Big Island expands
its courts in S. Kona

KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii » The state Judiciary dedicated a new $260,000 courtroom with related facilities in South Kona yesterday.

Constructed in a vacant bay of a commercial building in Kealakekua makai of Mamalahoa Highway, the courtroom will be used both as the Kona site for the Big Island Drug Court and for other Circuit Court cases in West Hawaii, said Big Island courts Administrator Lester Oshiro.

Creation of the makai site expands the West Hawaii presence of the Circuit Court, which had previously been limited to a single courtroom at a Judiciary building mauka of the highway.

The expansion followed the appointment by Gov. Linda Lingle in January of a new Circuit Court judge for West Hawaii, Elizabeth Ann "Betsy" Strance, who holds court at the mauka site.

Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra will continue the dual role he has played since 2002 as a regular Circuit Court judge and as the judge in charge of the Big Island Drug Court, holding sessions in Kona on Wednesdays and Hilo on Thursdays, said Big Island Drug Court Administrator Warren Kitaoka.

Nonviolent drug offenders may volunteer to have their cases handled by the Drug Court, Kitaoka said. The program involves weekly meetings with Ibarra, twice-weekly drug testing, and participation in a rehabilitation program or regular employment under the judge's supervision, Kitaoka said.

Since 2002 the program has graduated 23 former offenders, and none has been rearrested, he said.