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Veteran journalist joins Kamehameha

Former journalist Ann Botticelli is joining Kamehameha Schools as its vice president of community relations and communications.

Kamehameha officials said yesterday that Botticelli will replace Ray Soon, who is leaving to pursue private consulting work that will include several special projects for Kamehameha.

Botticelli, 45, has spent 22 years in journalism, mostly in Hawaii. She has worked as a reporter for television stations KHON and KITV, and for the Honolulu Advertiser.

At Kamehameha she will oversee the community relations and communications group, which manages public relations, advertising media, design and production, government and community relations for the organization statewide.

From 2002 until 2004, Botticelli worked for the public relations firm Communications Pacific. In September 2004, she served as vice president of communications for the private nonprofit group Child & Family Service.

Seat belt campaign resumes Monday

Motorists and passengers not wearing their seat belts face fines of $92 each as the state Department of Transportation and police resume the "Click it or Ticket" campaign Monday.

State law requires back-seat passengers under 18 and all front-seat passengers to buckle up. Children under 4 years old must ride in a child safety seat.

"Hawaii's seat belt use has jumped from 80 percent to 95 percent over the last five years, thanks to the 'Click it or Ticket' campaign," state Transportation Director Rodney Haraga said. "Buckling up is the single most effective act that drivers can do to protect themselves in a crash."

Hawaii's seat belt usage rate is the second-highest in the nation.

Summer sobriety checkpoints begin

The Honolulu Police Department began conducting periodic, unannounced sobriety checkpoints on Hawaii's roads yesterday.

Their efforts to deter alcohol and drug-impaired drivers will continue through the Labor Day weekend. Additional checkpoints will be set up during holidays and other designated periods.

As of May 18, traffic accidents accounted for 31 deaths, and officials determined that more than a third of the 28 fatal collisions were alcohol- or drug-related.

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» Kristine Duong of Iolani and Troy Hashimoto of King Kekaulike High School on Maui showed great leadership skills and concern for their community to become the Hawaii delegates to the 43rd Annual United States Senate Youth Program in Washington, D.C.

The program, made possible by a grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, also awarded the $5,000 scholarships and the one-week, all-expenses-paid trip this spring for them to learn about the federal government and the political process.

Alternates were Kellie Holliday of Lahainaluna High and Grace Kwan of Aiea High.

» Le Jardin Academy's Cheryl Kapahu, a fourth-grader, won the highest honors in this year's WordMasters Challenge, a national language arts contest entered by over 225,000 students.

Others at the academy who had outstanding results in the contest included third-graders Ashley Kelley, John Bley, Ashlee Grover, Noah Hayashida, Austin Kiyota and Mason Yoshida; and fourth-graders Jasmine Yina, Danny Braun and Travis Cundiff. They were coached by Linda Garbisch and Julie Larson-Hicks.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Woman charged with ID theft

State investigators discovered that a Hilo woman allegedly has been using a dead woman's identity to steal welfare money for more than 20 years.

East Hawaii detectives charged Gabriella Victoria Donnelly, 54, with first-degree theft and first-degree identity theft in the case. She is being held in the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $75,000 bail.

Police said Donnelly, a citizen of Switzerland, had assumed the identity of Karen Johnston, 51, who was killed in a 1977 automobile crash in Idaho.

Since 1983, Donnelly had been illegally receiving welfare benefits amounting to more than $100,000 in services, according to police. She was living in Kauai from 1983 to 1991, then moved to the Big Island and has been living there ever since, police said.

A check by an investigator at the Department of Human Services in Kona discovered that the Social Security number Donnelly had allegedly been using belonged to a dead woman. Police searched Donnelly's condominium and found identification in her name along with birth certificates in Johnston's name.

"She was getting housing assistance, food stamps, medical, the works," said Detective Robert Wagner.

Suspect caught in alleged burglary

Big Island police have arrested a 20-year-old Kona man for allegedly burglarizing a Kailua-Kona restaurant early yesterday.

Police said that about 1 a.m., the suspect, a Kalaoa man, was discovered by Kona patrol officers who were responding to an alarm call at the restaurant on Alii Drive. The suspect escaped police by jumping down to the ground level from the second-floor restaurant and fled toward Kuakini Highway.

Officers pursued the suspect on foot for about a quarter mile. During the chase, a taxicab driver got out of his car and joined the pursuit. The officers apprehended the suspect on Kuakini Highway.

The suspect was being held at the Kona police cellblock pending investigation for burglary, possession of burglary tools, resisting arrest and promoting a dangerous drug. He was also being held on two outstanding bench warrants.

HONOLULU
Police seek ID of thief caught on camera

CrimeStoppers and Honolulu police are asking for help in identifying a man who turned a stolen purse into a home burglary last week.

Police said the suspect stole the victim's purse on May 13 while she was at work at Kuakini Hospital. Inside the purse were the victim's house keys.

About 1:30 p.m. that day, security cameras at the victim's condominium building taped the suspect entering the building elevator and, 10 minutes later, coming out of the elevator. When the victim returned home, she found that an estimated $50,000 worth of jewelry had been stolen, police said.

The suspect is in his 30s, about 6 feet tall and about 200 pounds, police said. On the security tape, he was wearing sunglasses on his head, a gray T-shirt, denim shorts and white athletic shoes.

Anyone with any information on this case is asked to call Detective David Futa at 733-8733 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300. Free calls may be made by dialing *CRIME on a cellular phone.

Boy says he was hurt by mom's boyfriend

Police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly burning his girlfriend's 7-year-old son earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Puuhale Elementary School officials told police that the child had two burns on his right buttock area and that the child said his mother's boyfriend burned him because he was not listening.

Police called Child Protective Services officials, who arrived and took him to Kaiser Medical Center for treatment.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault Thursday.

Man in police custody suspected in robbery

A homeless man was arrested Thursday morning in connection with several robbery and kidnapping cases.

The suspect, 21, was already in custody when police arrested him for an alleged robbery at the Kalihi Shopping Center on Tuesday. About 9:30 p.m. that day, the suspect allegedly had a knife and approached a man who had just gotten money out of an automated teller machine and was sitting in his vehicle.

Police said the suspect took the victim's cash and forced him to get into the passenger seat. Police said the suspect drove the victim around to get more money but the victim fled on foot.

Police later identified the suspect and arrested him on suspicion of first-degree robbery, kidnapping, auto theft and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle.

Fund-raising tickets stolen from halau

Some 1,000 tickets for a kalua pig fund-raiser were stolen this month from a hula halau.

Kaululehuaika'iu Inc. is warning the public that some individuals may be trying to sell the tickets.

The tickets are light blue, business-card-sized, priced at $7 each. They were for redemption at Bob's Bar-B-Q at 1366 Dillingham Blvd. in Kalihi June 1 to 30.

The tickets will not be honored, and the halau has canceled the event intended to raise funds to put on an anniversary event in August.

Anyone who has purchased these tickets or are approached to buy them is asked to call police at 911. For more information, call fund-raising Chairwoman Roxanne Matsuyama at 941-0532.