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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Meals on Wheels faces cutbacks
Lanakila will have to cut 164 elderly clients from its Meals on Wheels program if it fails to raise $113,159 by the end of the August, said Lanakila Chief Executive Officer Marian Tsuji.
The home delivery service now feeds lunchtime meals to 727 housebound senior citizens. To keep the program running till the end of June (fiscal year 2008), Lanakila has to raise the last third (or $113,159) of its $350,000 budget shortfall, Tsuji said.
Some "hard decisions" will have to be made starting in mid-September until all 164 clients are dropped by December, she said. Each client's circumstances will be re-evaluated, and "we will try to work with people" in arranging for someone else to bring them meals, she said.
Tsuji said she was counting on the governor releasing funds through Senate Bill 1916 that included about $180,000 earmarked for the meals program.
But via a letter, dated July 11, to Sen. Les Ihara and three other legislators, Tsuji learned the governor does not intend to release the funds until her staff further reviews the state budget.
At a July 6 news conference, it was announced Lanakila's fundraising efforts totaled $178,000 since the public was made aware of the shortfall in early June. As of yesterday, Lanakila has raised $236,841, she said.
"People really made a difference," Tsuji added.
CARROL COX / EVIROWATCH INC. More military munitions were found yesterday at a Molokai landfill. CLICK FOR LARGE |
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Ordnance forces landfill closure
WAILUKU » Maui County has closed the landfill in central Molokai for a second time after finding what appears to be military practice ordnance -- the latest yesterday morning.
County spokeswoman Mahina Martin said the landfill will remain closed pending the arrival of an Army explosive ordnance disposal unit and its evaluation.
Martin said Army officials who received photographs of the munitions made an initial assessment that they were harmless and didn't require a visit.
But Martin said the county felt an on-site inspection was prudent and spent several hours getting the Army to reconsider its initial decision.
"We're not going to take that chance. ... We spent a great deal of the day asking for reconsideration of it," she said.
Martin said Army officials agreed to make an on-site inspection but have not set any timetable.
Meanwhile, Martin said the county has confirmed that a trucking company dumped the ordnance in the landfill as refuse as early as 2004.
But Martin said the county has been unable to get a response from trucking officials about the source of the ordnance.
Dozens of munitions, including scrap metal from 2.25-inch practice rockets and 50-pound bombs and 4.5-pound bomblets, were discovered in the landfill July 30.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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Woman dies after fall from truck
WAILUKU » A 43-year-old woman died after falling out of the bed of a pickup truck in central Maui.
Melanie Pray of Kahului was in the bed of the pickup traveling east on Kuihelani Highway shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, when for unknown reasons she fell out and struck the pavement, Maui traffic investigator Nicholas Krau said.
Pray, who was the 15th traffic fatality on Maui this year, was the registered owner of the truck, and someone else was driving at the time of her fall, police said.
Krau said police are investigating whether speed, drugs or alcohol might have contributed to the death.
HONOLULU
Suspect sought in Kalihi robbery
CrimeStoppers and Honolulu police are asking for the public's help in locating a 25-year-old man who allegedly robbed a group of men at gunpoint in Kalihi.
About 10:30 p.m. Thursday, police said, the suspect, Larry Ordinado of Kalihi, and another male entered the carport at the 3000 block of Kalihi Street, pointed a 9 mm handgun at the group and demanded money.
Sgt. Kim Buffett of CrimeStoppers said the other suspect grabbed their money and personal items.
As Ordinado and the suspect were leaving, police said Ordinado fired nine gunshots in the air.
"This is very brazen," Buffett said at a briefing yesterday.
There were no injuries.
The victims remembered the nicknames the suspects used and reported the robbery to police. Police arrested one of the two men last week.
Ordinado, whose nickname is believed to be "Bata," is described as 5-foot-4, 180 pounds with a tattoo on his left shoulder.
Anyone with information on Ordinado is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
LEEWARD OAHU
2 men charged in Waianae assault
Police charged yesterday two men, ages 25 and 28, for allegedly assaulting a Waianae family March 3.
Lopaka W.N. Ceno, 25, of Waianae and Eugene C. Kostro, 28, of Kapalama were each charged with second-degree assault.
Police said the family reported being assaulted on their property by a neighbor and his friend.
Members of the Waianae family who were allegedly assaulted were a 27-year-old man, a 60-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman.
Police arrested Ceno at 10 a.m. yesterday on suspicion of second- and third-degree assault and Kostro on one count of second-degree assault and three counts of third-degree assault.
Bail for Ceno was set at $11,000 and for Kostro at $50,000.