Posted on: Friday, May 20, 2005
HAWAI'I BRIEFS
Chevron fined for storing waste
Advertiser Staff
The state fined Chevron Hawaii Refinery Inc. $107,000 for storing hazardous waste on its site without a permit, and for other rule violations, the Department of Health said yesterday.
It also filed a complaint against Chevron, the state's largest oil refinery, and ordered it to comply with state waste rules, the department said in a news release.
Chevron was informed of the actions May 4, said Grace Simmons, the supervisor of the department's hazardous waste section.
The Health Department alleged Chevron stored a heat exchanger bundle encrusted with K050, a hazardous refinery waste, on its site for five years without a permit.
The department added Chevron allegedly failed to properly wash and remove the waste sludge from the bundle, or metal cooling tubes, before sending it to another company to be recycled.
K050 contains heavy metals such as chromium.
A spokesman for Chevron Hawaii Refinery did not immediately return a call for comment.
HILO, Hawai'i — Big Island authorities are alleging that a 54-year-old Hilo woman fraudulently collected welfare benefits for more than 20 years by assuming the identity of a dead woman.
Gabriella Victoria Donnelly was charged this week with first-degree theft and first-degree identity theft, and was being held in the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $75,000 bail. Police said Donnelly, a citizen of Switzerland, assumed the identity of Karen Johnston, 51, who was killed in a 1977 automobile crash in Idaho. Since 1983, Donnelly allegedly used Johnston's name to receive welfare benefits totaling more than $100,000.
KIHEI, Maui — A 51-year-old bicyclist died early yesterday after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on South Kihei Road.
Gerald J. Barbee died shortly after arriving by ambulance at Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku, police said. A witness called police to report that the collision occurred around 12:05 a.m. near Kanani Road. Within 10 minutes police stopped a 1993 Jeep Cherokee and arrested its driver, a 28-year-old man. Traffic investigator Lawrence Becraft said the driver was taken to the Wailuku police station on outstanding traffic warrants and later released, but he remains a suspect.
Barbee, a Maui resident for less than a year, was riding a silver Huffy mountain bicycle north on South Kihei Road when he was hit from behind, Becraft said.
KA'ANAPALI, Maui — Leia Nahenahe Kahaleauki of King Kekaulike High School and Kaimana Cabebe of Hana High School are recipients of the 2005 Na Mele O Maui Hawaiian Studies Scholarship.
Kahaleauki is an all-star rodeo cowgirl and volleyball player who began her formal education in the Hawaiian immersion program at age 4. She will continue her studies at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo. Cabebe is senior class secretary and is active as a volunteer in cultural and community organizations.
A 56-year-old man was hit on the back of the head and robbed of his wallet yesterday morning in Makiki, police said.
Police said the man was walking home from work on Young Street near Ke'eaumoku Street about 5:30 a.m. when someone hit him on the head. The man told police he blacked out, and when he regained consciousness he realized his wallet had been stolen.
The man was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
A 51-year-old Kaua'i man has been convicted of three federal drug and firearm charges and faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced.
A federal jury Wednesday found Raymond N. Reyes guilty of possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, possessing a firearm during a drug trafficking offense, and possessing a firearm after being convicted of domestic violence.
Woman accused in identity theft
Bicyclist killed in Kihei hit-and-run
Hawaiian studies scholars named
Man assaulted, loses wallet
Man faces up to 40 years in prison
