Hawai'i briefs
Advertiser Staff
'Go North Shore' on special buses
Special buses marked "Hale'iwa Express" will be available for those who will attend Go North Shore Sunset on The Beach festivities today and tomorrow at Ali'i Beach Park in Hale'iwa.
Express Buses will leave from Monsarrat Avenue, across from the zoo in Waikiki, at 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. They will pick up people at all city stops between Waikiki and Ala Moana Center before continuing directly to Hale'iwa.
The buses will return to Ala Moana/Waikiki at 9 p.m., 10 p.m., 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Also, a free North Shore trolley will operate throughout the day beginning at 10:30 a.m. along Kamehameha Highway and on Hale'iwa Main Street.
Free parking will be available for motorists at Hale'iwa Boat Harbor, Hale'iwa Beach Park, Kaiaka Beach Park, Kamehameha Highway next to North Shore Market Place, Waialua's Elementary, Intermediate and High schools, and Waialua District Park.
Nov. 1 trial set in Puna slayings
HILO, Hawai'i — Double-murder suspect John McGovern, 18, appeared for arraignment yesterday in Hilo Circuit Court following his indictment Wednesday on charges he shot two men at their Puna home last month.
Judge Riki May Amano scheduled McGovern's trial for Nov. 1.
McGovern and Kyle Zengy Hill, 19, are accused of each firing a rifle at Cassidy Toole, 20, and Wesley Matheson, 19, at the victims' Anthurium Street home around May 6. A motive for the slayings has not been revealed.
Both suspects have been in custody since shortly after the victims' bodies were discovered by police May 30 in a vacant lot.
Hill's trial has been set for Oct. 21.
The two men are charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and other crimes in connection with the killings.
Fire damages Papa'ikou home
PAPA'IKOU, Hawai'i — Fire caused $173,000 damage yesterday to a two-story home in Papa'ikou.
Fire officials said the fire started in a fluorescent light in the kitchen of a wooden home owned by Steve Camaran that was undergoing repairs.
The alarm came in shortly after 11 a.m. and the fire was out in about 45 minutes, said Capt. Randall Shimooka of the Fire Department.
Manoa Stream cleanup today
Malama o Manoa will help clean a stream and its banks from 9 to 11 a.m. today as part of the city's Adopt-A-Stream program.
The organization had planned to remove trash from Manoa Stream last weekend but was unable to do so because of rain. Malama o Manoa's adopted portion extends from the Woodlawn Drive bridge to the Kahaloa Street bridge.
Volunteers pitch in at least quarterly to remove litter and trash from the stream and its banks. They are asked to meet at the Woodlawn Drive bridge near the Longs Drugs parking lot.
For more information, call George Arizumi at 988-5069 or Eric DeCarlo at 988-5028.
Saddle Road cars forced to turn back
KAUMANA, Hawai'i — The cross-island Saddle Road was closed for more than five hours yesterday after a water truck overturned and toppled a utility pole seven miles outside of Hilo.
The accident occurred at 6:18 a.m., and traffic did not resume until almost noon. Police said truck driver Keli Sensano-Feliciano, 46, was not injured.
No warning of the shutdown was provided to Kona drivers bound for Hilo, and hundreds of vehicles were forced to turn back. Police said warnings signs were not posted because they were initially told the road would be cleared in 90 minutes and no one was sure how long the shutdown would last.
Arson suspect found at hotel
Police investigating an arson case Thursday in Kailua were led to a Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel room where the suspect holed up for five hours before negotiators finally broke down the door early yesterday morning.
The suspect in the case, a 55-year-old 'Ewa Beach woman, was taken to The Queen's Medical Center about 5 a.m. for psychiatric observation, police said. Hospital staff declined to release any information on the case. Police said she has not yet been arrested.
The fire at 223 N. Kainalu Drive, a recently renovated home whose last tenants left two weeks ago, was reported at 2:54 p.m. Thursday. The case was classified yesterday as a second-degree criminal property damage investigation.
The woman is listed in property-tax documents as one of the owners of the house. Police said her most recent residential address is in 'Ewa Beach.
After fleeing the scene, the woman later called a television station and confessed. Police reached her by phone and said she told them she was at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and threatened to jump to her death from her room on the 35th floor of the Tapa Tower.
About two dozen police officers, including a crisis negotiation team, converged on her hotel room before midnight. When negotiations failed, police broke down the door.
HECO blames balloons for outage
Mylar balloons are being blamed for a power outage yesterday afternoon in the Sand Island area.
The power failure was reported at 2:03 p.m. and affected 440 customers in lower-Kalihi and Sand Island. Affected streets included Sand Island Access Road, Pahounui, Libby, Kalihi, Auiki and Silva, said Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Fred Kobashikawa.
A HECO work crew reported that the remains of Mylar balloons were found in power lines on Auiki Street. Workers were able to switch to an alternate circuit and restore power by 2:55 p.m., Kobashikawa said.
"We caution people who give Mylar balloons to think about buying them with weights attached," he said.
