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WEST HAWAII TODAY | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2015
Forecasters monitoring disturbed
weather in Central and Eastern Pacific
Forecasters Friday were
monitoring five areas
of disturbed weather in
the Central Pacific and
Eastern Pacific.
Honolulu-based
Central Pacific Hurricane
Center forecasters are
keeping tabs on three of
those areas in the vicinity
of the state.
The first area compris-
es showers and thun-
derstorms about 600
miles south of Honolulu.
Environmental condi-
tions are expected to be
conducive for some devel-
opment, and forecasters
said there is a 80 per-
cent chance of a tropical
depression forming with-
in the next couple of days.
A second area of show-
ers and thunderstorms,
located 1,075 miles
southwest of Honolulu,
could also develop into
a tropical depression,
forecasters said. It has
a slightly lower chance
of development than the
storm 600 miles south of
the state.
About 975 miles south-
east of the Big Island, an
area of disturbed weath-
er could see some slow
development
during
the next couple of days.
However,
forecasters
do not expect a tropical
depression to form this
weekend.
Elsewhere
in
the
Central Pacific, no trop-
ical cyclones are expect-
ed to develop by Sunday
afternoon, forecasters
said.
In the Eastern Pacific,
Miami-based National
Hurricane Center fore-
casters are monitoring an
area of low pressure far
off the coast of Mexico,
as well as the remnants
of former-Tropical Storm
Marty.
Showers and thunder-
storms associated with
the broad areas of low
pressure 1,250 miles
southwest of the south-
ern tip of Baja California
have become a little less
organized, however, fore-
casters say conditions are
expected to be somewhat
conducive for develop-
ment. They gave the area
of disturbed weather a 50
percent chance of form-
ing into a tropical depres-
sion within five days.
Because of strong
upper-level winds, the
remnants of Marty, locat-
ed 375 miles west-south-
west of Manzanillo,
Mexico, are not expect-
ed to reorganize during
the next couple of days.
Regardless, areas of heavy
rain are still expected
over portions of south-
western Mexico through
the weekend.
Elsewhere
in
the
Eastern Pacific, tropical
cyclone formation is not
expected during the next
five days.
The
Central
and
Eastern Pacific hurri-
cane seasons continue
through Nov. 30. For
the latest storm infor-
mation,
visit
www.
westhawaiitoday.com/
hurricane-season-2015.
WEST HAWAII TODAY
it uses the 60,000-square-foot
pier each October.
In his text, Underwood clar-
ified and iterated: “Staff pre-
pared the right-of-entry per-
mit that included a 50 percent
reduction in rent. I told staff
that I was not comfortable
with that and told them that if
IRONMAN wanted to request a
reduction in rent we would need
to take the matter before the
Land Board and IRONMAN
could then justify their request.
Staff contacted IRONMAN and
explained what was happening
and IRONMAN said that they
would send a representative to
the meeting, which they did.”
Bertsch said in a follow-up
email that she did not know
a rent reduction was being
requested until it appeared in
West Hawaii Today the day
before the meeting. The reduc-
tion was denounced in social
media, and Kailua-Kona resi-
dent Thomas Mann chained
himself to a sign near the race
start line in protest this week.
Asked about the nature of
her testimony at the meet-
ing, Bertsch said: “I clari-
fied the inaccuracies of Mr.
Underwood’s statements and
communicated that in 2014 and
2015 IRONMAN has requested
clarity on the new (right-of-en-
try) fee that was being imposed
for the Kailua-Kona Pier. The
document requesting a ‘rent
reduction’ was created by Mr.
Underwood.”
Asked why she did not stop
the rent request before it was
approved, Bertsch responded:
“We did not perceive this as a
reduction request, our request
was for clarity, fairness and
consistency.”
Land Board member Chris
Yuen said this week that he did
not clearly remember Bertsch’s
testimony at the Sept. 25 meet-
ing in Honolulu.
However, “I definitely got
the impression they wanted a
reduction,” Yuen said.
Yuen made the motion to
approve the request.
In explaining his vote, Yuen
said the 25 cent-per-square foot
formula is a statewide one that
is not based on site specifics. For
almost all events on state harbor
facilities, the fee amounts to a
few hundred dollars a day, he
said.
