O'ahu briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
HONOLULU
Liquor panel re-elects chair
The Honolulu Liquor Commission voted unanimously last week to re-elect John P. Spierling to serve a fourth one-year term as chairman.
Commissioners Clyde Eugenio and Chu Lan Kwock also were voted to one-year terms as co-vice chairmen.
The five-member commission, which oversees city liquor laws, holds public meetings at Pacific Park Plaza, 711 Kapi'olani Blvd., Suite 600.
Aloha Harvest seeks freezers
Got an old refrigerator or freezer taking up space that you could use for something else? Aloha Harvest is looking for working refrigerators and freezers to give to local social service agencies helping to feed the hungry and homeless.
Aloha Harvest is a nonprofit company that picks up good leftover food and delivers it to 76 agencies around O'ahu. Those agencies need adequate storage for perishable food.
"The social service agencies receiving food from Aloha Harvest were providing an average of 6,366 meals daily before the events on Sept. 11," said Aloha Harvest President Helen Palit. "We know that the need for more food and more adequate storage has increased."
Call Aloha Harvest at 537-6945. The company will coordinate the pickup of your refrigerator or freezer and the processing of a tax-deductible receipt.
Snorkeler dies off Ala Moana
A 64-year-old tourist from San Francisco was pronounced dead at Straub Hospital yesterday after he was pulled from the water off Ala Moana Beach.
Just after noon, a surfer alerted lifeguards of a man floating face down in waist-deep water off the beach park's tennis courts.
Lifeguard Capt. Paul Merino said the man, who was wearing swim goggles and fins, was brought to shore, where a lifeguard and the man's brother tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him. He was taken to Straub Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:40 p.m. The man's brother said he had recently undergone open-heart surgery, according to Merino.
Motorcyclist dies after Halawa crash
A 22-year-old man was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle in Halawa yesterday morning.
Traffic officials said the man was traveling south on Halawa Heights Road near Ka'akau Place around 6:20 a.m. when he braked and his Yamaha motorcycle slid into a guard rail. The rider, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown head first into a nearby parked car.
He suffered critical head injuries and was taken to Pali Momi Hospital, where he died soon after.
Speed was a possible factor in the accident, officials said.
Work along H-1 to close sections
The Department of Transportation is advising drivers that sections of the H-1 Freeway will be closed for work tomorrow and Friday.
There will be intermittent closures of the Pi'ikoi Street eastbound on-ramp and to one lane of the Punahou Street off-ramp from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. for guardrail, traffic signal and road work.
Utility work also will close one lane of Wai'alae Avenue from 'Ekaha Avenue to 17th Avenue from 9 a.m-3 p.m.
The department said there may also be additional lane, ramp or shoulder closures between the Koko Head and Pali overpasses. Drivers should anticipate delays and allow extra travel time.
Woman pleads innocent in gunfight
A 27-year-old woman has pleaded innocent to the unlawful possession of a shotgun used by her husband in a shootout with police. Bernadette Laa also pleaded innocent last week to driving a stolen van involved in a chase that ended with Levi Esperas wounding two police officers April 17.
Esperas, 27, died in the gunfight with police after officers stopped the van on the H-2 freeway near Waipio Gentry.
Police said they chased the van containing Esperas, Laa and Jesse Ani, 28, from Waipahu to an area near the Ka Uka Boulevard exit just before the shooting. Ani was charged with auto theft.
Police said Esperas was the ringleader of a group that stole new vehicles from an interisland barge company's storage yard.
