Neighbor Island briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
KAUA'I
Swimmer arrested while making snack
LIHU'E, Hawai'i — A Kaua'i man who tried unsuccessfully to swim to Ni'ihau this month was arrested and charged with burglary after police discovered him fixing himself a midnight snack at a Hanalei coffee store.
A police officer found Matthew Davidson, 27, standing in the kitchen of the Java Kai Roasting Co. store after responding to the store's alarm at about 12:45 a.m. Tuesday.
He was preparing a whole wheat bagel with butter and papaya. Davidson also had taken a 32-ounce container of yogurt, police said.
When the officer asked Davidson what he was doing, he responded, "I'm hungry," Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Roland Talon said Thursday after Davidson's preliminary hearing.
Davidson, who called off a second attempt at the 20-mile swim to Ni'ihau last week, was charged with second-degree burglary and fourth-degree theft yesterday, Talon said.
He was returned to Kaua'i Community Correctional Center in Wailua, where he is being held on $1,000 bail. An arraignment was set for July 10.
BIG ISLAND
Firefighters going to Sierra Nevada
VOLCANO, Hawai'i — Forty national park firefighters from Hawai'i and American Samoa will leave today to help fight the 17,000-acre Martis Fire east of Truckee, Calif., in the Sierra Nevada.
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is among seven Hawai'i national park units contributing personnel, said Jack Minassian, fire management officer at Volcanoes.
Minassian noted that some areas of the Volcanoes park are in "extreme fire danger status," and said the park will retain firefighters necessary to respond to emergencies.
MAUI
Faulkes Telescope clears hurdle
The Faulkes Telescope will not have a significant impact on the environment atop Haleakala, according to a finding published yesterday by the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.
The conclusion, reached following the public comment period for the project's final environmental assessment document, represents another step in the approval process for a telescope billed as the largest anywhere dedicated to education.
The $10 million project, a joint venture involving the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy and the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust, now needs only a conservation district use permit from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.
A BLNR public hearing on the project will be held at 6 p.m. July 12 in the Laulima Executive Classroom at Maui Community College.
