Royal treatment

The Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikiki will receive its annual maintenance treatment today. The cast-bronze statue at Kuhio Beach won’t be accessible to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Waikiki Improvement Association commissioned artist Jan Gordon Fisher to create the 9-foot statue, which was installed in 1990 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Kahanamoku’s birth.

Ban on toy gun sales to minors fails

A state Senate committee shelved a bill yesterday that would have banned the sale of toy guns to minors.

The bill failed to advance following a 3-3 vote of the Senate Consumer Protection Committee.

Under Senate Bill 749, a person would have faced a fine of up to $2,000 and up to 90 days in jail for selling a toy gun to a minor. Because the bill did not define toy guns, the bill could have applied to everything from BB guns to water pistols.

House Bill 432, which also calls for prohibiting the sale of toy guns to minors, has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.

State Department of Education officials say a growing percentage of elementary school expulsions result from students bringing guns to school, most of which are fake.

Man gets 10-year term in sex case

A 21-year-old Halawa man received the mandatory minimum 10-year prison term for prostituting a 16-year-old girl and advertising her services on Craigslist.

A federal judge sentenced Marcus Xavier Arrington to the prison term yesterday for sex trafficking of a minor. U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway also sentenced Arrington to the mandatory minimum of five years of supervised release after he completes his prison term.

Mollway previously sentenced three other defendants to 33 months behind bars and another one to 46 months in prison. All of them, three men and one woman, in their early 20s, had faced 10-year prison terms.

Mollway said Arrington deserved a longer sentence than the others.

"He was more culpable than the others. He recruited the victim, he was the leader and he did not cooperate with the government," the judge said.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Falling rocks make ash fly from Kilauea

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists say some rocks from Kilauea’s volcano summit vent broke off and fell into the lava lake inside the Halemaumau crater this week.

The observatory said yesterday the falling rocks made sharp popping sounds that could be heard by visitors at the Jaggar Museum Overlook at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The first section collapsed into the lava lake at 8:42 a.m. Monday. Moments later the crater ejected gas, ash and a dusty brown plume.

The second section — estimated to be nearly 400 feet long and up to 16 feet wide — collapsed several hours later. The lava lake’s level began to drop shortly afterward.

Kilauea is the world’s longest continually erupting volcano. The east rift zone began erupting in 1983.

Septic leaks shut park’s restrooms

Restrooms at Salt Pond Beach Park on Kauai have been closed due to major leaks in the main septic system.

Portable toilets have been ordered and will soon be delivered and set up at the park, county officials said yesterday.

Those with current camping permits for Salt Pond will still be allowed to camp at the facility, but no new permits will be issued.

Crews with the departments of Parks and Recreation and Public Works are working to fix the problem. Due to the extent of needed repairs, it could take a few days before the leaks are fixed.

For more information, call 241-4460.