HAWAI'I BRIEFS
Fake bomb shuts parking garage
Advertiser Staff
A cardboard object apparently designed to look like a pipe bomb prompted police to close Restaurant Row's parking garage for nearly two hours last night.
Police Specialized Services Division bomb technicians attempted to detonate the object and discovered it was not an explosive. The garage was reopened at 9:30 p.m.
The object was made of cardboard tubes covered with tape, giving it the appearance of PVC plastic pipes such as those used in pipe bombs, police said.
Restaurant Row security personnel found it in plain view in the middle section of the parking structure about 7:45 p.m.
Police said there were no calls or threats made to Restaurant Row management. Covance CRU, a business in the Restaurant Row complex, was evacuated after a bomb scare, according to a company spokesman.
Correction: Covance CRU, a business in the Restaurant Row complex, was evacuated after a bomb scare, according to a company spokesman. A previous version of this story incorrectly said no evacuation took place.
TORNEY TO HEAD YOUTH SERVICES
Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday named Martha T. Torney as executive director of the Office of Youth Services. Torney has been the acting executive director since December .
Torney joined the Office of Youth services as a youth development officer in January 2006. She served as a youth services officer from 1987 to 1991 and was responsible for policy, program and staff training development for the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility.
SENATE CONFIRMS TWO BIG ISLE JUDGES
The state Senate has confirmed Lloyd Van De Car and Harry Freitas as district court judges for the Big Island.
Van De Car, a deputy attorney general in Hilo, was confirmed yesterday. He will replace Family Court Judge Ben Gaddis.
Freitas, an attorney with the Big Island's deputy corporation counsel, was confirmed last Thursday. He will replace District Judge Matthew Pyun.
CHILD REPORTS KIDNAP ATTEMPT
Police were investigating a report of an attempted kidnapping of a child from a Mililani bus stop on Monday.
The victim, whose age and gender were not disclosed, told police a man in his 20s stopped his vehicle at a bus stop and offered a ride.
When the child refused, the man allegedly got out and attempted to pull the child into the vehicle by the arm. The child reportedly struck the man in the face and got free. No arrest had been made as of last night.