“The bottom line, I feel we
should be charging reasonable
rates for our facility,” Yuen said.
“And I didn’t see $15,000 a day
being justified by any market
comparison.”
Accompanying the request for
the rent reduction were multi-
ple pages detailing the contri-
butions IRONMAN has made
to West Hawaii projects over
the years. Bertsch submitted
the information to Big Island
DOBOR staff at their request,
she said.
The right-of-entry fee for
using the pier was first charged
to the IRONMAN World
Championship in 2014. A sub-
mittal approved last September
by the Land Board, signed by
Underwood, charged the race
a $30,000 fee, with figures
detailing how that was a 50
percent reduction from the 25
cent-per-square-foot formula.
“They received half off last
year as well,” Underwood said.
IRONMAN did not ask
for this rent reduction either,
Bertsch said this week. The
minutes from the Sept. 12, 2014
meeting show the reduction
passed unanimously without
amendments, and the minutes
contain no discussion by board
members.
“Ed
Underwood
said
(at Friday’s meeting) that
IRONMAN had asked for a
reduction in 2014,” Bertsch said.
“I clarified that was inaccurate.”
Bertsch said that, on Aug.
28 of this year, DOBOR staff
informed her that the new entry
fee would be $60,000.
“We asked for clarity on what
the fees are, why it doubled
from last year,” Bertsch said.
“We were told they made a mis-
take in 2014.”
Prior to last year, IRONMAN
used the pier for free. Bertsch
said the race corporation has
struggled to understand the rea-
son for the fee.
“If we were given a bill, out-
lined and understood, and con-
sistent, we would gladly pay it,”
Bertsch said.
IRONMAN had requested to
know why it was being charged
full cost for the first day, when
the race installs equipment on
IRONMAN:
Almost all events on state harbor facilities, the fee amounts to a few hundred dollars a day
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
budget deal.
Talks on spending were
just beginning and were
expected to focus on find-
ing long-term cuts else-
where in the budget to
permit higher spending
on the day-to-day oper-
ations of government
agencies. Agreement will
be difficult, in large part
because of a lack of polit-
ically easy spending cuts
and disagreement over
how to use any money
from the cuts.
Four years ago Obama
agreed to spending cuts
in exchange for get-
ting a $2.1 trillion debt
limit increase through
Congress. Since then he
has twice refused to nego-
tiate over the debt-ceiling
issue and Congress has
lifted the debt limit both
times with sweeping sup-
port from Democrats.
Treasury
Secretary
Jacob Lew informed
Congress on Thursday
that it needs to act by Nov.
5, earlier than most on
Capitol Hill had thought.
The issue probably will
need to be dealt with
before Boehner leaves at
the end of the October.
Obama
said
that
Boehner’s resignation,
which has sparked GOP
infighting in a handful of
House leadership races,
complicates the situa-
tion. But Boehner says
he would like to clean
out Congress’ barn of as
much unfinished busi-
ness as possible and he
may have more leeway
now that he doesn’t have
to worry about tea party
lawmakers demanding
his scalp.
BUDGET:
Congress on
Thursday that it
needs to act by
Nov. 5
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
unauthorized control of
a propelled vehicle, two
counts of robbery and
one count of theft.
The case was subse-
quently transferred to
Circuit Court, where he
is set to appear Monday
morning.
The second man
charged with robbery,
Christiansan
Ikaika
Kaawa, 22, of Kailua-
Kona, also appeared for
a preliminary hearing
in Kona District Court,
however, that hear-
ing was continued to
Monday at the request
of the state. The state
said it had just received
the case information
Thursday afternoon and
was unable to prepare
subpoenas for witnesses
to appear in time for
Friday’s hearing.
Both
men
were
scheduled to have their
preliminary hearings
Thursday, but the pub-
lic defender’s office said
they had conflicts with
both cases. They with-
drew from the cases and
other attorneys were
appointed.
Stringert was arrested
with a woman Tuesday
in a stolen truck in
Kailua-Kona. Kaawa
was also arrested that
day.
