O'ahu briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
HONOLULU
Woman unharmed after kidnapping
Honolulu Police reported an unusual kidnapping Friday in which a masked man in running shoes jumped into a woman's car near Queen Emma Street in broad daylight, forced her to drive him around O'ahu for three hours, then fled — leaving the woman unharmed.
It began at around 4:30 p.m. when the man in a white mask, a light-colored pullover shirt and blue shorts climbed into a 25-year-old woman's car. Three hours later the man simply got out in the Waipahu area and ran off.
The woman drove home and reported the crime. The man was described as about 200 pounds and 5 feet 10 inches tall. Police are investigating.
Confirmation hearing scheduled
Honolulu attorney Richard Clifton is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week for confirmation hearings on his appointment to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Monica Goodling of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington said the hearing before Sen. Maria Cantwell's committee is set for Thursday. Clifton was nominated by President Bush last June.
Frederick W. "Fritz" Rolfing III, nominated in January for a U.S. District Court judgeship in Hawai'i, is waiting for his confirmation hearing to be scheduled.
Rolfing recently received a "highly qualified" rating from the Hawai'i State Bar Association, the highest of its evaluation grades.
Wilder Wells named best water
Water from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply's Wilder Wells on Wilder Avenue near Punahou School beat out all other competitors in the annual "Ono Water Contest" at the Renaissance 'Ilikai Hotel on May 1.
Coming in second behind the Manoa water source were samples taken from the Beretania Pumping Station, which draws water from the Nu'uanu watershed of O'ahu. Water brought in from Anchorage, Alaska, placed third on the list of favorite-tasting waters.
Competing in the taste test were county water resources, including the Kula'imano Deep Well and the Hakalau Iki Spring from the Big Island; 'iao Tunnel and Ha'iku Well from Maui; and the Kilauea and Kalaheo Deep Well from Kaua'i.
The contest was sponsored by the American Water Works Association-Hawai'i Section. Media judges Dave Vinton, Jai Cunningham, Ron Mizutani and John Veneri joined AWWA national president-elect Lyndon B. Stovall at the taste-off.
