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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff and wire
Local lawyer resigns over financial misdeed
A local attorney has agreed to give up his law license to avoid disciplinary action, while a second lawyer was suspended for the second time in five years.The state Supreme Court granted Damon Yonashiro's request to resign from his practice after a hearing officer with the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel recommended that Yonashiro be suspended for 2 1/2 years.
According to an ODC investigation, Yonashiro commingled a client's funds with his own.
The Supreme Court also suspended attorney Eric Marn for a second time after an ODC investigation found that Marn practiced law while he was under his first suspension.
Marn's second suspension, which takes effect immediately, is for 2 1/2 years. He previously was suspended on March 13, 1998, and was not reinstated. On July 23 the high court denied his application for reinstatement for the first suspension.
4 eateries fined for serving minors alcohol
Four Oahu restaurants have pleaded no contest to selling alcohol to minors, according to the Honolulu Liquor Commission.Fort Street Bar and Grill, Yabusoba Hawaii Inc., Assaggio Inc. and Saeng's Kailua Thai Cuisine received $1,000 fines for the violations during the commission's Tuesday meeting.
Gift to rehab center aids recovery from rain
Lanakila Rehabilitation Center received a $25,000 donation yesterday from Island Insurance Co., taking some of the sting out of the estimated $110,000 in losses caused by heavy rain earlier this month."It came just in time for Christmas," said Jimmy Wakafuji, Lanakila's director of asset management.
An office building, three vans, two trucks, a wood chipper, a tractor and industrial power equipment were damaged Dec. 7 by flooding water caused by a blocked drainage ditch in Aliamanu.
The center's work-force program trains mentally and physically challenged adults to learn work skills and uses the equipment to maintain the grounds at Aliamanu Military Reservation.
Wakafuji said one person has donated his time to help repair the equipment.
The center also received a couple of lawn mowers and a few smaller cash donations, Wakafuji said.
Wakafuji said he is not sure what will be purchased with the $25,000.
"We will repair whatever is salvageable and replace essential equipment," he said.
Island Insurance's auto insurance division is also assisting Lanakila with finding replacement vehicles.
NAACP dinner honors Martin Luther King Jr.
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie and civil rights leaders will participate in a holiday celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. from 6 to 11 p.m. Jan. 16.The Honolulu-Hawaii NAACP and Hawaii Friends of Civil Rights are sponsoring the event with dining, dancing and "civil rights empowerment." Kimo Kahoano will be master of ceremonies.
Entertainers will include Hoku Award winner Azure McCall.
The cost is $40 per person. Tables of 10 are available.
Checks payable to NAACP-Hawaii may be sent to NAACP, P.O. Box 6, Honolulu, HI 96810, by Monday.
For more information, call Barbara Abrew, 599-3920, or Faye Kennedy, 732-4987.
Shriners parade to salute the troops
The second annual Aloha Shriners New Years Parade will be Tuesday from the intersection of Kalakaua Avenue and Saratoga Road to Kapiolani Park.The parade, called "A Salute to the Troops," will start at 6 p.m. and include high school marching bands from the mainland, clowns, dancers, beauty queens and other kamaaina organizations.
For more information about the parade, call Norris Alaiasa at 926-2244 or 478-9812.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffNEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Maui man dies in his overturned SUV
A man died Wednesday after his white 2003 Jeep MPVH turned onto its side in Kihei, pinning him underneath, police said.The man was traveling north on Piilani Highway between Kanani and Welakahao roads when he drove his sport utility vehicle onto the right shoulder of the highway at about 9:25 a.m., police said.
The SUV climbed an embankment, turned on its side, slid across both lanes of the highway and landed upside down, police said. The victim was pronounced dead at 2:06 p.m.
Police said the man was not wearing a seat belt. Police are still investigating whether speed, drugs and alcohol were involved.
This was Maui County's 15th traffic fatality as compared with 19 at the same time last year.
LEEWARD OAHU
Alleged shoplifter arrested at Pearl Kai
Police arrested a 34-year-old woman after she allegedly robbed a store at the Pearl Kai Shopping Center on Christmas Eve. Police said the woman was seen taking merchandise out of the Ross Store between 2:20 and 2:30 p.m. without paying. A security officer stopped the woman outside the store, at 1000 Kamehameha Highway, police said. The woman then physically assaulted the guard, police said. Police arrested the woman for second-degree robbery. She was released pending investigation.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
