O'ahu briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
WINDWARD
Kailua leader to be honored
The Kailua Chamber of Commerce will be honored by the Honolulu City Council next week as the business organization takes on a new executive director and moves into a new home, offering greater services to the community.
Nancy Slain, outgoing executive director for the chamber, will accept the city's honorary certificate in which she is recognized for helping to double the chamber's membership from 100 to 200 within 18 months.
The chamber unites members of Kailua's business, industrial, residential and military communities in a spirit of mutual cooperation and dedication, said City Councilman John Henry Felix.
The City Council will present the certificate at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Kapolei Hale, 1000 Uluohia St., Room 113.
On that day Pohai Ryan will become the executive director and open the chamber's office at 118 Hekili St.
Ryan, 39, comes with a background of community service and experience. She served on the Kailua Neighborhood Board for four years and was the original owner of the Coconut Grove General Store in Kailua. She comes from the Hawai'i Community Foundation. She is director of the Kamehameha School Alumni Association and served on the Windward Youth Volleyball League.
DOT to clean freeway tunnel
The state Department of Transportation will shut down the H-3 Freeway Kane'ohe-bound tunnel for cleaning this weekend.
The Kane'ohe-bound tunnel will be closed from 7 p.m. tomorrow until 7 a.m. Sunday.
The Halawa-bound lanes will remain open during the cleaning.
Marsh cleanup set tomorrow
Aliamanu teenagers, firefighters and regular Kawai Nui Marsh volunteers will expand and clean the wetland pond and build a trail from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow starting on Kapaa Quarry Road with a traditional chant.
The youths, from The Service Learning Committee of Aliamanu Military Reservation and Schofield Barracks, will work to enlarge the pond with the intention of attracting native wildlife back to the area, said Vincent Mosley, adult adviser.
The pond is overrun with trees, underbrush and shrubbery, choking the water flow and affecting the ecosystem and animals that live there.
Participants will meet on the Kapaa Quarry Road about one mile in from the Kalaniana'ole Highway intersection.
Volunteers are welcome to join the effort sponsored by the Kawai Nui Heritage Foundation and the Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi.
LEEWARD
Highway gets signal system
A lighted crosswalk system at the intersection of Farrington Highway and Alawa Place near Wai'anae High School will be operational by Aug. 1, according to the state Department of Transportation.
The demonstration project is designed to improve pedestrian safety by clearly alerting drivers that people are walking across the street. The system was previously used on the Pali Highway before being replaced by a traffic signal.
Pedestrians activate the flashing signal by pushing the crossing button, but should not assume a car will stop just because the crosswalk device is on, according to the department.
Farrington Highway along the Leeward Coast is considered one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the state, with 12 traffic-related deaths last year, three of which were pedestrians.
Makua protest march planned
The human rights group Refuse & Resist! Hawai'i plans to protest the Army's use of Makua Valley at a march tomorrow.
The group will meet at the Diamond Head entrance of Ala Moana Park at 4 p.m. and march to the Fort DeRussy area. Organizers said they hope to get their message out to residents, tourists and military personnel.
The 25th Infantry Division (Light) used Makua until September 1998, when live-fire training was suspended following a series of fires in the 4,190-acre Wai'anae Coast valley.
The Army on May 15 announced its intention to resume training this month or next, but a lawsuit by community group Malama Makua and a preliminary injunction granted July 16 by U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway stand in the way of those plans.
"While it's good news that the federal court granted the injunction against live-fire training in the valley, we have a long way to go before the military is out, the valley is cleaned up and the people have it back," Refuse & Resist! Hawai'i said.
Army officials yesterday declined to comment on the planned march.
