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Conventional wisdom said if jurors came back quickly, it would be acquittal. And conventional wisdom was right: It took a mere handful of hours of deliberation before jurors let Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi off the hook on four theft charges and one of making a false statement over dubious use of his county purchasing card. A visibly relieved Kenoi walked out of court Tuesday with no prison time, and no direct consequences for buying copious amounts of liquor (doing county business, he said) and charging personal expenses such as a nephew’s $293 wedding gift (repaid eight months later). Any indirect consequences such as lessons learned or political-career damage remain to be seen.
Hawaii island folks might forgive, but state voters shouldn’t forget.
TMT could end up on another island
The prospect that the developers of the Thirty Meter Telescope may pull up stakes and put the project elsewhere just became more real with the announcement of the alternate site, located in the Canary Islands.
They are carrying on with the second try at their preferred site atop Mauna Kea, of course, but the state contested case hearing now underway could move too slowly for their liking. If progress isn’t made by early next year — likely very early — the Canary Islands will start looking pretty good. Time is money. Tick-tock.