Pacific Fleet sub force gets new leader
Rear Adm. Phillip G. Sawyer has been chosen as the new commander of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force, based at Pearl Harbor.
Sawyer is commander of Submarine Group 7, based in Yokosuka, Japan, a job he has held since June 2011.
The native of Phoenix graduated from the Naval Academy in 1983. He received a master’s degree in engineering management from Old Dominion University.
He has commanded the nuclear submarine USS La Jolla and Submarine Squadron 15 in Guam.
Sawyer also has led Submarine Force Atlantic.
Sawyer’s awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
He will be in charge of 18 nuclear submarines based at Pearl Harbor; 13 at Bangor, Wash.; six at San Diego; and three at Guam.
4 are arrested in attack on homeless man
Three men and a 16-year-old juvenile male were arrested after two homeless men reported being attacked at a beach in Makena on Sunday.
One of the victims, who told Maui police he is from Sammamish, Wash., was playing his guitar at 3:30 p.m. with friends at Little Beach at Makena when he and another homeless man from Nebraska were attacked and threatened by one of the suspects with a knife.
The attackers then hit the Washington man over the head with his guitar, police said. He was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center in stable condition with a broken jaw, several lost teeth, multiple bruises and swelling of his face and head.
The Nebraska man was not seriously injured and refused medical treatment.
Four males ages 16, 18, 20 and 27 are suspected of taking part in the attack.
Help wanted in identifying woman in theft
Hawaii County police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a woman wanted for questioning in a Waikoloa theft case.
Merchandise valued at $226 was stolen April 8 from a retail store on the 96-200 block of Waikoloa Beach Drive, police said.
Police ask anyone with information about the identity or whereabouts of the person pictured above to call the Police Department’s nonemergency line at 935-3311.
