Neighbor Island briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
KAUA'I
Mayor-elect names top aide
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Mayor-elect Bryan Baptiste has selected a veteran telephone company executive as his administrative assistant.
Baptiste said yesterday that Gary Heu will take the No. 2 post, leaving his job as Kaua'i island manager for Verizon Hawai'i. Heu, 46, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the University of Colorado-Boulder, has bachelor's degrees in psychology and therapeutic recreation. He serves on the Kaua'i Planning Commission and the board of the Kaua'i Community College Fund.
Baptiste said Heu has not been actively involved in politics and his "strengths complement mine, so together we will create a balanced team."
The new administration takes office Dec. 2.
Baptiste has named a five-member panel to make recommendations on other cabinet-level positions.
Baptiste is looking for applicants for county attorney, county engineer, finance director, fire chief and director of the Offices of Community Assistance.
Applicants may call Baptiste's headquarters at (808) 632-0743; write to him at P.O. Box 125, Hanama'ulu, HI 96715; or send an e-mail to baptistehq@hawaiian.net.
Council seat to stay vacant
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The County Council will not select a successor to finish the term of new state Sen. Gary Hooser (D-Kaua'i-Ni'ihau), County Council Chairman Ron Kouchi said yesterday.
Hooser's council seat automatically became vacant on his election to the Senate. The county charter gives the council 30 days to fill a vacancy, but the newly elected council will take office Dec. 2, well within the 30-day period.
"Given applicable public notification requirements, there would be little reason to appoint an interim successor within this abbreviated time frame," Kouchi said.
BIG ISLAND
Hawaiian activists fined $100 each
HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island judge has fined three Hawaiian activists $100 each for obstructing government operations in a long-running dispute with the Hawai'i County Department of Water Supply.
Harold Jim, Samson Brown and Patrick Kahawaiola'a were convicted of the misdemeanor in a jury trial earlier this year. Two others — Norman McComber Sr. and Richard Kela Sr. — were acquitted in the same case.
Judge Riki May Amano's sentence, delivered Thursday but made available yesterday, included a year of probation.
The men were accused of interfering with a water crew seeking to disconnect a water line in Keaukaha last year because of nonpayment for service.
Kahawaiola'a, popularly known as the "Mayor of Keaukaha" and president of the Hawaiian Homes' community association, argued the defendants are exempt from county water fees under the federal Hawaiian Home Lands Act of 1920.
Gemini telescope to be renamed
Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea on the Big Island today will name its North Telescope in memory of Fred Gillett, a pioneer in infrared astronomy.
Gillett, who died in April 2001, worked on the design and construction of the twin 8-meter Gemini telescopes, which are designed to operate in the infrared spectrum.
Gemini South is at Cerro Pachon in central Chile. The pair cover both hemispheres of the sky, using thin mirrors to collect and focus optical and infrared radiation from space.
Pickpocket sought on Big Island
Big Island police are seeking a man who pickpocketed a 91-year-old woman Sunday at the Waimea Post Office in South Kohala.
The woman told police that she was at the post office about 1:20 p.m. when she was approached by a man who greeted her with an "aloha" and kissed her on the cheek. After he left, she noticed that her wallet had been taken from her purse, police said.
The man was described as 6 feet tall and about 200 pounds. He wore a dark colored shirt and pants and a dark colored baseball cap worn backwards.
Anyone with information is asked to call (808) 935-3311.
