Blue Hawaiian Helicopter made an emergency landing near the airport. No one was injured.
Shawn Kalani Brown of Kahului and Kawika Franco of Kihei were both found guilty of assaulting Jamie Alexander last year outside of Oceans Beach Bar and Gril last June. Alexander's injuries included facial fracture, broken right sinus and nose, head laceration, and he had surgery to implant a metal plate in his face. Prosecuters want a 10 year sentence for Brown who was on parole for robbery. Franco has been released but Brown remains in jail.
Hopefully Judge Bissen who doesn't get conned the way others do, will keep at least Brown off the streets for many years.
In other criminal news, Jason Stevens was convicted of growing 47 marijuana plants and Judge Cardoza allowed him to keep the conviction off his record if he goes 5 years without any more arrests. Chantell Stevens has been in jail for 81 days and awaits sentencing.
Our jails are full. We have dangerous, violent criminals who are released after days. And we put these young people in jail for almost three months?! Time to legalize marijuana and restrict it as we do alcohol. As they say: Thanks to Green Harvest, Our Island is on Ice.
More drugs: Bail was set at $150,000 for a homeless man who was arrested with morphine and needles while caught sleeping in a preschool playground last week.
Is there any truth to the rumors that mainland towns give their homeless, crazy and substance abusing citizens one way tickets to Maui? How else are these people getting here?
In another rah, rah Chamber of Commerce piece, Chamber chairman and Maui News Publisher, Joe Bradley, writes that Terryl Vencl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, and Gregg Nelson, chairman of the board of the Maui Hotel and Lodging Association predicted that the decline in tourism will stablize in 2010.
The Maui News won't print any letters critical of the Chamber of Commerce but here is why any responsible business should resign their membership:
Top companies including Apple, Exelon Energy, Pacific Gas & Electric, Nike, and Public Service Company of New Mexico have all quit the Chamber of Commerce because it is lobbying against climate change legislation and against healthcare reform.
The Maui Chamber of Commerce is lobbying to continue using Styrofoam, continue stealing water from the taro farmers, and change the law to force Upcountry to drink from the polluted Hamakuapoko wells.
If you don't want your money to work against health care reform and climate change control - not to mention common sense local environmental rules, you might want to avoid buying from any company that is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and let them know why.
Kaiser Permanente gave $50,000 to the Maui Food Bank to be used to purchase fresh, locally grown food. This will not only benefit the hungry on Maui but also our local produce farmers.
It is so important that we restore our food growing capacity. It is estimated that prior to the arrival of Europeans, Hawai'i supported a population of about a million people in relative plenty without depleting fishing stocks or the land. It is a matter of security that we can feed ourselves if were were to be cut off from the mainland.
Today's editorial, Punishing public school students, makes the point that the Governor should get her ass in gear and fix the low priority she's put on education. Only, of course, since the Maui News publisher is a staunch Republican, the point was made with considerably more tact.
In letters to the editor we have:
Nadine Newlight asking Maui Community College's Culinary Academy not to serve Fois Gras. She has a point. There is no need to torture animals. But take a look at some videos on feedlots and slaughter houses by going to YouTube.com and searching slaughterhouse. You'll never buy beef from anyone except Maui Cattle Company after viewing the cruelty and unsanitary conditions of mainland slaughterhouses and feedlots.
Stan Franco responds to the Maui News Editorial (aka Chamber of Commerce propaganda) which claimed that the new General Plan was hostile to Tourism with a point by point rebuttle. Franco is a knowlegable and logical balance to the Chamber's "let business run wild without any controls" position.
Rod Kunishige wrote another Libertarian talking point letter saying states should refuse to implement Health Care Reform should it pass and also refuse to enforce federal marijuana laws and gun control laws.
Tony Morales dissed Lahaina and boasted about Pa'ia. Get your ha'aha'a back, Tony.
Jean Keating and Steve Slater had fun attending "Mama Mia" Sounds like a less edgy version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show audience participation.
In a stunning ignorance of history, James P. Shenfield, formerly of Washington and a prolific GOP talking points distributer, writes that Muslims are the only ones we have to worry about "terrorism" in the military. Way to perpetuate bigotry, James.
Val Ogata -Maui Island Manager of Hawaiian Telcom clarified something about the service interruption during the fire near Lahaina in response to one of Shenfield's previous compliaining letters (see above). Zzzzzzzzz.....
Ramon K. Madden wants us to audit DOE. Which might be interesting given the unflinching job the State Auditor did on Lingle's Superferry fiasco (a huge indictment of the whole process). You folks may remember that Ramon ran on the Republican ticket for the West Maui County Council seat last election.
Ramon says, "The DOE always complains about lack of funds and, because the DOE has not been audited, neither it nor taxpayers know where the DOE's $2 billion budget gets spent."
He might have a point since teachers and parents have long said that too much money gets spent on administration compared to actual teaching.
But I think the problem is a lot deeper than this. Hopefully our next Governor will create local school boards and mandate that his administrators abide by their decsions. Lingle talks a lot about local control but avoided taking this easy step to make it a reality.
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