The Week In Review
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Summarized by Sharon Westfall
EDUCATION RALLY -- About 500 Maui public school teachers, their children
and students demonstrated in the county capital, pleading for public and
government support for education. The carried signs and lined the corner
of High and Main streets, waving to passers-by and encouraging them to
"Honk for Education." The motorists obliged, and for Rob O'Connor, a
Kalama Intermediate School teacher, the public response and teacher
participation was a morale booster. "This is one of the best things that
has happened in a long time," O'Connor said. "It's great to see all this
support." Wednesday's demonstration was organized by the Hawaii State
Teachers Association and the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.
Other rallies were held across Hawaii and at the State Capitol, where the
1996 Legislature held its opening session. HSTA Maui Chapter President
Karolyn Mossman said the purpose of the rally was to put the issue of
education squarely before Cayetano and the public. "I'm afraid if we're
too quiet, they may think we're willing to accept cuts," Mossman said.
SHARK ENCOUNTER -- Bob Rogowicz, on his 42nd visit to Hawaii, spends much
of his vacations in the water and doing a lot of long-distance swimming,
and has never seen a shark before - until this week. The 53-year-old San
Rafael, Calif., man is feeling the consequences of his very first shark
encounter with 47 stitches in his left foot. Rogowicz, a retired Internal
Revenue Service manager, was swimming alone in 15 feet of water 100 yeard
from shore and about 200 yard from Napili Point when he felt something and
turned around. "It was the suprise of my life," he said. "My first
thought was this shark is larger than I am." The big gray fish was
perhaps 8 to 10 feet in length. Without thinking, Rogowicz curled up his
legs and thrust them at the shark, connecting with its face. The next
thing he knew, the shark had turned sideways and was there right up next
to him. He estimated it was about 2-1/2 feet thick, and it felt like sand
paper. "I put both of my hands on the side of the shark and pushed off,"
he said. The shark didn't give way, but it did provide leverage for a
good shove-off for Rogowicz to make his escape. The incident happened on
the first day of his latest Hawaiian trip, a 16-day vacation. "I had just
gotten off the airplane, had driven to the condo and jumped in the water,"
he said. Will he swim in the ocean again? "Yes," he said with no
hesitation.
SEXUAL ASSAULT -- Police are investigating a report that a man posing as
an undercover police officer pulled a woman over on Kula Highway and
sexually assaulted her. The 55-year-old woman reported she was traveling
in a pickup truck toward Keokea at about 10:30 p.m. near Milepost 10 when
she was forced to pull over to the shoulder. The driver identified
himself as an undercover officer and said there was something wrong with
her tailights and asked to see her driver's license and registration. As
she was looking for the documents, the man entered the passenger side of
the pickup and shut the door. She told police he then grabbed her by the
back of the neck and forced her to perform oral sex on him. Afterward,
the man got out of the truck without saying anything and drove away in
the Keokea direction. No suspect was arrested.
MOTOCROSS PROPOSAL -- The Kahului Harbor breakwater would be home to a
world-class bicycle motocross racing facility suitable for national and
international events under a proposal unveiled before a Maui County
Council committee. The proposal drew a mixed reaction from members of the
Parks and Recreation Committee. While Chairman Alan Arakawa said the
proposal is worthy of serious consideration, Council Member Wayne Nishiki
said he would rather see the area reserved for water-related activities.
The committee was deliberating the future of the 23-acre breakwater area
as an extension of the future Maui Central Park, which generally stretches
between Kaahumanu Avenue and Kahului Beach Road, Kanaloa Avenue and the
Maui Community College campus. The mayor's Maui Central Park Master Plan
Advisory Committee adopted a plan last year that shows a fish pond as the
dominant feature of the breakwater area. But Lee Hunter, president of the
Maui BMX Organization, told committee members Tuesday that his group needs
10 acres to build an outstanding racing facility for BMX bike racing. He
said the group wants to hold at least one national or world cup event a
month, drawing thousands of people from across the nation and the globe to
events shown on national television.
FBI PROBE -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into an
allegation of sexual misconduct by the No.2 man at the Maui Police
Department. Deputy Chief Lanny Tihada, a 25-year police veteran, is
being accused of accosting a female civilian employee while she was on
duty at the Molokai Police Station last April. Tihada's attorney,
Michael Green, has called the allegation "false and untrue" and said his
client is the victim of "character assassination." Clayton Ikei, the
Honolulu attorney who is representing the female employee, confirmed that
he is preparing a federal court complaint against the Maui Police
Department alleging sexual harassment. Bothe the Police Department and
the county's Equal Employment Opportunity officer, Richard Haake, looked
into the alleged incident and decided no disciplinary action was
warranted. The woman initially indicated she did not want to pursue a
complaint with the county, and Haake said Tihada told him he had
apologized to the employee.
