OHA LLCs Agree to Provide Check Register
Do We Have a Legitimate Government?
Hawaii became a U.S. Territory July 7, 1898
July 7, 1935: Moscow orders first Communists to Hawaii
Feds Bust Hawaii-Based Fraudsters
HPD Corruption Goes Back to 1940s
Borreca: … Questionable cops with sketchy ethics and a sliding scale of what is right and wrong are not new, and Honolulu has seen the results.
Perhaps the most amazing case I found was that of Honolulu Police Chief William Gabrielson, who presided over the local police during World War II. Even before the war Gabrielson was someone who saw ethics as “situational” at best.
John Jardine, a 45-year veteran Honolulu police detective, in a 1968 20-part Honolulu Advertiser series edited by the late Honolulu Advertiser reporter Gene Hunter, told how Gabrielson handled a case of a young cop who had killed his wife.
Gabrielson first told investigators that it was a suicide, not murder, although eventually the young officer was indicted and convicted of murder.
Jardine and his police partner are credited with breaking the police scandals of the 1940s. Dirty cops taking money from wartime Honolulu’s gambling and prostitution rings were notorious. In Gabrielson’s case, one police officer went to prison, others were indicted for taking bribes and Gabrielson forced to resign. The chief was later indicted but not convicted. His punishment was irrelevancy. He worked for a bit as a deputy sheriff in Northern California and then as a clerk for a plumbing supply company and died in 1978….
(Next there was an HPD officer named Larry Mehau, but I digress….)
“There were signs all along … we came forward on many, many different occasions: we went to the Ethics Commission and that was shut down, we wrote letters and they were ignored. I myself brought it up to my assistant chief and I was told basically to shut up,” Ballard said.
Even for a new chief like Ballard there is a worry that things may not change.
“What happens when you have these people (who are) allegedly unethical and making these bad decisions; it is going to happen again?” Ballard warned….
I would have hoped she had included something about sunshine being the best disinfectant, because HPD needs to seriously open the windows and let the public know what it does. But Ballard’s remarks are a beginning….
read … Post-Kealohas, HPD and city agencies must strive to do right, for right reasons
Kealoha Connection? Gun Wielding Fentanyl Dealer Got Second Chance, Took it
HTH: … A 63-year-old Mountain View man faces numerous drug and firearm charges after a traffic stop in Hilo.
On Tuesday, officers conducted a traffic stop on a pickup truck on Derby Lane in Hilo. Vice detectives executed a search warrant on the truck, driven by Gregory Cook, and found 27.9 grams of heroin, 27.9 grams of methamphetamine, 5.9 grams of marijuana, 4 acetaminophen-codeine phosphate pills, and numerous drug paraphernalia items associated with the sale and distribution of narcotics, police said….
According to police, detectives also confiscated a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun and a metal expandable baton….
Cook was on probation at the time of arrest, having pleaded no contest on Nov. 8, 2017, to two counts of second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and a single counts of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug.
The plea deal was in connection to a bust on Aug. 1, 2016, at Cook’s Fern Acres home.
Officers executing a search warrant found 364 grams of heroin, 8.1 grams of dried, processed marijuana, 1.4 grams of methamphetamine, 15 grams of cocaine plus Fentanyl patches….
(Puna Fentanyl Patches in 2016: Geeee, I know someone in Hilo who had fentanyl patches for sale back then >>> “Honolulu Police Corruption Probe Now Includes Katherine Kealoha’s Brother”)
In return for his plea in that case, prosecutors dropped a first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug charge, a Class A felony which carries a potential 20-year prison term upon conviction.
The most serious charges Cook faces in the current case, second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a loaded firearm on a public roadway are Class B felonies carrying a maximum 10-year prison term upon conviction.
read … Second Chance
Visiting mayors are served dirty laundry at royal buffet
Shapiro: … It was a scene of contrasts last weekend when municipal leaders here for the U.S. Conference of Mayors gathered at Iolani Palace.
Inside the gates, mayors and spouses in upscale casual attire got a VIP tour of the seat of the overthrown Hawaiian monarchy and then enjoyed a buffet on the lawn, attended by a royal guard dressed in red.
Outside the gates was a different crowd: dozens of protesters lining King Street to express displeasure about the handling of myriad local issues by Honolulu’s mayor and other leaders….
Some of their signs said “Save Our Sherwoods,” “Stop Ala Wai Project,” “Save Ala Moana Beach Park,” “Listen to the People,” “We Are Mauna Kea,” “Broken Promises Lies,” “Respect the Land” and “Impeach Mayor Kirk Caldwell! Pricing of locals out of Oahu!”
One of the most telling protest signs depicted Caldwell with his fingers in his ears and his tongue sticking out, saying, “I can’t hear you.”…
Increasingly, people feel they’re not being listened to, playing in a rigged game in which the money — usually tied to big developers, big business and big labor — always seems to get its way.
They cringe when elected schlubs propped up by special-interest bucks act like alii….
read … Visiting mayors are served dirty laundry at royal buffet
Obamacare: Some Hawaii diabetic patients can't afford the rising cost of insulin
KHON: … "It doesn't make sense at all. People out there are rationing insulin and dying," Sloboda said.
Dr. Alan Parsa says he knows of patients who spend 700 dollars per month on insulin, and it's causing them to cut back because they can't afford it.
Slobada says he can't believe the government allows companies to sell life-saving medication at such high costs.
"Because of that you can come into a lot of problems especially Type 1 diabetics who can end up in the hospitals and I've seen patients ending up in the hospital because they're afraid of running out of insulin," Dr. Parsa said….
