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Case leads delegation on visit to Middle East

U.S. Rep. Ed Case said yesterday that he will be co-leading a five-member delegation of congressmen to the Middle East.

Case said in a news release issued by his Washington office that specifics of the delegation's itinerary are not being released for security reasons.

However, the Hawaii Democrat said the group's principal mission will be to visit Iraq, with stops in Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt.

Case said he will visit troops from Hawaii, including the 29th Brigade Combat Team, to see how they are doing and to find out what they need. He said he visited the team's 2,000 soldiers last January in Fort Polk, La., to check on their training and equipment.

"I've also scheduled the first of my next round of 'Talk Story' community meetings in Iraq so I can bring a little of Hawaii and my congressional office right to where they are," he said.

Case is to be accompanied on the trip by Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind.; Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.; Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas; and Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn.

College information offered at UH event

High school students and their parents are invited to GEAR UP Hawaii's Taste of College Event on Sept. 10 at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, featuring admission and financial aid workshops, campus tours, food and entertainment -- all for free.

The event runs from 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., with live entertainment by Kapena and family. Participants can enter to win prizes provided by KCCN, including a Sony PSP.

GEAR UP, which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, aims to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared for college.

The registration deadline is Thursday, and space is limited. To register, download a registration form at gearup.hawaii.edu or call 956-3879. Students must attend with an adult.

Businessman accused of federal tax fraud

A Honolulu man is accused of falsely representing tax benefits to customers to boost sales of his solar energy systems, federal prosecutors say.

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the federal court here to bar James Scott Sparkman, who does business as Mercury Solar, Hawaii Environmental Holdings and the Power Change Co. LLC from marketing these alleged tax schemes.

The alleged schemes include falsely advising customers to take energy tax credits and deductions that they are not entitled to.

"People who sell tax scams enrich themselves at the expense of their customers," said Eileen O'Connor, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Tax Division, in a statement.

Sparkman denied violating any Internal Revenue Service codes and said he does not believe there is anything illegal in how he markets his solar systems.

"I use the same tax code that all my competitors use, and why I'm being singled out is a mystery," he said.

His marketing program is based on rulings obtained from the state Tax Department and information from IRS attorneys, he said.

According to the lawsuit filed Thursday, Sparkman has marketed at least two allegedly illegal tax schemes since 1994, resulting in an estimated $2.5 million tax loss to the federal treasury. More than 2,000 customers purchased or participated in these schemes, the suit said.

Sparkman said he has been in business for 26 years and has helped many families with solar systems.

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Taking notice

» The Hawaii Branch of the Arthritis Foundation has received a $75,000 grant from Amgen for medical education. Rowen Young, branch chairman, said, "We are delighted to partner with Amgen in providing patient education and services to the people of Hawaii." An estimated 189,000 Hawaii residents have arthritis, the leading cause of work disability in the nation, according to the Arthritis Foundation.

The foundation's mission is to provide support and education for residents and health-care leaders in management of arthritis and to raise funds for research to find treatments and a cure for the disease.

» Two Kalihi-Palama Health Center leaders are among 81 graduates of the Johnson & Johnson/UCLA Health Care Executive Program. May Akamine, executive director of the center, and Darrin Sato, behavioral health and social services director, attended the two-week program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, one of the country's leading graduate business schools.

The program was developed by Johnson & Johnson, the Health Resources and Services Administration and UCLA in 2002 to help community-based health-care organizations meet increased challenges in health care and the rising cost of providing medical services.

» Jason Fung, 18, of Honolulu has received a President's Volunteer Service Award from the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. As part of the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program, Fung organized 30 people to refinish the exterior of the woodwork building at the Honolulu Waldorf High School, where he is a student.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

LEEWARD OAHU

2 small brush fires doused in Makua

Firefighters put out two small brush fires in the Makua area yesterday.

Both fires were reported about 7 a.m. One was on the mauka side of Farrington Highway near Makua Cave. The other was on the beach about a quarter-mile away. Fire officials said both fires were less than half an acre each and were extinguished quickly.

EAST OAHU

Charges follow teen's claims of sex assault

Police charged a Hawaii Kai man with sexually assaulting a juvenile male over a period of several years.

Christopher Chung, 42, was initially arrested on Friday under suspicion of six counts of first-degree sexual assault and 11 counts of third-degree sexual assault. He was charged Saturday with one first-degree sexual assault and was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Police said the 14-year-old male victim told them he had been sexually assaulted by the suspect for a period of four years.

HONOLULU

Man reports gunpoint robbery in Chinatown

A 40-year-old man said he was robbed at gunpoint Sunday night while walking in Chinatown.

Police said the victim was walking along Maunakea Street at about 8:20 p.m. when he was approached by a man who asked him for directions. The victim said the suspect made small talk with him, then pushed him up against a wall and took out a black revolver and demanded his wallet.

The victim gave the suspect his wallet, and the suspect fled. Police said the victim did not report the robbery until two hours later when he went to Straub Hospital.

Kitchen fire damages Kalihi noodle factory

Fire caused about $55,000 damage to the commercial kitchen area of Crown Noodles factory, 749 Kopke St. in Kalihi.

Capt. Emmit Kane said the cause of the 5 p.m. fire yesterday is under investigation.

No injuries were reported.

Bicycle loses to car in 'road rage' incident

Police were looking for two women who allegedly struck a bicycle rider with their vehicle Sunday in Kapahulu.

The victim, a 46-year-old man, told police he was riding his bicycle on a side street off Kapahulu Avenue when he got into a road-rage type of incident with the driver and passenger of a vehicle on the same road at 5:15 p.m.

Police said the victim and suspects exchanged words when the suspect vehicle collided with the victim and his bike, causing him to fall on the ground. The suspect suffered minor scrapes from the fall, and the suspects fled the scene.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Kauai woman found dead in Hanalei Bay

A 72-year-old Kauai woman was found floating face down in Hanalei Bay fronting the Princeville Hotel about 11:30 a.m. yesterday, an apparent drowning victim.

The woman, identified as Jeannine Law of Princeville, was pulled out by guests of the hotel. They immediately applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but Law was blue and unresponsive, Kauai officials said.

Firefighters continued CPR until paramedics arrived and determined that the victim could not be revived.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials said that Law is likely the fifth drowning victim on Kauai this year. There were 11 drownings on the Garden Isle in 2004.

Fifth suspect charged in robbery at Hilo falls

Big Island police have arrested and charged a fifth suspect sought in a July 25 robbery of four visitors at a popular Rainbow Falls in Hilo.

On Friday, police arrested 18-year-old Stephen J. Whitney of Hilo.

Acting on a CrimeStoppers tip, detectives conducted surveillance at "Ice Pond," a Hilo swim site popular with local youths.

Whitney was approached and apprehended. He was in the company of three other individuals who were also arrested in an unrelated drug investigation.

Whitney was later charged with three counts of second-degree robbery and three counts of second-degree theft. He is being held in the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $90,000.

"This is another example of the success of the CrimeStoppers program," said Lt. Randall Medeiros, head of the East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Section.

Four other male suspects, two of them juveniles, have been arrested and charged in the Rainbow Falls robbery.