Posted on: Monday, November 15, 2004
HAWAI'I BRIEFS
No foul play in diving death
Advertiser Staff
A Coast Guardsman pronounced dead after getting into trouble while recreational diving off the Wai'anae Coast was identified yesterday as Petty Officer 1st Class Mark Mueller, 34.
Mueller, who was stationed aboard the Seattle-based icebreaker Polar Star, lost consciousness below the surface Saturday while he and fellow crew members went diving at the wreck of the Mahi, Chief Petty Officer Marsha Delaney said.
Mueller was brought to shore by the dive vessel The Beach and was then transported by ambulance to the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. He was pronounced dead Saturday night after efforts to revive him failed, Delaney said.
An investigation turned up nothing suspicious and the death was ruled an accident, police Lt. Mark Hibbs said.
Mueller, who joined the Coast Guard in 1995, is a native of Schaumburg, Ill.
The 399-foot Polar Star and its crew of 160 set out from Seattle on Nov. 4 on a voyage to Antarctica to open a path in the ice to McMurdo Station, Delaney said. The vessel arrived here Thursday for minor repairs and crew rest, she said.
The Lualualei Lions Club and Kaiser Nanaikeola Clinic in Nanakuli will host a Diabetes Awareness Health Fair from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at 87-2116 Farrington Highway.
The fair will feature officials from area clinics and medical centers. Parking will be provided at Camp Andrew (Huli-Huli chicken site) with a free shuttle to the fair.
For more information, call 696-8137.
The University of Hawai'i-Manoa School of Accountancy has a new technology center, thanks to a donation of more than $180,000 from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The center features modern media equipment, including a plasma TV and wireless Internet access. Moveable furniture will let users simulate an office setting.
"These new and important educational tools enable Hawai'i's students of accounting to hone their skills and become even more competitive in the global market," said Art Tokin, managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Honolulu office.
More than half of the staff of the local Pricewaterhouse-Coopers office are graduates of the UH School of Accountancy, and 10 staff members are UH graduate students in accounting, the firm said.
A 34-year-old decommissioned troop transport ship will be sunk in waters off Kaua'i next week as part of a training exercise for Air Force B-52 bombers from Guam using "smart bombs," officials said.
The exercise is "to demonstrate the bomber's ability to hit a moving target with a JDAM (joint direct attack munition)," a guided air-to-surface weapon, said Capt. David Faggard, Pacific Air Forces spokesman at Hickam Air Force Base.
Such "smart bombs" — which were used in the 1991 Gulf War and in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan — could be used to take out a ship used by a terrorist without harming nearby vessels or facilities, Faggard said.
The B-52s will be operated by crews from Guam and supported by about four F/A-18 jets from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 22, Faggard said.
The 522-foot USS Schenectady is to be towed Sunday from the Navy's mothball fleet at Pearl Harbor, where it has been berthed since 1993, to an undisclosed location near Kaua'i for the exercise.
The Schenectady, which earned four battle stars for service in Vietnam, was commissioned on June 13, 1970, had a crew of 14 officers and 210 enlisted sailors, and could transport 350 troops.
Its home port was San Diego until it was decommissioned on Dec. 15, 1993. It was then transferred to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Pearl Harbor and stricken from the Navy rolls in 2001.
Alliant Credit Union is offering five $1,000 scholarships to PTA members and their family members.
Applicants must also be Alliant Credit Union members in good standing.
Alliant will accept applications through Dec. 31 for scholarships that will be awarded in fall 2005.
For details, visit www.alliantcreditunion.org/pta.
The American Society of Safety Engineers is offering financial support for colleges, universities and other institutions seeking accreditation for their occupational safety, health and environmental programs.
The grants of up to $3,500 are available to schools seeking accreditation for the Applied Science Accreditation Commission/Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology. Schools seeking reaccreditation may be eligible for up to $1,750.
The deadline for the grants is April 30, 2005.
For more information, contact Diane Hurns at (847) 768-3413 or dhurns@asse.org.
Mr. Amazing, The Magician, otherwise known as Stan Ritchie, will perform a free magic show Wednesday at the Waimanalo Public and School Library.
The one-hour show will begin at 6:45 p.m.
The program is suitable for all ages.
For more information, call 259-2610.
A former Maui teacher was sentenced Friday to three years in a federal prison for possessing child pornography.
Dane Kaneshina, 29, pleaded guilty in federal court in June to possessing tens of thousands of pornographic images of children downloaded over the Internet.
Two computers at Kaneshina's home contained about 34,000 images, with most showing children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, prosecutors said. Federal agents also found about 100 images on two computers Kaneshina has used at 'Iao Intermediate School in Wailuku.
A search warrant on Kaneshina's home was executed Jan. 30. He resigned his teaching position in March.
Kaneshina is free on $50,000 bail and will begin serving his sentence Dec. 9.
Lions Club, clinic host diabetes fair
New tech center at UH-Manoa
B-52s to target transport ship
Alliant offers five scholarships
Schools eligible for financial aid
Magician to be in Waimanalo
Three year term in child porn case