Mizuno has told KITV4 that he is aware of the issue and has already drafted a bill to introduce next year that would cap the cost of co-pay for insulin to no more than $100 per month….
read … Some diabetic patients can't afford the rising cost of insulin
Kaneohe Center Will Keep the Homeless Nice n Comfy on the Street
KITV: … Aside from medical services, Matayoshi hopes to have social welfare programs, showers, and laundry machines in the building.
"If a homeless person is homeless on the windward side and you offer them services in town. Chances are they're not gonna take it. They're not gonna take that bus ride over. They're not gonna have the transportation to get to Iwilei or any of the town locations," he said.
The new facility is a three year pilot project and will become Oahu's second outreach center, operated by Hawaii Homeless Healthcare Hui. That organization is already running the first center in Chinatown that opened last April. 90 percent of the new outreach center is is funded by private organizations and businesses. But the state and city are also chipping in money for the project ….
read … Keep the Homeless Homeless
Hawaii County Plans No New Affordable Housing
HTH: … Despite a waiting list of more than 2,000 applications — some going back nine years — Hawaii County hasn’t built any new affordable housing units since 2017.
But the county is taking action, officials say, not only to build more public housing units, but to open up more Housing Choice Section 8 vouchers by creating better incentives for apartment and house owners, especially in West Hawaii….
The 2,640 applications for 2,383 housing opportunities as of March 29 is somewhat misleading because one person can be on several waiting lists, Housing Administrator Neil Gyotoku said Tuesday. Each of the county’s 11 programs, which range from vouchers to senior housing, has its own application list.
There are 385 families on the wait list for Housing Choice vouchers. To some extent, the county is a victim of its own success, having tapped out of almost all the federal funds available for the program….
The county already gives an affordable rental tax break of $6.25 in tax for every $1,000 of property value, compared to $11.10 for non-homeowner residential and $11.70 for apartments. The Section 8 apartments must be offered below market rates….
of the 2,161 Housing Choice vouchers being used, only 15.5% are in the three West Hawaii council districts, with another 5.4% in the Volcano-to-Kealakehe Council District 6….
read … Affordable housing challenges: Subsidized housing applications pile up, county closes wait-lists
Target Kanoelehua: DLNR must tighten fund management
SA: …That includes DLNR’s routine default position of perpetually extending most of the 340-plus revocable land permits; these are one-year permits, ostensibly, that have been renewed over decades with few, if any, rent increases.
This obviously benefits longtime, familiar tenants — and has cost the public millions of dollars over the years, with some rents being undervalued by as much as 1,000%.
DLNR’s explanation for such laggard operations? The Land Division administrator and some Land Board members wanted to retain “good tenants,” and not risk vacancies.
Countered the audit, rightly: “To the contrary, we believe that retaining tenants at below-market rents without offering other members of the public the opportunity to bid for the leases is inconsistent with DLNR and the Land Board’s public trust obligations.” ….
(Translation: DLNR isn’t oppressive enough to small businesses in Kanoelehua Industrial park in Hilo.)
Background: Auditor Rips DLNR Leasehold Management
read … Editorial: DLNR must tighten fund management
UH Athletics Idea: Prepare a Budget
SA: … It is just six key words, but after more than a decade of seeing University of Hawaii athletics struggle with budget deficits, the Board of Regents is considering a policy change that appears to represent an acknowledgement of the nationwide reality of unbalanced budgets in major college sports.
Over the years, some regents have challenged the athletic department to perform “more like a business” or demanded a series of plans aimed at balancing the budget. They were hopes reflected in Board of Regents Policy No. 7.208-D that stated, in part, “The athletics dept. will prepare an annual budget that balances expected revenues and expenses.”
But as the athletic department was preparing to close the books on the 2019 fiscal year that ended June 30 with its latest deficit, a proposed policy revision put before regents said simply, “The campus athletics dept. will prepare an annual budget.”
It added, in wording nearly identical to the current policy, “Should the athletics dept. end a fiscal year in deficit, meaning that total expenses exceed total revenues, including institutional support and student fees, this shall be noted in the annual financial report of the campus along with plans to reconcile the deficit and to account for its costs. The campus CEO may eliminate a deficit of the athletics dept. by providing funds from other sources, as permitted by law, to offset such deficit.”
Regents said they are still seeking financial accountability, and chairwoman Lee Putnam, speaking as an individual member, said, “I think it would be ideal if they (athletics) could have a balanced budget, and they have gotten closer, but it is very difficult. That’s why I was happy to see the Legislature help out.” ….
read … Policy change should help University of Hawaii decrease its deficit
Snobs: Hanalei Residents Spend July 4 Trying to Chase Tourists Away
SA: …A newly formed nonprofit intends to help regulate visitor traffic on Kauai after frustration with recent state and county efforts to reduce harmful effects around Haena State Park on the island’s north shore.
Some Haena and Wainiha residents claim that too many tourists haven’t gotten the word that they need advance reservations to enter the park since the state implemented limitations June 17 in conjunction with reopening the last roughly 2 miles of Kuhio Highway to the general public more than a year after devastating floods.
The group of residents, who formed Kuhio Highway Regulation, said they counted about 400 rental cars on the highway headed toward the park on July 4 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. about 4 miles away in Waipa, and that only about 100 of the cars had a parking pass to enter the park.
The group also said more than half of the visitor stalls in the park’s 100-stall parking lot were empty during the early afternoon that day, and that Kauai Police Department officers were not citing a “plethora” of cars parked along the highway across from Haena Beach because of conflicting state Department of Transportation parking signs….
KGI: Volunteers exercise visitor education initiatives on the North Shore
read … Snobs
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