Honolulu Star-Bulletin News /2005/02/03/

PELE'S FINGERS

ANN KALBER / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
Two dozen fingers of lava poured over a 30-foot sea cliff on a remote part of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park coast yesterday. The vigorous streams on the eastern side of the flow field began Monday and were expected to continue today, fed by two rivers of lava that join at the shore.

Sewage spill closes part of Kalanianaole

Town-bound traffic from Hawaii Kai was slowed yesterday as two lanes of Kalanianaole Highway at Niu Valley were closed by a sewage spill.

A sewer main broke at 7:30 a.m. near the Niu Valley Wastewater Pumping Station at 5712 Kalanianaole Highway, and untreated sewage spilled from the 16-inch pipe until 9:15 a.m., when the flow was diverted.

City crews used tanker trucks to remove sewage and put it into a nearby sewage line that was intact, the city reported. Before the bypass was begun, a little more than 2,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled into a storm drain that leads to the ocean.

6 community colleges are on warning status

Six of the seven community colleges in the University of Hawaii system have been placed on warning status, UH officials said yesterday.

The status is the mildest form of sanction levied by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Community Colleges and Junior Colleges, the officials said.

Kauai, Leeward, Honolulu, Kapiolani, Maui and Windward community colleges were sanctioned, while the commission required Hawaii Community College to submit a progress report by April 1. All seven were accredited in 2000 for a six-year period, and the accreditation status continues during the warning period, the school said.

University Interim President David McClain said the commission indicated UH needs to do a better job of assessment and program review. The school must also use the feedback from the findings for strategic, academic and budget planning, he said.

H-1 westbound lanes closed for roadwork

The westbound lanes on H-1 will be closed between the Likelike offramp (Exit 20-A) and the Middle Street overpass from 9 p.m. today until 4:30 a.m. Friday.

The state Department of Transportation is closing the lanes to install overhead signs and for pavement reconstruction work. Motorists are advised to take Nimitz Highway or Dillingham Boulevard.

TAKING NOTICE

» The Honolulu Association of Insurance Women has announced the winners of its essay contest on the consequences of drinking and driving. The contest was for students in grades nine through 12 in public schools.

Winners are Vanessa Pascual, ninth grade, Moanalua High School; Joe Carothers, ninth grade, Moanalua High School, second place; Ty Yasuda, ninth grade, Moanalua High School, third place; Arantxa Jan Medina, ninth grade, Campbell High School, fourth place.

» Cecelia Sheridan, a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has received a research fellowship from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. One of 124 students chosen from across the country, she is researching "temporal change in plankton community function at the Hawaii Ocean Time-series Station ALOHA."

» The State Justice Institute awarded Circuit Judges Collette Garibaldi and Barbara Richardson $650 scholarships to attend a "Managing Cases Involving Persons with Mental Disabilities" course this past fall in Reno, Nev.

» Patricia Blanchette, professor and chairwoman of the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is one of 10 in the nation to receive the 2005 Parker J. Palmer "Courage to Teach" award. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education annually honors residency and fellowship program directors for their dedication to teaching physicians in training.

Blanchette is also founder of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship program at UH. She is a past recipient of the UH Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award from UH-Manoa and Leeward Community College.

Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin staff

HONOLULU

Man says he was shot in Moanalua

A 39-year-old man told police that someone had walked up to him and shot him in the right forearm early yesterday in Moanalua.

The victim took himself to the Kaiser Moanalua Medical Center for treatment. Police said the shooting occurred before 3:39 a.m. near Ala Kapuna Street and Moanalua Frontage Road.

The suspect is described as a man between 20 and 25 years old. Police are investigating the case as an attempted murder.

LEEWARD OAHU

Arrest made in 2004 assault over slippers

Police arrested a juvenile male for allegedly beating up another boy and taking his slippers in Ewa Beach last year.

Police said that on Nov. 5 the suspect confronted the victim while outside a convenience store and demanded his slippers. When the victim refused, the suspect reached down to grab them, and the victim moved away, police said.

The suspect then assaulted the victim, according to police. A store employee intervened and the suspect fled.

Police arrested the suspect this week for suspicion of second-degree robbery.

WINDWARD OAHU

Pedestrian hit by car is in critical shape

A 44-year-old man was in critical condition after being struck by a car while crossing Kalanianaole Highway in Kailua on Tuesday night.

Police said he was not in a crosswalk when he was hit at 10:17 p.m. near the intersection of Kalanianaole Highway and Auloa Road by a vehicle driven by a 27-year-old man.