Hawai'i briefs
Advertiser Staff
HONOLULU
Union to vote on Gas Co. offer
Unionized workers of The Gas Co. will vote sometime this week on the company's latest contract offer, Teamsters president Mel Kahele said yesterday.
A 21-hour contract negotiating session ended at 7 a.m. yesterday with the company's "best and final" offer.
If the members of Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 reject the offer, contract talks will resume, Kahele said in a written statement.
The Gas Co.'s final offer includes a 45-cent increase in hourly wages in each of the next five years and a written promise of no layoffs for the next five years.
The previous contract expired at midnight Friday, but both sides agreed to an extension.
Campaign probe targets wife
The wife of a Honolulu engineering executive has been charged with making illegal campaign donations to Mayor Jeremy Harris.
A complaint filed by city prosecutors in District Court says Lori Okamoto exceeded the $44,000 contribution limit and gave money to the Harris campaign under false names.
The charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail.
Okamoto's husband, Gary Okamoto, heads local engineering firm Wilson Okamoto & Associates Inc. He was fined $44,500 by the state Campaign Spending Commission last October for funneling illegal political donations to the Harris campaign.
The commission alleges that the couple gave more than $29,000 in illegal political donations to the Harris campaign through friends.
The commission also said the couple gave $22,800 in false-name contributions to the campaign of former Gov. Ben Cayetano and $14,000 to the campaign of former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono.
WINDWARD
Fund-raiser sells use of 'imu
Kailua High School's Polynesian Voyaging Program will build an 'imu as part of its cultural and environmental education program, and invites the public to use it.
Food drop-off will be between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. on May 21, across from the high school's ROTC building. The cost for the fund-raiser is $10 for a large aluminum tray or baking pan. Food must be thawed, seasoned and wrapped in foil.
Mail-in orders must be received by May 14. One check per order should be sent to Kailua High School, Attn: Todd Hendricks, 451 Ulumanu Drive, Kailua, HI 96734. Include a phone number. For more information, call Hendricks at 728-7389.
Councilwoman planning return
Windward Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said she expects to return to office next week after surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. She has been away from City Hall since April 21.
Marshall was diagnosed with endometrial cancer four days after she was elected in 2002. The cancer was successfully removed.
Marshall represents council District 3, including Waimanalo, Kailua and most of Kane'ohe.
Correction: A previous version of these briefs incorrectly stated the drop-off time for Kailua High School's Polynesian Voyaging Program's fund-raiser.
