|
Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
|
Schools will field coqui catchers
The Hawaii Island Economic Development Board wants to turn East Hawaii high school students into bounty hunters for noisy coqui frogs.
For two months, high school students, with their parents' consent, will go into their back yards and catch coqui frogs, the organization said yesterday in a news release. Participants include Laupahoehoe, Hilo, Waiakea, Keaau and Pahoa high schools.
Prizes will be given to the student, school and class that bring in the most coqui frogs. The students will compete for Xbox 360s, PlayStation 3s and iPods as first-, second- and third-place awards. For the winning school, cash for Project Graduation or another school fund will be awarded.
The Coqui Frog Working Group will be present at the First International Coqui Conference, Feb. 7-9 in Waikoloa. The conference will include discussions on how winning high schools caught their coquis, the district in which the most coquis were caught and lessons learned from this campaign.
OHA grants approach $6 million
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees has awarded nearly $6 million to programs serving native Hawaiians, including $1.2 million for a transitional housing and vocational education center in Leeward Oahu.
The board granted the $1.2 million award to Kahikolu Ohana Hale o Waianae, OHA officials said in a press release.
Other awards include $500,000 for the state Department of Home Lands' Home Ownership Assistance Program, $500,000 to Goodwill Industries of Hawaii Inc. for the construction of a career and learning center in Kapolei, and $300,000 to Kaiopua Canoe Club for the construction of a canoe halau in Kailua-Kona.
The total for all awards granted Thursday was nearly $6 million, the highest from a single board meeting, according to OHA.
Bill would rein in war profiteers
The U.S. House is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the War Profiteering Prevention Act authored by U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie.
The measure is designed to crack down on corrupt American contractors who perform a variety of services in Iraq for the U.S. government. Abercrombie (D-Urban Honolulu) says they are guilty of kickbacks, bid-rigging, embezzlement and fraudulent overbilling.
He says anti-fraud laws that protect against the waste or theft of U.S. tax dollars in the United States do not apply to American companies overseas. Abercrombie says the Bush administration is spending more than $50 billion on private contractors to provide food, water, gasoline and other supplies and services.
|
Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
|
Husband charged in cane attack
An 88-year-old Honolulu man was charged Thursday with second-degree assault after allegedly hitting his 88-year-old wife multiple times with his walking cane.
Police arrested Wallace P. Yee at 1 a.m. Thursday at his 4955 Maunalani Circle home. He was reportedly in a wheelchair when he was booked at the main station.
Police were called to the Yees' home and discovered his wife, Violet, on the bedroom floor with blood coming from the right side of her head, possibly from her ear, police said in an affidavit. Yee also allegedly struck his wife in the upper right leg, police said.
Violet Yee told officers she was asleep in her bedroom when her husband, unprovoked, came into the room and yelled at her, police said. She told police he hit her more than once but is not sure how many times, police said.
Violet Yee identified the 3-foot black aluminum walking cane, which was lying next to her, as the weapon her husband allegedly used, according to the affidavit. Police took the cane as evidence.
A paramedic told officers Violet Yee suffered from contusions to the back of her right ear and to her right hip as a result of the assault.
Wallace Yee was charged Thursday and released on $25,000 bail.
He was charged and pleaded no contest in 2001 to third-degree negligent homicide involving a Kaimuki car accident.
HONOLULU
Teenager charged in Nuuanu burglary
Authorities charged an 18-year-old man yesterday with burglarizing a Nuuanu home Wednesday, then ramming the residents' occupied car, which blocked the driveway, in his attempt to flee.
Arvin S. Comesario of West Loch Fairways was charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary yesterday and was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
A woman who lives on Kahawalu Drive arrived home Wednesday morning to find a strange car parked in her garage, police said. The woman told police she saw an unknown man loading her belongings into the car, a Honda sedan, police said. When the man saw her, he ran into the garage, called out to someone and fled on foot, police said.
The woman told police another man then came out of the garage, got into the Honda and rammed her vehicle, in which she and her son were sitting, three or four times.
He got out of his car and punched her closed window several times, yelling at her to move, police said. The man then fled on foot and was seen catching the bus at Pali Highway. Police stopped the bus at Jack Lane and arrested Comesario at about 2 p.m. The other suspect has not been located.