O'ahu briefs
Advertiser Staff
LEEWARD
Board rejects landfill plan
The Wai'anae Neighborhood Board is opposing expansion of the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill near Kahe Point.
This week the board voted 14-2, with two abstentions, against the expansion. Board Chairwoman Cynthia Rezentes said the community has been against it "from the beginning."
The city Department of Environmental Services is seeking permits to expand the landfill to 60.5 acres to provide more space for garbage until 2017.
Wai'anae residents believed the landfill would shut down when it reached capacity. It is expected to reach its capacity sometime next year.
Rezentes said the community feels "a sense of betrayal."
The board understands the need to have a landfill, she said.
"The question becomes one of when are we going to get a break," she said.
"The city has not done adequate planning for an eventual closure of the landfill and is making expansion the only alternative," Rezentes said.
The city has scheduled a July 16 public meeting in Kapolei to discuss the landfill expansion plans.
EAST HONOLULU
Felix to speak at GOP meet
City Councilman John Henry Felix will be at the Republican Party of Hawai'i's 15th and 16th representative districts meeting at 8 a.m. tomorrow at the Kuapa Isle Clubhouse on 'Opihikao Place.
Felix will speak on Mayor Jeremy Harris' legacy, and Bob McDermott, a U.S. House candidate for District 2, will speak about why he's running.
For more information call 395-3765.
HONOLULU
Fund-drive goal $13.6 million
Aloha United Way has announced a goal of $13.6 million for the 2001 general campaign, slightly higher than the $13.5 million raised last year.
"It's a stretch goal, given the slight downturn in our economy and anticipated reduction in employment, but we're optimistic about getting more people and companies involved this year," said Gary Slovin, AUW's 2001 campaign chair and an attorney with Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel.
The 2001 campaign will run from Aug. 30 to Oct. 12. The money will help support 65 health and human services agencies on O'ahu.
Tax preparer sent to prison
An O'ahu tax man who prepared false state income tax returns by claiming Hawai'i is a foreign country and overstating his clients' itemized deductions was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison.
Richard J. Basuel of RB Tax Service also was given five years of probation and fined $30,000 when sentenced by Circuit Judge Rey Graulty, said state Tax Director Marie Okamura.
Basuel pleaded no contest in April to six counts. He faced up to three years in prison and a fine of $100,000.
Three other people charged in the case — Richard J. Basuel II, Dina Caleda and Rosalinda DeGuzman — are awaiting trial after pleading innocent.
Basuel claimed his clients were eligible for the foreign earned income credit because he says Hawai'i is not a part of the United States.
Okamura said the foreign earned income credit is good only if the taxpayer lived in a foreign country for 330 consecutive days in a calendar year.
Housing fire damages unit
No one was hurt in a second-floor apartment fire at the Kamehameha IV public housing complex yesterday morning, a fire official said.
Three fire companies responded to the 9:53 a.m. alarm at 2318 D Kalaunu St. and had the fire under control at 9:58 a.m., said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Richard Soo.
The fire started in a hallway closet outside the bedroom and it appeared that no one was home at the time of the fire, Soo said.
The fire damaged the hallway area and damage estimates are pending, Soo said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
