Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

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Student pen pals say hi to 'Connie'

For the past five months, first-graders from St. Joseph School in Waipahu communicated by e-mail with Petty Officer Kahi Lagman aboard the USS Constellation.

Fifty-four of them waited on a Pearl Harbor pier for more than an hour yesterday for Lagman, a 2000 Roosevelt High School graduate, whose niece attends St. Joseph.

Alyscia Andaya, 6, said the last time she wrote to her uncle was to tell him "to be safe, God bless and hurry home."

Her mother, Amanda Lagman, said Alyscia's class adopted the Constellation and sent care packages, letters and e-mails to her brother and his friends. "They all became pen pals."

The schoolchildren waved miniature American flags that had the words "God bless America" written on them and sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America" as the carrier slowly made its way to Pearl Harbor's Hotel Pier.

Several times, with the help of their teachers, they cried out, "Hi, Connie (Constellation)," and waved frantically at the rows of sailors lined up along the flight deck more than a mile away.

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Corrections and clarifications >> The Oahu chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill was misidentified as the Hawaii chapter for a listing of officers in the "Taking Notice" section on Page A2 Saturday. 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 fbridgewater@starbulletin.com.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

HONOLULU

2 inmates escape from OCCC work center

Police and state deputy sheriffs are looking for two inmates who escaped overnight from Oahu Community Correctional Center's Laumaka Work Furlough Center.

Michael Rosado, 28, and Rockford Matsuura, 22, were accounted for at a 10 p.m. bed check but were gone by the 1 a.m. check, police said.

Rosado and Matsuura had been released to the minimum-security furlough center to allow them to work or attend school during the day, officials said.

Rosado was in prison for attempted murder, robbery and burglary convictions while Matsuura was serving time for robbery and auto theft convictions.

LEEWARD OAHU

SEALs' chutes tangle; 1 breaks leg; 1 unhurt

One Navy SEAL escaped injury, but another suffered a broken leg yesterday after their parachutes tangled 2,000 feet above Ford Island during a training exercise, the Navy said.

Several hundred people who were greeting the aircraft carrier USS Constellation at Pearl Harbor saw the accident.

The SEALs, both members of Delivery Team One, jumped out of a helicopter at 10,000 feet. Their fully deployed parachutes became tangled at 2,000 feet but they were able to separate at about 50 feet.

CENTRAL OAHU

Tourists in Wahiawa robbed at Kukaniloko

Honolulu police want help identifying a man who robbed a tourist couple in Wahiawa earlier this week.

Police said the incident took place Wednesday at Kukaniloko (the birthing stones site) at Kamehameha Highway and Whitmore Avenue at 12:40 p.m. Police said the man confronted the couple at the site, threatened to shoot them and demanded their property and car keys.

Police said the suspect fled the area in their rental car. The vehicle has still not been located and is described as a tan 2002 Nissan Altima four-door sedan, license plate HBG 448.

The suspect is described as in his mid-20s, 6 foot 2, about 240 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes, a tan complexion and a pockmarked or scarred face. He was last seen wearing a bandana, dark dress shirt and dark slacks.

Anyone with information can call Detective Brian Johnson at 692-4602 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellular phone.