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[ TAKING NOTICE ]
Grants
>> The March of Dimes Hawaii Chapter has awarded five grants totaling $50,000 for projects aimed at preventing birth defects and infant mortality.The grants address maternal and child health needs, such as improving prenatal care to high-risk populations and increasing prenatal care services in rural areas, said Chris Melahn, March of Dimes Program Services chair.
Grant recipients include the Teen Intervention Program, Kapiolani Health Foundation; West Kauai Clinic; Mala Na Makua A Keiki on Maui; Maui Family Support Services Inc.; and Koolauloa Health Center.
The projects support paraprofessional care for pregnant teens on Oahu and improved outreach, referral or clinical services to pregnant women in West Kauai, Lanai, West Maui and Oahu's North Shore.
The March of Dimes, a national voluntary health agency, supports research, community services, education and advocacy to prevent birth defects and infant deaths. A five-year campaign began last year to address the increasing rate of premature births.
>> The Marimed Foundation has received $56,000 in grants to create a vocational education program for youths in the Kailana Program, which treats at-risk boys ages 14 to 18. The program will focus on agriculture, aquaculture and culinary arts. The grants were provided by Friends of Hawaii Charities, $5,000; Cooke Foundation, $5,000; Atherton Family Fund, $5,000; McInerny Foundation, $10,000; Bank of Hawaii, $5,000; First Hawaiian Foundation, $5,000; Kailunani Urban Forestry Grant Program, $10,000; J. Watumull Foundation, $1,000; and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, $10,000.
>> Akal Security, which provides security at Honolulu Airport, has donated $3,000 to Hawaii Foodbank's 15th annual statewide food drive.
"Taking Notice" runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Listings also appear online at www.starbulletin.com. Please send items to City Desk, Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813.
Weinberg Foundation to get new president
Shale D. Stiller, a partner with the law firm Piper Rudnick LLP, has been selected to replace Bernard Siegel, president and chief executive officer of the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. Siegel is approaching mandatory retirement.Stiller, chairman of the law firm's private client services practices group, will start work at the foundation in August.
Stiller practices tax, corporate, estate planning and nonprofit law.
Motorists face delays near Castle Junction
The state Department of Transportation is advising Windward motorists of lane closures along Kalanianaole Highway near Castle Junction today and tomorrow.The closures will be between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., weather permitting. Motorists are advised to use caution while driving through the area and to allow for more travel time or take an alternate route.
Today, both left lanes of Kalanianaole Highway between Kapaa Quarry Road and Castle Junction were scheduled to be closed while work crews striped the paved area that was completed yesterday. Tomorrow, crews will close the Kailua-bound left lane of Kalanianaole Highway in the same area for road construction.
Hilo emergency room will be renovated
HILO >> The state's second-busiest emergency room -- so overwhelmed with patients, they are often examined in hallways -- is planning a $1.2 million renovation to handle severe overcrowding.The Hilo Medical Center expects to start work to renovate its emergency room in July. The emergency room is designed to handle 10,000 to 11,000 patients annually, but treated about 27,000 people last year, according to hospital Chief Executive Ronald Schurra.
"Too many people wait in the waiting room too long and can't get in and ultimately leave," said Dr. Steve Morrison, director of the Hilo emergency room.
The hospital's nonprofit Hilo Medical Center has already raised about $756,000 toward the renovations.
Gov. Linda Lingle has also asked the state Legislature to approve about $3 million in funding for further expansions to the Hilo Medical Center emergency room.
The emergency room at Hilo Medical Center is the second-busiest in the state, hospital officials said, behind the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffNEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Motorcyclist is killed in collision with horse A 48-year-old Kau man was killed yesterday when his motorcycle struck a horse in South Kona.
The motorcyclist was identified as William K. Kaniho, of the Hawaiian Ocean View Estates subdivision in Kau.
Police said Kaniho was riding his 1989 Suzuki motorcycle south on Hawaii Belt Road when he hit a large white horse near the 85-mile marker in Honomalino, South Kona.
Police received a call at 3:40 a.m. Kaniho was transported to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:30 a.m.
The horse was put to sleep by a veterinarian, police said.
Kaniho's death was the first traffic fatality on the Big Island this year, compared with two for the same time last year.
HONOLULU
3 suspects from fight outside bar arrested Police arrested three Kalihi teenagers out of a group of 15 men and boys who allegedly threatened three men with knives in a bar parking lot at 508 Waiakamilo Road early Sunday morning.