HOTELIERS OPTIMISTIC -- Maui resort general managers are the most
optimistic in the state about having a better year in 1996 than in 1995.
Pannell Kerr Forster, the Honolulu accounting and consulting firm that
tracks hotel occupancy rates monthly, also surveyed resort managers about
the year ahead. On Maui, more than 90 percent said they believe their
properties will see better operating profits this year. Few, if any, Maui
resorts are showing net profits because of enormous debt loads that
resulted from purchases at high prices in the late '80s and early '90s, or
high costs of new construction. And two Maui hotels, the Kapalua Bay
Hotel and the Plantation Inn, are in bankruptcy as they work their ways
out of financial trouble. But occupancy rates and, in many cases, average
room prices have been climbing.
WAILUKU -- Teachers and students at Wailuku Elementary School will benefit
from Catherine Kalehuawehe's love for science and teaching through a grant
she won for excellence in her work. A veteran kindergarten teacher,
Kalehuawehe was named the state's Presidential Award winner for excellence
in science teaching on the elementary level. This spring Kalehuawehe will
embark on an all-expenses-paid trip to Wahington, D.C., where she'll meet
President Clinton. She'll also be handed a $7,500 grant from the
National Science Foundation. She has decided to use the money to conduct
teacher workshops at the Wailuku Elementary campus. The Presidential
Award is the nation's highest honor for science and math teachers in
kindergarten through 12th grade.
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SCH Tshirt Update!
Just letting everyone know that we're just about at the 144 minimum
tshirt order (138, actually, and I know I still have message unopened in
my in basket with the words "SCH tshirt" as the subject!)
Thanks to all of you that sent in your orders! For those of you reading
this from the Hawaii L news mailing list, thanks goes to Ryan Ozawa -- I
wrote to him and asked if I could send my ordering info at the end of this
Maui News Highlights report. He had already copied the post from SCH and
sent it out to the list! (da buggah...)
I do need everyone that ordered a shirt to send in their monies, right
away, I need to make half the payment when ordering, the second half when
the shirts are pau.
Even after I've turned in the first order, I will continue to take orders
and put in for another, after the previous printing is done, because
reprints only require a 36 tshirts minimum.
If you need the ordering instructions again, just email me and I'll send
it to you email.
Thanks again!
The Week In Review
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From: Sharon Westfall
HALEAKALA RECORD - Despite three weeks in which visitors were locked out
due to the federal government shutdown, Maui's national park set its own
attendance record in 1995, breaking the mark established the previous year
by nearly 70,000. National Park Service officials said that 1995's
attendance total was 1,623,687, which is a 4.3 percent increase over 1994,
when attendance was 1,556,417. Park Superintendent Don Reeser said
Haleakala remains Maui's No. 1 visitor destination even though the late
December shutdown occurred at a time of year when attendance should have
been even greater. "My guess is that if we were open those three weeks,
the total would have been close to 1.7 million," he said. Reeser said the
numbers likely reflect a year of excellent weather. "It's been
exceptional -- very dry," he said.
C. BREWER WATER -- Protecting Maui's main source of drinking water from
overpumping relies to a great extent on water supplies underneath or on
land owned by C. Brewer & Co. Ltd., according to the county Department of
Water Supply. Board of Water Supply members approved an official response
to a Nov. 30 request for information on the status of the Iao aquifer from
state Commission on Water Resource Management Chairman Michael Wilson, who
also heads the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Expressing
concern about pumping in excess of Iao aquifer's safe
20-million-gallon-per-day limit, Wilson asked for - among other things - a
description of water source alternatives, a detailed list of actions to
implement the alternatives and projected increases in water demand for the
Central Maui water system, which also serves South Maui residents. The
water commission has scheduled a Jan. 24 meeting on Maui to take up the
Iao aquifer issue. If commissioners are not convinced Maui water
officials can manage the water source, then they could "designate" the
aquafer, meaning its use would fall under state control.
GASOLINE EMERGENCY -- A gasoline leak caused by a faulty valve at the
Chevron USA Inc. tank farm near Kahului Harbor brought emergency crews on
the run and triggered the temporary closing off of streets in the area.
