A former Aloha Airlines employee in need of a kidney transplant will be the subject of a fundraising event Tuesday night.

The $25-per-person event at the O Lounge on Kapi'olani Boulevard will raise money to help pay the medical expenses of Rod Nakabayashi, 49, who lost his medical insurance when Aloha went out of business earlier this month.

Nakabayashi, who receives three-times-a-week dialysis treatment, is facing mounting medical bills, friends said. For more information, call 429-8683.

MISSING BIG ISLE MAN FOUND SAFE

An 82-year-old man missing for two days on the Big Island has been found safe, according to police.

A helicopter search team spotted the man, John E. Gomes, late Friday night in a cleared lot above Highway 11 in Captain Cook, police said.

Ground search crews then went into the area and led the man to safety.

SNAGGED WHALE LIKELY FREED ITSELF

A whale that became entangled in fishing debris 28 miles south of O'ahu apparently managed to free itself before rescuers could intervene, officials said yesterday.

The Coast Guard on Friday transported a rescue crew from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to a fishing boat in anticipation of a rescue effort, the Coast Guard said. The crew attached a satellite-tracking buoy to the debris the whale was tangled in on Friday afternoon.

When the crew returned to the site yesterday, however, the whale was gone, an indication that it had apparently managed to free itself, officials said.

DRIVER ALLEGEDLY RAN OVER GIRLFRIEND

A 35-year-old man was charged yesterday with assault and terroristic threatening after allegedly running over his girlfriend with a car.

Police say the man, Howard Bannister, and the 43-year-old woman were arguing Friday night when the woman got out of the car in 'Ewa. As the argument continued, the man allegedly ran over the woman's legs with the car, causing serious injuries. The man was arrested in the car a short distance away.