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Tuesday, November 28, 2017
November 28, 2017 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:59 PM :: 7462 Views

How Hawaii Civil Rights Commission Covers Up Sex Harassment Reports

Hawaii House Rules Prohibit Staff from Revealing "Illegal or Improper Conduct"

Will Legislators Block Shutdown of All Ocean Users?

Vision for Future Waianae Coast with Kelii Akina and Germaine Meyers

Hawaii Least Charitable State in USA?

HPD Chief Ballard Orders People With Medical Pot To Surrender Guns

Hawaii v Trump: Back to the Supreme Court Again

After years of silence, Kamehameha Schools/ACLU sex abuse victims speak out

HNN:  Over a period of nearly 30 years, dozens of Kamehameha Schools students were sexually assaulted by a psychiatrist they thought they could trust: Dr. Robert Browne, who was chief of psychiatry for St. Francis Hospital and a consultant for the school (and a Board member of the Hawaii ACLU).

In recent court documents, the school and the hospital where the doctor worked have acknowledged that he was a serial pedophile…..

families struggled to understand as their loved ones spiraled into depression or turned to alcohol or drugs. Only after the abuser's death, after he was laid to rest among heroes at Punchbowl cemetery, did the victims begin to realize they weren’t alone….

Earlier this month, meanwhile, attorneys for the victims and their families said they believe hundreds more victims have yet to be heard from….

Blake told Hawaii News Now he noticed a difference in his brother’s behavior right after he began to see Browne.

"All of a sudden he was withdrawn, even more so it was as if he was in a stupor,” he said. “It was like the life was sucked right out of him."

Conant says Browne drugged his brother, who then became addicted to drugs and alcohol and ended up living on the streets. He died in 2011. The cause of death: Suicide by overdose….

Despite acknowledging that the assaulted happened — and an admission that Kamehameha Schools officials knew about the scandal at least 25 years ago — Kamehameha and St. Francis continue to vigorously fight the men's claims for damages.

At issue in the suit, which is set to go to trial soon: How much responsibility should Kamehameha Schools and St. Francis bear for the assaults? 

(Clue KSBE will try to shift all the blame and will be helped by its agents in the media.)

read … After years of silence, Kamehameha Schools sex abuse victims speak out

Dan Inouye was a Rapist

CB: …Kwockʻs claim that Inouye sexually abused her came in October 1992, when he was running for re-election to a sixth term in office. In a news conference, Kwock told reporters the senator had coerced her to have sexual intercourse with him in his Waikiki apartment 17 years earlier when she was 22 and starting her career as a hairdresser.

She said her boss at the hair salon at the Ilikai Hotel where she worked sent her to Inouyeʻs apartment on an errand. Kwock said as soon as she walked through the door, “he grabbed me and proceeded his advances on me.”

She remembers today, “Even though he had only one arm, he had strength. I tried pushing him but I didn’t get anywhere.”

“I was very young, inexperienced and scared,” Kwock said then. “I felt overpowered by him and the fact that he was Daniel Inouye. He removed my clothing and Iʻm just thinking, ‘This is going to happen.’”

She said back then she didn’t consider it rape because although she tried to push him back, she gave in to him. She said she was too afraid to to do anything else.

She was quoted at the time in The Honolulu Advertiser saying, “I told Inouye ʻNo I donʻt want to get pregnant’ … and he opened up the drawer and got out contraceptive foam, which I had never seen and I donʻt know how to use it so he did everything.”

Kwock said that after the incident, when Inouye came in for a haircut, as she was shampooing his hair in a partially partitioned room he reached his hand up her dress. She says he tried to do the same thing in other hair appointments, but that she was able to evade him by moving over to the right side of the basin, the side of his missing arm, so he could not reach out to grab at her.

She said sometimes he made lewd remarks, reminding her about the sexual encounter in his apartment. He repeatedly asked her to go out to dinner with him at expensive restaurants, but she says she always refused….

read … Rapist

Mrs Brian Schatz North Shore Shopping Plaza – Public Comments Open

SA: The public has another opportunity to comment on a developer’s plan to build a “rural” retail complex on Oahu’s North Shore as part of a state environmental review.

Hanapohaku LLC, the developer of the project, designed with three buildings totaling 27,500 square feet of leasable space plus up to eight food trucks, published a draft environmental impact statement with the state last week….

