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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Marsh educational series to begin
Ahahui Malama i ka Lokahi, the Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club and the Kawai Nui Heritage Foundation will begin their Fall Kawai Nui Marsh Educational Series on Friday with an introductory natural and cultural history tour of Kawainui Marsh.
The tour will be 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A donation of $5 is requested. To register, contact Chuck "Doc" Burrows at 595-3922 or chuckb@hawaii.rr.com.
City auditor receives high marks on audit
City Auditor Les Tanaka and his staff have been audited -- but the review by the Association of Local Government Auditors turned up praise in how the auditor has run operations and conducted audits of the city.
"We commend you and your staff for developing a very solid framework for conducting audits since the office was established in 2003," according to the peer review by the Association of Local Government Auditors.
The review pointed out several pluses:
» City Charter-backed independence
» The audits addressed issues important to city and were done in an understandable way.
» Experienced and well-qualified staff
» Internal procedures "provide effective project management" and "excellent guidance for staff in following government auditing standards."
Auditors Amanda Noble of the City of Atlanta and Bill Greene of the City of Phoenix gave the office verbal suggestions for "more structured responses" from management.
Volcanoes park joins drive for less traffic
PENINSULA, Ohio » Federal officials awarded 42 grants yesterday totaling almost $20 million to reduce traffic in America's national parks and public lands by providing alternative transit including trains, shuttle buses and bicycle trails.
The goal of the Alternative Transportation in the Parks and Public Lands program is to reduce pollution and congestion and preserve parklands and wildlife areas while increasing access for visitors, including the disabled.
The grants, including one for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, were announced inside the scenic 33,000-acre Cuyahoga Valley National Park by Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett and Federal Transit Administrator James Simpson. The officials climbed aboard the park's historic train for a tour after the announcement, which included $898,000 in grants for upgrades to the rail.
The biggest of the grants included $4.7 million to buy rail cars for the Chugach National Forest in Alaska.
Other projects included a traffic study at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
On vacation
June Watanabe is on vacation. "Kokua Line" returns Sept. 6.
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SHINING STARS
HPU honors navigator Nainoa Thompson
Hawaii Pacific University has bestowed its highest accolade, the Fellow of the Pacific Award, on
Nainoa Thompson, navigator and sail master of the voyaging canoe Hokule'a.
The award recognizes his outstanding leadership, research, contributions to higher education, and service and dedication to the community.
The honor was presented at HPU's commencement ceremony, where Thompson delivered the keynote speech.
The board of directors of the recently formed Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. has named Orlando R. Davidson as its new executive director.
Davidson was former vice president for development of Aina Nui Corp., an affiliate of the James Campbell Estate.
The new corporation, created July 1, focuses on the financing and development of affordable housing and is administratively attached to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
American Savings Bank awarded Envision Hawaii $5,000 to support its second annual conference at Kapiolani Community College in June. More than 200 people attended the conference to learn about critical issues facing Hawaii.
Workshop and panel discussion topics included strategic planning, leadership skills and public policy advocacy, land use and sustainability, social enterprise and alternative media.
Aloha United Way has received $30,700 in interest income from an endowment created by the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to help more than 400 agencies that assist seniors, the homeless and at-risk youth.
John J. McHugh Jr. is the newest board member of the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii.
He is co-owner of Crop Care Hawaii LLC, an agricultural consulting business, and also has his own consulting company. He is the secretary-treasurer of the West Oahu Soil and Water conservation district and director of the Oahu Resource Conservation Development Council.
"Shining Stars" runs Sunday through Thursday.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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EAST OAHU
Man arrested after alleged extortion try
A 32-year-old Kalama Valley man is in police custody for allegedly attempting to extort money from a man who worked for his father on a cash basis.
The victim, 37, also from Kalama Valley, said he was asleep inside his residence overnight Sunday when he was awakened by a punch to his face from the suspect. He told police the suspect demanded he go outside, then demanded $200 as payment for "taxes." When he refused, the victim said, the suspect punched and kicked him repeatedly and then fled.
The victim told police he worked for the suspect's father on a cash basis and that he once paid the suspect a $500 tax.
Police located the suspect at his residence and arrested him for extortion, robbery and burglary. He was also arrested on an outstanding $2,000 contempt warrant.
The victim was treated for his injuries at the scene by a city ambulance crew and released.
WEST OAHU
Police repeatedly tried to subdue woman
A Honolulu police officer used pepper spray three times on a 43-year-old Waipahu woman Thursday before firing a single shot at her with his service weapon, but she still refused to drop a meat cleaver and large kitchen knife, according to court documents.
She was waving the weapons at him and another officer, according to documents police submitted in court yesterday.
The shot did not hit the woman. Another officer pushed the woman to the ground and subdued her.
The woman, Thongkham Sinhvongsa, was charged yesterday with terroristic threatening.
Police said the officers went to an apartment parking lot at 94-971 Kahuamoku Street on a report of a woman threatening a man with two knives. When they arrived, the man pointed out the woman was in the parking lot still holding a cleaver and knife.