Seferin Tilipau

(Media release posted on hawaiipolice.com) —  Hilo detectives have charged a Keaʻau man in connection with a brutal home invasion that occurred in Puna early Saturday morning (October 22) that left a Keaʻau woman hospitalized.

Sunday (Oct. 23) at approximately 8:45 p.m., detectives charged 18-year-old Seferin Tilipau with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree burglary and first-degree assault.

Saturday (Oct. 22) shortly after midnight, Puna patrol officers responded to the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision to investigate a report of a woman screaming for assistance. Upon arrival, police discovered the 69-year-old woman with severe head injuries and determined that a man had forced his way into her home before assaulting her.

Officers from the Puna district converged in the area to assist in the search for the suspect. He was observed fleeing the home upon officers’ arrival at the scene.

At about 1:25 a.m., following an extensive search,  18-year-old Seferin Tilipau of Keaʻau was found hiding in a nearby house and was arrested and taken into custody.

Hawaiʻi Fire Department medics took the victim to Hilo Medical Center, where she was treated for her injuries and is listed in stable condition.

Police ask that anyone with information about this case call Detective Derek Morimoto  at 961-2380 or the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311.

Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.

(Media release) — KapohoKine Adventures (KKA), an eco-tourism company based in Hilo and with islandwide operations, confirmed that it has suspended booking zipline tours pending a full evaluation on the soil composition and structural integrity of the lines.

In September, a not-yet-operational line that was undergoing final testing at Lava Hotline’s site by the company that installed it, failed.  One construction worker was killed and another seriously injured.

KKA has used Lava Hotline exclusively for its zipline tours.  Lava Hotline closed the operation pending evaluation and KKA will not book tours at other ziplines until the causes of the accident are fully understood.

“KKA wants to see the reports of the soil, structural engineering and architectural consultants that Lava Hotline retained to evaluate the ziplines,” said KKA co-owner Tony DeLellis.  Those evaluations are underway on the seven other Lava Hotline ziplines in the same area as the one that failed.  Lava Hotline zipline is owned by KKA partner Gary Marrow.

Launched in 2004 from a garage in Kapoho (hence the name), KapohoKine Adventures has helped shape Hawaii Island’s new age of tourism.

“We provide guests to Hawaii Island the best experience possible, introducing them to what makes this island unique, with its volcanic eruptions, incredible vistas and seascapes and we do it in a way that is a cut above what was being offered when we started,” said DeLellis.

KKA is continuing its popular eco-tours, minus zipline experiences.

With one 2004 Chevy Suburban and one guide (co-owner Gary Marrow), the partners began their specialized eco-adventures, marketing heavily to cruise line visitors.  In 2007, the company moved its expanding fleet out of the Kapoho garage into a 4,800 sq. ft. baseyard in Pepeekeo.

Then the economy and the island’s cruise line passenger count plunged the following year.  The company scrambled and has managed to survive.  DeLellis is proud that even during the tough economic times, KKA never let go of any of its 25 employees.

As discerning visitors look for more meaningful experiences, the KKA ohana (Hawaiian for family) searches for ways to reshape and improve eco-tourism, by developing experiences suited to visitors on both sides of Hawaii Island.  

“Our tours are as much about education and preservation of the environment as they are about an exciting adventure,” says DeLellis.

KKA’s outdoor adventures include road trips through lava country in Puna, interpretive walks at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, barbeques at KKA’s partner macadamia nut and honey farm, helicopter and aerial flights above secluded native rainforests, cascading waterfalls and craters.

Zipline adventures, long used as transportation in mountainous regions and at ski resorts, become a worldwide attraction for eco-travelers and Hawaii Island allows ziplines on agricultural land as an open area recreational use.  KKA added them to its menu of services in 2010.

While KKA suspended booking any zipline tours, pending the reviews by specialists, it continues its other high-value tours.  On a given day, the Hilo-based eco-tour company will field 18 vehicles (14 from Hilo, four from a second base in Kona that opened in 2009) and as many as 250 visitors.  Customers range from local school children to honeymooners and eco-tourists of all ages.

KKA has a storefront on Waianuenue Avenue in Hilo, which carries eco-adventure gear from Patagonia and Keen footwear, plus locally made jewelry and Atebara snacks.  The store is also a gathering place where people talk story about their adventures as well as enjoy downtown Hilo.  

