HAWAII BRIEFS
2 killed in separate crashes on Maui
Advertiser Staff
Two people were killed last night on Maui in separate accidents on Honoapi'ilani Highway and Haleakala Crater Road.
The fatality on Honoapi'ilani Highway, one-tenth mile from the pali tunnel on the Lahaina side, involved a motorcyclist, said Lt. Robert Hill of the Maui police Traffic Enforcement Unit. No other vehicles were involved.
The 6 p.m. accident closed the roadway between Front Street in Lahaina to Ma'alaea.
One person was killed in a single-vehicle crash on Haleakala Crater Road, Hill said. The accident happened on Highway 378 near marker 5.
The deaths are Maui's 10th and 11th traffic fatalities of 2008.
GIRL ALLEGES YEARS OF SEXUAL ASSAULTS
A teenage girl told police she was assaulted sexually from age 4 until 11 by Bonifacio C. Taguba, according to an affidavit filed at District Court.
Taguba, 76, of a Likini Street address in Salt Lake, was charged Sunday with continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14 years and is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Friday at his initial appearance yesterday but will likely be superseded by a grand jury indictment this week.
The girl told her mother of the alleged assaults on April 17 and a police investigation was initiated six days later after the victim completed examinations at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children.
The alleged assaults occurred at Taguba's residence, the affidavit said.
NO WORD ON PROBE OF PUPPY ABUSE
Marine Corps officials at Kane'ohe Bay have completed their investigation into an online video that appeared to show a U.S. Marine throwing a puppy into a ravine in Iraq, but there remains no word as to the outcome, a Marine official said yesterday.
The video was viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube and prompted public outrage.
The Marine Corps base previously said a Marine whose name is mentioned in the video is with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, at Kane'ohe Bay. The criminal investigation division at the Kane'ohe Bay base investigated the case.
VISITOR DROWNED, AUTOPSY FINDS
An autopsy yesterday determined a 60-year-old visitor from Japan drowned while snorkeling Sunday in an area known as "Cockroach Bay" near Makapu'u.
The Honolulu medical examiner's office identified the man as Yoshimichi Sasaki, 60. The office said Sasaki died of asphyxia due to drowning, with other significant conditions being hypertension and an enlarged heart.
SPACE GROUPS WILL MEET THURSDAY
The Hawai'i Island Space Exploration Society and the International Lunar Observatory Association will hold a combined meeting and no-host dinner at the 'Imiloa Astronomy Center's Sky Garden Restaurant Thursday at 6 p.m.
The featured presentations are "An International Lunar Observatory" by ILOA board member Steve Durst and the Kalakaua Astronomy Project by Leilehua Yuen.
The agenda is available at: //forums.delphiforums.com/HIS ES/messages?msg=98.1
WOMAN GUILTY OF NOT PAYING TAXES
A Honolulu real estate agent pleaded guilty last week to six counts of willful failure to file her general excise annual tax returns and was granted a deferred acceptance of guilty plea with a one-year deferral.
Sylvia K. Berrington agreed to pay a fine of $9,000 and court fees after failing to pay $25,739 of taxes owed on her general excise returns for 2000 to 2005.