Schofield plans controlled burn

The Army will conduct a controlled burn this week to thin out vegetation on 1,200 to 1,500 acres of Schofield Barracks' West Range Training Area. Weather permitting, the burn could begin today.

Hours of the burn will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The operation may last until Wednesday. The burn area is north of Kolekole and Trimble roads and west of the Maile Terrace, Kolokole Ridge and Hendrickson Heights military housing areas. The burn is intended to decrease the chance of brush fires, limit the spread of invasive plants and ensure availability of training areas to soldiers.

Honolulu

Tanaka named city auditor

The City Council has approved the appointment of a new city auditor. Leslie Tanaka, who has been the deputy under state Auditor Marion Higa since 1995, is the first person named to the position, created under a charter approved by voters last fall.

Tanaka, who was appointed on Wednesday, will begin his term July 1. The Office of Council Services historically has audited both financial and performance functions of the City Council. The auditor will have subpoena powers.

Downtown board re-elects leader

Lynne Matusow was re-elected chairwoman of the Downtown Neighborhood Board during the first meeting of the new board term last week. Other officers for the 2003-04 term are Wendy Lam, vice chairwoman; Thomas Smyth, secretary; and Delores Fees Mollring, treasurer. The board also named Matusow its delegate to the Citizens Advisory Committee of the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization. Board member Karl Rhoads is the alternate.

East Honolulu

Kuli'ou'ou board chooses leaders

Bob Chuck was named chairman of the Kuli'ou'ou/ Kalani Iki Neighborhood Board and Ed Schell was named vice chairman last week. The board also appointed Jack Schneider to represent Wai'alae Iki Ridge and Tony Chun for Wai'alae Iki and Wiliwilinui, areas that had no representation.

Neighbor islands

Property tax will receive scrutiny

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — A new county task force has been charged with reviewing Kaua'i's real property tax structure and recommending changes. Precipitous increases in real estate sales that have raised property values in some parts of the island have generated concerns.

Mayor Bryan Baptiste and the County Council named eight members to a nine-member panel: Dorothy Bekeart, Raymond Chuan, Michael Dyer, Steven Hunt, Steven Nishimura, Arnold Nurock, Roy Oyama and Curtis Tom. The eight selected a ninth member, David Pratt. The tax force coordinator will be Deputy Finance Director Eric Knutzen.

Fire closes highway to North Shore

Traffic crept along the North Shore yesterday as a 50-acre grass fire prompted police to close part of Kamehameha Highway near the Dole Plantation for much of the afternoon.

The fire was reported about 12:30 p.m. and stretched from three-fourths of a mile to a mile along Kamehameha Highway and headed toward 'Opae'ula Valley. No one was hurt and no structures were threatened, Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said.

Forty firefighters from 10 units brought the fire under control at 4:15 p.m., and it was extinguished by 8 p.m. The highway was reopened.

Kamehameha Highway was closed at 12:45 p.m. During the closure police rerouted traffic to and from Hale'iwa on Kaukonahua Road.

"You could still get to the North Shore," Tejada said.

Scuba diver airlifted to hospital

The Coast Guard airlifted a scuba diver suspected of suffering decompression illness out of a boat on the North Shore yesterday afternoon and took him to the hyperbaric chamber at Kuakini Medical Center.

The Coast Guard used a Dolphin HH-65 helicopter to medevac the male diver off a fishing boat sitting one mile off of Mokule'ia, Coast Guard Lt. Felicia Butala said.

The call came in at 1:35 p.m.

Man sues hotel over standoff

A Hilo hotel has been sued by a guest who was taken hostage by a gunman during a standoff with Big Island police.

The Circuit Court suit filed Thursday on behalf Arnold Koss, 51, accused the Hawaii Naniloa Resort of negligence for failing to warn him of any danger or hazard when he checked in.

Koss had just checked in when he was allegedly forced at gunpoint into his room after meeting David Field, 33, in the eighth-floor hallway of the hotel on Feb. 20, police said.

Field was trying to evade police officers trying to arrest him for a probation violation, police said. Koss was held for six hours before Field surrendered to police.