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The Boy Scouts will be holding the Ellison Onizuka Day of Exploration with more than 100 free STEM-based activities, experiments and workshops from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.
The Aloha Council, Boy Scouts of America annual event, previously called Makahiki, is co-sponsored by The Queen’s Health Systems and honors the late Hawaii-born astronaut Onizuka, who was an Eagle Scout and dedicated to space and science, scouting officials said in a news release.
The free event is open to the public and geared for families to introduce children to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and to promote the Boy Scouts, they said.
The event will include outdoor and indoor climbing walls, rope bridges and food, and will also feature:
>> Jake the Wizard IV Show, science feats that look like magic.
>> Space Station, where keiki can learn about space.
>> Pinewood Derby Championships.
>> VEX-IQ Robotics Exhibition.
For more details, visit scoutinghawaii.org/onizuka.
Hawaii island
Former DLNR officer sentenced to 10 years for sexual assault
HILO >> A former Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement officer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
Ethan Ferguson, 40, was sentenced Monday after being convicted in February of two counts of second-degree sexual assault and three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
The victim testified during trial that on Jan. 1, 2016, Ferguson was on duty and in uniform when he took a pipe of marijuana away from her on a beach in Hilo. He then led her to a secluded area and gave her the options of giving him “money, drugs or sex” to not be arrested, she said.
Ferguson denied the allegations, saying she kissed him twice and he kissed her back the second time.
A Honolulu Police Department criminologist testified DNA matching Ferguson’s was found in the victim’s shorts.
Ferguson, who was fired for misconduct by the HPD before being hired as a DLNR enforcement officer in 2013, was placed on paid administrative leave until his conviction in February. He will have to register as a sex offender.
DLNR said in a March 6 statement that Ferguson had been terminated from his job and that the department “has no further comment on this matter.”
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