KKA and its partners also have a strong sense of stewardship when it comes maintaining and celebrating the natural beauty of Hawaii.  The KapohoKine team regularly cleans up litter along the highway and the slopes of Mauna Kea, and contributes to many local charity fundraisers.

“We’re honored that groups big and small, from St. Joseph’s School in Hilo to national organizations such as the Make A Wish Foundation, have approached us for help,” said DeLellis.  “It’s so fulfilling to be able to help local and national groups experience the wonder of Hawaii Island where they otherwise might not be able to.”

For more information on KapohoKine Adventurers, visit http://www.kapohokine.com.
(Submitted by Ashley Kierkiewicz.)

Kevin Dayton on a trash run (Photo courtesy)

Sing with me, “Kevin Dayton is going back to the reporter’s life. Oh, once a reporter always a reporter, Kevin Dayton!  It’s a reporter’s life for he. Kevin Dayton, Kevin Dayton!”

When Mayor Billy Kenoi was first elected and announced that he was swooping up three of the island’s top journalists — Bobby Command, Hunter Bishop and Kevin Dayton — I was most shocked that Dayton was crossing the line from hack to flack.  Command, well, I knew what life was like at West Hawaii Today, and Bishop, I knew his struggle to get his job back with the Hawaii Tribune-Herald and the little pay involved in blogging.  But Kevin, the Big Island correspondent for the then-Honolulu Advertiser?  I could not believe he was willing to cross over.  Then the Honolulu Advertiser folded into the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and we saw reporters lose jobs, and I thought, wow, Kevin made a good call for his family by joining the County of Hawaii when he did.

As the mayor’s executive assistant, Dayton has done a superb job of keeping us regularly informed with press releases.  And he has shown a genuine interest in the community’s welfare, showing up for public meetings and even rolling up his shirt sleeves to do trash runs for the group he help form, Opala In Paradise.  He and his wife even take in foster kids.  The guy (and his wife Mahealani) deserve an award for being too cool for words, really.

Now we learn that Dayton is bailing the County of Hawaii and heading back to journalism.  He is going to cover transportation issues for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.  Impressive.  I did not see that one coming.  I applaud Dayton, of whom I am a huge fan, for returning to the career that I love and for loving it so much himself he is willing to leave the plush life of a County job.  I’m sure there are going to be those who wonder whether he sees the beginning of the end of his boss’ mayoral tenure.  I really don’t want to focus on that at this point. I would like to celebrate the fact that journalism is by no means dead, and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser has swooped up one of their very best writers from the past in order to continue to deliver us the news.  Mahalo to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and congratulations to you, Kevin.  I look forward to reading your byline again.

(Editor’s note:  Council Chairman Dominic Yagong has pitched a Charter amendment calling for the mayor and council members to receive random drug testing.  Following is the response of Hugh Clark, a retired newspaper reporter who resides in Hilo and is Big Island Chronicle’s friend and mentor.)

I would be far more convinced of Dominic Yagong’s sincerity in his latest self-created issue, if the Hamakua council member undergoes drug and alcohol testing and publishes the results publicly at his expense.

By Margaret Wille

(Margaret Wille is an attorney and a blogger whose work for the Kohala community and beyond can be found at www.margaretwille.com.)

I’m writing this after just viewing the KHON2 Broadcast on the attempted murder of a 69-year-old woman in Hawaiian Paradise Park this weekend.  According to one of the victim’s six children, the assailant is an 18-year-old neighbor who used gardening sheers he found on the first level of the woman’s two-story house to attack her.  The woman believed the man, who had allegedly stolen her car this summer, was trying to kill her and is hospitalized with stab wounds all over her head area.  It is truly a miracle that the woman had been talking on the phone with her daughter around the time the home invasion occurred.  I didn’t quite understand that part of the story, but the bottom line is that the woman and her daughter were able to alert the police that the man was in or around her house and they arrived just as he was allegedly beating her in her bedroom.

As I think about the crimes that occur here and the fact that we have such a challenge of manpower with our police officers, I think about the need to tweak Hawaii’s revised statutes to allow for homeowners and landowners to defend themselves, sometimes with lethal force, against intruders.  It is simply not right that a homeowner or a landowner in Hawaii can face felony charges for defending oneself against a home invasion.  If that 69-year-old woman would have turned the gardening shears on the man or retrieved a weapon from a bureau and shot him in defense, she could have faced charges. In my mind, she or anyone who is troubled or terrorized by a home invader has every right to protect themselves, their families or their properties with a gun, a machete, a baseball bat, gardening shears, anything that can be used as a weapon of defense.

