Posted on: Wednesday, July 6, 2005
HAWAI'I BRIEFS
Motorcycle crash victim identified
Advertiser Staff
The Army has identified a soldier fatally injured in a motorcycle crash Sunday near Mokule'ia Beach as Spc. Sean A. Brooke of Columbia, S.C.
Officials said Brooke, 21, was a medic on the 2nd Brigade Combat Team to which he had been assigned since November 2002. Brooke returned Feb. 16 from a tour of duty in Iraq.
Police traffic investigators said Brooke was "popping a wheelie" while driving west on Farrington Highway at about 4:40 p.m. when he collided with a 1992 Mazda Miata that was making a left turn into a driveway in front of him.
Brooke was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A 16-year-old girl from Oklahoma, who was a passenger on the 1997 Suzuki motorcycle, was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in critical condition but has improved to the point where her injuries no longer appear to be life-threatening, officials said yesterday.
A 22-year-old woman from Waialua who was driving the Mazda was not injured.
HAWAI'I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawai'i — Public access to lava-viewing sites remained restricted yesterday safety concerns about the possible collapse of a 25-acre lava bench on the expanding coastline at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.
Park officials on Friday closed off trails leading to sites on the rugged coastline where lava from Kilauea is flowing into the ocean after scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory warned that the East Lae'apuki ocean entry has developed numerous cracks.
Lava benches or deltas form when lava flows into the sea, creating new, unstable land. They can collapse without warning, blasting boulders, steam and scalding water back onto shore.
Yesterday, observatory scientists reported that several small streams of lava were pouring off the southwest side of the delta, and that a stream of lava was dropping over the old sea cliff onto the delta below.
Park ranger Mardie Lane said visitors at the end of the Chain of Craters Road can still see a glow and steam rising from the ocean entry, she said. More hardy spectators can hike two miles to get a close-up look at surface flows.
The fifth annual Windward Ho'olaule'a is accepting applications from vendors for the Sept. 24 event that includes award-winning entertainers, extreme games, theater shows and features at the high-tech Imaginarium.
Vendors for crafts and food and not-for-profit community groups are being sought.
For more information, craft sellers can call Linka Mullikin at 235-7422. Food vendors can call Sandy Okazaki at 235-7361, and not-for-profit groups can call Gordon Miyamoto at 235-7747.
More details about the event and applications can be found at www.wcc.hawaii.edu, then link to the Ho'olaule'a.
One in five adults in Hawai'i has difficulty reading, and Hawai'i Literacy is looking for volunteer tutors to help them. An orientation to Hawai'i Literacy's Adult Literacy Program will be Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Waipahu Civic Center at 94-275 Mokuola St.
To sign up, call 537-6706.
The Honolulu Academy of Arts is offering a free international film program for high-school students this fall.
The program is one of the free educational components of Global Lens 2005, an international film initiative sponsored by the Global Film Initiative in New York.
Global Lens 2005, which runs Sept. 30 to Oct. 19, features 10 films from Vietnam, Angola, Algeria, Bosnia, Argentina, Mali, Turkey, Uruguay and China.
Teachers can sign up for viewings and discussions of three of the films. To schedule a field trip or for more information, call film and video curator Konrad Ng at 532-3033.
The American Red Cross Hawai'i State Chapter wants to renovate its Diamond Head headquarters that was built more than three decades ago.
Because of the location of the building, the work requires special city permits. A public hearing will be at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Ala Wai Golf Course Clubhouse, second floor, Room B-1, 404 Kapahulu Ave.
Renovations include enclosing an open-air courtyard, adding a lanai and reorganizing the internal space to allow for more classrooms and a multipurpose room. The building is 1.7 inches taller than the current 25-foot height limitation.
Volunteers are needed from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to lay gravel on trails as part of the Makiki Wai, or Makiki Watershed Awareness Initiative.
The project, sponsored by the state's Na Ala Hele Trails and Access program and the Hawai'i Nature Center, aims to restore a segment of the Makiki ahupua'a to conditions found in a native forest. Once restored, the area will be used to teach the public about the watershed and the history of Makiki Valley.
Saturday helpers should bring long-sleeved shirt and pants, insect repellent, water and good shoes; restrooms and drinking water are nearby. Families are welcome but young children must be supervised.
Meet at the Makiki Forestry Baseyard just above the Hawaii Nature Center. For more information, call Aaron Lowe at 973-9782.
Two foundations have contributed more than $50,000 in matching funds to the Hawai'i Covering Kids Kahuku Local Project, whose goal is to improve health insurance enrollment and retention for children.
Kahuku Hospital is organizing the outreach, enrollment and simplification initiatives for children without health insurance.
March of Dimes Hawai'i Chapter and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs awarded the group $14,000 and $36,126, respectively. The money will be used for media outreach, targeting pregnant women and to reduce the number of uninsured children and youth in the Ko'olau Loa community.
The money also goes toward matching a $175,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Lava viewing still restricted
Vendors sought for ho'olaule'a
Literacy program needs tutors
Academy offers free film program
Hearing set on Red Cross work
Help needed on trails project
Project that helps kids gets $50,000
