Neighbor Island briefs

Advertiser Staff

Marijuana raids net 7,706 plants

BIG ISLAND

HILO, Hawai'i — Police ripped up 7,706 marijuana plants during a five-day series of raids in five Big Island districts that concluded on Friday, vice Lt. Henry Tavares reported yesterday.

The Statewide Marijuana Eradication Task Force joined Big Island police in the raids from Ka'u to Hamakua, netting plants from seedlings to 8 feet. No arrests were made, and police encountered no booby traps. Tavares said the raids, financed in part by federal grants, will continue.

MOLOKA'I

Mediation fails in Moloka'i strike

A meeting with a federal mediator has failed to end a four-week strike by nurses at Molokai General Hospital.

Hospital administrators and representatives of the Hawaii Nurses Association met in Honolulu for more than nine hours Friday with a federal mediator.

The nurses have not had a pay raise for three years, and pay reportedly is the sticking point in the negotiations.

The nurses association says the nurses have been offered a one-time $350 bonus along with 1 percent pay raises in October, next April and in October 2002 if they agree to extend the contract through April 2003.

Executive Director Nancy McGuckin has said nurses objected because they would have to put off for almost two years discussions about what they consider to be critical concerns — staffing, scheduling and patient safety issues.

Five of the hospital's six registered nurses went on strike May 12.

The 30-bed hospital, the only acute care clinic and emergency room on Molokai, is operated by Honolulu-based Queen's Health Systems.