The “Make My Day” law is inspired from the 1985 Colorado statute and is also commonly referred to as a Castle doctrine.  This sort of legislation allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves in their homes or on their property.  Some states have even expanded the “Make My Day” law or Castle doctrine to include businesses.  You can check out for yourself what states have adopted some form of legislation allowing for homeowners or landowners and, in some states, business owners to defend themselves against intruders.  Hawaii is among the states that penalize homeowners or landowners for use of force against intruders.

I think Hawaii legislators should take a libertarian approach to this matter, and revise any and all statutes that touch on this subject. As Rohn Robbins, an attorney summarized in the Vail Daily, the Make My Day law provides “1) there is an expectation of safety and security in one’s own home; 2) if someone breaks into your home and where the homeowner “reasonably believes” that the intruder has committed, or intends to commit another crime and that the intruder “reasonably believes” that the intruder might use even the smallest quantum of physical force against an occupant, anyone within the home may use physical force, even deadly force, to protect the household against the intruder; 3) and if you do so, you cannot be prosecuted either for the commission of a crime or civilly for money damages.”

I just don’t even see how anyone can convince themselves to stand against legislation like this, particularly in a rural area in which you have some delayed response times from police on occasion.

By Sheri Matsuzaki
The Peace Walk and Vigil, coordinated by the Family Violence Interagency Committee, was held on Friday, Oct. 21, 2011 in order to remember the victims of domestic violence.  Family and friends of victims, organizations, students, and other community members gathered at the Kamehameha Statue in order to encourage everyone to stop domestic violence.

The event started with sign waving on Kamehameha Avenue and many drivers honked and waved in order to show their support for the victims of domestic violence.  The group then proceeded to walk toward the County Building, where music and refreshments were provided.  Another round of sign waving took place on Kilauea Avenue, in front of the County Building.

Overall, the event brought awareness to domestic violence and there were hundreds of participants who were passionate about ending domestic violence.

(Sheri Matsuzaki is a Waiakea High School student intern working with Tiffany Edwards Hunt as part of Matsuzaki’s senior project.)

(Media release via Nixle) — Big Island detectives are investigating an incident in Puna that injured a Keaʻau man.

Saturday (October 22) shortly after 2:40 a.m., Puna patrol officers responded to the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision to investigate a report of a victim with a gunshot wound. Upon arrival, police discovered a 36-year-old man with a head wound and determined that he sustained the injury following a brief confrontation involving at least three other local males and a teal colored sedan.

Police learned that the victim sustained the injury when an occupant of the teal sedan shot at him while he was driving on Route 130 in the area of Ainaloa subdivision. Following the incident, the occupants fled the area in the suspect vehicle—described as possibly being similar to a Ford Escort or Nissan Sentra.

Fire Department personnel took the victim to Hilo Medical Center, where he was treated for the injury and released.

Detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigation Section are conducting further investigation into the incident, which is currently classified as second-degree attempted murder. No arrests have been made in connection with this investigation.

Police ask that anyone with information about this case call Detective Robert Almeida at 961-2386 or the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311.

Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.

Big Island detectives are investigating an incident in Puna that left a Keaʻau woman hospitalized.

Saturday (October 22) shortly after 12 am., Puna patrol officers responded to the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision to investigate a report of a woman screaming for assistance. Upon arrival, police discovered the 69-year-old woman with severe head injuries and determined that a man forced his way into her home before assaulting her.

Officers from the Puna district converged in the area to assist in the search for the suspect. He was observed fleeing the home upon officers’ arrival at the scene.

At about 1:25 a.m., following an extensive search, an 18-year-old Keaʻau man was found hiding in a nearby house and was taken into custody. He is being held in the Hilo police cellblock while detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigations Section conduct further investigation into the incidents, which are classified as first-degree burglary and second-degree attempted murder.

Police have recovered what they believe to be the weapon used in the assault.

Hawaii Fire Department medics took the victim to Hilo Medical Center, where she was treated for her injuries and is listed in stable condition.

Police are asking that anyone with information about this case call Detective Derek Morimoto  at 961-2380 or the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311.

Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.
(Media release posted on hawaiipolice.com.)

This evening at Yano Hal at 6PM, the Hawai’i County 2011  the Redistricting Commission will be holding a Public Hearing for people interested in telling them how they want our island to be split into the nine Council Districts.
 
