O'ahu briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
CENTRAL
Suspect called top auto thief
Police on Monday charged Roger Larson with various counts of auto theft and drug offenses.
Larson, 35, was arrested Sunday by Pearl City Crime Reduction Unit officers who say they caught him stripping a stolen car in Pacific Palisades. Police consider him the most wanted auto thief on O'ahu.
An officer said he recognized Larson, who was sitting in gray Plymouth Neon near the rear of the Fastop convenience store.
Larson tried to escape by ramming the stolen Plymouth into the police officer's vehicle, before getting out of the car and running. The stolen car ended up rolling down a driveway into a drainage canal, police said.
The officer said he chased Larson through the Palisades neighborhood before catching him. He is being held in lieu of $61,000 bail.
Chess player to be honored
Robert Lau, a home-school student from Mililani, will be recognized today on the floor of the state House of Representatives for winning the sixth-grade division in the 2002 National K-12 Chess Championships in Atlanta.
Lau has several major tournament wins, including two Hawai'i state titles.
ISLANDWIDE
Oceanic to test power supply
Cable television company Oceanic Time Warner will test its power supply system at 9 a.m. today to make sure damage caused after loss of service Monday is repaired.
Oceanic said its engineers had been working to redesign the power supply to prevent problems.
An electrical surge knocked out a connection to Hawaiian Electric, cutting cable service for about 90 minutes to 250,000 O'ahu customers Monday morning and for a short time again that night. Digital service on Maui and the Big Island also was cut.
The Roadrunner Internet service also was disrupted by the surge, which knocked out Oceanic's power supply and backup generator.
Oceanic engineers expect no disruptions in service during testing.
WINDWARD
Institute blamed for dumping
A state inspection yesterday determined that Oceanic Institute in Makapu'u is discharging overflow sea water into the ocean.
Michael Tsuji, supervisor for the state Department of Health enforcement section, said he did not know whether the research center needed a permit to discharge water.
A complaint by EnviroWatch Inc. triggered the inspection.
Tsuji said the discharge comes from ponds where fish and shrimp are produced.
"From all indications, it's the overflow from the fish and shrimp production," he said. "And they don't use any growth hormones or chemicals."
EnviroWatch also complained that Sea Life Park could be discharging into the ocean, but Tsuji said it was not.
