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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff and wire
HECO continues talks with 1,100 employees
Contract talks covering more than 1,100 employees who work for the electric utility companies on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island continued last night as a midnight deadline approached.Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Chuck Freedman would not comment on the status of the talks yesterday, but said the company was "still committed to negotiation."
Officials from the union representing the utility workers, Local 1260 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, could not be reached for comment.
Major contract issues include improvements to wages, retirement and health benefits. The union could set a strike deadline, or extend the contract on a day-to-day basis if it believes a settlement can be reached.
Would-be homeowners in Hokulia settle suit
KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii >> The buyers of a 1-acre lot in the controversial Kona residential development Hokulia have resolved a dispute regarding having their purchase money returned, their attorney Joseph Fagundes III said yesterday.Fagundes declined to say whether buyers Stephen and Diane Heiman, of Kona, will actually get their money back.
Lot prices in the 261-acre first increment vary from $650,000 to $2.5 million.
The couple filed suit just a day earlier against developer 1250 Oceanside Partners saying a September court decision banning most construction will probably mean years passing before problems are resolved.
Judge Ronald Ibarra ruled in September that Hokulia is an urban project illegally being built on agricultural land. He noted that three of the company's own attorneys advised in vain that the developer go to the state Land Use Commission to reclassify the land to urban designation.
In the absence of that, Ibarra himself ordered the developer to apply to the Land Use Commission and to stop most work in the interim.
Hokulia President John De Fries said 160 buyers have purchased 197 lots in the first increment. He said letters, phone conversations and meetings are taking place to discuss a response to Ibarra's ruling.
EPA plans to remove land from cleanup list
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposes removing about one-third of a 6,000-acre Oahu site from the national Superfund list because it does not have chemical contamination at levels considered a health risk.EPA-guided studies have shown that contaminant levels in the Poamoho section of Del Monte Corp.'s Kunia pineapple plantation are "far below our stringent, health-based guidelines," said Keith Takata, the EPA Superfund program director for the Pacific Southwest.
If the shrinking of the Superfund site is not opposed by public comments over the next month, the EPA will focus cleanup on the remaining, southern portion of the site known as the Kunia section. Over the next four to five years, Del Monte will pay for a $12.9 million remediation plan for contaminated soil and water.
A 1977 ethylene dibromide spill caused contamination of the Kunia Well, which no longer supplies drinking water.
[ TAKING NOTICE ]
>> The Lin and Ella Wong Foundation has donated $5,000 toward the Brother Anthony Young/Class of 1947 scholarship fund at Saint Louis School.
>> The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has released $17,828,996 to assist low-income, elderly, homeless and at-risk youths in Hawaii.
Recipients of the grant included the Palolo Chinese Home, which was awarded $1,930,000; Domestic Violence and Legal Hotline, $1,565,000; Community Investment Program, $1,000,000; Lanakila Meals on Wheels, $750,000; The Salvation Army, $756,000; Hawaii Foodbank, $700,000; Pacific Gateway Center, $650,000; St. Francis -- Facility for the Elderly, $450,000; and Boys and Girls Club, $359,000.
>> The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation has awarded more than $47,000 to the Kanu o ka'ina Learning 'Ohana, a literacy program, for the creation of a Reading Resource Center at the Kau o ka'ina New Century Public Charter School in Waimea, Hawaii.
>> The Hawaii People's Fund has awarded grants to the following organizations:
Hawaii Chapter National Lawyers Guild, $1,000 for organizing and bringing a national speaker to a forum on the United States Patriot Act;
Hawaii Labor for Peace & Justice, $2,000 for its ongoing labor education project;
Mental Health Association, Maui County Branch, $2,000 for police recruit education program and materials of the civil rights of those with mental illnesses;
Not in Our Name Hawaii, $2,000 for anti-war and civil liberties public education and media outreach;
Refuse and Resist, Hawaii Chapter, $1,000 for educational materials and expansion of outreach;
Surfing Education Association, $1,250 for the revision, printing and distribution of a report on Makua; and
United States Japan Committee for Racial Justice, $2,000 for the documentation of case study materials from a grass-roots conference in Puerto Rico.
>> Hawaii Meals on Wheels Inc. has received $4,080 from the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Inc. to provide home-delivered hot meals to needy seniors. The agency delivers more than 200 meals each day around the island. Those interested in receiving meals or volunteering to deliver them should call 988-6747.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffLEEWARD OAHU
Honolulu police are looking for two possible witnesses to a killing in Aiea.
Police seek witnesses to Aiea slayingPolice said that at about 9:20 p.m. Sunday, three to four suspects walked up the driveway of a home located at 99-121 Pamoho Place and shot Greg Morishima, 49, several times in the abdomen. Police said the suspects were dressed in dark clothes and had their faces covered, and all fled the area in a beige or tan sport utility vehicle.
The witnesses police are looking for are described as a woman in her 20s to 30s and a man in his early 20s. The woman is described as having a slim build and long curly hair, and was wearing dark clothing and carrying a backpack.
The male witness is described as having a heavy build and thick upper body, and also was wearing dark clothing.
Anyone with information about this case may contact Detective Sheryl Sunia directly at 529-3166. Anonymous calls may also be made to CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or by dialing *CRIME on a cellular telephone.
HONOLULU
Man goes missing following court hearingMissing-persons investigators are asking for the public's help in locating a 41-year-old man who was last seen leaving a Family Court hearing in downtown Honolulu late Wednesday morning.
Police said Derrick Uyema was emotionally distraught and suicidal after he left the hearing at 777 Punchbowl St. at 11 a.m., and family and friends have not seen him since. Police said Uyema drives a white Toyota pickup truck, frequents the Waianae coast and likes to go hunting.
Uyema is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing about 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a brown aloha shirt, dark blue jeans and dark brown construction boots.
Uyema's truck is described as a white 2000 Toyota Tacoma pickup cab, with license plate number JBW-028. Police said there is a wooden fishhook hanging from the rearview mirror of the cab.
Any witnesses to this case may call investigator Mary Aragones at 529-3064. Anonymous calls may be made to CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellular phone.
WAIKIKI
Information sought on knifepoint robberyHonolulu police are asking for the public's help in identifying a man who robbed a woman at knifepoint in Waikiki on Oct. 21.
Police said the suspect approached the victim at about 8:30 p.m. while she was standing near a pay phone at Seaside Avenue and Aloha Drive. Police said the suspect brandished a knife and ordered the woman to walk to Lewers Street.
Police said the suspect took the victim's jewelry, shopping bags and wallet and ordered her to run away. The suspect then fled on foot.
The suspect is described as 6 feet tall, weighing about 180 pounds, with an average build and tan complexion. He was last seen wearing a "MAX" black beanie, a black handkerchief covering his face and mouth, a black long-sleeve T-shirt and black oversize long pants. Police said the suspect also had what was described as a silver-bladed knife.
HPD Detective Taro Nakamura is requesting that anyone with information about this case contact him at 529-3382. Anonymous calls may be made to CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellular phone.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
