O'ahu briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
CENTRAL
Crash victim's name released
The Army has released the name of a man killed in a one-car crash Friday in Waialua.
Spc. Jose E. Lopez, 24, of Davie, Fla., was killed when his 1997 Honda Civic struck a utility pole. Lopez was taken to the Queen's Medical Center, where he died.
Lopez was an infantryman assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry, 3rd Brigade at Schofield Barracks.
Police said Lopez was wearing a seat belt, but the air bags in his car did not deploy because the crash impact was from the side. Police believe speed was a factor in the crash.
LEEWARD
Group files suit for charter
Backers of a charter school plan in Wai'anae have gone to court to obtain a charter under the New Century Charter Schools program.
Ka Waihona O Ka Na'auao Public Charter School filed the suit last week in Circuit Court, claiming a 60-day period to review its application passed without questions being raised, so the school is entitled to a charter.
The complaint names Gov. Ben Cayetano, School Superintendent Paul LeMahieu and the Board of Education as defendants.
According to the lawsuit, the Board of Education has 60 days to review an implementation plan and must grant the charter unless the board finds that it conflicts with state law.
The school says it filed its implementation plan on Nov. 16, and the 60-day review period expired on Jan. 15. But a March 1 letter from Cayetano maintains that the 60-day period refers to 60 working days, meaning a Feb. 12 response to the plan from the Department of Education met the deadline.
On Feb. 12, the Department of Education said it was returning the proposed school's implementation plan because officials had questions about curriculum and instruction, assessing student performance, accountability, governance, the administrative framework, the plan for selecting students, and facilities.
Gun-wielding card player held
A name-calling incident during a family card game escalated into an alleged confrontation yesterday in Waipahu.
Police said a 62-year-old man was playing cards with his relatives at 5:30 p.m. on Nali'i Street when someone called him crazy. The man left and returned with a handgun.
His cousin, worried someone might get hurt, took the handgun. The man was arrested on suspicion of firearm offenses.
Cleanup seeks volunteers
Nani 'O Wai'anae, a volunteer organization dedicated to picking up litter on O'ahu, is looking for site coordinators for the Great American Clean-Up Day event April 28.
Katy Kok, volunteer executive director of the O'ahu affiliate of Keep America Beautiful Inc., said 20 sites have been selected, and more could be added with enough volunteers.
Kok said site coordinators can be either a person or a group willing to sign people up, and hand out trash bags and work gloves. Supplies will be provided, she said.
Kok is hoping to gather 5,000 workers in a mass effort to clean public areas.
The cleanups will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon at parks, beaches, schools, churches, roads and neighborhoods from Wai'anae to the North Shore and from Hawai'i Kai and Waikiki.
For more information, call 696-1920.
WINDWARD
Water policy discussion
The Punalu'u Community Association, in cooperation with the Hawai'i La'ieikawai Association, is presenting a workshop to discuss water policy for O'ahu from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Punalu'u. The workshop is by invitation only.
Man charged in nude burglary
A man who was wanted after he showed up half-naked in a Hau'ula home last month has been charged with first-degree burglary.
Melvin K. Wills, 35, had been sought since March 2 when police said a man broke into a Pu'uowa'a Street home. A woman told police that she awoke around 3:45 a.m. and saw a man standing nude from the waist down in her bedroom.
The suspect asked the woman if she smoked, police said. The woman swore at the man, who apologized and then fled.
Details of Wills' arrest were not available. But CrimeStoppers Det. Letha DeCaires said Wills was in custody at O'ahu Community Correctional Center when he was indicted by an O'ahu grand jury on the burglary charge March 30.
