Selma marchers to wear carnation lei
Marchers in Selma, Ala., on Sunday will be wearing white double carnation lei, the same kind that the late Rev. Abraham Akaka delivered to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the Selma march 50 years ago.
U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono and U.S. Rep. Mark Takai will travel to Alabama to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
Hirono and Takai will join civil rights leaders, President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
Photos of the 54-mile third march from Selma to Montgomery on March 21, 1965, show King, John Lewis and other demonstrators wearing the garlands.
This is Hirono’s second trip to Selma to commemorate Bloody Sunday. She previously went in 2009, according to her office.
In 1964, King delivered a lecture at the University of Hawaii, where he met Akaka.
Rainy, cooler weather to last several days
Temperatures will get cooler over the weekend as high clouds block the sun, and breezy tradewinds and windward showers decrease, National Weather Service forecasters said Friday.
High temperatures are expected to stay in the 70s, and lows will be in the 60s, dropping to the 50s in some areas, through the beginning of next week.
Another weather system could move over the eastern end of the state Sunday, bringing showers and possibly snow to Big Island summits.
Windward and mauka showers are expected to continue through Thursday night, but some partial clearing is expected this weekend. Some of the showers might blow over to leeward areas. Most of the rain will fall on Hawaii island and Maui, forecasters said.
County workers’ suits rack up taxpayer costs
LIHUE » Two lawsuits filed by Kauai County employees cost taxpayers about $1 million in legal fees and settlements.
Defending the county in the two cases cost more than $500,000, and settlements for both totaled $425,000, the Garden Island newspaper reported Friday.
County Auditor Ernesto Pasion accepted a $300,000 settlement for his lawsuit alleging retaliation by the mayor and County Council for his audit on fuel costs.
Kauai Department of Water Project Manager Dustin Moises agreed to a $125,000 settlement for his lawsuit alleging he was discriminated against for being too young.
County Council Chairman Mel Rapozo said he’s not happy with the cost of defending the Pasion case, which Rapozo said was especially complex. The county hired a Honolulu firm to handle the case for $550,573.
County attorney staff worked on the Moises case, spending $14,257 in compensated time and travel.
The county attorney’s office evaluates lawsuits and makes an initial determination of whether special counsel should be hired because of the facts or circumstances.
"In regards to the Pasion case, the office, at that time, decided that special counsel was necessary, and the Council voted to so authorize," First Deputy County Attorney Stephen Hall said.
Pasion’s case would have been more expensive if it went to trial instead of being settled, Rapozo said.
"Had we gone to trial, I think special counsel estimated that it would have been well over the million-dollar mark," he said. "At some point you’ve got to cut your losses and do what’s best for the community, and that’s what was done."
