Index
By TIFFANY DEMASTERS
Being There A5
Big Isle History B4
Classified B6
Comics B5
By JOHN BURNETT
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press
Issue No. 218
14 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Commentary A4
Crossword B4
Cruise listings A3
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Obituaries A2
Scoreboard B3
Sports B1
Stocks A2
Surf Report A2
World A2
Monday, August 6, 2018
Fissure 8 lava
flow, earthquakes
down significantly
West Hawaii Today
Internet
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www.hawaiitribune-herald.com
KILAUEA ERUPTION County
eyes
Hector
Offi cials prepare as
Category 4 hurricane
picks up strength
United States Geological Survey photo
This aerial shot of fissure 8 taken Sunday morning shows significantly reduced lava activity.
Scientists, authorities still
vigilant despite volcanic lull
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
scientists confirmed Sunday that
rates of seismicity and summit
deformation have decreased, as
has lava output from fissure 8.
HVO geophysicist Jim
Kauahikaua said the number
of earthquakes have dropped
considerably since before the
most recent summit
collapse event,
which occurred
shortly before noon
on Thursday.
“Typically, it
was between 25 and
35 earthquakes per
hour in the summit area, and
now we’re down to under five,
and usually under two per hour,”
Kauahikaua said. He described
those earthquakes as “very small.”
Tina Neal, HVO’s scientist
in-charge, said “it’s too early
to tell” if the downturn in seismic
activity and lava output means
an end is in sight to the current
eruption along Kilauea’s lower
East Rift Zone, which started on
May 3. She also noted a significant
increase in gas emissions
from Pu‘u ‘O‘o vent on Friday.
“It could be weeks or months
before we feel comfortable calling
the eruption and the summit
collapse over,” Neal said. “… It’s
not uncommon for eruptions to
wax and wane. So this could turn
around at any point and resume.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
“We’re trying to compare
what is going on now with the
1955 and ’60 eruptions. In 1955,
The county, on emergency status since the
lower East Rift Zone eruption started in May,
is gearing up for a possible lashing
from Hurricane Hector.
Mayor Harry Kim called a
meeting of department heads
and emergency workers Sunday
afternoon at Hawaii County Civil
Defense headquarters in Hilo.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, Hector
was about 1,170 miles east-southeast
MAGNO
of South Point, according to the National
Hurricane Center. The Category 4 storm
strengthened during the day Sunday, packing
maximum sustained winds of 140 mph with
higher gusts and moving to the west at 13 mph.
Hector was expected to cross into the
Central Pacific Basin late Sunday night.
“We are forecasting a gradual weakening
trend as it pushes westward,” Deanna Marks,
a National Weather Service meteorologist, told
the crowded briefing at the emergency operations
center. “… What we do have is cooler sea
surface temperatures and we also have drier air.
So that’s going to help to weaken Hurricane
Hector as it pushes into the Central Pacific.”
Marks said Hector had “a little bit of a
west-northwest clip,” but she said a ridge
of high pressure building to the north is
“going to keep it on that westward track.”
Forecast models project the storm to pass
to the south of the Big Island at about 11
a.m. Wednesday, but Marks said there was
“about a 40 percent chance that South Point
might see tropical storm-force winds.”
By JOHN BURNETT
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
NEAL
See ERUPTION Page A6 See HECTOR Page A6
Sheriff’s division
lieutenant
fined for alleged
ethics violations
KAILUA-KONA — Hawaii Island’s
lone sheriff’s lieutenant has agreed to pay
a $6,000 fine for two alleged ethics violations
that occurred in March of 2014.
The allegations were initially reported
in 2016 when the Department of Public
Safety’s sheriff’s division were re-evaluating
its “special off-duty policy,” written
in 2004. It was at that time that Hawaii
Island deputies were benched from assisting
in evictions, a special off-duty service.
See FINED Page A3
President
appears to
change story
about meeting
Associated Press
President Donald Trump speaks during a rally Saturday in Lewis
Center, Ohio.
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. —
President Donald Trump appears
to have changed his story about a
2016 meeting at Trump Tower that
is pivotal to the special counsel’s
investigation, tweeting that his
son met with a Kremlin-connected
lawyer to collect information
about his political opponent.
“Fake News reporting, a
complete fabrication, that I am
See TRUMP Page A3
Positives and
negatives for
Hilo in opener
SPORTS, B1
/www.hawaiitribune-herald.com