Merwin faints during remarks at college

Former U.S. Poet Laureate William S. Merwin fainted at a dinner where he was a keynote speaker Wednesday night at Claremont McKenna College in California.

Merwin, 83, a Maui resident, was speaking at the Milosz Centenary Festival when he collapsed, a college professor said.

He was taken to the emergency room at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in Pomona, where he was undergoing observation.

His wife, Paula, said it was a fainting spell due to exhaustion but he’s recovering nicely and reciting poetry to his colleagues in the emergency room.

"He’s fine," Paula said.

She said Merwin had a similar fainting spell on New Year’s Eve three years ago and went to the emergency room on Maui. The fainting spells stem from his susceptibility to exhaustion from surgery he had about 10 years ago, she said.

She said her husband has had a rigorous schedule of readings recently.

Merwin stepped down as poet laureate on Monday.

Merwin has won two Pulitzer Prizes for poetry. He also has been involved in developing the Merwin Conservancy. He has an extensive collection of palms that he planted over the decades at his rural residence on the Valley Isle.

Man’s body found in ravine

Hawaii County police are investigating whether foul play was involved in the death of a man whose body was found Tuesday at the bottom of a ravine.

Police said the body is believed to be that of an 84-year-old Kaiwiki resident who was last seen Sunday by a caregiver.

Officers found the man’s Volkswagen convertible Tuesday near the edge of a ravine on a macadamia nut farm on Kaiwiki Road after a witness reported the car, police said.

Firefighters helped police with the search and found the body on the river bed about 5 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters said. A fire department helicopter lifted the body out of the ravine.

Police said the body had injuries. An autopsy was requested.

Tax cheats get probation, fine

A state judge sentenced a Maui couple Monday to five years’ probation and ordered them to pay $354,984 in back taxes and a $45,000 fine for not paying taxes for six years.

Paul and Tanya Yokoyama pleaded guilty under a plea agreement to failing to file tax returns, filing false tax returns, tampering with a government record and theft, the state Department of Taxation said in a news release.

The charges covered six years, 2003 to 2008, when their business, Paul Yokoyama Concrete LLC, grossed $5.7 million, the tax department said. No taxes were paid and records were falsified to obtain a tax clearance, the tax department said.

The Yokoyamas paid $150,000 at sentencing and Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo ordered them to pay $41,000 a year toward their remaining tax bill of $204,984.