The new document adds much more detail on the project, including an estimated $18 million cost, a traffic analysis and job projections. The draft EIS also presents another chance for residents to voice their opinions.

Hanapohaku, led by (Bonterra solar schemer) Andrew Yani, has caused a stir in the community over ongoing commercial uses of the 2.7-acre property across from Sharks Cove in Pupukea.

The city has fined the company for unpermitted food truck operations and construction, while community residents railed against a previous retail development plan that skirted public review and shoreline protection regulations….

Hanapohaku will need a special management area “major” use permit that requires a public hearing. If all permits can be obtained, the developer projects that it could start construction in mid-2019 and finish in mid-2021.

The public may comment on the draft EIS until Jan. 8.

Comments should be sent to Ardis Shaw-Kim with the city Department of Planning and Permitting at ashaw@honolulu.gov with copies to Yani at hanapohakullc@gmail.comand consultant Jeff Overton at pupukea@g70.design.

More information, including the draft EIS, is available at 808ne.ws/2hWi9ht.

(Just for kicks—tell them you were going to support this shopping plaza until you heard that Schatz was involved.) 

SA: Sharks Cove plan draws skepticism

Flashback:

read … Retail plan near Sharks Cove advances

Hu Honua ‘Green’ Energy Plant Sued over Environmental Violations

IM: Hu Honua is being targeted in a pro se lawsuit filed on November27, 2017, by Claudia Rohr. The named defendants are the Hawaii County Windward Planning Commission and the Hawaii County Planning Department.

The issue at hand is the expected flow of contaminants from the Hu Honua biomass-to-energy plant being proposed in Pepe`ekeo on the Hamakua Coast.

The lawsuit focuses on whether the ocean outflow is functional, or whether major repairs are needed within the Shoreline Management Area (SMA) and the coastal conservation-zoned beach.

“A report of a June 30, 2017 field inspection performed by Stefanie Weaver of the Clean Water Branch (CWB) who was accompanied by Hu Honua’s site manager and environmental consultant, indicates that the Hu Honua project’s primary discharge structure [within the shoreline area] for storm water discharges associated with construction activities and the facility at Outfall #001 is dysfunctional, in disrepair, and not draining correctly to settle out sediment; that near the buried concrete flume there are sink holes and it is unstable; that the pali face should be checked for erosion destabilizing the concrete flume from wave action; and that there is sediment in the concrete flume which would be discharged during the next storm event.” ….

read … Violator

OCCC cracking down on UPW contraband

KITV: A pair of Oahu prisons have taken a clear step in "cutting down on contraband" that reaches inmates….

"It can range from anything from tobacco based items, all the way to weapons," said OCCC Warden Francis Sequeira.

Last year, OCCC cut down on the contraband given to inmates during visits, by physically separating people from prisoners.

"We saw the curtailing of contraband because of the non-contact nature. Visitors are searched more stringent, and it really curtailed the thinking of bringing contraband in."

Now, the latest effort to crack down on contraband requires anyone who visits, along with volunteers or OCCC workers, to bring belongings in clear bags.

"It is a blanket policy for anyone who wants to enter the facility, staff and visitors alike."

In the past, there have been problems with OCCC workers bringing in contraband, leading to investigations and even arrests.

Sequeira said now they will see what employees have.  

Background: After Hospital Debacle, DPS Decides it Might Finally be Able to Prohibit Some, but not all, UPW Members From Bringing Contraband into Prisons

read … Cracking Down on UPW

HPD --  Not Enough to Change at the Top

CB:…HPD has been badly damaged by the Kealoha stories, but much more so by incidents such as a male cop knocking around people on a raid, the cellphone video of a male cop slamming a man to the ground in Palolo Valley, the male cop who beat, pepper-sprayed and kicked a beachgoer he suspected of harassing a seal; the $1.1 million settlement for ex-cop Clarissa Barsa’s sexual harassment lawsuit; and those male-cop-involved domestic abuse cases….

And that brings me to my second point: HPD’s it’s-none-of-your-business approach to the news media, which reports to the community….

HPD’s release-of-information policy is a laugher. Most regular community people will tell you the same thing. The current policy is “sorry, that’s under investigation” — forever….

read … Some Advice For Honolulu’s New Top Cop

Former police officer sentenced for bribery scheme involving alleged prostitute

KHON: A former University of Hawaii volleyball player and Honolulu police officer has been sentenced to six months in prison….

