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Star-Bulletin staff and wire
Applicants sought for N. Kona land council
KAILUA-KONA >> The state Department of Land & Natural Resources is seeking applications from people interested in serving on the Puu Waawaa Ahupuaa Advisory Council in North Kona.Appointees will advise the department on implementing a 62-point plan approved by the Board of Land & Natural Resources in July.
The Puu Waawaa area has been controversial since the 1980s when rancher F. Newell Bohnett, who leased state land, was discovered to have conducted several unauthorized actions, including un-permitted koa logging.
In recent years the ranch lease has been on a month-to-month lease while competing uses have been argued. Those were primarily continued ranching with hunting permitted, contrasted with decreased hunting and ranching and greater emphasis on environmental protection and ecotourism.
The plan adopted in July is a mix of those proposals. The advisory council oversees an area of about 40,000 acres.
People interested in serving on the council can obtain forms at state Division of Forestry and Wildlife offices in Hilo, Waimea and Honolulu, or download one in PDF format from this address: www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/pubs/paacapp.pdf. The application deadline is today.
UH-West Oahu gets grant for outreach
A $2 million federal grant aimed at expanding outreach programs for native Hawaiians and Filipinos at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu could help the school in an upcoming visit by a college accrediting agency.The two-year campus was criticized recently by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges for having few student services programs and barely enough faculty members to meet the needs of its 850 students.
West Oahu Chancellor Bill Pearman said yesterday that the recently awarded Department of Education grant would provide five temporary faculty positions and could pave the way for other grants. WASC officials will return next fall to re-evaluate West Oahu.
The grant is part of a national program focused on bringing students from underrepresented ethnicities into higher education.
About 10 percent of West Oahu's student population is native Hawaiian, and 17 percent have Filipino ancestry, Pearman said. He said he expects the grant to provide services that will help native Hawaiian and Filipino students make the transition between a community college and UH-West Oahu.
Water Board extends time for lawn watering
Because of shorter daylight hours during winter, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply is changing the times when people can water lawns and landscapes in compliance with its voluntary water conservation program.The board asks that customers water before 10 a.m. or after 5 p.m. on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The afternoon time is an hour earlier than it has been since August, when voluntary conservation began to replenish low well levels. Government agencies that have been watering on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays may start watering at 5 p.m. those days also, the board said.
For the week ending Wednesday, customers used an average of 157.96 million gallons a day, up from 157.69 million gallons a day in the week ending Oct. 29.
Assistant police chief and firefighter lauded
Firefighter Charles Griep was named city Employee of the Year in a ceremony yesterday at City Hall.In the same ceremony, Assistant Police Chief Boisse Correa was named city Manager of the Year.
Griep, who has been with the Honolulu Fire Department since March 1994, is responsible for developing a program that has reduced injuries and workers' compensation claims by ensuring physical and mental fitness of fire personnel. Griep also teaches a fire and emergency services instructor level 1 course after obtaining certifications using his own time and money, saving the department thousands of dollars in consultant fees.
Correa's leadership is credited for helping to reduce overall property crime in his districts. His tenure is also marked by the flourishing of community partnerships in the fight against crime and his efforts to gain anti-terrorism federal funding to train first responders.
The city also honored 22 departmental employees of the year and 44 employees who received the mayor's special award for their efforts in removing Salvinia molesta from Lake Wilson.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHONOLULU
Alleged knife threat brings suspect's arrest
Police arrested a 35-year-old man yesterday for allegedly using a knife to threaten a 32-year-old man on Saturday in Kalihi.According to police, the suspect held a knife in a threatening manner when he approached the victim at Kalihi and Democrat streets.
When police arrived, the suspect had fled.
The suspect was found and arrested yesterday on one count of first-degree terroristic threatening.
Suspect is arrested in Supergeeks robbery
Honolulu police have arrested a 33-year-old man for allegedly breaking into the Supergeeks store at 2304 S. King St. yesterday.Police said the suspect went through a window and stole an estimated $6,000 worth of computers.
The suspect was arrested later for second-degree burglary.
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[The Courts]
State hopes to back Kamehameha in cases
The state is seeking to support the legality of Kamehameha Schools' admission policy, which gives preference to native Hawaiians.Attorney General Mark Bennett said the state is asking court permission to file friend-of-the-court briefs in the two cases before the federal court: DOE vs. Kamehameha Schools and Mohica-Cummings vs. Kamehameha Schools, which challenge Kamehameha's admission policies.
"We believe that Kamehameha Schools' admissions policy does not violate federal law and is both consistent with and supportive of the state of Hawaii's long-standing commitment to better the conditions of native Hawaiians," Bennett said.
The Ohana Council of the Kamehameha Schools, made up of Kamehameha Schools faculty, parent-teacher and alumni associations, has also filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Kamehameha's admission policy.
The council gathered 83,950 signatures on petitions that support the policy. Fifty-six percent of signers are of Hawaiian ancestry, the council said.
"We could not stand by while the very existence of this institution is threatened," said Jan Dill, president of Na Pua a Ke Alii Pauahi, one of the member organizations. "We think the statement these 83,950 signature makes is quite powerful."
MP indicted for alleged luring of child online
An Army military policeman has been indicted on one count of electronic enticement of a child. Bail was set for $100,000.Rodney Nicholson thought he was speaking to a 14-year-old girl on the Internet and arranged to meet with the purpose of having sexual contact, said Deputy Attorney General Trish Morikawa.
The investigation was set up by the attorney general's office, with the help of the police and U.S. Army.
Nicholson was arrested Oct. 30.
Not-guilty plea entered in insurance fraud case
A Honolulu attorney accused of fraudulently diverting at least $12 million from the estate of an insurance company declared insolvent after Hurricane Iniki pleaded not guilty yesterday to various charges.Jerrold Chun, 55, pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree theft, racketeering and 10 counts of money laundering.
Chun is accused of diverting more than $20,000 on three occasions from June to July from HUI/UNICO, two insurance companies set up by Hawaiian Electric Industries and taken over by the state insurance commissioner in 1992.
The insurance commissioner declared Hawaiian Underwriters Insurance Co. and United National Insurance Co. insolvent in 1993 and ordered them liquidated because the amount of their insurance claims exceeded their available funds, due to losses from Hurricane Iniki in 1992.
Chun is free on $150,000 bail.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
