Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff and wire
[ BRIEFLY ]
Moanalua teacher wins history award
Moanalua High School history teacher Wray Jose has been selected as the state winner of the first Preserve America "History Teacher of the Year Award."Moanalua High will host a ceremony in his honor in early August. The state Department of Education, together with the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History, announced the award.
The award honors one outstanding K-12 teacher of American history from each state. State winners receive a $1,000 honorarium, a certificate of recognition and an archive of history books and materials donated in their honor to their school's library.
A national Preserve America "History Teacher of the Year" will be chosen this summer from the state finalists.
Preserve America is a White House initiative that promotes and supports community efforts to preserve America's cultural and natural heritage.
Talks focus on noise and marine mammals
Marine scientists will give free lectures on marine mammals and human noise today on the Big Island and Monday on Oahu.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Acoustics Program and other scientific experts are hosting the programs at public aquariums and marine laboratories around the country this summer and fall.
"There is a lot of interest in the effect of human noises on whales, dolphins and other marine mammals," said Bill Hogarth, assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. "(We have) some of the world's leading experts looking at this issue."
The Hawaii lectures will be:
» 6 p.m. today at the Waikoloa Hilton Resort on the Kohala coast on the Big Island, with speaker Brandon Southall, of the Fisheries Acoustics Program.
» 6:30 p.m. Monday at the University of Hawaii-Manoa Architecture Building Auditorium (Room 205), with speakers Southall and Paul Nachtigall, with the UH Institute of Marine Biology.
Speakers will present current scientific information about human sources and uses of sound in marine environments.
[ TAKING NOTICE ]
» Jessica Lea Probert, a biology major at the University of Hawaii, has received a $1,000 Air Force Spouse Scholarship from the Aerospace Education Foundation. The annual program is designed to encourage 30 spouses worldwide to pursue their undergraduate or postgraduate degrees.
» Alisi K. Langi has received a $27,000 Truman Scholarship Foundation award, which will cover expenses for her senior year at Brigham Young University-Hawaii and two years of graduate school.
» Mike Perrino, of Honolulu, a senior at Kaiser High School, has been awarded an $8,000 University Scholarship to attend the University of Mobile in Alabama. The scholarship includes a $1,000 room-and-board grant.
» Semifinalists of the Congressional Arts Contest, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ed Case (D-Rural Oahu, Neighbor Islands), are Kimi Matsushima, Kim Gordon and Jodee Tanaka, of Castle High School; and Lisa Ballesteros, Mary Ann Tasani and Pamela Terrado, of Leilehua High.
» Ryan Tsukamoto, a junior at Iolani School, is one of 62 students in the nation to achieve a 36, the highest possible composite score, on a national test of the ACT Assessment on English, mathematics, reading and science.
» Amy E. Yasunaga, a nursing student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is one of 10 students nationwide to receive a $6,000 award to complete dissertation work on women's health issues from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and Johnson & Johnson.
» Tiffany Hooper, a 2000 graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy, has been given the Minority Office Recognition Award for outstanding service at Northland College in Ashland, Wis. Hooper is a senior working toward a major in natural resources, with a concentration in fish and wildlife ecology and minor in Native American studies.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffNORTH SHORE
Honolulu police are investigating the stabbing death of a 61-year-old Sunset Beach man who was found dead in his home on Wednesday.
Autopsy finds Sunset Beach man had stab woundsCo-workers of the victim said they became worried when he did not show up for work and went to his home to investigate, police said. Upon arriving, they smelled a foul odor and called police.
Officers entered the residence and discovered the body but initially classified the case as an unattended death because the victim's cause of death was unclear.
However, autopsy results later showed that the victim died of stab wounds, and police opened a second-degree murder investigation. The man's identity was not released, pending notification of next of kin.
HONOLULU
State sheriff deputies at Honolulu Airport seized 900 grams of cocaine left on board an ATA flight from Los Angeles last Saturday, authorities said.
900 grams of cocaine found on L.A. flightThe case was turned over to state Narcotics Enforcement Division, which turned it over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a DEA official.
The drug was found in the passenger cabin of the plane. There were no arrests.
Medical examiner IDs toddler in pool tragedy
The city Medical Examiner's Office identified the 18-month-old boy who was found floating in a swimming pool at a Foster Village home Wednesday as Stromer Maijohn.The toddler was last seen watching TV with other children in the family room before he was found in the pool by one of his parents, police said. The child was taken to Kapiolani Medical Center at Pali Momi in extremely critical condition and later pronounced dead.
Store video catches May robbery struggle
Surveillance video caught on tape a robbery suspect who struggled with a store clerk before escaping with a stolen DVD player last month.Honolulu police are asking the public's help in identifying the suspect who robbed the Radio Shack at 1613 Nuuanu Ave. on May 25. Police said that at 12:15 p.m. the suspect pretended to be purchasing the DVD player but then grabbed the item, struggled with the clerk and ran out of the store without paying.
He was last seen entering a two-door white compact vehicle driving along on Nuuanu Avenue. The suspect is as a male in his early 20s, between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 10 inches tall, about 175 to 185 pounds, with a medium build, fair complexion and light facial hair.
The suspect was last seen wearing a dark beanie, a dark short-sleeved shirt and surf shorts. Police also said the suspect had several tattoos on both arms and his neck, including the words "LOVE" and "HATE" on his fingers, one on each hand.
Detective Gordon Makashima asks anyone with information about this case to contact him at 529-3383. Anonymous calls may be made to CrimeStoppers at 955-8300, or by dialing *CRIME on a cellular phone.
Moiliili man is accused of raping 11-year-old girl
Police charged a 30-year-old Moiliili man yesterday with the rape of an 11-year-old girl.Paul Spinks was charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault and seven counts of third-degree sexual assault.
Spinks assaulted the girl at his Kapiolani Boulevard home on several occasions, police said.
The girl’s mother reported the assaults to police on April 24. The assaults occurred from April 18 through April 24, police said. Spinks was being held in lieu of $75, 000 bail.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
WAILUKU » A 22-year-old Haiku man was listed in stable condition yesterday at Maui Memorial Medical Center after an estimated 100-foot fall off a cliff near the Pauwela Lighthouse.
Haiku man survives 100-foot fall off cliffMark Geraghty, 22, of Haiku, was previously listed in serious condition by fire rescue officials who lifted him by helicopter to an ambulance at the Haiku Community Center.
Police Capt. George Fontaine said police have listed the fall as a "miscellaneous accident."
Fire officials said Geraghty, who had moved to Maui about a month ago, fell Wednesday night and was found Thursday morning.
Driver of car is hurt in dump truck collision
A 20-year-old man was critically injured in North Hilo near Laupahoehoe yesterday morning when his BMW sedan collided with a state dump truck on Hawaii Belt Road.Police determined that at 9:42 a.m. the victim was driving north when he apparently lost control of his vehicle, which crossed the center line and struck a state dump truck heading in the opposite direction.
The victim was taken to the Hilo Medical Center and later flown to Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, where he was reported in critical condition. The driver of the dump truck was not injured in the crash.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
