HAWAI'I BRIEFS
$2 million bid for old Hilo Hotel
Advertiser Staff
Big Island landowner Monika Mallick bid $2 million yesterday at the foreclosure auction for the former Hilo Hotel to claim the historic downtown Hilo property, foreclosure commissioner Jerel Yamamoto said.
Yamamoto said the bidding will be reopened if another buyer offers at least 5 percent more than yesterday's winning bid before Circuit Court Judge Glenn Hara gives final approval to the foreclosure sale.
If not, the sale of the 1.64-acre property to Mallick will likely close early next year, he said. County tax records show that Mallick owns several dozen Big Island properties and has addresses in Papa'ikou and Los Angeles.
The East Hawai'i Coalition for the Homeless bought the 54-room hotel site in 2001 with plans to turn it into transitional housing, but former owner Fujikan Hawai'i Ltd. foreclosed on the property earlier this year.
The hotel had been closed for years before the coalition bought it.
The Hilo Hotel was built where King Kalakaua had his Hilo home in the 19th century.
LANTERN BLAMED IN PUNA HOUSE FIRE
A fire ignited by fuel from a gas lantern did an estimated $150,000 damage to a Puna home yesterday, Big Island fire officials said.
Firefighters were called to the house at the intersection of South Puni Mauka and Honu streets in the Hawaiian Shores subdivision at 6:32 a.m. and found the single-story home and carport in flames.
The were no injuries.
The fire, in the home belonging to Dennis Nakano, was extinguished by 6:46 a.m., officials said.
WINDWARD
VIRUS IDENTIFIED IN BABY SHRIMP
A batch of live shrimp from Japan that were being held in quarantine here have tested positive for a serious shrimp disease, white-spot syndrome virus, and have been destroyed.
The 10,000 baby shrimp arrived Sept. 25 and were held in a 12-foot-wide above-ground pool at the aquaculture complex at Windward Community College. They were intended for breeding stock.
Imported live shrimp must be held in quarantine for 120 days and tested for disease. The results confirming the disease were received Tuesday.
The disease, which kills shrimp, is contagious to shrimp and other crustaceans, but does not pose a threat to humans, even if the shrimp are eaten, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
WAIPAHU
WITNESS ALERTS POLICE OF BREAK-IN
A 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary early Tuesday morning after a witness reported seeing him leaving an auto repair shop in Waipahu as the store's burglary alarm was going off.
Police said the witness heard the alarm about 12:45 a.m. coming from the shop near the corner of Leokane and Leonui streets.
When police arrived, the witness said the man had jumped a fence to get to the street, then got into a car and drove away.
Police pulled the man over a short time later at Farrington Highway and Leoku Street. A cash box from the store was recovered from the car, police said.
