Maui ethics panel keeping mum

WAILUKU » The Maui County Board of Ethics won't let the public know the outcome of its review of a complaint against Councilman Wayne Nishiki.

Board attorney Renee Schoen says the board's procedures allow it to review complaints in private.

Schoen says the board decided not to move the complaint to a formal hearing process, which would have led to a formal opinion that would have been public.

The board investigated an allegation from Pukalani resident Michael Covich that Nishiki didn't reveal he had received a $100,000 loan from a development company until three months after a disclosure deadline had passed.

Covich's attorney, Jim Fosbinder, says the board's decision is “;everything that a corrupt government official could want it to be.”;

New law stops some public displays of human bodies

Gov. Linda Lingle has signed into law a measure that prohibits some public displays of dead human bodies.

The law is aimed at shows such as “;Bodies ... The Exhibition,”; which was on display last year at Ala Moana Center, Hawaii's largest shopping mall.

Critics of the exhibition said they worried that the bodies displayed were those of Chinese prisoners.

The law bars the sale or display of dead human bodies, including human bodies or remains that have been plastinated through the use of polymers.

It exempts displays of bodies of people that have been dead for more than 80 years, are tied to a religious ceremony, or are part of a funeral or memorial service or in a museum.

Free dye tablets offered to detect toilet tank leaks

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply is offering to help Oahu residents determine if they are losing water because of plumbing leaks.

Free dye tablets to help discover leaking toilet tanks are being distributed during the annual Detect-a-Leak campaign. Residents may pick them up at satellite city hall branches, City Mill stores and at the Board of Water Supply building at 630 S. Beretania St.

People may also apply for a free BWS home leak check on applications available at those locations and on this Web page: www.boardofwatersupply.com. Tuesday is the deadline to apply. The agency will select 50 entries based on consumption records.

Guidance for conducting a leak inspection is available at the Web page or by calling 748-5041.

About 10 percent of island homes have water leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day, according to a department release.

Big Isle police get $112,700 grant to combat drug sales

Big Island police have received a little more than $112,700 in federal grant money to improve investigations into drug trafficking, including “;ice”; sales.

The money, out of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is to be used to share investigative information among county, state and federal agencies.