Several proposed maps would split mauka Kona somewhere between Kealakekua and Captain Cook…is this acceptable for South Kona residents?
 
Please attend the hearing if you have thoughts and/or ideas to share with the Commission.  No decisions have yet been made.
 
Mahalo!
Chuck Flaherty

Pahoa Village is being repaved, and I must admit it’s a love-hate arrangement.  Our business in Pahoa has been hampered by the road construction without a doubt, but I realize that is a short-term pain for a long-term good — not just for my family but the public as a whole.  I had to chuckle about a number of things today as I watched the road repaving in front of our business this morning.   First of all, I was trying desperately to drop off my daughter at school and get to my business before the road repaving work started this morning.  I was to meet our Hinano Tahiti rep at our surf shop at 9 a.m. to see the spring and summer 2012 collections.  As I was driving down Highway 130 toward Pahoa Village, I saw traffic stopped ahead by State of Hawaii road work.  I turned right on Kahakai Boulevard toward Woodland Center and Pahoa Village Road and, at that moment, felt grateful for the development and the now-through street.  We all know the politics behind Woodland Center and Kahakai Boulevard.  I am not into all the development going on at the edge of town.  I think that is some really bad precedent.  But this morning I was happy that I could take a shortcut around the highway roadwork.

Then, driving into the village, there was a traffic directing traffic off the village road at Post Office Road.  He was directing traffic back onto Highway 130! I was incensed.  I rolled my window down, “Isn’t there road construction going on down that way?” He shook his head no.  I came back out onto the highway and saw that the state’s roadwork didn’t extend down too far past Kahakai Boulevard.  I got my daughter to school and headed into Pahoa Village from the Kalapana side.  As I reached Pahoa Cash and Carry I saw that the County of Hawaii Highways Division was just about to reach the driveway of my business.  I raced my car past the dump truck and made into my driveway just in time! Jubilation! It was such a feeling of victory. Then I realized that my Hinano rep wasn’t there.  I imagined him encountering the roadwork on the highway at Kahakai Boulevard or the officer directing traffic away from the village at Post Office Road.  

I stood outside my business, watching the asphalt going down and waiting. I took photographs, watched and waited.  Asphalt is so hot and makes such a strange crackling sound just after being laid down.  As I studied the asphalt and took pictures of it, I became conscious of a handful of street people congregating in the Cash and Carry parking lot.  Then one of them decided to cross the road.  I kid you not.  The new asphalt had not been down five minutes before that guy walked across the road.  I asked him to show me his Local slippers —  I wanted to see how much goo there was on the soles.

It was fascinating to me that the man was willing to cross.  I had been studying it as if it were hot lava.

As I watched the roadwork, I flashed back to Fred Blas who I had seen at first of the month, at the onset of the repaving, standing in the road fronting Pahoa Elementary School with the County Highway Division workers as they prepped for the new asphalt.  Last year for the Pahoa Holiday Parade we were able to thank him, the mayor and the County Public Works Highways Division for restriping the village; this year we can be grateful for the repaving.  Thank you, Fred, Mayor Billy Kenoi, and Public Works Director Warren Lee for the Pahoa facelift. Thank you, Fred, and Mayor Billy, who hails from Kalapana and has Puna in his middle name, for paying attention to Puna.  I really have no doubt that, after redistricting, life in Puna will be forever changed; not only will our mayor hail from Puna, we’re expected to have at least two and a half council members.  This is going to be one helluva campaign season.

This was my political reverie as I watched the asphalt go down in front of our business.  Then the street person walked through the asphalt and I had to chuckle at the irony.  Reality check.  We have so much to hope for and plenty to be devastated about.  We need so many services in Puna.  So many needs, so little resources.

At one point, I moved away from the road and into my business to wait for my Hinano rep.  He ultimately showed up, chancing it and barreling through the freshly paved road in a rental car.  That was another point of jubilation in my day.  Then, of course, there was seeing the collection of clothes that will be making their way to our shop next spring and summer.

The road work progressed down the village road to the area where between Post Office Road and the old Nanawale Road corridor, near where Pahoa Office Plaza is being pitched.  You can expect traffic to be diverted away from that area to Rubbish Dump Road and possibly on toward Kahakai Boulevard between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011.  You can send a thank you note to Fred, the mayor, and Public Works Director at 25 Aupuni St., Hilo, HI  96720.  Ask them to open up Nanawale Road, improve Post Office Road, and ensure the road between Kaleo’s and Jan’s Barber Sharp becomes a connector road between Pahoa Village Road and Highway 130.  There is more asphalt to be laid in Pahoa, and we welcome it.  Mahalo nui loa, County of Hawaii!

