Hawai'i briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
O'AHU
LEEWARD
Family fun day at Ko Olina
The Polynesian Voyaging Society will sponsor a free family fun day from 10 a.m to 5 p.m. today at the Ko Olina Resort & Marina lagoon No. 4.
The event will include live entertainment, games, and craft and food booths. Interactive educational activities and exhibits are planned for children, and visitors can tour the Hokule'a and Hawai'iloa voyaging canoes and talk with crew members.
The event, which is part of the society's "Ho'oilina Mau — Enduring Legacy" program, coincides with the annual Skippy Kamakawiwo'ole Men's International Canoe Race, which will finish at the marina between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m.
Between 50 and 60 nine-member crews are expected to participate in the race, which begins outside Maunalua Bay near Hawai'i Kai.
Parking for both events is available at Ko Olina for $3 per vehicle. A free shuttle will take visitors to the sites.
WINDWARD
Project helps Kane'ohe kids
A Kane'ohe preschool has benefited from a construction project organized by the Kahalu'u Lions Club, which built furniture for the school and gave it $10,000 the club earned through a Weinberg Foundation program.
Under the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation program the Lions Club agreed to perform a community project and the foundation agreed to donate $10,000 to a separate needy organization selected by the Lions.
The Kane'ohe Community Family Center's Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters received the money and benefited by the construction project at St. John's By The Sea, where the school meets twice a month to give the children a chance to socialize, said Cynthia Okazaki coordinator at the center.
Some 30 members of several Windward Lions Clubs made improvements at the church, including solving some drainage problems and building a cover for a heater. They also built child-size tables, bookshelves and easels.
The $10,000 will be used to purchase play equipment and a computer, which will be used by families at Ko'olau Village.
Poster contest for parade set
Organizers of the Kane'ohe Christmas parade will conduct a poster contest in conjunction with the Dec. 1 parade..
Using the theme "Christmas In Kane'ohe" to create a poster, children in kindergarten to grade 12 can enter the contest. Application and information forms have been distributed to the area's public schools.
The grand prize winner, whose art will be part of the official parade poster, will be selected from one of four first-place winners in categories kindergarten to grade 3, grades 4-6, grades 7-8 and grades 9-12.
Entry deadline to the Kane'ohe Business Group contest is Oct. 12.
Children attending private schools in Kaneohe should have their teachers call Shannon Wood at 263-6001 for applications.
HONOLULU
UH offers test sessions
A free strategy session will be offered at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa next week for students planning to take the GMAT, GRE, MCAT (for medical school) or LSAT (for law school).
The sessions for all the exams are sponsored by the Princeton Review and the Office of Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity at UH.
Sessions for the GMAT and GRE will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19, at Manoa's Student Service Center.
Sessions for the MCAT and LSAT will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m., also at the Student Service Center.
Reservations are recommended; call 947-5988 or e-mail info.hawaii@review.com.
CENTRAL
Artists sought for gateway
The 'Aiea/Pearl City Vision Team has budgeted $150,000 to build a sculpture to be used as a gateway piece into Pearl City at Moanalua Road near Ho'omalu Street and the city is looking for artists to design and fabricate the piece.
The city Commission on Culture and the Arts is seeking proposals to create a bronze grouping of three life-size figures, one adult and two children, that evoke the feeling of water.
The vision team has also funded an similar project at the entry to 'Aiea depicting an agricultural theme and an artist for that project will be sought next year.
Artists must submit their qualifications and a conceptual approach to the project by Nov. 16 to: the Mayor's Office of Culture and the Arts, 530 S. King St. room 404, Honolulu 96813.
For more information, call Peter Radulovic at 527-5449.
Bank robbery suspect in custody
A man suspected of being the Black Beard Bandit was arrested by police and federal agents yesterday after a bank robbery in Waipahu.
Glen Y. Yonamine, 36, of Waipahu, is being held on state charges of first-degree robbery, according to information released by Daniel Dzwilewski, special agent in charge of the FBI's Honolulu Division.
Federal charges of bank robbery are pending. Once charged, Yonamine will be arraigned tomorrow before a U.S. magistrate.
Yonamine was apprehended about 3:30 p.m. in his car at the corner of Farrington Highway and Leoku Street in Waipahu, said Special Agent Pamela McCullough, Honolulu Division spokeswoman.
The arrest was made three hours after a 12:30 p.m. robbery at the Central Pacific Bank in Waipahu.
The robber, wearing a ski mask and using a handgun, ordered bank occupants to lie on the floor, removed an undisclosed amount of money from teller drawers, agents said.
Officials said Yonamine is believed to be responsible for nine bank robberies attributed to the Black Beard Bandit, named for fake black whiskers worn by the robber.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
BIG ISLAND
Waimea man dies in diving accident
HILO, Hawai'i — A 19-year-old Waimea man is thought to have drowned yesterday afternoon after sustaining a head injury at Pi'ihonua Falls in Hilo, according to Big Island police and firefighters.
Firefighters said the man, who was swimming with friends shortly after noon, dived into the river and failed to surface.
His friends pulled him out and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The man was unresponsive.
Police said emergency workers took the man to Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 12:58 p.m.
The man's identity is being withheld until positive identification can be made, police said.
