O'ahu briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
HONOLULU
New Year's Eve crash fatal to woman
Honolulu police said yesterday that a woman critically injured in a New Year's Eve H-1 Freeway accident near the Punahou offramp died Friday night in the intensive care unit at The Queen's Medical Center.
The 60-year-old woman was injured, according to police, when the van she was driving attempted to change lanes and collided with a 1989 Toyota van and overturned on the evening of Dec. 31.
The injured woman apparently panicked when she noticed a car in the lane she was attempting to move into. She was taken to Queen's where she was listed in critical condition.
Steel schooner towed off reef
The Coast Guard was investigating the grounding Friday of an 87-foot steel schooner on the reef about half a mile off Diamond Head.
No injuries were reported among the five people aboard the Sea Pearl, Petty Officer Lauren Smith said.
The Coast Guard cutter Walnut stood by while a commercial salvage tug towed the Sea Pearl off the reef.
The vessel was then inspected by divers from the commercial tug.
A boarding team from the Walnut conducted a post-search and rescue boarding to ensure Sea Pearl crew members were safe, Smith said.
Lane closures on H-1 corridor
O'ahu motorists are being advised of lane closures along the H-1 Freeway corridor tomorrow through Friday.
One lane of the Punahou Street off-ramp from the H-1 will be closed from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for work on guardrails, traffic signals and the roadway. During this time, the Pi'ikoi Street eastbound on-ramp to the H-1 may be closed.
Also, one lane of Wai'alae Avenue from Ekaha Avenue to 17th Avenue will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for utility work.
WINDWARD
Tile muralist featured on TV
Kailua tile muralist Robert Vogland, 36, will be featured on the Home and Garden channel in its "Modern Masters" program, which he has been told will be shown at 10:30 p.m. today and 1:30 a.m. tomorrow.
Vogland, who has created about 1,000 designs in 16 years, including the Kailua Town sign and murals at Sheraton Waikiki, shapes and fires his own tile from raw clay.
Home and Garden chose him for "Modern Masters" because he creates his designs from scratch, including shaping the tiles, glazing them and supervising the installation, Vogland said.
The program will show his turtle designs, which he said have improved since 1995 when he decided he was no longer a businessman but an artist. The turtles appear to be floating in the water.
"I'm not trying to put a design on the bottom of a pool," Vogland said. "I'm trying to make it look like your design is floating in your pool."
Vogland also creates dolphins and whales, orchards and hibiscus, and some abstract works on Maui and on the Mainland.
Puppy search leads to fall
A 55-year-old Punalu'u man was knocked unconscious for several hours when he fell from a 30-foot cliff while searching for a lost puppy, police said.
The man was rescued early Friday morning when police went to a trail behind a home at 53-594 Kamehameha Highway after neighbors heard him calling for help.
He told police he fell from cliff after going up the trail about 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
The man was treated at Kahuku Hospital for a broken left arm, broken right hand, bruises and scrapes.
Police said the puppy wasn't found.