Aloha-

Michael Glendon

(Media release) — Big Island police have charged 29-year-old Michael Glendon of Keaʻau with first-degree assault in connection with a stabbing incident near Honoliʻi Beach Park on Monday, Oct. 17.

Detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigations Section charged Glendon at 4:35 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18. His bail was set at $25,000. Glendon was held at the Hilo police cellblock until his initial court appearance scheduled for this afternoon, Oct. 19.

On Monday, Oct. 17, South Hilo patrol officers responded to a call for assistance at 11 a.m. and discovered that a 29-year-old Hilo man had sustained two injuries to his lower back in an altercation with an acquaintance on Kahoa Road fronting the Honoliʻi lookout area. (See related blog entry referring to his alleged use of a makeshift “Hawaiian war club” to “slice” a fellow 29-year-old.)

Before police arrived, the injured man was taken by private vehicle to Hilo Medical Center for treatment of his wounds. He remains at Hilo Medical Center in stable condition.

(Submitted by Hawaii Police Department via Nixle.)

(Media release) — The 22nd Annual Hawaii International Tropical Fruit Conference will be Sept. 14-16, 2012 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus.

Presented by the statewide Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers (HTFG), the event is geared for farmers, educators, orchard managers and proponents of sustainable agriculture. In 2011, the main conference was on Hawaii Island with smaller gatherings on Oahu, Maui and Kauai.

Ken Love, HTFG president, says the 2012 conference will have breakout sessions on specific crops.

“We will also delve into a wide range of topics like food safety, marketing, fruit nutrition and value-added product development,” adds Mark Suiso, conference chair.

The gathering is open to the public. Registration forms and fee schedule will be available in April at www.htfg.org or by contacting Love at kenlove@hawaiiantel.net or Mark Suiso at suiso@aloha.net.

Incorporated in 1989 to promote tropical fruit grown in Hawaii, HTFG is a statewide association of tropical fruit growers, packers, distributors and hobbyists dedicated to tropical fruit research, education, marketing and promotion; www.hawaiitropicalfruitgrowers.org.

(Submitted by Fern Gavelek.)

(Media release) — Big Island police are investigating the circumstances surrounding a body discovered in Hilo.

Tuesday (Oct. 18) shortly after 4 p.m., South Hilo patrol officers responded to upper Kaiwiki Road area to investigate a report of an unattended vehicle. Upon arrival, police discovered that the registered owner of the Volkswagen convertible was an 84-year-old Kaiwiki man, who could not be accounted for.

Police found indications at the scene that the man might be injured. Units from the Hawaii Fire Department arrived to assist in the search of a nearby ravine and were aided by Chopper 1, the Fire Department’s helicopter.

At the bottom of the ravine, Fire department personnel located the body of an elderly Caucasian man with apparent injuries. He was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was officially pronounced dead.

Detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigations Section secured the scene overnight and returned Wednesday morning (October 19) to conduct further investigation into this incident, which is currently classified as a coroner’s inquest. Detectives have not ruled out foul play and have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death and to confirm the man’s identity.

Police are asking that anyone with information about this case call Detective Grant Todd at 961-2385 or the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311.

Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.

(Submitted by Hawaii Media Department via Nixle.)

Police arrested 29-year-old Michael Glendon this evening, after earlier issuing a Nixle alert that they were seeking him in connection with an assault that occurred at the Honolii surf break this morning.

This evening watch commander Sgt. Prentiss Moreno confirmed Glendon had been arrested and that he is currently at the Hilo Medical Center receiving medical attention.

Moreno would not publicly state what medical attention Glendon is receiving, but clarified it has nothing to do with the altercation for which he is facing charges.  The victim in that Honolii altercation, meanwhile, is in stable condition at Hilo Medical Center and came there in a private vehicle for treatment, according to Moreno and the Nixle alert issued by police.

The Nixle alert does not describe the weapon used in the altercation, only that one was used.  Moreno confirmed a report that Glendon allegedly used a makeshift “Hawaiian war club” to “slice” the victim’s lower back.

Glendon has a Kea’au address.