How Miske Meth Dealers Force Addicts to Become Robbers
CB: … After being threatened for failing to repay a drug debt for methamphetamine “fronted” by a dealer with a reputation for violence and the martial arts skills to back it up, 24-year old Dayson “Dace” Kaae agreed to rob an illegal game room near the Don Quijote store on Kaheka Street, not far from Ala Moana Center.
On Oct. 15, 2017, Kaae entered the game room and pulled out a handgun, according to a news broadcast at the time.
It didn’t go well. Kaae lost his gun when tackled by one of the game room guards, and suffered head injuries in the scuffle that followed. He was taken to a hospital, and then arrested for terroristic threatening and a firearms violation. He was later released after witnesses refused to cooperate with prosecutors.
Five weeks later, Kaae attempted a second robbery, this time of a Kailua tattoo shop. Kaae entered the store with a second man, and punched and kicked the store owner, who then pulled a small knife and stabbed Kaae several times. The two men fled to a waiting car with two others inside, but police responding to the scene found Kaae dead in the getaway car, which had been abandoned a block away.
At the time, Kaae’s family and friends told reporters they were just trying to make sense of what had happened. They wondered who was with him at the tattoo shop, who else was involved, and what he was doing there.
It’s been nearly five years, and the story of the drug debt and two attempted robberies that eventually led to Kaae’s death can finally be pieced together from details contained in federal court records that have only recently become publicly available, prior written plea agreements with defendants who have already pleaded guilty, as well as published accounts and public records.….
ILind: Botched robberies and stabbing death tied to drug debt
read … The Miske Files: A Robbery Gone Bad In Kailua Ends In A Death
Aloha Stadium Project Modeled on Aloha Tower Debacle
SA: … In early 2022 a veteran Hawaii attorney specializing in real estate development said eight to 10 years was a realistic range for the state to replace Aloha Stadium instead of by 2023, the state’s original estimate for completion.
It turns out the appraisal by Benjamin Kudo at a University of Hawaii Board of Regents meeting is a lot closer to the state’s latest estimate for completing the project: 2027.
Kudo, whose term as a regent ended in June, understands complex land development projects involving local government, and Hawaii is littered with big public-facility development projects that have taken exorbitant stretches of time to produce compared with plans.
To mention a few:
>> It took over a decade to develop the Hawai‘i Convention Center.
>> An initial segment of Honolulu’s rail system was supposed to be running in 2018.
>> The H-3 freeway opened in 1997 after 34 years of work.
>> Around Honolulu Harbor’s Aloha Tower landmark, there has yet to materialize a mix of residential towers, hotel rooms and offices anchored by a retail center that opened in 1994 despite planning that began in 1981.
Compared with the convention center, rail, H-3 and Aloha Tower, NASED most closely resembles Aloha Tower in structure and purpose.
State leaders in 1981 created the Aloha Tower Development Corp., a new state agency, to solicit plans from private developers to revitalize run-down industrial waterfront land owned by the state.
Initial proposals were considered in the early 1980s, but it took until 1989 for the agency to approve a winning plan from competing proposals.
The selected vision featured a “festival marketplace” retail complex, two condo towers, an office tower, a business hotel, a cruise terminal, 2,000 underground parking stalls and a pedestrian overpass over Nimitz Highway. Revenue to the state under a 65-year land lease was projected to be $4 billion.
Aloha Tower Marketplace opened in 1994, but nothing else was built because of a faltering economy….
Big Q: When do you think the new Aloha Stadium will be completed?
read … Aloha Stadium redevelopment joins list of troubled, delayed Hawaii government projects
UH Pres Lassner Statement on Aloha Stadium
SA: … “For nearly a decade our message has been consistent: We do not have a position on who builds and operates the stadium, but we need better financial arrangements with the venue where we play our home football games. The untimely decommissioning of Aloha Stadium made our situation more difficult and we look forward to a timely project that will send a clear message of Hawaii’s commitment to the only major athletic program within 2,200 miles. … Clarence T.C. Ching Field will continue as our interim venue and we are appreciative of the support of all who are making it possible for us to expand its capacity as needed to maintain our FBS football status. And we will continue to engage with the state on future plans for Aloha Stadium to do our best to shape a project that is good for the state and good for UH and can be completed as soon as possible with the resources provided during the last legislative session.” …
read … Hawaii is in a race against time to rebuild Aloha Stadium
Hawaii Physician Assistant Pay Lowest in USA
BHR: … Hawaii's sky-high living expenses means that its 22nd-ranked PA average hourly wage lands it at the bottom of the list, after adjusting for cost of living…..
read … PA pay for all 50 states adjusted by cost of living
Judge discusses mental health, substance use issues in the criminal justice system
HTH: … Miami-Dade County Associate Administrative Judge Steven Leifman presented the model his Florida community has used to effectively address the needs of those with mental illness and substance abuse issues to dozens of Hawaii County stakeholders, including members of the Judiciary, law enforcement, health care and more….
