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The Lahaina Recovery Fund
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Evidence of Miske role in 1996 disappearance?
ILind: … Despite receiving what in retrospect looks like a very lucky reprieve — probation instead of prison for his multiple convictions — Miske almost immediately got himself in serious trouble once again.
On May 17, 1995, just two days after his plea deal on the earlier charges was approved in court, a police officer stopped a black 1992 BMW four-door sedan seen speeding near Castle Medical Center just after 8 p.m. The officer asked the driver, later identified as Miske, for his license, registration and insurance card.
“The driver opened the glove compartment and a package fell out. The driver hid the package, removed the key from the glove compartment lock and began to start the car,” HPD Ofc. David Alices recounted in a later police report on the incident.
Alices said that when he went to the driver’s side of the car, the driver grabbed his arm and drove away, dragging him about 20 feet before he fell. The officer was treated at Castle for “a deep contusion to his left shoulder” which was considered by the examining doctor “to be a serious bodily injury,” case notes show.
The registered owner of the car, Rick Calhau, showed up at the Kaneohe Police Station about 2:30 a.m. to report the car had been stolen from behind his home. Calhau was a 28-year-old car enthusiast and the owner of The Tint Shop, an auto glass tinting company.
Calhau told police Mike Miske was “a good friend.” Calhau said Miske had driven the car before, but did not have permission to take the car that night.
Calhau told police Miske had left Oahu, but that he might know who had been driving the car. He refused to name the driver, and declined to take a lie detector test as suggested by police….
After police positively identified Miske as the driver who had dragged officer Alices, a Crimestoppers news release was circulated which included the 21-year-old Miske’s photo. Miske was arrested early in the evening on May 26 at a home on Maunawili Road. He told police he was now a “self-employed glass tinter.”
On June 14, 1995, Miske was indicted on charges of kidnapping, a Class A felony, the most serious category of criminal offenses which carry the most serious potential sentences; first-degree attempted assault, a Class B felony; and speeding, a violation. He was released on $25,000 cash bail posted by his mother, Maydeen Stancil, court records show.
These were the most serious charges Miske had faced to date. The case was set for trial in September, and Mohr, his lawyer, began working on another plea deal.
On Aug. 25, 1995, while awaiting trial on the kidnapping and assault charges, Miske was arrested again for second-degree terroristic threatening. Arrested in the same incident, but charged separately, was Rick Calhau, the tint shop owner whose BMW Miske had been driving.
Charges against both men were eventually dismissed once again when the complaining witness, not identified in court records, failed to appear….
read … Defense attorneys seek to bar evidence of Miske’s rumored role in 1996 disappearance
Pay hikes of more than 22% recommended for Hawaii County administrators
HTH: … Top county executives could be in line for significant pay raises come Jan. 1.
Under a proposal by the county Salary Commission, those individuals would receive a 22.44% pay increase, effective Jan. 1, 2024, and another 5% effective July 1, 2024….
Under the proposal, Mayor Mitch Roth, whose current yearly salary is $162,582, would make $199,068 on Jan. 1 and $209,028 on July 1 — the latter being the date the next fiscal year starts.
The $153,612 yearly salary of the managing director — a post currently held by Lee Lord, who is retiring Dec. 29 — would be hiked to $188,088 on New Year’s Day and $197, 496 on July 1. And Deputy Managing Director Bobby Command’s $132,744 yearly pay would increase to $162,540 on Jan. 1 and $170,676 on July 1.
County Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen and Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance, the county’s top civil attorney, currently are paid $153,228 a year. Their pay would increase on Jan. 1 to $187,620 on Jan. 1 and $197,004 on July 1.
First Deputy Prosecutor Stephen Frye makes $145,968, as does Assistant Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto. Their salaries would increase to $178,828 on Jan. 1 and $187,668 on July 1.
In a Salary Commission document titled Proposed Findings of Fact, the 22.44% is called an “inflationary adjustment,”….
read … Pay hikes of more than 22% recommended for county administrators
HECO Files Court Document in Response to Fire Lawsuit
IM: …Yesterday, Hawaiian Electric Defendants filed a reply to one of the numerous fire lawsuits. Point-by-point, they responded to each of the 209 allegations made in the lawsuit….
… “The Hawaiian Electric Defendants deny that their electrical facilities sparked the Maui Fires.” …
read … HECO Files Court Document in Response to Fire Lawsuit
Weak Yen: No Japanese Visitors until 2030?
CB: … On the tourist side, of course, the big question mark that’s just really hard to predict is, what’s going to happen to Japanese tourism? Right now the consensus view is that it’s just really expensive for Japanese travelers to come here….
LINK: Yen at lowest value sine 1990s
read … The Civil Beat Editorial Board Interview: UH Economists Sumner La Croix And Carl Bonham - Honolulu Civil Beat
Visitor arrivals to Maui fell nearly 60 percent in month after fires
MN: … Arrivals and spending in September were Maui’s lowest levels since 2021….
According to preliminary statistics from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism released last month, 94,221 visitors came to Maui in September compared to 219,667 visitors in September 2022.
Visitor spending was $203.2 million in September, which is down 52.6 percent compared to last year when visitors spent $428.3 million….
BH: Navigating Impact On Hawaii Flights As Airline Strikes Loom - Beat of Hawaii
SA: Regenerative tourism seen as key to future of Hawaii’s visitor economy
read … Visitor arrivals to Maui fell nearly 60 percent in month after fires
Hawaii’s New State-Run Psychiatric Hospital is So Crowded Patients Sleep in Conference Rooms
CB: … Less than two years after the new $160 million Hawaii State Hospital opened, it is routinely overflowing with so many court-ordered admissions that patients are placed in beds in classrooms and other portions of the facility not meant for housing, according to hospital staff.
The fatal stabbing of a 29-year-old nurse at the state-run hospital on Monday is focusing new attention on the operations and safety of the new facility, which was built following a 2013 investigation into assaults and complaints that the old building was ill-equipped to handle a new breed of patients ordered there by the courts.
However, two staff members who discussed conditions at the hospital on condition of anonymity due to concerns for their jobs say overcrowding is a chronic, dangerous problem.
“It’s getting so crowded they’re bumping elbows and starting to get mad at each other, and mad at staff, and that’s kind of how it is here,” said one longtime employee.
Justin Bautista, a licensed practical nurse, was stabbed to death by a patient at the supervised transitional housing site, prosecutors say. It was the first time a state hospital staff member was killed on the hospital campus in Kaneohe despite a long history of violence and other problems.….
read … Hawaii’s State-Run Psychiatric Hospital Is So Crowded Patients Sleep In Conference Rooms
Profitable Hysteria: New U.S. climate report has the usual dire warnings for Hawaii
Borreca: … “Sea level rise will accelerate. Hawaii’s coastal areas will see rapid increases in tidal flooding events beginning in the mid-2030s. Honolulu will likely experience a level of sea level rise between 1.3 feet and 5.8 feet by the end of the century depending on future carbon emissions, making it one of the most vulnerable urban areas in the United States,” states the report.
Here’s the link to the Hawaii section of the massive federal report: https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/regions/hawaii.
The two obvious areas of concern for Hawaii are Waikiki and Pearl Harbor. Two of the state’s economic drivers — the military and tourism — are grounded in Waikiki and Pearl Harbor….
REALITY: The relative sea level trend is 1.54 millimeters/year
read … On Politics: New U.S. climate report has dire warnings for Hawaii
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