Hawai'i briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
HONOLULU
Highway work may slow traffic
Lighting improvement work on a section of Kamehameha Highway where it merges with Moanalua Freeway begins today and may affect traffic, transportation officials said.
The work will be in the Honolulu-bound lanes between McGrew Loop and Aloha Stadium. A single lane may be closed from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The work is expected to be completed by Friday.
HPD officers saddling up
After nearly a two-year hiatus, the Honolulu Police Department is preparing to bring back officers on horseback.
HPD's Mounted Unit is set to return to duty in two months. It will be used for crowd control, and will patrol parks, high crime areas and Aloha Stadium's parking lot during games.
The unit began as a pilot program in 1999 and folded two years later. It was reactivated as a permanent unit last March.
Sgt. Debbie Wilson, the unit's supervisor, said horses are an important crime prevention tool because they give officers added mobility and high visibility.
Disabled permit hours shortened
Starting today, applications at satellite city halls for a disabled persons parking permit or renewal must be completed by 3 p.m. rather then by the end of business hours.
The shortened hours will allow the state-operated database to be taken off-line for routine work. For more information, call 586-8121.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
New mayor calls off purchase
The Maui County Council has been informed that new Mayor Alan Arakawa has no plans to purchase the former Kress Building.
David DeLeon, Arakawa's executive assistant, said the mayor did not support former Mayor James Apana's $3.3 million purchase of the building for use by the Department of Water Supply.
No one briefed Arakawa on the Dec. 20 purchase, DeLeon said.
The issue was referred to the council's Government Relations Committee.
Arakawa has several concerns about the deal, including the fact that the department would make such a large purchase from its budget only days before it was to be placed under the county administration, DeLeon said.
Motorist safe after plunge
A Kaua'i woman rescued nine hours after her car plunged off Waimea Canyon Road and landed in a tree was reported in fair condition yesterday at The Queen's Medical Center on O'ahu.
No one saw the 42-year-old Po'ipu woman go over; the site is not one where people normally stop as a lookout point on the canyon.
Two firefighters rappelled to the tree and secured the car to prevent it from falling further before stabilizing the patient. A helicopter airlifted her to Kaua'i Veterans Memorial Hospital. She was later transferred to Queen's.
