KILAUEA ERUPTION
Aid request unveiled
New panel to seek solutions to helicopter noise
By STEPHANIE SALMONS
Index
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Athlete of Week B1
Big Isle history B4
Classified B6
Comics B5
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Hawaii County has increased
the price tag of its draft Kilauea
disaster recovery plan to $680 million
as administrators begin to
make their pitch to lawmakers.
The proposal, which remains a work
in progress, goes beyond providing
housing for those displaced
by the eruption
or relocating farmers. It
also seeks to create new
or improved economic
centers in the underserved
district, and a redevelopment
agency with authority
to make it happen.
Roy Takemoto, an
executive assistant to
Mayor Harry Kim, said
the intent is to take the
opportunity to make
Puna a more “sustainable”
place to live.
“Because right now,
it’s substandard subdivisions,” he
said, “and awful traffic. And if we
just threw people into the existing
pattern of development, we’re just
going to exacerbate that situation.”
Issue No. 227
16 Pages in
2 Sections
HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald file photo
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Commentary A4
Community A6
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Nation A3, A5
Obituaries A2
Sports B1
State A3
Stocks A2
Surf Report A2
Internet
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Hawaiian Ethos gets
OK to grow marijuana
By MICHAEL
BRESTOVANSKY
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
The state Department
of Health authorized
the first business on the
Big Island to grow cannabis
and manufacture
cannabis products.
Prospective cannabis
dispensary Hawaiian
Ethos LLC was issued
a “notice to proceed to
acquire and cultivate cannabis”
Tuesday, having
passed all state inspections
and met all requirements
to produce medicinal
marijuana products.
Some of the state
requirements for medical
cannabis businesses
include building a
secure, enclosed facility,
having a computer
Jury selection underway in trial
of man accused of killing mother
By JOHN BURNETT
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Jury selection began
Tuesday in the trial of a
43-year-old man accused
of stabbing his mother
to death almost three
years ago in an area of
lower Puna covered by
lava from Kilauea volcano
earlier this year.
Sean Alan Rutledge
is charged with
second-degree murder for
allegedly slaying 63-yearold
Nadean Rutledge
outside her Kapoho Kai
Drive home on the evening
of Aug. 25, 2015. The
retired information officer
for the former Wai‘opae
Tide Pools in Kapoho was
stabbed in the back, and
her nude body was found
covered by a sheet on the
lawn outside her home.
Jury summons were
sent to 240 individuals.
There were 87 potential
jurors who crowded the
courtroom gallery of
Hilo Circuit Judge Henry
Nakamoto on Tuesday,
with 40-plus having
been previously excused
and the remainder who
received summons facing
possible contempt of
court charges. More than
NADEAN
RUTLEDGE
SEAN
See TRIAL Page A8 RUTLEDGE See GROW Page A7
Fissure 8 feeds the river of lava July 19 in Leilani Estates.
County asks lawmakers
to mull $680 million
disaster recovery plan
TAKEMOTO
See REQUEST Page A8
Sharon Lee of
Ainaloa, right,
wears a sign
that says “Copter
noise makes us
sick!” during a
public meeting
Tuesday to
discuss noise
from commercial
helicopter
flights.
STEPHANIE
SALMONS/
Tribune-Herald
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
A new roundtable
committee will seek solutions
to noise caused by
commercial helicopters.
The announcement
was made Tuesday
during a public information
meeting at Nani
Mau Gardens. The
meeting was hosted by
the state Department
of Transportation
Airports Division to
discuss commercial
helicopter flights over
residential areas.
Facilitator Dawn
Chang told the crowd the
purpose of the meeting
was to form a roundtable
committee with two representatives
each from the
DOT, Federal Aviation
Administration, Hawaii
Helicopters Association
and the community,
who will consider comments
made not only
Tuesday, but also those
submitted before and
after the meeting to
“find a path forward.”
The intention is to
“facilitate some solution”
or identify issues
that can move toward
solutions, she said.
Local leaders, pilots
and community members
filled the tables and lined
the walls of the meeting
space. More than 40 people
signed up to comment
See NOISE Page A7
INSIDE
>>> Find
highlights
from the
county’s draft
recovery
plan. A8
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