A 22-year-old senior airman from Hawaii, who had been supporting Operation Christmas Drop 2015, collapsed and died following a training exercise.
The Pacific Daily News reported that the Air Force said Tuesday that Senior Airman Jeremy M. Jutba-Hake collapsed Sunday during post-flight duties at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. He was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. The cause of his death remains under investigation.
Air Force officials say Jutba-Hake had been on duty at the Guam base to support the annual Operation Christmas Drop. This year Australian, Japanese and U.S. air force planes dropped food and toys on remote atolls in the Pacific as part of the U.S. military’s longest-running humanitarian relief mission.
New Year’s hike planned at Makapuu
Hikers looking to celebrate the first sunrise of 2016 with a brisk morning hike to the Makapuu Lookout will be greeted with a host of improvements to the popular state park.
Not only has the state Parks Division completed resurfacing the path to the top of the 2-mile round-trip hike, but new lookouts have been installed as well.
“First Day Hikes” are organized by America’s State Parks and are scheduled for all 50 states, although the hike at Makapuu attracts one of the largest crowds, according to state park officials.
The access gate to the park will be opened at 5:30 a.m. so hikers can reach the top lookout by sunrise at 7:11 a.m.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Punch leaves Kapaa man badly injured
A punch thrown in a Lihue bar left a 30-year-old man in critical condition and led to the arrest of a Koloa man Monday night, according to Kauai County police.
The suspect, 24-year-old Nicholas Char, was at Kalapaki Joe’s at the Kukui Grove Shopping Center when he began taunting patrons and punching windows Mondaynight, the police report said. Char was removed from the bar but re-entered and then punched a man in the jaw, causing the victim to fall.
The victim, from Kapaa, was unresponsive when police, medics and firefighters were called to the scene at about 9:45 p.m. He was flown to the Queen’s MedicalCenter with life-threatening head injuries and remained at Queen’s in critical condition Tuesday, according to a news release.
Police arrested Char for first-degree assault. He was charged and released after posting $20,000 bail.
Honokaa man sought by police
Big Island police are searching for an 18-year-old Honokaa man wanted on a bench warrant for contempt of court.
Kanen-Dean Ventura-Flores is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, 150 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Police ask anyone with information on his whereaboutsto call the Hawaii County Police Department’s nonemergency line at 935-3311 or Officer Aaron Yamanaka at 775-7533; or call Crime Stoppers, 961-8300.
