Posted on: Monday, July 19, 2004
Hawai'i briefs
Advertiser Staff
CENTRAL O'AHU
'Aiea library set for repairs
The 'Aiea Public Library will close its hexagonal reading room area July 26-31 to replace the skylight's glass.
The library will remain open during regular hours for limited library services and for passport processing.
Borrowing will be limited to books and audiovisual materials that have been returned, and new books recently added to the library's collection.
HONOLULU
Man arrested in assault with bat
A 34-year-old man was arrested after hitting his apartment manager several times with a baseball bat after the manager tried to break up a fight between the man and a woman, police said.
At 11:40 p.m. Saturday the apartment manager of a complex on Smith Street saw the man screaming at a woman tenant. The manager said he pushed the man after he tried to lunge at the woman. The man went into his apartment, got a bat, and whacked the manager several times on the wrist and body before the manager wrestled him to the ground, police said.
The man was arrested. The manager, 51, was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in good condition.
St. Andrew's gets new leader
Marilyn Matsunaga took over Friday as new head of school for St. Andrew's Priory School. Matsunaga succeeds Caroline Ward Oda, who had been head of school since 2001.
"Marilyn impressed us with her creative strategic thinking, great intelligence, passion for working with a variety of people, strong organizational skills and remarkable energy," said Dew-Anne Langcaon , chairwoman of the search committee.
Before taking the Priory job, Matsunaga owned Belief Consulting, a healthcare development and consulting firm.
She is a graduate of Hilo High School and received her bachelor's degree and MBA from the University of Denver.
$50,000 fine paid in zoning dispute
Former City Councilman John Henry Felix said he has paid a $49,500 fine over zoning code violations stemming from a commercial wedding business operated out of his East O'ahu home.
"I thought it was excessive, but I went ahead and paid it anyway," Felix said. "You can't fight city hall."
The city's land use ordinance prohibits commercial weddings in residential districts. Felix, who was on the City Council at the time, was ordered to stop performing weddings out of his 'Aina-Haina home in October 1999.
In October 2002, Judge Eden Hifo ruled that wedding businesses are allowed in residential districts if they are home occupations. She found that Felix's operation did not qualify because the employees did not live under one roof, but in two separate dwellings on the property.
Felix connected the two structures to address Hifo's ruling. The city said he had accrued $98,800 in fines.
The two sides agreed to the lesser amount in November, and the Zoning Board of Appeals accepted the agreement in March.
Felix still operates the business but is no longer in violation.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Man indicted in fatal car crash
A Big Island man has been indicted for negligent homicide in connection with the death of a 30-year-old Kurtistown man in a car crash on Dec. 6, 2002.
Eric J. Dayanan, 25, was headed north on Hawai'i Belt Road in the Kapapala area of Ka'u when the pickup truck he was driving ran onto the right shoulder of the road, according to police reports.
As the driver tried to regain control of the vehicle, he veered back onto the road, crossed the center line and ran off the left shoulder of the road and into a fence, police said.
Garrison Dayanan, of Kurtistown, was ejected from the bed of the truck, and died of his injuries on Dec. 15, 2002. Front-seat passenger Kaleo Balgas, 26, was also injured in the crash.
