Judge orders pilot to pay $300 for aerial advertising displays

A pilot cited twice for allegedly violating the city’s ban on aerial advertising in July pleaded no contest Tuesday.

But the company that hired him will continue its fight, possibly in federal court, Aerial Banners Inc. attorney Victor Bakke said.

Matthew Radeck, who is in Florida and did not appear Tuesday in Wahiawa District Court, was given six-month deferrals on both charges and ordered to pay fines of $100 for the first offense and $200 for the second. The arrest will be expunged from his record if he avoids prosecution in the next year, Bakke said.

"He really shouldn’t have to go through this," Bakke said. "The cost and expense of defending this case has just been ridiculous."

Deputy Prosecutor Derrick Wong had asked Judge Clarence Pacarro to impose the maximum $500 fine for the first offense and the maximum three months in jail for the second offense.

Both Radeck and Aerical Banners were scheduled for trial on April 30.

Bakke asked for a 30-day continuance because the company said it is deciding whether it will file for an injunction in federal court against the city’s ban. An advertising case now before the U.S. Supreme Court might have some bearing on the Hono­lulu case, Bakke said.

Police officer gets probation

A Maui police officer was sentenced to a year of probation this week after prosecutors said she endangered her 3-year-old son when she crashed her vehicle while she was intoxicated.

Rachel Kealoha faced a misdemeanor charge after driving her vehicle into a guardrail June 17, with her son in the back seat. She pleaded no contest, the Maui News reported Tuesday.

No one was injured, but witnesses who saw her before the crash believed she was drunk, Deputy Prosecutor Ryan Teshima said. A driver saw her swerving on the road, he said.

She had a beer but wasn’t drunk, defense attorney David Sereno said. "She was going through a stressful and horrible divorce proceeding that involved issues of custody," he said.

Kealoha will have an opportunity to keep the conviction off her record, which will allow her to keep her job, the newspaper reported.

Work proposed for Kauai trail

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to reinforce a trail at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on Kauai to protect it from erosion.

The work would bolster about half of a 200-foot trail between the refuge visitor center and lighthouse, the Garden Island newspaper reported Tuesday.

The trail meanders from the visitor center to the lighthouse along steep bluffs overlooking the ocean. A concrete wall that lines the trail shows cracks and wear.

Erosion and settlement have affected parts of the trail, but work to address erosion hasn’t been conducted in about 10 years.