It was estimated that between 300 and 400 gallons of super-unleaded
gasoline spewed a 130,000-gallon storage tank, but the leak was contained
by the berm that surrounds the tanks. Things were under control within 90
minutes and none of the fuel was reported to have reached the ocean or
nearby Kanaha Pond Wildlife Refuge. The few businesses forced to
evacuate, such as Valley Isle Produce across the street, were allowed to
open up again at 1 p.m., the same time that traffic returned to normal.
For 2-1/2 hours, police blocked off roads within 200 yards of the spill,
including Amala Place and Hobron Avenue, frustrating motorists. Hana
Highway traffic was also rerouted during a portion of the incident.
NOT THIS NOMINEE -- There were no real negative comments about Board of
Water Supply nominee John Kikukawa. He did not appear before the Maui
County Council's Committe of the Whole, and no one asked to interview him.
Yet the panel voted 7-1 to recommend denial of Kikukawa's nomination
because Council Member Pat Kawano of Molokai thinks there is a better man
for the job. Saying he had "nothing against" Kikukawa, the owner and
manager of the Mid Nite Inn on Molokai, Kawano said he was disappointed
Lingle didn't nominate Rhinehardt Place of Kaunakakai, a retiree with 27
years of experience with the Department of Water Supply as a pipefitter
and foreman on Molokai. "He will know every tank, every pump and
everything else," Kawano said. "I think it's a big slap in the face to
not even interview this guy." Kikukawa's nomination won support only from
Committee of the Whole Chairman Wayne Nishiki, who was unable to get a
request from any panel members to call Kikukawa from Molokai to answer
questions. Nishiki told committee members the water board nomination was
the mayor's perogative. "We're not the mayor," he said. "Know your
position. We're council people." After the meeting, Lingle said the
committee's action was "hard to believe." "I think the council is
exceeding its authority by trying to decide who gets appointed," she said.
PARKS BILL OPPOSED -- Maui Tomorrow, an organization of residents
committed to managing growth, preserving natural areas and ensuring
ecologically sound development for the island, has gone on record opposing
the park assessment bill passed by the Maui County Council and awaiting
action by Mayor Linda Crockett Lingle. In a two-page statement to
lawmakers, the group urged Lingle to veto the ordinance. Maui Tomorrow
President Anthony Ranken later said that because he has been assured by
Parks and Recreation Committee Chairman Alan Arakawa that controversial
clauses in the bill will continue to be addressed, the organization no
longer feels as strongly about calling for Lingle's veto. The bill that
was passed 7-2 by the council essentially gives developers the choice to
determine if they pay their park assessment in cash or land. An earlier
bill, the one that was recommended by the parks committee, provided that a
team of county officials decide the method of payment. Maui Tomorrow
suggests that "for any subdivision greater than three lots but less than,
say, 12 lots" the landowner would file a sworn statement claiming that 50
percent of the lots would be sold or given to family members. In this
case, the subdivider would have the option to chose cash or land. Maui
Tomorrow also urged the elimination of the large discrepancy between the
cash or land assessment. In the present law, if the developer pays cash,
a payment of only 45 percent of the land's value is required. The group
said that large gap is unfair to subdividers who are required to give land
and "it also encourages subdividers to choose cash contributions instead
of land dedications, which is against public policy." The group suggested
increasing the cash payment to 100 percent of the value of the land to
ensure "equal tratment of all subdividers."
JAIL SEX SUIT -- A former inmate at the Maui Community Correctional center
is suing state officials and the jail guard who forced her to perform oral
sex on two occasions last year. Attorneys for Brenda Lee Baker, 30,
contend that similar assaults against women in custody at MCCC and other
institutions in Hawaii are so common and have gone on for so long that
they constitute an endorsement of such activitiy by senior officials in
the state Department of Public Safety. Named in the lawsuit are former
guard Michael Saffery, 34, who was sent to prison for 10 years last month
for the offenses Baker details in her lawsuit, DPS Director George Iranon
and MCCC Warden Albert Murashige. The suit alleges that Saffery forced
Baker to perform oral sex on him on May 16 and June 7, 1994. On another
occasion, she was able to prevent the assault, the lawsuit states.
Saffery is accused of threatening her with solitary confinement, and
promising her extra privileges to gain sexual favors. Iranon and
Murashige are accused of being indifferent to the civil rights of Baker,
failing to implement policies to sreen out guards who might abuse female
inmates and general negl
From The Maui News - Friday, January 12, 1996