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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff and wire
RUPTURED GAS LINE FORCES
EVACUATION OF WAIKIKI BUILDING
About 50 occupants were evacuated yesterday from a Waikiki apartment building because an underground gas line was ruptured during construction on Kuhio Avenue. Occupants were evacuated from the Hawaiian Ebbtide Hotel, 159 Kaiulani Ave., which also houses some businesses. Police said a subcontractor for Hawaiian Dredging cutting through the road accidentally cut the gas line, causing the leak at about 1:53 p.m. The building's occupants were allowed back in shortly after 3:15 p.m., police said. Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said strong tradewinds helped dissipate the natural gas, which is lighter than air. Repairs to the gas line were completed shortly after 4 p.m., he said.
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[Taking Notice]
3 high school seniors win ACLU cash awards
Three high school seniors are the winners of the second annual American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii Youth Award, which recognizes outstanding youth activists.Winner Jana Pierce-van Loon and finalists Samantha O'Hanlon and Christen Brown will receive their awards from Chief Justice Ronald Moon in a ceremony 10 a.m. Saturday at the state Supreme Court.
Pierce-van Loon will receive $1,000, and O'Hanlon and Brown will receive $500 each.
Pierce-van Loon, from Baldwin High School on Maui, will be recognized for her commitment to civil liberties issues, with her one-girl performing arts show that dramatized religious issues and gender discrimination. To stimulate discussion on the Patriot Act, she wore a shirt to school that said, "I am a terrorist."
O'Hanlon, from Punahou School, helped form the first Gay Straight Alliance in a private school. She also initiated several chapel presentations at her school, highlighting civil rights issues and the need for diversity awareness and tolerance.
Brown, from Kalani High School, created the Black History Month Club while she attended New Trier High School in Illinois. The club has led to plans for diversity training for faculty and students.
Les Wilbur, an emeritus professor from the University of Southern California, funded the awards.
The ceremony is free and open to the public, but interested attendees must reserve a seat by Thursday.
For more information, contact the ACLU at 522-5900.
>> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has presented awards to Helen Nakano, of Malama O Manoa, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply's neighborhood organization, and the Manoa educators for teaching conservation to children.
>> The Emergency Bypass Water Tunnel in Waipio Valley, on the Big Island, built by Jas. W. Glover Ltd. and URS Corp., was one of seven finalists in the 2004 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement competition, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The project also received the 2003 Outstanding award from the Hawaii chapter of the society, the 2003 Build America Environmental Award from the Associated General Contractors of America and the 2003 Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Hawaii.
"Taking Notice" runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Please send items to City Desk, Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffLEEWARD
Police seek missing care home client, 88
The Honolulu Police Department is asking for the public's assistance in locating 88-year-old Mary Fields, who was last seen at her Ewa Beach care home Sunday morning.
Police said Fields suffers from dementia and has difficulty hearing. She was last seen about 7 a.m. at the care home on Haiamu Street and may have boarded a bus headed for the downtown area.
Fields is described as 5 feet tall, weighing 115 pounds, with brown eyes and gray hair.
She was last seen wearing a black sweater and blue pants.
Anyone with information on Fields' whereabouts is asked to call officer Phil Camero with the Missing Persons Section, at 529-3394.
Arson damages office in Ewa Beach church
Police are investigating a fire that officials say was intentionally set Sunday night at the front office of a Catholic church in Ewa Beach.Firefighters arrived two minutes after the 10:13 p.m. alarm at Our Lady of Perpetual Help at 91-1004 North Road.
Fire Capt. Emmit Kane said the fire was contained to the church entrance and caused an estimated $8,000 in damage. When firefighters arrived at the church, the front door was ajar, Kane said.
A man in his early 20s, who was outside the building at the time of the fire, was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries, Kane said.
Police have classified the case as first-degree criminal property damage.
HONOLULU
3 men held in alleged baseball bat assaults
Police arrested three men in their 20s early Sunday who allegedly assaulted two other men with baseball bats in Kakaako.Police said the suspects, one 20-year-old and two 21-year-olds, got into an argument with the victims at Keawe and Auahi streets.
The suspects were seen using bats to strike the victims about 2:25 a.m., police said.
The victims, a 22-year-old Honolulu man and a 29-year-old Wahiawa man, were taken to the Queen's Medical Center with head and other injuries, according to police.
Police arrested the suspects for second-degree assault, then released them pending investigation.
Kalihi man arrested in threat with knife
Police arrested a 20-year-old Kalihi man who allegedly chased his girlfriend down the street with a knife about 7 p.m. Sunday.Police said the couple were arguing in their Kalihi apartment, and the woman, 19, left to let the suspect cool off.
The man got angry that she left and went after her with a knife, threatening to kill her, police said.
Police said the woman hid in a retail store and called police.
Police arrested the suspect for first-degree terroristic threatening.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Methadone suspected in girl's hospital death
Big Island police are investigating the death of a 14-year-old Kau girl who they believe died of a drug overdose this weekend at the Hilo Medical Center.Police said the girl was first admitted into the hospital on July 4, after she was found choking at a Hawaiian Ocean View Estates residence.
She died six days later, on Saturday, after having ingested a quantity of methadone, a drug used to treat heroin addiction.
An autopsy is scheduled today to determine the cause of death.
Injured hiker rescued after plane sees signal
Fire crews rescued an injured hiker Sunday who had fallen off a 20-foot ledge at Laupahoehoenui near Waimanu Valley on the Big Island two days earlier.The 47-year-old man had injuries to his head, right arm and left ankle.
He was taken to the North Hawaii Hospital in fair condition, said Hawaii County fire Capt. Michael Gahan.
The hunter was traveling with a group of seven others, who stayed with the man after he fell and tried to signal for help from passing aircraft.
"They waved. They used mirrors. One man was waving a red vest," Gahan said.
The hiker slid down a slope and fell off a ledge at about 10 a.m. Friday.
About 8:30 a.m. yesterday, a plane noticed the signals and notified fire officials.
By 12:12 p.m. the man had been airlifted to safety.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
