Lingle visits
7 Hawaii girls
in Utah lockup

SALT LAKE CITY » Gov. Linda Lingle wrapped up a four-day trip to the mainland yesterday with a visit to a Utah detention center where seven girls from Hawaii are being housed for two months.

It was the last stop for Lingle on a mainland trip that also included several campaign stops for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Lingle had said she wanted to go to the Salt Lake Valley Detention Center to see how the girls were doing and to check out the facility.

The girls from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility were sent to Utah two weeks ago to relieve overcrowding at the Kailua lockup while some buildings are being renovated.

State officials are also trying to further reduce the population at HYCF before the girls' scheduled return on Nov. 28.