Neighbor Island briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
BIG ISLAND
Policeman wins MADD award
HILO, Hawai'i — Hawai'i County drunken driving enforcement specialist Christopher Gali has won a state-wide award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving for his efforts during 2001.
He is the third successive Big Island policeman to be chosen for the award. He received the award in Honolulu last month.
Last year Robert Hatton was the award recipient; the unit's commander, Samuel Jelsma, won it in 2000.
Gali was cited for making 13 percent of the 835 DUI arrests on the Big Island last year.
Hilo apartment fire being investigated
Fire officials are investigating whether a small fire Sunday night at a Hilo apartment building, forcing the evacuation of tenants, was deliberately set.
Police patrol officers arrived first at 332 Keawe St., an apartment building in which Rosie's Diner also is located.
Officers used portable extinguishers to put out the fire, which was confined to a wall and door of the building, and had the tenants evacuated before the first fire engine company arrived at 10:56 p.m.
Firefighters used a booster line to extinguish smoldering embers and scanned for hot spots, officials said. Damage was estimated at $2,000.
Hawai'i road plan to be discussed
KEALAKEHE, Hawai'i — A public informational meeting on a highway plan for West Hawai'i will begin at 6 p.m. today in the cafeteria at Kealakehe High School.
The meeting, to be conducted by county Deputy Planning Director Roy Takemoto, will focus on an 80-mile loop of roadways from Keahole, near the international airport in Kona, south to Honaunau.
Bicycle and pedestrian needs also will be addressed.
Decal system to aid Big Island police
WAIMEA, Hawai'i — Police have a new program in response to a rash of burglaries at Waimea businesses.
The free Emergency Notification Decal System program will allow patrol officers to quickly notify a business owner in the event of a break-in.
Participating business owners will receive two highly visible, numbered decals to post at the front and back entrances, after providing police with emergency notification information and contact numbers for the store or office's security system.
This information is filed both by decal number and business name at the Police Dispatch Center in Hilo for quick reference should a crime occur.
For more information call Waimea community policing officers Tom Wright or Charles Lindsey at (808) 887-3080.
Police seek help in Kona theft case
KAILUA, Hawai'i — Big Island police are seeking the public's help in solving the theft of 77 tires from Pacific Island Tire in the Old Industrial Area of Kailua, Kona.
The crime occurred between May 17 and 19, when someone took the tires, valued at more than $8,000, from a container behind the business.
Anyone with information should call Kona police officer Tod Bello at (808) 326-4646, the police nonemergency number at (808) 935-3311, or CrimeStoppers at (808) 961-8300 in Hilo or (808) 329-8181 in Kona.
Big Island park expansion OK'd
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation yesterday authorizing an expansion of Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park by nearly 400 acres.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawai'i), matches one introduced by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawai'i) and passed by the Senate last year.
The proposed new acreage would include Ki'ilae village, a 12th century trading center.
Mink's original legislation called for adding up to 805 acres to the park, formerly known as the City of Refuge, but the National Park Service supported a smaller expansion.
Mink said she voted for the smaller acreage so that the $500,000 appropriated for land acquisition could be spent this fiscal year. She urged the park service to study the 400 acres not included in the bill for a possible future addition.
The House bill now advances to the Senate, and if approved there, will require the signature of the president to become law.
