---

UH graduate creates home ec scholarship

A University of Hawaii graduate and former College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources economist has established a student scholarship fund with a $35,000 gift, the UH Foundation reported.

The Mabel Inada Ito Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide scholarships to undergraduate students in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

Ito graduated from UH-Manoa in 1941 with a B.S. in home economics. She served as a home demonstration agent and county extension home economist at CTAHR for more than 30 years.

"We are very grateful to Mrs. Ito for her dedicated service and generous support of the college," said CTAHR Dean Andrew Hashimoto in a news release. "She continues to serve the university as an outstanding role model for the students who will benefit from her scholarship fund."

Ito and her husband, George, live in Kahului, Maui.

Nursing dean finalists take UH-Manoa tour

Three finalists for the position of dean of the University of Hawaii at Manoa's School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene (SONDH) are visiting the campus through the end of the month.

The finalists are:

» Mary G. Boland -- associate dean for community programs and Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Community Nursing, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey School of Nursing.

» Mary Lou de Leon Siantz -- professor and associate dean, special populations, and director, Milagros Center of Excellence in Migrant Health, Georgetown University.

» Beatrice Crofts Yorker -- director and professor, School of Nursing, San Francisco State University.

Additional biographical information about the candidates and search process will be posted on the Web at www.hawaii.edu/executivesearch/sondh. Each of the candidates will visit the Manoa campus for meetings and public presentations beginning this week.

Hawaii NCO confirmed dead in Afghanistan

The Pentagon has confirmed that Sgt. Maj. Barbaralien Banks, a senior food management supervisor with the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, was killed in the April 6 CH-47 Chinook helicopter crash in Ghazni, Afghanistan.

Banks, 41, had been listed as missing until her remains could be identified. Fifteen U.S. service members -- including Schofield Barracks Master Sgt. Edwin A. Matoscolon, 42, of Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, and three civilian contractors died in the accident. A memorial service for the 18 Americans was held Friday at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

---

Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

CENTRAL OAHU
Police charge man in robbery of $30

Police charged a 19-year-old Wahiawa man yesterday with two counts of first-degree robbery for allegedly robbing two men of $30 at gunpoint.

Bail for Shaun Ikona Somera, of Puninoni Street, was set at $25,000.

Police said Somera apparently knew the victims, ages 35 and 39.

They met him Saturday at a Jack in the Box in Mililani and drove to the Mililani Chevron station at about 1:10 a.m., police said.

Then, Somera, who was riding in the back seat, pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and demanded money, police said.

He got away in a waiting car driven by someone else, police said.

He was alone in a car when a patrol officer arrested him about two hours later at California and Cypress avenues in Wahiawa.

Mililani woman robbed at home by 2 intruders

Police were looking for two masked men who are suspects in a home-invasion robbery of a 60-year-old Mililani woman Friday night.

Police said the men forced their way into the victim's home at about 10 p.m. and bound and gagged her.

They then demanded money from her, police said.

The woman told police that one of the men had a handgun.

The suspects got away with an undisclosed amount of cash and the woman's car, which was found later at nearby park.

The woman was not injured. A description of the suspects was not available.

WAIKIKI
Sex assault suspected after blackout in bar

A 43-year-old woman told police she was sexually assaulted by a man in his 30s whom she met at a Waikiki nightclub.

The incident happened between 12:30 and 3:30 a.m. yesterday, police said. The woman said she had a few drinks with the man before apparently blacking out.

Hours later, she came to and found herself driving her car, police said.

She was stopped by a patrol officer for driving under the influence of alcohol when she told police that she believed she had been sexually assaulted.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Woman's body found at bottom of Maui cliff

The body of a woman was found yesterday at the bottom of a cliff near Manawai Place in Haiku, Maui.

Police said the woman appeared to be middle-age. When she was found at about 8:22 a.m., she had already been dead for several hours, police said.

The woman was wearing denim shorts, and police said she had a metal rod in her leg from a past medical procedure.

The cause of her death is under investigation.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Maui police at 244-6400.

LEEWARD OAHU
Missing dogs found 'emaciated' in dry well

Honolulu firefighters rescued two dogs last night from a 30-foot dry well about a quarter-mile makai of Waipahu Elementary School.

Several fire crews, including a rescue team and a hazardous-materials team, were sent to the well down a dark dirt road just before 8 p.m.

Honolulu Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said a man called the Fire Department and reported that the dogs had been missing for about a week.

It was unclear whether the man who called for help owned the dogs or just found them, Tejada said.

A representative of the Hawaiian Humane Society was also called to the scene.

The official, however, was not available for comment.

The conditions of the dogs were not available last night, but fire rescue officials described them as "emaciated" but alive.

Firefighters described one of the dogs as a pit bull and the other as a poi dog.

It was not clear how the dogs got into the well.