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The city filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to speed up its ability to dispose of vehicles abandoned by military service members.
Abandoned vehicles have been a growing problem on Oahu streets, and those belonging to service members make up a good share of them. City officials say the city is now storing more than 200 vehicles whose owners cannot be located.
With the city’s lots already at capacity, Oahu is still averaging one abandoned vehicle a day, the lawsuit said.
An agreement the city reached with the Department of Justice in February requires the city to auction or sell a vehicle only if it receives a written waiver by the owner or a court order. The city wants to go to court once to get an order covering all the abandoned cars it has.
The class-action lawsuit benefits military members who’ve abandoned their vehicles because it is not necessary to identify each member, something that could affect their insurance premiums, city Corporation Counsel Donna Leong said.
Wastewater spills into ditch in Kailua facility
About 82,500 gallons of wastewater discharged Tuesday at the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant in Aikahi near Kailua Bay.
The Department of Environmental Services said in a news release the discharge occurred from 12:59 to 1:08 p.m.
The spill went into a ditch within the facility, and crews responded to the spill.
A district supervisor at the plant said at 6:28 p.m. Tuesday that the spill had been contained to the plant and had not flowed into the ocean.
Change of command set for May 30
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis will be in Hawaii next week to preside over a ceremony marking the change at the top of the U.S. Pacific Command.
In the ceremony at 9 a.m. May 30 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Adm. Phil Davidson will take over from Adm. Harry Harris as commander.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, as well as numerous U.S. flag and general officers, ambassadors and dignitaries representing U.S. allies and partners in the region will attend the ceremony.
The public is advised to avoid the section of Kamehameha Highway bordering Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam between 7 and 11 a.m. May 30 due to increased traffic volume. In addition, the base’s Halawa Gate is scheduled for closure to commercial vehicles that day.
Monster homes featured in documentary
The growing issue of monster homes is the star of a documentary that will be shown Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Following Thomas Bena’s documentary, “One Big Home,” a panel discussion will be held on the issue featuring Honolulu Councilman Trevor Ozawa, economist Paul Brewbaker, architect Dean Sakamoto, Tyler Dos Santos of the Hawaii Construction Alliance and Catherine Cruz of Hawaii Public Radio.
The critically acclaimed film explores Bena’s and other community members’ efforts to pass a law that limits house size in their town of Chilmark, Mass., on Martha’s Vineyard.
More information can be found at onebighome.com.
LANAI
Visitor dies at Manele Bay
Emergency responders were unable to revive a 61-year-old Escondido, Calif., man who was pulled unconscious Tuesday from waters off a beach at Manele Bay. He had been swimming at the beach and was part of a Maui tour group that was visiting Lanai. This was the 19th water-related fatality in Maui County so far this year. Of those, 18 occurred in the ocean and one in a stream.
HAWAII ISLAND
Man charged in truck incident
Hawaii County police charged a 32-year-old Puna man late Monday night for allegedly driving toward police officers with a stolen pickup truck, and officers fired 13 shots to try to stop him. Joseph Paul “JP” Branco was charged with first-degree terroristic threatening, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, resisting an order to stop, first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, possession of drug paraphernalia and five firearm offenses.
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