Posted on: Thursday, January 13, 2005
HAWAI'I BRIEFS
18 left homeless by fire in Ka'u
Advertiser Staff
HILO, Hawai'i — Three families were left homeless yesterday after a fire burned a residence in the rural Hawaiian Ocean View Estates subdivision in Ka'u.
Big Island officials said three people were taken to Ka'u Hospital with injuries, including a 7-year-old boy who was later flown to Honolulu for treatment. Information on his condition was not available. The American Red Cross was providing emergency shelter in a hotel and other aid to the 18 people displaced by the fire, said Barney Sheffield, disaster coordinator for Hawai'i Island.
The occupants told Hawai'i County Fire Department officials they were asleep when the fire started around 1:30 a.m. at the Aloha Boulevard residence. Firefighters arrived in about 15 minutes and extinguished the blaze in 10 minutes.
The wood and metal structure was not insured, according to fire officials. Two cars also were damaged. Losses were estimated at $50,000.
Sheffield said the best way to help the family would be to send monetary donations to the American Red Cross at 55 Ululani St., Hilo HI 96720. The agency is not accepting donations of food or clothes.
About 100 Verizon customers in Temple Valley were without telephone service after a vehicle plowed into a cross connection box on Hui Iwa Street, tearing out wires.
Police said the vehicle crashed into the box at about 11:15 p.m. Monday.
Service was restored to some customers after several hours, and all telephones were working by late yesterday morning, said Ann Nishida, Verizon spokeswoman.
"Our folks got on scene and tried to salvage whatever was possible," Nishida said, adding that the box would have to be rebuilt and new connections installed.
Nishida said the vehicle apparently hopped the sidewalk and hit the box that resembles a little locker.
The future of Moanalua Gardens Park will be discussed at the Aliamanu/Salt Lake/Foster Village Neighborhood Board meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at the Aliamanu Middle School cafeteria, 3271 Salt Lake Blvd.
The board will discuss the possibility of using public money to purchase the park rather than having it be sold for private development.
Following the breakup of the Damon Estate last year, the park's owner now is the Moanalua Gardens LLC and is valued at more than $6 million.
The Friends of the Library Kahuku will conduct a book sale at Kahuku Public and School Library from noon to 8 p.m. Jan. 18 and again from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 19 and 20. Paperback books start at 50 cents and hardcover books begin at $1. Audio cassettes, videos and magazines also are available.
The library is on the campus of the Kahuku High and Intermediate School, 56-490 Kamehameha Highway. For more information call 293-8935.
If you're interested in counting whales, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is looking for you.
The sanctuary seeks volunteers for its Jan. 29, Feb. 26 and March 26 Sanctuary Ocean Counts, to be held on O'ahu, Maui and Kaua'i. Kaua'i volunteers are asked to attend a free training session, which is not necessary for those on O'ahu and Maui.
To register as a volunteer and for other information on Kaua'i call 246-2860; on O'ahu call 397-2651; and on the Big island call (888) 559-4253 ext. 253.
KULA, Maui — The University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy will break ground tomorrow for a 15,000-square-foot research center.
The center will replace a former goat farmhouse in Waiakoa as home for the institute's Maui operations.
The Advanced Technology Research Center will be on a 2-acre site in Dowling Co.'s Kulamalu Town Center project.
The research center will serve as the main facility for the Institute for Astronomy on Maui, with laboratory workspace and a high-bandwidth digital link to observatories at the summit of Haleakala and the Maui Research and Technology Park in Kihei.
Clay Aiken, the "American Idol" favorite, will perform during a benefit dinner, "Hawai'i Voices for Change," Feb. 25 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.
The event is a fund-raiser for The Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which Aiken co-founded in 2003 with Diane Bubel, a parent and disability activist, whose son Mike has autism.
Registration and a silent auction begins at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $250 and $175, with tables of 10 available for premium sponsors — $15,000 for Platinum, $10,000 for Gold and $5,000 for Silver.
Crash disrupts phone service
Board to discuss Moanalua park
Book sale helps school, library
Sanctuary seeks whale counters
Work starts soon on UH facility
'Idol' Clay Aiken to be in Waikiki
