March 11, 2017
From performances to classes and so
much more, there’s defi nitely something
fun to get you up and out the door
CHECK OUT THIS WEEK’S CALENDAR ON PAGE A4 TO GET MORE DETAILS
Contested case hana hou?
Work DLNR seeks hearing begins officer for TMT sublease
on bypass
FLORES SIMONS
Map illustration
and cyclist use the section of the Hilo Bayfront Trails near the soccer fields on Kamehameha Avenue on
Hilo.
West Hawaii Today staff
KAILUA-KONA — A
man and woman were
found dead inside an Alii
Lani apartment Friday
morning after a neighbor
performed a welfare
check and discovered their
bodies in the bedroom.
The Hawaii Police
Department is investigating
the deaths and couldn’t
comment whether foul
play was suspected. An
autopsy will be conducted
next week to determine the
exact cause of the deaths.
Photos by HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
“We are not leaning
towards a suspect being out
there at this time, but we are
investigating all aspects,”
said Maj. Robert Wagner.
Police are not releasing
the names of the deceased
until next of kin are notified.
News about the deaths
stunned neighbors, who
described the two as a
couple pleasant to be
around. They identified
the couple by name but
West Hawaii Today is
also withholding identify
pending the investigation.
“They were great
people,” said Beth
McAdams, who lives directly
across from the couple’s
second-story apartment.
McAdams and Paul
Whitehouse watched
‘Hawaii
is home’
from their yard as police
worked inside the caution
tape that roped off
their neighbor’s yard.
Teacher challenges Onishi for state House seat
Index
Big Isle history B4
Calendar A4
Classified B6
Comics B5
KIM
The law
is clear
County elections staff
makes sure applications
for voter registration
meet qualifications
Issue No. 216
18 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Commentary A6
Community A8
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Nation A3
Scoreboard B3
Sports B1
State A3
Stocks A2
Surf Report A2
Internet
Visit us on the Web at:
www.hawaiitribune-herald.com
IVY ASHE
Tribune-Herald
the Hilo
Trails continues
unexpected
grant cycle
organizers
priorities.
phase of the
last October
new multiuse
Mooheau
Banyan
well as a path
the soccer
Kamehameha
Pauahi Street.
second phase
to extend
Wailoa River State
Area, but when
went to apply for
they learned
parks division
Department of Land
Resources could
is the agency
of the land.
The Hilo Bayfront
Trails group now is applying
for grant funding for
a different segment of
the master trails plan in
order to keep momentum
going, said Roy Takemoto,
executive assistant for
Mayor Harry Kim.
“The idea is to do
another segment along the
Waiolama Canal so that
walkers could loop back
around the (soccer field)
parking lot and restroom
area,” he said.
A second segment would
connect the parking lot
area with downtown Hilo,
TOM CALLIS
Tribune-Herald
Department of
Natural Resources
first step toward
contested case
the Thirty Meter
sublease on
by seeking applicants
hearing officer.
remains unclear
the quasi-judicial
— the third
be held.
The lower court ruling
requiring a hearing for the
sublease with the University
of Hawaii at Hilo is under
appeal, and the department’s
solicitation for applicants is
noncommittal. The deadline to
apply was Friday afternoon.
The job notice says the agency
seeks qualified applicants
“in the event it is decided to
hold a contested case hearing
and use a hearing
officer.”
“This solicitation
is made
for the purpose
of identifying
qualified candidates
if and as
necessary,” the notice says.
A hearing officer would
need to devote a “substantial
amount of time in the next six
to (12) months,”
according to the
department.
Supporters
and opponents
of building the
large observatory
on the
mountain said Friday they
had not received instructions
from the department on how
to proceed. No additional
information was available from
the department by deadline.
The hearing, if scheduled,
would be separate from the
contested case covering the
$1.4 billion project’s conservation
district use permit.
That hearing, a replay of a
previous contested case from
2011, concluded witness testimony
March 2. A decision
from hearing officer Riki May
Amano could be months away.
Index
Big Isle History B4
Calendar A6
Classified B6
Comics B5
Issue No. 70
16 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Commentary A4
Community A5
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Nation A2
Obituaries A2
Sports B1
Stocks A2
Surf Report A2
World A2
Internet
the Web at:
hawaiitribune-herald.com
GET OUT AND GO!
From performances to classes, magic camps
and more, there’s defi nitely something fun
to get you up and out the door
CHECK OUT CALENDAR ON PAGE A6 TO GET MORE DETAILS
State’s few Muslims thrust
into spotlight because of
challenge to travel ban
The beginning of the Hilo Bayfront Trails path on Pauahi Street that connects the
soccer fields off Kamehameha Avenue.
