HAWAI'I BRIEFS
Founding utility director killed
Advertiser Staff
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — John Bandmann, a founding board member of the Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative, died Tuesday.
Bandmann, 63, of Lawa'i, was electrocuted while helping dismantle an old plantation electrical station in Kekaha.
He worked for Kaua'i Electric for 26 years as a line maintenance worker and baseyard supervisor. When the firm was purchased to be operated as a community cooperative, Bandmann ran for its first board of directors in 2003 and was one of the top vote-getters. He was also a longtime community volunteer and sportsman.
HONOLULU
STABBING VICTIM STILL UNIDENTIFIED
A 21-year-old man who was fatally stabbed Tuesday afternoon near Hotel and Bishop streets had not been positively identified yesterday, and police had not identified a suspect in the case.
Honolulu Police Lt. Bill Kato, who heads the department's homicide detail, said investigators were interviewing a number of witnesses yesterday.
Kato said the stabbing happened near a crowded bus stop in front of Longs Drugs on Hotel Street, and detectives were receiving calls yesterday from bus riders who noticed a commotion but who went home without talking to police Tuesday.
"Now that they are returning to work, they are calling us to report what they saw," Kato said.
Witnesses on Tuesday told police two men were involved in some type of scuffle before one of them pulled a knife and stabbed the other.
The injured man was taken to The Queen's Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Police said the assailant, described as middle-aged, was last seen walking away from the scene with a woman.
TRAFFIC DISPUTE LEADS TO AN ARREST
A 31-year-old man was arrested in Kaimuki on Tuesday night after a traffic altercation with a 43-year-old man in Waikiki.
The older driver told police the younger man sideswiped his car while the two cars were traveling in the same direction.
The older driver said he pulled his car in front of the younger man to keep him from fleeing the scene.
Police said a second collision occurred when the younger driver rear-ended the car in front of him and fled.
Police found the younger driver a few miles away and arrested him on suspicion of first-degree criminal property damage.
2 MEN ARRESTED IN SHOPLIFT CASE
Two men, 21 and 43, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree robbery after they allegedly began shoving a security guard who was confronting them about taking a pair of sunglasses from the store where she works.
The guard told police the two men entered the Iwilei store together and that the younger man took the sunglasses off a rack and put them on his head. The same man put other items in his backpack, and the two men walked out without paying, the guard said.
She said she walked out of the store and confronted the two men in the parking lot, where she asked the younger man to go back to the store with her. She said the older man stepped in and began to push her away and that the younger man did the same.
Police were called, found the two men near Sumner Street and Nimitz Highway, and arrested them.
MAN, 23, HELD IN SEXUAL ASSAULT
Police arrested a 23-year-old Pearl City man on Tuesday as a suspect in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy.
The boy reported being assaulted sometime between 11 p.m. Dec. 2 and 3 a.m. Dec. 3.
The man was arrested on suspicion of third-degree sexual assault.
WAIKIKI FISHING WATERS TO OPEN
A section of nearshore waters in Waikiki will open for fishing for one year beginning Jan. 1, state officials have announced.
The Waikiki-Diamond Head Shoreline Fisheries Management Area will be open to fishing methods including pole and line, throw net, spear (daylight hours only), and hand harvest, according to a news release from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The fisheries management area encompasses the nearshore waters between the 'ewa wall of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium and the Diamond Head Lighthouse, and from the high-water mark on shore to a minimum seaward distance of 500 yards, or to the edge of the fringing reef if one occurs beyond 500 yards.
Fishing is not allowed in the Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District, between the 'ewa edge of the Natatorium and the 'ewa edge of the Kapahulu groin, the news release said.
Anyone who violates the provisions of this rule shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be punished as provided by law, the agency said.
For more information, see www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar.
TSUNAMI VICTIMS FOCUS OF FORUM
A public forum on how to help victim nations recover from the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami last year will be held at 2:30 p.m. today at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa Marine Science Building, Room 114.
The session will include internationally recognized experts in geology, engineering and architecture who will discuss a report titled "Mitigating Risk from Coastal Hazards: Strategies and Concepts for Recovery from the Dec. 26, 2004 Tsunami."
The goal is to develop a strategy for redevelopment and recovery of those countries.
BIG ISLAND
STATE GRANT WILL HELP YOUNGSTERS
State officials are giving a $250,000 grant-in-aid for the Family Support Services of West Hawai'i agency to expand its Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters Program.
At present, the program serves 80 children, 3 and 4 years old, and their families.
The money will allow for participation by an additional 120 preschool children and their families in targeted districts of the Big Island including Ka'u, South Kona, North Kohala and South Kohala.
Family Support Services is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is "to support families and communities in providing love and care for our children."
The preschool program has programs in Kona, Moloka'i and Kane'ohe. Services are free to participants, and priority is given to low-income families whose children are not enrolled in preschool programs.