Police said both groups had been drinking heavily when members of the larger group pulled out knives and threatened the three men. One man from the group struck another in the head with a beer bottle, according to police.
Bouncers tried to break up the fight but were threatened by a male with a handgun.
Members of the large group fled in three vehicles, police said, but a patrol officer caught three of the suspects when he stopped one of the vehicles for a traffic violation.
Police arrested the three Kalihi teenagers -- ages 16, 17 and 19 -- for first-degree terroristic threatening, third-degree assault and second-degree assault. The suspects were released pending investigation.
Man held in kidnap and sex assault case
Police arrested a 35-year-old Salt Lake man Sunday for suspicion of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a 13-year-old girl in Honolulu in the summer of 2002.Police said the suspect, who was an acquaintance of the girl, allegedly sexually assaulted her between May 1 and Aug. 31, 2002.
The suspect was arrested at 8:10 p.m. Sunday on three counts of third-degree sexual assault and one count of kidnapping, police said.
Baby's poor health might be from abuse
Police said they are investigating a case of possible first-degree assault after test results showed a 3-month-old infant had signs of shaken baby syndrome.A 26-year-old man and 24-year-old woman from Aliamanu brought the baby to Kapiolani Women's & Children's Hospital Friday morning after he experienced seizures and was unresponsive, police said. The baby was in critical condition.
[ THE COURTS ]
Suspect in shootings enters not-guilty plea
Kevin "Pancho" Gonsalves, the third defendant charged in the Jan. 7 double slaying at the Pali Golf Course, pleaded not guilty yesterday to first-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and firearm charges.Gonsalves, 33, who was captured in Nanakuli last Tuesday after a nearly two-week search, made his first appearance in Circuit Court yesterday via a video link from the Oahu Community Correctional Center.
He is one of three defendants charged in the shooting deaths of Lepo Utu Taliese, 44, and Romelius Corpuz Jr., 40. Corpuz's brother, Tino Sao, 42, was also shot but survived.
Police say the shooting was linked to a dispute between two groups vying to provide security at underground gambling houses.
Co-defendants Rodney Joseph, 35, and Ethan Motta, 34, previously pleaded not guilty. All three are set for trial March 22. The three are each being held in lieu of $1 million cash bail.
Defense attorneys for Joseph and Motta have asked the court to remove the cash-only designation, saying it is illegal. A hearing on their motion is set for Feb. 12.
Man gets life term for killing girlfriend
A man convicted of fatally stabbing his girlfriend, allegedly because he was hearing voices, was sentenced yesterday to life in prison with the possibility of parole.Samie Calaro, 44, did not say anything to the court or the family of Ruby Mabanag, 53, on the advice of his attorney because he intends to appeal.
Mabanag's father, Angel Asuncion, asked Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall to send Calaro away for the rest of his life.
Asuncion said he worked hard to raise 10 children, only to have one of them killed by a man who abused her.
"I don't want this man to live," Asuncion said, his voice breaking. "Deep in me, my heart is cut. After all these years, I still hurt inside."
Mabanag was stabbed multiple times inside her Wahiawa studio apartment on July 27, 2002. Calaro was still in the home when police responded. Mabanag suffered numerous stab wounds, including defensive wounds. The fatal wounds were to her abdomen.
Calaro did not dispute he stabbed Mabanag, but maintained that he was suffering from an emotional and mental disturbance brought on by long-term use of crystal methamphetamine. Had the defense been successful, he could have been found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, punishable by 20 years in prison.
City prosecutors did not dispute expert testimony that Calaro's voluntary "ice" use was the sole reason for his psychosis, but argued that his self-induced intoxication was not a defense for killing someone.
Tax officials claim couple evaded taxes
An Oahu grand jury indicted a Hawaii couple Wednesday for attempting to evade paying taxes, filing false income tax returns and second-degree theft.Daniel L. O'Leary III, who is retired, and his wife, Geraldine A. O'Leary, a speech pathologist for the state Department of Education, allegedly filed false state tax returns for the years 1999 through 2001.
The couple excluded their earned income under the premise that wages are not taxable, according to the state Department of Taxation.
Filing false income tax returns is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and three years in prison for each instance.
Second-degree theft carries a maximum $10,000 fine and five years' imprisonment.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
