Services today for officer killed in crash
Services for Honolulu police officer Eric Fontes will be held today from 3 to 9 p.m. at Borthwick Mortuary.
Visitation will begin at 3 p.m. A service will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Motorists are advised that Maunakea Street will be closed between Vineyard Boulevard and Kukui Street from 3 to 10 p.m.
Fontes was killed Sept. 13 when he was struck by a pickup truck along Farrington Highway near Ko Olina as he was assisting with a routine traffic stop.
Messages for Fontes’ family may be left electronically at obits.dignitymemorial.com; do a search for Eric Fontes.
Dad wants answers in death of Marine
A Utah man is looking for answers after his son, a 20-year-old Marine stationed in Hawaii, was found dead Saturday at a friend’s home in Kalihi.
Lance Cpl. Samuel Johnson of North Logan, Utah, was discovered unresponsive and pronounced dead by first responders, Marine Corps officials said.
“All we know is he went to a friend’s house and the friends went to the beach and they came back and he was dead,” the Marine’s father, Rex Johnson, said in a telephone interview.
Honolulu police said circumstances of Johnson’s death did not appear suspicious. Autopsy results were pending.
Samuel Johnson was a field artilleryman with the 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay. He was deployed to Japan, came back in March and got married, but the relationship did not work out, his father said.
“I know he’s been down a little bit, but he seemed to be recovering,” Rex Johnson said. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating the death.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Army Reserve, National Guard bless joint complex
The Hawaii Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve held a blessing ceremony Thursday for their new joint complex at Keaukaha Military Reservation in Hilo. The facility, called the Armed Forces Reserve Center, replaces Hawaii National Guard armories at Honokaa and Keaau and the Hilo Army Reserve Center.
The complex has six buildings with a total of 104,300 square feet. Facilities include an assembly hall/physical fitness building, an administration/unit storage building, a classroom building, a lobby and community service building and maintenance buildings.
Energy-saving features include lights that turn off when no one is in a room, solar water heating and a 44-kilowatt photovoltaic system. The facility is eligible to be certified with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver rating.
Hilo World Peace Festival offers free food, music, fun
Hawaii County and the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association will hold the free World Peace Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Moku Ola, or Coconut Island, in Hilo.
The festival is a family event that will offer performances by Na Hoku Hanohano and Grammy award-winning slack-key guitarist Sonny Lim as well as performances of Okinawan, Chuukese, Tahitian, Micronesian and Samoan music and dance. There will also be food, crafts and kids’ activities.
Other sponsors are the International Committee of Artists for Peace and Sokka Gakkai International. Call Desiree Cruz of the mayor’s office at 961-8507.
