundation, 800-201-1522.
Oahu walks to benefit Arthritis Foundation
Two 1-mile "Arthritis Walks" are scheduled in May on Oahu by the Arthritis Foundation.The first will be May 4 at Windward Mall in Kaneohe, and the second on May 18 at Pearlridge Mall.
Registration is at 8 a.m. with walk festivities beginning at 9 a.m. Participants are encouraged to raise donations to benefit the Arthritis Foundation and fight arthritis, which affects about 164,000 residents.
Resort workers stop 5-day Kapalua strike
WAILUKU >> About 120 workers at three golf courses at the Kapalua resort returned to work yesterday after a five-day strike.The workers represented by the ILWU Local 142 have been in dispute with Kapalua Land Co. about labor issues, including wages.
The union has also alleged the company is bargaining in bad faith by withholding financial information, while Kapalua officials say they are within their right to withhold certain fiscal details.
The union made an initial proposal of a 15 percent wage increase over three years, while the company opened with a 9 percent offer and made a counteroffer of a package that included an 11.5 percent wage hike.
Stores sell shamrocks for MDA fund-raiser
Muscular Dystrophy Association of Hawaii is offering green or gold paper shamrocks for $1 or $5 through retail stores and other businesses to raise funds in its "Shamrocks Against Dystrophy" campaign.The paper shamrocks are available at Longs Drugs, Times and Star markets, Burger King restaurants, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Lex Brodie's Tire Co.
The campaign runs through March 31. The funds are used to send children and adults with a neuromuscular disease to summer camp, for purchases or repairs of wheelchairs and leg braces, and other services.
For more information or a list of businesses, call 548-0588.
St. Augustine's offers class on breast health
A free class for women on "What You Need to Know About Breast Health" will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at St. Augustine Church Waikiki, 130 Ohua Ave. To reserve a seat, call St. Francis Medical Center's Parish Nurse Program, 547-6038.
Bone marrow drive set for Mililani and HPU
The St. Francis Medical Center Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry will conduct a donor registration and testing drive from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Wal-Mart Mililani, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Thursday at Hawaii Pacific University, Fort Street Mall campus.For more information, call 547-6154.
Some groups may get price break at Blaisdell
Proposed rental fee increases at the Blaisdell Center complex would be softened for schools and nonprofit groups like the Honolulu Symphony under a revised bill set for final approval before the City Council.The city administration wanted the fees to be raised to try to meet facility operating costs and to attract more lucrative, multiday events like Broadway shows and rock concerts with a new proposed sliding-scale fee schedule.
The original version of the bill came under fire by members of the symphony who testified that their rental fees at Blaisdell Concert Hall would rise to $1,500 from $500. High schools, which use the center for graduation ceremonies, would have seen a similar increase.
But the new proposal approved by the Council Budget Committee yesterday raises fees for nonprofits to no more than $788. The nonprofit rate for the concert hall would be $525.
Ex-Big Isle mayor has surgery at Queen's
HILO >> Former Big Island mayor Stephen Yamashiro was undergoing surgery this morning at Queen's Medical Center after suffering tightness his neck and chest yesterday.Marcia Reynolds, Yamashiro's public relations officer during his administration, said today that Yamashiro was suffering from an aneurism, or enlargement of a blood vessel.
Yamashiro's wife, Della, who was with him at the hospital, told Reynolds that he was fine, conscious and not in any great pain.
Golf course workers end strike at Kapalua
WAILUKU >> About 120 workers at three golf courses at the Kapalua resort returned to work yesterday after a five-day strike.The workers, represented by the ILWU Local 142, have been in dispute with Kapalua Land Co. about labor issues, including wages.
Dismissals fail to deter Maui in gambling cases
WAILUKU >> The Maui County Prosecutor's Office will seek new indictments against several people who had gambling-related charges against them dismissed Tuesday by two Maui Circuit judges.Deputy Prosecutor J.W. Hupp said the dismissals were not based on the evidence.
He said about half of the 35 defendants sought and won dismissal of the charges because of what a grand jury member said.
The grand juror was asked if he knew anyone being charged in the case, and the juror who was related to one of the defendants said jokingly that his relative was guilty, Hupp said.
Hupp said Judges Shackley Raffetto and Joseph Cardoza dismissed the charges after reviewing challenges to the indictments.
But the juror's relative, Glenn Nakamura, did not have his misdemeanor charge dismissed because he did not file a motion for dismissal, Hupp said.
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[Taking Notice]
LIFESAVERS GET AWARDS
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Three lifeguards were presented with awards Tuesday for rescuing a boogie-boarder in Waimanalo last October. Ben Severson, left, and Fred Marumoto held their Awards of Merit. The third honoree was Billy Goodwin.
|"Taking Notice" runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Please send items to City Desk, Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813.
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
Latest phone scam claims cash windfalls Big Island police are warning residents about a telephone scam, the third such warning this month.
In the latest scam, victims receive a telephone call from someone promising them that they have won $150,000 and asking them to wire $1,600 to Costa Rica to cover insurance costs.
Police said victims also are told that they must call an "800" number in order to receive a PIN number to claim their winnings.
Police advise victims to call them at 935-3311. For more information about telephone scams, call Office of Consumer Protection at 933-0910, Better Business Bureau at 877-222-6551 or Federal Trade Commission at 877-382-4357.
HONOLULU
Police seek suspect in stolen-watch case Police are looking for Rory Cabrera, 23, a suspect in the theft of a $22,150 Rolex watch from the Ben Bridge Timeworks store in Ala Moana Center on Sept. 30.
Rory Cabrera: He is wanted on a robbery indictment issued last week
Police said Cabrera, also wanted on a robbery indictment and for questioning in a robbery case, is considered dangerous and may be armed with a handgun.
Cabrera is known to frequent the Ewa Beach area and should not be approached, police said. He is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall, 130 pounds, with a slim build, black hair, brown eyes and protruding ears.
Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
EAST OAHU
Fatality in house fire was 84-year-old woman The Medical Examiner has identified the woman who died Saturday in the fire at 1184 Iki Place, across from Kalani High School, as Yasuko Kawada, 84. She died from carbon monoxide inhalation.
LEEWARD OAHU
Truck collision claims life of Waipahu man The motorist who died in a head-on collision near Pearl Highlands Center on Monday has been identified by the Medical Examiner as Manuel Eugenio, 50, of Waipahu.
Police said Eugenio was traveling west on Kamehameha Highway when a pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction crossed the grass median and crashed into his pickup.
DOT worker hit by car while picking up debris
A state Department of Transportation Highways Division employee was in critical condition at the Queen's Medical Center yesterday after he was hit by a car on the H-1 freeway in Waipahu.Police said the 58-year-old man, who was not wearing a safety vest, walked onto the freeway to pick up debris near the Managers Drive overpass about 10:30 a.m. when he was hit by a car traveling west. The car driver was not injured.
