Hawai'i briefs
Advertiser Staff
Hotel union gives support to Hirono
Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Local 5 yesterday endorsed Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono for governor, praising her for supporting the union as it bargains for new contracts with the major Waikiki hotels.
"Mazie has stood with us from the beginning of our citywide contract negotiations, and she is with us today urging the 'Ilikai Hotel to settle the same contract as the other Waikiki hotels," said Hernando Tan, senior vice president of the union.
Tan said Local 5 "asked Linda Lingle for her support, but she never showed." By contrast, the union said, Hirono marched down Kala-
kaua Avenue with union members and pressed for legislation last year to help workers who were laid off after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Local 5 has 11,000 active members and 3,000 retirees.
Contractors back Lingle on Big Isle
The Hawai'i Island Contractors Association has endorsed Republicans Linda Lingle and James "Duke" Aiona in the upcoming gubernatorial election.
"We are endorsing Linda Lingle and Duke Aiona because we believe they are our best hope for improving the state's economy," said association president Gerald Yamada. "Linda Lingle has pledged that as governor she will take steps to establish business-friendly attitudes and policies."
The association is a professional organization with more than 300 members, including contractors, material supply houses, and others involved in the construction industry on the Big Island.
Autopsy finds no foul play
HILO, Hawai'i — A Honolulu pathologist who conducted an autopsy yesterday on a Florida woman found dead this week on a Kilauea lava field determined that foul play was not involved.
However, Dr. Alvin Omori will not be able to determine the exact cause of death until laboratory tests are done, said Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park ranger Mardie Lane.
Jacqueline Gast, 45, of Fort Myers, a passenger aboard the Norwegian Star cruise ship, went on a bus tour to the volcano Monday morning and apparently collapsed. Her body was discovered by a hiker the next morning about 50 yards from an active lava flow.