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Associated Press
HONOLULU — Hawaii has 5,000
or so Muslims — less than 1 percent
of the state’s population — who are
finding themselves thrust into an international
spotlight after the state’s top
lawyer launched a challenge to President
Donald Trump’s revised travel ban,
saying it contradicts the islands’ welcoming
culture that values diversity.
Named as a plaintiff in the federal
lawsuit fighting the ban is Ismail
Elshikh, the imam of Oahu’s only
mosque — a converted plantation-style
house in a hilly Honolulu neighborhood
a few miles from Waikiki. Muslims
who gather in the prayer room know
they’re facing Mecca when the view of
iconic Diamond Head is at their backs.
Elshikh’s mother-in-law is a Syrian
living in Syria who won’t be able to
visit her relatives in Hawaii because
of the ban, and that will deprive the
rights of Elshikh, his wife and their
children as U.S. citizens, said state
Attorney General Doug Chin.
It was difficult for the shy and
reserved Elshikh to make the decision to
join the lawsuit and he is not speaking
publicly because of legal reasons and
fears for his security in a state that has
Associated Press
Literature is seen inside the prayer room
Thursday at the Muslim Association
of Hawaii building in Manoa Valley in
Honolulu. The mosque has been serving
Hawaii for nearly 50 years, according to
the group.
UNFORESEEN TURN
Funding twist alters plans for next phase of Hilo Bayfront Trails
See TMT Page A3
See SPOTLIGHT Page A3
See TRAILS Page A8
Saturday, August 4, 2018
By MICHAEL
BRESTOVANSKY
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Work began Friday
to open an alternate
route through Volcano
should Highway 11
become impassable.
During a community
meeting Thursday
in Volcano, Mayor
Harry Kim said the
county will spare no
expense or effort in
making sure Highway
11 remains open as
long as possible while
work on an alternate
route commences.
The primary option
for an alternate route
is a mostly gravel road
running closely parallel
to Highway 11, connecting
the south end
of Piimauna Drive to
Volcano Road near the
Volcano School of Arts
and Sciences. Kim said
county, state, federal
and private agencies
would work to make
the route passable
for general traffic as
quickly as possible.
“They
said it
would
take two
weeks
to finish
it,” Kim
said. “I
said I’d settle for one.”
Kim spoke with
Gov. David Ige on
Friday to begin the
project, said Will
Okabe, county managing
director.
“(Kim and Ige) will
be working in partnership
to make sure
the road stays open
and traffic can get
through to Naalehu,”
Okabe said, adding
KILAUEA ERUPTION
Highway 11 alternate route
could be done in a week
NATHAN CHRISTOPHEL/Tribune-Herald See BYPASS Page A9
By MICHAEL
BRESTOVANSKY
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
The biggest threat to
state Rep. Richard Onishi’s
incumbency this election is
in the form of a kindergarten
teacher from Pahala.
Raina Whiting is Onishi’s
only Democratic opponent
in the House District
3 race, and whose name
will appear on a ballot for
only the second time.
Whiting previously ran
for County Council District
6 in 2016, when she received
32 percent of the vote,
losing to Councilwoman
Maile David.
Before running
for office,
Whiting met
independent
Vermont U.S.
Sen. Bernie
Sanders in
2016. Sanders, who ran
for president that year on
a broadly popular social
Democrat platform, was a
primary source
of inspiration
for Whiting.
“He asked
me what I
wanted to
do. I said I
wanted to
run for office, and he
said, ‘That’s exactly what
By NANCY COOK LAUER
West Hawaii Today
In a state that values access to
the ballot, Hawaii election officials
pretty much take your word for it
when you claim to be a U.S. citizen
and thus are eligible to vote.
But, at least on the Big Island,
officials are confident
there’s little,
if any, incorrect or
fraudulent representations
that would
allow non-citizens
to cast ballots.
“It’s the first
NAKAMOTO
question on the form — ‘Are
you a citizen of the United States
of America,’” notes Hawaii
County Elections Administrator
Pat Nakamoto, pointing to the
voter registration application.
But that didn’t stop a now-disqualified
state House candidate
on another island, who apparently
has been on the voter rolls
for more than a decade. Sailau
Timoteo, who was running as
See REGISTRATION Page A10
ONISHI WHITING
See CHALLENGES Page A9
Editor’s note: This is one of a series
of intermittent stories about contests
in the Aug. 11 primary election.
LAURA RUMINSKI/West Hawaii Today
The body removal team contracted by the Hawaii Police
Department exits a condo at Alii Lani where two bodies
were discovered Friday morning.
‘They were
great people’
See DEAD Page A10
Couple found dead in apartment
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