Newswatch Star-Bulletin staff and wire service

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Lava sighting means eruption is back

HILO » Lava was spotted deep inside Puu Oo crater yesterday, apparently signaling the end of the 13-day pause in the East Rift eruption of Kilauea Volcano.

Helicopter tour flights reported seeing lava more than 300 feet deep inside the crater, and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists saw it with a remote camera in the afternoon.

The bottom of the crater is now at least 330 feet deeper than before the brief outbreak of lava four miles to the west on June 19, the observatory said.

"The lava flowed eastward and ponded near the crater center. Loud gas-jetting noises could be heard associated with the spattering on the crater floor," officials said.

Even before the lava was seen, instruments hinted something was happening. Seismic tremors increased slightly overnight, the observatory said. Also picking up signals was an array of infrasound detectors, instruments that can register low-pitched rumbling.

Flowing lava was last seen in the general area when lava stopped draining into the ocean at Poupou from an underground tube on June 20.

After a similar pause in 1997, lava returned to Puu Oo in 23 days and continued the rest of the distance to the sea a few weeks after that, the observatory said.

Chaplain with state ties dies in Oregon

A former Honolulu hospital chaplain died in a traffic accident in Oregon.

On Sunday, searchers found the bodies of the Rev. David Schwartz, 52, and Cheryl Gibbs, 61, in the wreckage of his car 60 miles west of Portland, according to news reports. The car was in a ditch hidden by brush.

Schwartz was a Jesuit priest working at the Loyola Institute for Spirituality in Orange, Calif. He spent one year in Hawaii as a chaplain at St. Francis Hospital, leaving in 1997.

The search had been under way since June 18 when Gibbs failed to return to work at the Alameda County, Calif., coroner's office. Several members of Schwartz's family participated in the search for the pair, whom they identified as close friends and traveling companions for years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Schwartz and Gibbs began a planned five-state driving trip on May 17 in Las Vegas.

$30K raised for USS Oklahoma shrine

Organizers estimate $30,000 was raised at a concert in Oklahoma City to benefit a memorial for the 429 crewmen who died aboard the USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Oklahoma was second only to the USS Arizona in the number of casualties that occurred during the 1941 attack that plunged the United States into World War II.

A concert headliner was Oklahoma native Anita Bryant, the 1958 Miss Oklahoma and the second runner-up at the 1959 Miss America Pageant.

Five of the estimated 100 surviving crewmen from the battleship attended the nearly two-hour concert Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Although admission was free, concertgoers were asked to contribute to the memorial. About $500,000 still is needed for the memorial, which would be dedicated Dec. 7 on Ford Island at Pearl Harbor.

Fraud convicts have not paid fine

Two individuals convicted of defrauding the city in the Ewa Villages relocation scam have failed to repay a major portion of the $358,000 they agreed to pay back, the city has alleged.

The city filed lawsuits last week against Claude Hebaru and Donna Hashimoto-Abelaye to recover the money they admitted receiving for their role in the $5 million scam. Neither could be reached for comment.

The two owned moving or construction companies that falsely billed the city for work that they allegedly performed to clear businesses from the former Ewa mill site to make way for the Ewa Villages housing project.

Former city housing official Michael Kahapea was later convicted on multiple theft and forgery charges for steering contracts to friends and relatives in exchange for kickbacks.

In 2001, Hashimoto-Abelaye and Hebaru were ordered to serve five years' probation, with Hebaru also ordered to serve six months in jail.

According to the suits filed June 29 in Circuit Court, Hebaru, of Titan Moving and Hauling, agreed to repay $290,168 but repaid $2,025. Hashimoto-Abelaye, of Specialty Pacific Builders, agreed to repay $67,915 but repaid $2,800.

Police, Fire, Courts Star-Bulletin staff

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NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Kauai sedan driver dies after traffic accident

OMAO, Kauai » A Kauai man died yesterday after a head-on collision on Kaumualii Highway, the fourth traffic fatality on the Garden Isle this year.

Clyde Shigematsu was heading west in a Toyota sedan at about 10 a.m. when he was struck by an eastbound Toyota truck.

Shigematsu, 55, of Lawai, had to be extricated from his vehicle and was transported to Wilcox Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the truck, a 57-year-old Kalaheo man, and his passenger were not injured.

Ocean incidents hurt 2 on the Big Island

Big Island firefighters airlifted two men to area hospitals Sunday after they were injured in separate ocean accidents.

In the first incident, a man apparently struck his head on the shallow bottom while diving into the ocean.

Firefighters arrived at Kainaliu Beach in Keauhou at about 11 a.m. to find the man unconscious with a severe head injury and bystanders providing basic first aid.

Eight firefighters helped extricate the man.

About two hours later, a bodysurfer complained of severe neck pain at Maniniowali Park about 10 miles north of Kailua town.

Firefighters arrived at 12:58 p.m. and airlifted the man to Kona Hospital.

WINDWARD OAHU

Copper wire is swiped from Pali electrical box

About $5,000 worth of copper wire was discovered stolen from beneath Pali Highway near the Kaneohe lookout yesterday morning.

At about 8:30 a.m. a state electrician was doing a maintenance check on the Honolulu-bound side of the highway and noticed the missing wire. Police found that a hacksaw was used to open the junction box below the roadway. The streetlights in the area were then disabled, and about 4,000 feet of wire was stolen.

Police are investigating the case. Anyone located could face arrest on suspicion of second-degree theft.

Woman accuses friend of sexual assault

A 44-year-old Kaneohe woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by an acquaintance who stayed at her apartment Saturday night after missing the bus.

The acquaintance, a 30-year-old Honolulu man, asked the woman if he could stay at her apartment after missing the last bus, police said.

The man allegedly sexually assaulted the woman and did not allow her to leave her apartment for several hours.

The woman finally managed to escape and reported the incident to police.

Police found the man and arrested him Sunday on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping.