Correctional center visitation axed again
The Department of Public Safety canceled regularly scheduled visitation to the Women’s Community Correctional Center on Sunday due to staffing shortages.
This marks the 15th time in 16 weeks that staffing problems have resulted in visitation being canceled at a Hawaii correctional facility.
Visitation is on weekends only, but the prisons have been experiencing guard shortages due to sick leave and other absences. On May 11, Mother’s Day, for instance, only nine of 29 officers assigned for duty came to work at the Women’s Community Correctional Center, resulting in visitations being canceled for that Sunday.
Military offers free checkups at sites on Kauai
Kauai residents can get free health services at three locations when Tropic Care Kauai opens its doors Monday for an 11-day stretch.
That includes physical exams, vision checks and glasses, and dental care, the Garden Island newspaper reports.
Nearly 300 medical professionals serving in the military reserves will provide the free service through June 26. The sites are Eleele Elementary School, Kauai Community College and Kapaa Middle School.
The services are part of the Defense Department’s Innovative Readiness Training, which allows the military members to practice deployments while providing health services to local populations. Tropic Care provided more than $1 million worth of medical services when it visited Kauai in 2012.
Army assigns new commander to training site
Army Lt. Col. Jacob Peterson has assumed command of the Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island, succeeding Lt. Col. Eric Shwedo.
Shwedo has been assigned as special assistant for special operations to the assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs at the Pentagon.
"This has just been amazing," Shwedo told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald about his two years as Pohakuloa commander. "My kids don’t want to leave. My wife doesn’t want to leave. It’s going to be hard leaving here."
About 100 people attended the change-of-command ceremony Friday.
Peterson, a Colorado native, comes to Pohakuloa from the Mission Command Training Program at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