Leifman said the Conference of Chief Justices, an association of the top judicial officials in all 50 states, formed the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness three years ago. He was a member of the panel tasked with studying how to assist state courts in more effectively responding to the needs of court-involved individuals with serious mental health and substance use issues.
Every justice, Leifman said, endorsed the initiative’s findings, and called for a four-year implementation plan for all 33,000 courts in America to change their response in dealing with individuals that have severe mental illness.
“We came to Hawaii first because there is a lot of goodwill, and if we can get this done on a state level here, we can learn how to get other states to do it,” he said….
“What we found was pretty fascinating. In Florida, which is pretty typical, at the time we were spending one-third of the entire mental health budget on competency hearings,” he said. “As we dug a little deeper, what we found was that 80% of those people had one of three things happen. They had the charges dropped, they got credit for time served or they got probation, walking out the door without any access to services. It’s absolutely the definition of insanity.”…
The key is to get ahead of the illness, handle it early and give people the opportunity to recover, he said, noting the Miami-Dade County court system uses a two part approach: pre-arrest diversion and a post-arrest diversion systems that each work to identify persons with such conditions and get them in to treatment. Doing so required a collaboration between many entities: the state attorney, public defender, department of children and families, law enforcement and providers. They all agreed to step up, he said.
Leifman explained the best pre-arrest program, referred to as “crisis intervention team policing,” was actually started by the Memphis Police Department. It teaches law enforcement how to identify someone in crisis, how to de-escalate the situation and where to take people as opposed to arresting them.
The Miami-Dade County court system also uses a screening tool to identify a serious mental issue when a person is first incarcerated. To do so, the person is segregated at the jail and seen by a psychiatrist within 24 hours. If the doctor determines commitment is required, the individual is moved to a crisis stabilization unit within three days.
Once the person begins to stabilize, the individual can agree to enter the court treatment program. Charges can be dropped if the person successfully completes the program…..
“When we started it was just non-violent misdemeanor cases. In two years, our recidivism rate went from 75% to 20%. We have two choices: We can release people with treatment or without treatment. For most people, if you get them the right services, they are going to do real well,” he said.
Seeing the program’s success, the treatment program was expanded to all misdemeanors and felony cases. Felony recidivism dropped from 75% to 25%, saving the county 84 years of jail bed days, which Leifman said equates to hundreds of millions of dollars….
read … Judge discusses mental health, substance use issues in the criminal justice system
Hawaii Senator Says Changes Are Needed To Curb ‘Illegal, Knee-Jerk’ Child Abuse Investigations
CB: … The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which includes Hawaii, has concluded in a series of decisions that the constitutional rights of parents and children require court orders unless the danger to the child is so great that there’s no time.
“I am alarmed that children are being taken away without a court order,” said San Buenaventura, chair of the Senate Human Services Committee.
She said she was open to introducing a measure similar to one passed in 2017 by the Arizona Legislature. In that state, child welfare workers had not been getting court orders before removing children. The new law made it clear that court orders should be the norm, and narrowly defined the circumstances that could lead to an emergency removal absent a warrant….
State Sen. Karl Rhoads, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in response to Civil Beat’s investigation that he’s not sure legislation is needed….
read … Hawaii Senator Says Changes Are Needed To Curb ‘Illegal, Knee-Jerk’ Child Abuse Investigations
Hilo family recounts struggles of being homeless
HTH: … After a series of unfortunate circumstances with a mortgage company that caused the eviction of several families, Patricia and Jamie Pagan and their five children — Shanelle, 30, Shani, 28, Sha, 26, Jamie, 25 and Joseph, 22 — were homeless in the early 2000s.
Without a backup plan for their family, Patricia and Jamie were forced to turn their kids over to Child Protective Services until they had a decent living space. They turned to King’s Landing, the coastal area at the end of Keaukaha.
After building a home out of pallets, the Pagans were granted custody of their children and found solace in their new home….
read … Hilo family recounts struggles of being homeless
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