County, ACLU reach deal over sign-holding law
The American Civil Liberties Union and Maui County have reached a settlement in a lawsuit over rules against holding signs along public roadways.
The ACLU of Hawaii said Monday that as part of the settlement, Maui agrees to modify its rules prohibiting sign-waving within 50 feet of any traffic control signal, 20 feet of a pedestrian crosswalk or 6 feet of highway pavement.
The ACLU says the county threatened to enforce the ordinance against protesters in January. But it says county police violate the same laws by holding their own sign-waving events.
Maui County spokesman Rod Antone says details about how the ordinance will be changed aren’t yet known because the issue must go before the County Council.
Maui inmate walks away from work line
A Maui inmate serving time for burglary is missing after he walked away from a work line in the Waikapu area about noon Monday.
The state Department of Public Safety said Monday that Reid Kauhaahaa is in a work furlough program.
Two Wailuku schools were placed on lockdown — Iao Intermediate School for an hour and Wailuku Elementary School for about 40 minutes, said Department of Education spokeswoman Dara Young.
Kauhaahaa is serving a five-year term at Maui Community Correctional Center for burglary and theft. His next parole hearing was set for February.
Authorities are asking anyone with information on his whereabouts to call police. Kauhaahaa is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. He has hazel eyes and brown hair.
Small spill stems molasses shipments
KAHULUI » A shipping company is temporarily halting all shipments of molasses to the mainland after a minor leak in a Maui harbor.
Two gallons of molasses leaked into Kahului Harbor on Sunday as Alexander & Baldwin workers were loading a shipment into a barge, Hawaii News Now reported.
The leak comes after shipping giant Matson Inc. was responsible for more than 200,000 gallons of molasses leaking into Honolulu Harbor in early September. The leak killed more than 26,000 fish and other marine life and Matson has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury for documents relating to the spill.
A&B President Chris Benjamin said the shipping company is investigating the leak, which appears to be a break in the pipeline.
"While the leak into the harbor was very small and quickly dissipated, we take all of these incidents seriously and will not resume our loading until the pipeline has been repaired," he said.
The section where the leak occurred was not underwater and was encased in cement, the company said, adding that it was discovered by its 24-hour monitoring team.
Matson stopped shipping molasses for A&B after the September spill.
A&B was stockpiling the substance on Maui and last week was restarting shipments.
Army douses blaze on Schofield range
Army firefighters declared 100 percent containment Monday of a stubborn brush fire that started Oct. 15 as a result of ordnance detonation on a Schofield Barracks training range, officials said.
The fire burned an estimated 450 acres.
The Army said no threatened or endangered species have been affected, but natural resource personnel are continuing to monitor the affected area.
Firefighters were working the perimeter and extinguishing interior hot spots with helicopter operations, but the fire has not spread in the past three days, the Army said.
Army Black Hawk and Chinook, Marine Corps CH-53 Super Stallion and contracted helicopters carried water buckets to fight the fire in ravines and hillside terrain.
The brush fire started to spread Oct. 22 due to a flare-up of the fire from the previous week, the Army said.
