Off the news: Liliha woman changes plea in arson case

Beverly Shimabukuro, a retired Pagoda Floating Restaurant waitress charged with arson for setting a Feb. 28 fire at her Liliha rental home of 50 years when she faced eviction, changed her plea to guilty Friday. She was released to the custody of a brother, who will help her move near family on the mainland.

Shimabukuro, 86, was featured in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 2004 as an employee of the Pagoda “since Day 1,” 40 years previously. But the judge found that she now had little “support or assistance” locally; her husband and son had died and no remaining family lived in Hawaii. Per a plea agreement, she will be sentenced to time served — six months, largely at the Hawaii State Hospital — and probation.