HAWAI'I BRIEFS
Airport security guard banished
Advertiser Staff
A Kahului Airport security guard videotaped making threatening comments to an airline employee has been banned from working on state land and facilities, the state Department of Transportation announced yesterday.
The decision was made after a review of Sunday's incident at Kahului Airport between a Wackenhut Corp. security guard and an employee of Pacific Wings, a small interisland carrier.
"The guard's words and actions were completely unacceptable and uncalled for," said Brian Sekiguchi, DOT deputy director of airports. "They are not in line with the level of service that the state and the public expects and deserves. The safety of the public and the people who work at the airport is a top priority for the administration and this type of behavior will not be tolerated."
The DOT also ordered Wackenhut to reassess its service and to increase worker conduct training.
Wackenhut told state officials it would comply with the DOT orders. Company officials said the guard was suspended, the DOT statement said.
BIG ISLAND
PEDESTRIAN DIES OF CRASH INJURIES
HILO, Hawai'i — An 83-year-old woman died Tuesday from injuries suffered when she was hit by a van last week in North Kohala.
Big Island police said Dolores Bartolome of Hala'ula was walking west across Akoni Pule Highway near the 24-mile marker shortly before 8:50 p.m. Nov. 7 when she was struck by a northbound 1996 Nissan Quest. Bartolome was not in a crosswalk, police said.
The woman was taken to North Hawai'i Community Hospital and transferred to The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, where she died at 2:50 a.m. Tuesday.
The 48-year-old North Kohala woman who was driving the van was not injured.
Bartolome's death is the 32nd traffic fatality on the Big Island this year, compared with 37 a year ago.
MILILANI
MORE ROOMS FOR MILILANI 'IKE
Mililani 'Ike Elementary school will have 10 new portable classrooms under construction next summer.
When the school opened in January 2004 it was 30 students over its 650-student capacity. The enrollment has since grown to 932.
The school is expected to increase by 71 students next fall. The $1.92 million project will help the school accommodate this 8.4 percent rise in enrollment.
STATE
ROBOTIC TEAMS TO COMPETE
Participants from O'ahu and the Big Island will be competing in this year's FIRST (For Recognition of Science and Technology) and LEGO league robotic tournament Saturday at the Punahou-Case Middle School Campus.
The competition will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and includes students' innovative solutions to recurring oceanic environmental problems and a competition between student-built LEGO robots.
Twenty-two teams will participate, including those from 12 public schools, four private schools, one charter school and two home-school teams.
HAWAI'I KAI
KEIKI PARADE IN HAWAI'I KAI
The annual Keiki Kalikimaka Parade down Lunalilo Home Road will begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 26 and will feature a band from Lincoln South East High School in Pennsylvania, the Royal Hawaiian Band, local dignitaries and, of course, Santa Claus.
The parade, which will run until 11:30 a.m., will begin at Hawai'i Kai Drive and Lunalilo Home Road and end at Koko Marina Center. The parade is sponsored by the center and the Hawai'i Kai Lions Club. Following the parade there will be activities at the center's courtyard: pictures with Santa, cookie decorating, a free ride on a Santa Express train and entertainment. Toys for Tots will accept new, unwrapped toys.
Correction: The Mililani 'Ike Elementary school enrollment is 932. A previous version of these briefs had an incorrect number.
