Posted on: Friday, August 27, 2004
HAWAI'I BRIEFS
Two indicted in separate collisions
Advertiser Staff
HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island grand jury indicted two men this week in the deaths of two people in separate pedestrian-vehicle collisions last year.
Alvin Medeiros, 27, was charged with first-degree negligent homicide after allegedly hitting Steven Estevan-Vargas with a 1996 Honda Civic sedan on April 4, 2003.
The indictment alleges that Medeiros was operating the car "in a negligent manner" while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Estevan-Vargas, 57, died the next day.
Witnesses told police the Honda had been traveling at a high rate of speed at the intersection of Kino'ole and Kukuau streets in Hilo in rainy weather. Estevan-Vargas appeared not to have been in a crosswalk when he was struck, police said.
Also indicted was Douglas C. Cooper, 48, accused of causing the death of Johnelle Alfonso, 55, in an April 29, 2003, pedestrian-vehicle collision near Tex Drive In and Restaurant in Honoka'a.
Cooper, of Kalopa, was charged with first-degree negligent homicide and driving with a suspended or revoked license.
Police said Alfonso was walking on the mauka side of the highway at about 2:30 a.m. and was struck by a Hilo-bound vehicle allegedly driven by Cooper.
Big Island police have arrested an 18-year-old man involved in a head-on collision last week that killed two people, and police have reclassified the collision from a negligent homicide case to a manslaughter investigation.
Stanley Keliiholokai, 18, of Volcano, was being held in the Hilo police cellblock pending further investigation.
Police said that on Aug. 19, Keliiholokai was driving a white Mitsubishi four-door sedan toward Hilo on Volcano Highway when he attempted to pass several vehicles in a no-passing zone and his car collided head-on with a two-door sedan driven by Rogelio Manahan.
Keliiholokai's front-seat passenger, Clinton Kaleiwahea, 31, of Volcano, and Manahan's wife and front-seat passenger, Jeannette E. Manahan, 53, of Elmhurst, N.Y., were killed in the crash.
Police are looking for a man who pointed a handgun at a woman and forced his way into a Kahala home yesterday.
The woman told police she was visiting her boyfriend when there was a knock on the door at about 12:15 p.m. When she answered the door a man pointed a gun equipped with a silencer at her and demanded "weed," police said.
The man went into the home, but fled after he was told there was no marijuana in the house, police said. No one was injured in the incident.
The O'ahu grand jury yesterday indicted Honolulu architect Kurt Mitchell on two misdemeanor counts of donating illegal campaign contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign in 1999.
Mitchell is accused of giving two $1,000 bonuses to employees who would then contribute money to the campaign, according to city deputy prosecutor Randal Lee.
Mitchell is charged with two misdemeanors that each carry up to a year in jail. He could not be reached for comment.
The indictment is one of a series related to an investigation by the city prosecutor's office into campaign donations.
Harris has not been charged with wrongdoing, and his lawyer repeatedly has said that the mayor has never solicited or knowingly accepted illegal donations.
The state will take part in the national "You Drink & Drive. You Lose" campaign to crack down on drunken driving.
The campaign begins today and runs through Sept. 12 and will focus on the problem of alcohol-related traffic deaths during the Labor Day holiday period. So far this year, there have been 72 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in Hawai'i.
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Bali Hai Villas Limited Partnership has agreed to pay a $15,000 fine to the Environmental Protection Agency for Clean Water Act violations in the construction of its residential project at Princeville.
The EPA had cited the firm in January 2004 for not having proper silt-control fences, not preventing muddy stormwater from the project from reaching the ocean and other violations.
The agency said the company has since implemented acceptable pollution controls for stormwater.
"Any stormwater discharges from construction projects must have pollution controls in place to protect aquatic and marine resources and habitat," said Alexis Strauss, water programs director for the EPA's Pacific Southwest region.
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The county's Lihu'e Sunshine Market, a farmers' market normally held Friday afternoons at the Vidinha Stadium parking lot, will not be held today because the lot is the site of the county Farm Bureau Fair.
