Hawai'i briefs
Advertiser Staff
HONOLULU
Hawai'i hits 1M vehicles mark
It's official: The number of registered vehicles in Hawai'i tops 1 million.
Statistics released yesterday show that 1,033,845 cars, trucks and motorcycles were registered throughout the Islands by the end of 2003, the first time the million mark has been reached.
The number of vehicles in the state, including trailers, rose 4.3 percent last year, said Dennis Kamimura, Honolulu's licensing chief.
State names drug war chief
Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona has appointed Earline N. Yokoi as the first drug control liaison to oversee Hawai'i's anti-drug efforts.
Yokoi, a criminal justice planning specialist with the state attorney general's office, will work with Aiona.
The new position came in response to a recommendation from Aiona's Hawai'i Drug Control Strategy Summit in September.
UH to install extra security
The University of Hawai'i will install better locks and a new alarm system in its Marine Sciences Building after a rash of break-ins over the holidays.
The building was one of several on the Manoa campus where items from laptops to checkbooks to credit cards were stolen.
LEEWARD
Injuries critical in hit-and-run
A man was critically injured last night when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver and then run over by another vehicle on Farrington Highway near Kea'au Beach Park.
Details of the accident were not available, but police said the man was struck shortly after 9:30 p.m. He was described as between 25 and 30 years old.
The man was taken to the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center in "extremely critical condition," according to Emergency Medical Services personnel. An investigation was under way last night.
Input sought on ogo limu limits
The state will hold a public meeting to discuss the creation of a management area for the taking of ogo limu, at 6:30 p.m. today at the 'Ewa Beach Elementary School multipurpose room, 91-740 Pipipi Road.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources seeks public comment on its proposal, which includes a one-year ban on harvesting ogo limu from 'Ewa Beach and a limit of one pound per person per day thereafter in the months of January, June and December.
The plan could affect small businesses and some commercial limu pickers.
"We are responding to the 'Ewa community's concern that heavy limu harvesting is impacting the resource," said Peter Young, DLNR chairman.
"We are looking at management options for protecting the resource and ensuring a sharing of the resource by community and commercial collectors," he said. Call 587-0092.
