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5 tapped for East-West Center board
Gov. Neil Abercrombie is appointing local attorneys, an economist and a public relations executive to the East-West Center Board of Governors.
The governor said in a statement Friday that international development economist Puongpun Sananikone is the first East-West Center alumnus to be appointed to the 50-year-old organization’s board.
Former journalist Barbara Tanabe is the owner and partner of public relations firm Hoakea Communications and a board member of the Japan-America Society of Hawaii. Abercrombie’s other nominees are attorneys Corianne Lau, Brian Tsujimura and Richard Turbin.
Former Gov. George Ariyoshi is due to serve on the board as one of the three ex-officio members.
The U.S. secretary of state also appoints five members. The full board elects five other members from Asia and the Pacific islands.
Waianae High tops Web-safety awards
Waianae High School won four of five categories Friday at the FBI’s annual Internet Safety Awards at Farrington High School.
Waianae took the top prizes for videos warning about cyberbullying, piracy/plagiarism and social networking/online predators for “Shut Cyberbullying Down,” “The Computer Wizard,” and “Gotcha.” It also won best of show for “The Computer Wizard.”
Aina Haina School took the people’s choice award for its video, “Do You Know Who You’re Chatting With?”
The Internet Safety Awards was created two years ago by Infraguard, a partnership between private organizations and the FBI, to protect youths from dangers on the Web.
From 22 schools statewide, 272 students — from fourth-graders to high school seniors — participated in the event and submitted 72 short public service videos to raise awareness of Internet risks. The winning videos will be telecast statewide as public serv­ice spots.
Burglaries top indictments on Kauai
A Kauai grand jury indicted 20 people in March for alleged offenses including burglary, drugs and sex assault, according to the Kauai Prosecutor’s Office.
Sean Scates, Zack Naea and David Harville were indicted together for allegedly breaking into the North Shore Pharmacy in Kilauea in April 2009 and stealing large amounts of oxycodone, OxyContin pills and oxycodone powder. Bail was set at $50,000 for Scates and Harville and $14,000 for Naea.
Hiram Young was indicted in the sexual assault of a person under age 14.
Hilari K. Kalani was charged with eight counts of burglary for allegedly breaking into a home and stealing jewelry and clothing on Nov. 17.
Brendan A. Duarte was charged with being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition. According to the indictment, he was also found to be in possession of methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia on Feb. 4.
Maui mayor plans to cut county staff
Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa hopes to reduce the number of county employees by about 7 percent through attrition by the end of his first year in office.
The Maui News reported Arakawa announced the goal Wednesday at the Maui Chamber of Commerce’s annual mayor’s luncheon.
Arakawa said he doesn’t expect county revenues to grow this year, yet he plans to increase spending on infrastructure, notably road repairs and water sources. He said spending on roads will “nearly double.”
Arakawa also told the Maui County Council Budget and Finance Committee that cutting the county’s work force would be a critical step to keeping soaring retirement and benefit costs under control.
Rite for the missing
The National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl will hold a remembrance ceremony at 9:45 a.m. Saturday for World War II and Korean War POW/MIAs. Hawaii resident Nick Nishimoto will tell his story of being captive in North Korea. More than 74,000 U.S. service members remain unaccounted for from WWII and more than 8,000 from Korea, the U.S. Department of Defense says.
