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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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North Shore high surf expected
Civil defense volunteers will be monitoring the North Shore for potentially dangerous high surf tonight through tomorrow morning.
The National Weather Service issued a high-surf advisory last night for the North and West shores. Wave faces were predicted to be 20 to 25 feet on the North Shore and 15 feet on western shores.
Peter Hirai, plans and operations officer for the city Department of Emergency Services, said the volunteers will be monitoring spots where the surf can wash over Kamehameha Highway. "Any time we have high surf, we do ask people to be cautious of it, especially visitors," Hirai said.
He said people should stay out of the water and far away from the shoreline where rogue waves could sweep someone out to sea.
High surf could also bring large crowds and heavy traffic to the North Shore.
Another series of swells is expected to keep surf near warning levels through Thursday.
Kahoano pleads no contest
Hawaii entertainer James "Kimo" Kahoano Jr. has pleaded no contest to driving while intoxicated and fleeing the scene of an accident.
Kahoano, 59, co-host of the TV show "Hawaii Stars," entered his pleas Thursday in Kaneohe District Court.
District Judge David Lo fined Kahoano $200 for leaving the scene and $500 for driving while highly intoxicated under a new law that went into effect this year. A highly intoxicated driver has a level of alcohol in his system of 0.15 or higher.
Lo also ordered Kahoano to undergo 14 hours of substance abuse rehabilitation and education classes.
Under the new law, he is subject to a six-month driver's license suspension.
Kahoano was pulled over and arrested Oct. 30 at a 7-Eleven store in Waimanalo. He apparently had been involved earlier in a minor traffic incident with another car at Oneawa and Kihapai streets in Kailua and fled.
Police said Kahoano had backed out of a parking lot and into the street, striking another man's car before fleeing.
Kahoano could not be reached for comment.
Bomb detonation to close road
The Department of Transportation will close Farrington Highway for two hours Monday while the Army detonates a recently discovered 250-pound bomb and other ordnance on the Makua Military Reservation.
The department will close Farrington Highway in both directions of the Makua Military Reservation between 8 and 10 a.m.
The Army explosive ordnance disposal units will detonate the fused World War II-era, 250-pound bomb, an 81 mm mortar round and a 106 mm anti-tank round. The Army will establish a 5-mile perimeter around the blast zone to ensure public safety.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Car fatality had high blood alcohol
HILO » A Big Island driver who was one of five people killed in a three-car crash in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park last year had more than three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, the park announced yesterday.
Samuel Hanry Furtado, 55, of Volcano was killed on Nov. 10, 2006, when his Kau-bound Porsche sport utility vehicle crossed the center line of Highway 11 and hit an oncoming car. A second oncoming car was also involved.
Furtado had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.27 compared with the legal limit of 0.08. The park did not explain why it took more than a year to release the findings.
Besides Furtado, four other people died. Passengers Loretta Kae Rafferty, 46, and Lucia Clearwater, 60 , both of Volcano, died in Furtado's car. Furtado hit a Chrysler rental car, killing the two occupants, Candice Shonah Chisholm, 32, and Owen Lloyd Romaine, 33, both of Vancouver, Canada.
In the second oncoming car, a Chevrolet, driver Antony Gross, 37, of Keaau was taken to the Queen's Medical Center for treatment. His passenger, Daniel Roland Fisher, 43, of Volcano, was not injured.
CENTRAL OAHU
Live line blamed in fatal van fire
Fire officials confirmed that a downed live electrical line caused the van fire in Whitmore Village Wednesday in which a man was critically injured and later died.
Capt. Terry Seelig, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman, said yesterday that an investigator concluded that "the electrical line contacted the van and was the source of ignition of combustible materials that were either part of the van or were contents of the van."
Eugenio Fernandez, 66, of Wahiawa died Wednesday night at Straub Clinic & Hospital from smoke inhalation and thermal burns due to the fire and electrocution. He was in the Toyota minivan parked next to 1142 Aheahe Ave. when the 7,200-volt power line fell and struck the van.
HECO determined that a corroded metal internal component within the ceramic insulator was a contributing factor to the failure of the insulator, a spokesman said. "The insulator broke, which caused the line to fall," said spokesman Darren Pai.
Troy Pace, who attempted to rescue Fernandez, suffered internal and external electrical burns. He remains at Straub in serious but stable condition.
WAIKIKI
Cashier's headlock holds alleged thief
A video store cashier in Waikiki caught a thief by putting him in a headlock, according to police.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, the cashier was on a break smoking a cigarette when he heard his cash register open.
Police said a 20-year-old man took $491 from the register and tried to leave. The cashier tried to stop the suspect by placing him in a headlock, police said. The suspect dropped the money and begged the cashier to release him, but he did not let go until officers arrived, police said. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of second-degree theft.
Police say fake pot spurs robbery
Police arrested a 34-year-old Makiki man early Thursday for allegedly robbing a 19-year-old man who had allegedly sold him fake marijuana.
Police said the older man had bought what he thought was marijuana in Waikiki. He discovered it was fake and returned to the area where he made the purchase and confronted the seller, police said. When the younger man denied selling him any drugs, the buyer pulled out a ninja throwing star and demanded his money back, police said.
Police responded and arrested the buyer at 2301 Kuhio Ave. on suspicion of first-degree robbery.