NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Kauai lifeguard returns lost limb

POIPU, Kauai » County lifeguards are used to finding lost objects in and out of the water: rings, sunglasses, cameras.

But five-year lifeguard Alohi Costa recently came up with a first: a prosthetic leg.

In August, about 60 yards offshore, Costa noticed a swim fin protruding from a reef, the Garden Island newspaper reported.

He dove down 20 feet and grabbed it. Attached to it was the leg, tucked into a small cave in the reef.

Consulting the lost-and-found logbook, Costa found that a Portland, Ore., tourist named Gleb Sapozhnikov had reported the $8,000 titanium leg missing on July 23.

"A wave came and ripped it off me," he recalled.

In the following weeks, Sapozhnikov sent a prepaid box to Costa, who wrapped, packed and mailed the leg. A few weeks later, the leg arrived at the door of Sapozhnikov’s home, damaged but repairable.

Help needed for land care

LAHAINA » State officials are calling on Maui community members to help them take care of hundreds of acres the state just bought from Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

Department of Land and Natural Resources Maui District land agent Daniel Ornellas said the state doesn’t have staffing to send people out to Lipoa Point every day. He spoke to about 50 residents at a meeting Wednesday in Lahaina.

The Maui News reports officials are urging residents to call and report suspicious or illegal activity, and to keep the beach clean.

The state spent nearly $20 million buying 280 acres of coastal land to protect the area from development.

Associated Press