After his imprisonment, LaBarre must serve one year of supervised release.

read … Former police officer sentenced for bribery scheme involving alleged prostitute

Kealoha Trial Bumped Back to June, 2018

SA: …U.S. District Chief Judge J. Michael Seabright reset the trial date this afternoon to June 18. The original trial date was Dec. 19.

Seabright said he will consider extending the trial further if any requests are made. All six defendants asked Seabright for the continuance and the government agreed.….

CB: New Kealoha Defense Tactic: Going After ‘Mainland Prosecutors’

read … Kealoha

Big raises for Hawaii Co Execs: Salary Commission approves pay hikes up to 39.7%

WHT: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for some top county officials who will see double-digit raises as high as 39.7 percent.

The Salary Commission on Monday approved raises for 20 categories of top employees, increasing salaries by $11,904 to $42,982 come Jan. 1. The action covers the top administrative departments, the police and fire departments, the county prosecutor and top civil attorneys.

More raises, such as for the County Council, mayor and smaller divisions will be discussed at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 21. The mayor and many top administrators last got raises in 2014, while others haven’t seen a raise in almost 10 years…..

read … Big Raises

Airports Division Owed Rent by Airport Tenants

KHON: One of the biggest headlines from the demise of Island Air is that the state is losing out on a whole lot of rent.

The state Department of Transportation had come to a deal with the airline to defer payment on $1.5 million, which is nearly a full year’s lease costs, and may not ever be paid because it is the bankrupt airline’s largest unsecured debt.

We dug deeper and found that’s not the state’s only airport tenant with a deal to delay payment in something called a deferral agreement.

The DOT tells us So Ono Food Products has pledged to catch up on $288,426, Airmed International has $25,899 on the books, and Offshore Flight School is slow-paying $2,104….

read … Island Air just one of several airport tenants that owe the state rent money

After Pretending to seek alternate landfill site, it Looks Like Waimanalo Gulch Wins Again

HNN: The city released a consultant's report on Monday that includes new rankings for the 11 sites identified as possible alternatives to the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill.  Honolulu's mayor, however, hopes to avoid the need for a different landfill altogether. (Kabuki)

The top three locations listed by the 2012 Mayor's Advisory Committee on Landfill Site Selection are now the bottom three sites due to different criteria, according to city officials. The new technical and logistical analysis by R.M. Towill Corporation showed that five sites (Upland Nanakuli 1, Ameron Quarry and Kapaa Quarry Road, Kaneohe by H-3, and Keaau) could be considered for a future landfill location based on their scores.  (Kabuki)

"There is no way, no way as mayor would I allow another landfill to be located on the west side. They carry enough burden as it is with Waimanalo Gulch," said Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

Caldwell opposes opening a new landfill anywhere on Oahu…. 

read … Despite new rankings for alternate landfills, mayor opposes opening new site

Nine Years Later, DHHL Launches 1000 Unit Kapolei Development

SA: …The department plans to hold a lot-selection ceremony Saturday, when leaseholders will choose lots in the Ka‘uluokaha‘i subdivision, where DHHL is developing 160 turnkey homes.

The department in 2008 awarded future homeowners so-called undivided interest leases in a then- undeveloped 25-acre parcel near the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center. The interest-only leases will be replaced with standard leases for a specific house lot….

The Ka‘uluokaha‘i subdivision is the first phase of a master-planned community known as East Kapolei II that the department is developing mauka of the Ewa Villages Golf Course. At full build-out the community is expected to have 1,000 single-­family lots, according to DHHL.

Infrastructure improvements for the subdivision began in 2009, using $11 million in infrastructure funding from the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act program. Another $3 million in federal funding came from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development. The work involved mass grading, installation of sewer and water lines, and the construction of Maunakapu Street….

The department says it awarded 35 vacant lots over the past year to beneficiaries in Waimanalo, 45 vacant lots in Upcountry Maui and 22 vacant lots in Anahola on Kauai.

The last turnkey homes DHHL awarded were in the Kakaina subdivision of Waimanalo in October 2016, according to a department spokeswoman.

read … Project to provide 160 homes for Native Hawaiians

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