Hawai'i briefs

Advertiser Staff

HONOLULU

High school fire may be arson

A fire that damaged the principal's office at Farrington High School last night may have been deliberately set, fire officials said.

The fire was reported at 7:16 p.m. in the school's A building, said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Emmit Kane.

The first arriving firefighters found smoke coming from the locked office of Principal Catherine Payne, Kane said.

Firefighters broke into the room and extinguished the fire before it could spread to other parts of the building, Kane said.

Damage was estimated at $20,000 to the building and its contents.

Kane said that a gas can was found nearby and that the fact the fire occurred in the principal's office was suspicious.

A fire investigator was looking into the blaze last night.

Inouye to chair public hearing

The public is invited to a hearing tomorrow chaired by U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.

The 9 a.m. hearing, scheduled in the Kaimuki High School library, will cover several topics, including:

• The Cancer Center of Hawai'i.
• Increasing trained and certified tradesmen and women to meet the demand fueled by privatization of military family housing.
• Recent legislative authority in the Hawai'i 3Rs program to use Native Hawaiian education money to repair public schools with significant numbers of children of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

Those testifying are expected to include U.S. Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case, Gov. Linda Lingle, University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle and Department of Education superintendent Patricia Hamamoto.

O'AHU'S NORTH SHORE

Farrington lane to be closed

One Hale'iwa-bound lane of Farrington Highway in front of Waialua High and Intermediate School will be closed for construction from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily through Friday.

The work will include reconstruction of sidewalks, pavement, curb ramps and catch basin.

The schedule could change because of the concrete workers' strike.

BIG ISLAND

UH-Hilo musical auditions today

Final auditions will be held at 7 p.m. today at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo Theater for "Company," the Stephen Sondheim musical about love and marriage.

"Company" will run on weekends April 2-10 on the theater's main stage. For more information, call professor Jackie Pualani Johnson on the Big Island at (808) 974-7304 or e-mail to pualani@interpac.net.

Wailoa harbor topic of talk

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, will share the conceptual plans for Wailoa small boat harbor capital improvement projects in a meeting today in Hilo. The meeting will be from 5 to 7 p.m. in the State Office Building.