Kaawa was charged
with one count of rob-
bery stemming from an
Aug. 4 robbery in the
parking lot Ilima Center,
near the intersection
of Kuakini Highway
and Palani Road. On
that date, a 32-year-
old Kailua-Kona man
reported being robbed
of his bag in the parking
lot of a shopping center
near the intersection of
Kuakini Highway and
Palani Road.
Stringert was charged
with
unauthorized
control of a propelled
vehicle, two counts of
robbery and one count
of theft. One of the
robbery charges stems
from the Aug. 4 incident
while the second stems
from a robbery Sept.
10 in which a Captain
Cook woman’s purse
was taken as she was
about to enter a busi-
ness on Kaiwi Street.
ROBBERY:
Stringert was arrested with a
woman Tuesday in a stolen truck
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
in downtown Hilo after he allegedly
took off during a traffic stop and
damaged a police vehicle and anoth-
er car at the corner of Mamo Street
and the Kilauea Avenue extension,
behind Pineapples restaurant.
He allegedly reversed his car
toward two officers while trying to
get away. Both officers discharged
their weapons; a witness said she
counted 16 shots.
Salai eventually was pulled over
and taken into custody at the corner
of Kinoole and Haihai streets.
Salai, who was previously hospi-
talized with gunshot wounds at The
Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu,
appeared in Friday’s hearing in cus-
tody, unable to post $34,500 bail. He
pleaded not guilty to all charges on
April 10.
An interpreter named Michael
Lameier spoke by telephone from
Honolulu to translate the proceed-
ings for Salai. Although he could be
heard in the courtroom, he had dif-
ficulties hearing the proceedings and
on numerous occasions, Nakamura
had to act as intermediary as well
as arbiter, telling Lameier what was
said at the prosecution and defense
tables so Lameier could translate for
Salai.
Salai appeared to understand what
was said to him by Lameier and
answered all questions posed to him,
all of which were of the yes-or-no
variety. Even so, the hearing, in which
little was done other than to set a trial
date, took almost 15 minutes.
Lameier also provided translation
via telephone in Salai’s hearing on
Aug. 3. According to court records,
interpretation at Salai’s April 10
arraignment was handled by Maklen
Kapalu, a Brigham Young University-
Hawaii student from Vanuatu.
According to the Laie, Oahu, school’s
website, she is the only student from
Vanuatu in the 2,700-member stu-
dent body.
“We don’t have anyone who speaks
Bislama on the Judiciary’s list of
court interpreters. However, the
Judiciary reached out to the Vanuatu
Consulate to locate qualified indi-
viduals that could assist with inter-
pretation services,” Judiciary spokes-
woman Tammy Mori said in a Friday
email. “The defendant was provided
with the recommended interpreters
in each of his hearings.”
Craig Severance, a retired
University of Hawaii at Hilo anthro-
pologist, said Bislama, the national
language of Vanuatu, has few speak-
ers on Hawaii Island, although
there is a larger pool of speak-
ers in Honolulu. Severance added
Vanuatu, a South Pacific island
nation about 1,100 miles east of
Australia, “has a lot of different
languages.”
Although the original inhabitants
of Vanuatu are Melanesian and
Bislama is described as a “Melanesian
pidgin” in writings by the late lin-
guist Terry Crowley, Severance noted
“a lot of variance” in the archipelago’s
population and languages.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-
herald.com.-
LANGUAGE:
Salai as unable to post $34,500 bail
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
The bottom line, I feel we
should be charging reasonable
rates for our facility.” And I didn’t
see $15,000 a day being justified
by any market comparison.
CHRIS YUEN
| LAND BOARD MEMBER
“
“
Forecasters Friday were monitoring five areas of disturbed weather in the
Central Pacific and Eastern Pacific.
NOAA/CPHC/
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the pier, Bertsch said. On
that first Wednesday, cruise
ship tenders are able to
come and go and the race
does not have exclusive use
of the pier, she said.
IRONMAN, which had
done more than $36,000 in
pier repairs in 2013, asked
last year if the repair cost
could be exchanged for the
2014 right-of-entry fee, but
was denied, Bertsch said.
The 2015 BLNR submittal
online:
.
gov/dlnr/meeting/submit-
tals/150925/J-3.pdf
The 2014 submittal:
/
dlnr/meeting/submit-
tals/140912/J-1.pdf-