The Sunshine Market will resume Sept. 3. For more information, call Bill Spitz at the county Office of Economic Development at 241-6390.
KAILUA, Kona, Hawai'i — West Hawai'i residents can learn more about two major infrastructure projects that will affect traffic on Kuakini Highway at a meeting Tuesday.
Officials with the county Department of Water Supply and the Department of Public Works will convene the meeting at 6 p.m. in the Kealakehe Intermediate School cafeteria.
Work is expected to start in November on a $21 million project to widen the highway to two lanes in each direction, with left-turn and bicycle lanes. The 18-month job will include installation of gutters, sidewalks, curb ramps, landscaping and a synchronized traffic signal system, said county Deputy Managing Director Pete Hendricks.
The road improvements will extend from Palani Road to Hualalai Road.
Hendricks said a single lane of traffic in both directions will be kept open during the construction. When completed, the improvements "will be a really nice signature and make a big difference in the village," he said.
In a separate $2 million project, the water department will extend a 16-inch waterline from Hualalai Road, along Kuakini Highway, to Nakukui Drive. That work is slated to begin in April, Hendricks said.
Alumni and community members seeking to preserve and revitalize the old Maui High School in Hamakuapoko will hold a rally at 9 a.m. tomorrow, one week after the historic school's main building was burned by arsonists.
The 1921 mission-style concrete administration and classroom building, designed by renowned Hawai'i architect Charles W. Dickey, was in deplorable shape after years of neglect and vandalism when the Community Work Day program adopted it as a cleanup sites last year and the Friends of Old Maui High School was formed to protect and preserve the structure.
Although the fire destroyed the original wood floor and classroom partitions in the north wing, it also burned the debris and invasive trees that community members were working to clean up, said Jan Dapitan, executive director of Community Work Day.
For more information on the rally, or to volunteer to help, call the Friends of Old Maui High School at 877-2524.
Bishop Museum will use a $445,521 National Science Foundation grant to upgrade digital records of its immense entomology collection, expanding the amount of information available worldwide through the Internet.
The museum's collections include 76,000 specimens of flies and 104,000 beetles. Information will be entered into a database for three years at a rate of 60,000 specimens per year by a group of technicians, curators and volunteers.
"Conservation initiatives under way in Hawai'i to protect threatened and endangered species require access to information quickly, accurately and with regard to an array of locations. We believe that sound decision-making processes can only occur if one has accurate and readily accessible information," said Neal Evenhuis, the museum's chairman of natural sciences.
The 24th annual Greek Festival will be held from noon to 9 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday at McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Beach Park.
The event will feature live Greek music, dancing and authentic food.
Admission is $3. The festival is sponsored by the Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral.
For more information, call 521-7220.
The Kapa'a Quarry Road cleanup and Kawainui Marsh community stewardship workday set for tomorrow has been postponed because of weather concerns and now is scheduled for Sept. 25, said Shannon Wood, project coordinator.
The coordinators were concerned about possible rain, but the delay will allow time to complete off-road cleanup, Wood said.
The state is offering grants to help communities take a proactive stance in wildland fire protection.
The money is available through the National Fire Plan and may be used for the removal of dead trees and brush, fire-prevention and education programs, and homeowner and community action.
Last year, $248,000 in grants was used to help rural communities in west Hawai'i and south Maui, according to Peter Young, chairman of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Congress provided $1.9 billion in 2003 for the National Fire Plan, which included $21 million in financial assistance to the western states through the USDA Forest Service State and Private programs.
The focus of these programs is to decrease the risk to homeowners and communities.
For grant applications, call Wayne Ching at 587-4173 or e-mail him at Wayne.F.Ching@hawaii.gov.
Applications also are available online at www.dofaw.net.
Volcano man held in fatal car crash
Police search for Kahala intruder
Architect indicted in campaign probe
State participates in DUI campaign
Kaua'i developer to pay EPA fine
No farm market at Vidinha today
Kona projects to affect traffic
Old Maui High rally tomorrow
Grant to upgrade museum records
Greek Festival at McCoy Pavilion
Quarry, marsh work postponed
Fire-prevention grants available
