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A look inside
West Hawaii Today’s past,
running every Wednesday
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2018 WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM 75¢
PARADE OF
NATIONS
SPORTS, 1B
▼
No charges in stolen drug evidence case
More raises
coming
down
the pike
SALARY COMMISSION
CONSIDERS, BUT
HOLDS OFF VOTING,
ON LATEST ROUND
OF INCREASES
BY NANCY COOK LAUER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
Pahoa is hurting
MERCHANTS STRUGGLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET FOLLOWING LAVA DISASTER
The business space where Roy’s Thai Food was is now for rent Tuesday in downtown Pahoa. PHOTOS BY HOLLYN JOHNSON/TRIBUNE-HERALD
INDEX Annie’s Mailbox . . . . . . .5B Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6B Nation & World . . . . . . . . .3A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B
HI 86 LO 74 WEATHER, PAGE 5A
VOL. 50, NO. 283 16 PAGES
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KAILUA-KONA — No
charges will be filed in a stolen
drug evidence case involving a
former officer with the Hawaii
Police Department.
“After careful review,
we have decided not to file
charges,” the Department
of the Prosecuting Attorney
for the City and County of
Honolulu said in a statement
provided Tuesday to West
Hawaii Today.
In the release, the
Department of the
Prosecuting Attorney for the
City and County of Honolulu
indicated they had been asked
to review a conflict case from
Hawaii County involving three
alleged counts of securing the
proceeds of an offense.
“Based on the evidence presented
to us there is no probable
cause to support a charge
of Securing the Proceeds of an
Offense or any other crime,”
the statement read.
According to Hawaii
Revised Statutes, a “person
commits the offense of securing
the proceeds of an offense
if, with intent to assist another
in profiting or benefiting from
the commission of a crime, he
aids the person in securing
the proceeds of the crime.”
Brooks Baehr, communications
and community affairs
with the Honolulu prosecutor’s
office, confirmed the
office had been screening
the Hawaii County case for
charges since it was submitted
to them by the Department of
the Attorney General.
The case stems from Hawaii
County police investigating one
of their own for reportedly stealing
drug evidence from the Hilo
evidence storage facility.
The initial police investigation
began last fall when
cocaine, originally recovered in
2014, was found to be lighter
than reported during its initial
DEPUTY CHIEF CALLS INVESTIGATION ‘THOROUGH’
BY TIFFANY DEMASTERS
WEST HAWAII TODAY
tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com
SEE EVIDENCE PAGE 6A
HILO — Much smaller
raises are being considered
for top county officials
next year, following
last year’s eye-popping
double-digit hikes.
The county Salary
Commission on Tuesday
mulled raises of about
$5,600 for each top position,
a 3.4 percent to 7.5
percent increase, for the
next budget year that
starts July 1. That’s on
top of raises of $16,700 to
$42,900, or 13.2 percent
to 39.7 percent last year.
The raises are for the
mayor, County Council,
department heads and
deputies. The mayor,
for example, would see
his pay rise to $168,223
annually; the County
Council chairman would
be paid $82,657 and a
council member would
get $75,649.
The Salary Commission
has the sole power to set
raises for those positions.
It’s authorized by charter
to ensure salaries have
SEE SALARY PAGE 7A
HILO — Nearly two months
after the apparent pause in volcanic
activity in lower Puna, Pahoa businesses
are struggling to stay afloat.
The town took an economic hit
earlier this year when the Kilauea
eruption began May 3 in Leilani
Estates, as visitors avoided the
island in general and lower Puna in
particular. Then, the town suffered
a second blow when the eruption
paused: Now visitors have stopped
going to Pahoa to try to see the lava.
“They say, ‘If there’s no flow, they
no go,’” said resident Althea Yabes.
Yabes’ husband, Amedeo
Markoff, said the eruption wiped
out much of the town’s economy
— 40 percent, he estimated — and
left it with fewer attractions to drive
visitors to return.
“It’s way more than just 700
homes,” Markoff said, referring to
the number of homes destroyed
by lava. “Say half of those were
BY MICHAEL BRESTOVANSKY
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
Nyle
McQueen
makes
banana
bread
Tuesday at
the Pahoa
Village
Museum in
downtown
Pahoa. SEE PAHOA PAGE 5A
Kona athlete Jose Graca
walks with his native
country Brazil during
the Ironman World
Championship Parade of
Nations Tuesday evening.
(RICK WINTERS/WEST HAWAII TODAY)
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PAGE 8A