Newswatch
For several tense moments, Emerick Kahue feared for his family. Violence spreading
on isle roadwaysTheir car was blocked in by a white van that had pursued them along Mokapu Boulevard in Kailua as Kahue, his wife and their 15-year-old son returned home from dinner at 9:15 p.m. Thursday. The van driver had already fired one shot at the car and was ready to fire again.
“I was just scared for my son,” said Kahue, 40, of Kaneohe, who was in the back seat of the car driven by his wife, 44. “Maybe we were going too slow for them. They were tailgating. No matter what lane we were going in, they just kept going in the back.”
The family made a second U-turn to finally escape the van, but not before becoming another statistic in a violent week on Oahu roads.
The shooting was the third time this week Oahu drivers were threatened with guns. In a series of “stink-eye” incidents, shots were fired at two cars and a pedestrian pointed a gun at a driver.
No one was injured in the shootings and police are looking for suspects in two of the cases.
The clash continues between the outgoing and incoming undergraduate student governments at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. Incoming UH student
leaders to boycott dinnerC. Mamo Kim, president of the 1997-1998 Associated Students of the UH, said most of her 38-member senate plans to boycott an inauguration ball Thursday at the Campus Center. Last year’s student government approved $3,000 for the party.
Incoming senate members believe the money could have been better used for scholarships, Kim said.
Kim, part of a 10-member Hawaiian slate elected last month, said senators are particularly upset over $414.16 spent to give plaques instead of certificates to outgoing senators to acknowledge their work.
Kim said it is a good example of how easily student leaders can abuse funds. The association manages a $4.9 million investment portfolio.
“They probably didn’t see anything wrong with what they’re doing. ... And they probably didn’t know what they were doing was really wasteful and inappropriate -- especially in lieu of the (recent UH) budget cuts,” she said.
But Dawn Kawada, a 1996-97 senator and organizer of the ball, said student leaders didn’t see anything wrong last March when they approved nearly $3,000 in its budget for the party.
“I guess we thought it would be nice to show the senators that they are appreciated and stuff,” she said.
It was a sight to behold. Cayetanos’ receptions
a ‘first' for HawaiiInside Washington Place, four chefs, 16 cooks, 20 servers and eight tray-carrying butlers offered 1,050 pounds of roast beef, 750 pounds of ahi, 750 pounds of poke, 400 pounds of uhu (parrotfish), 6,000 pieces of dim sum and other delights.
Outside, four off-duty police officers directed traffic and 20 valets with walkie-talkies parked scores of cars that should total at least 1,000 when they’re finished.
And there were two restroom attendants ready to help guests who use any of the 10 top-of-the-line portable toilets.
“This is the social event of the year,” said Glenn Shigeta, catering director of the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel, which is providing food and logistics. “This is a very special event.”
Indeed it is. It’s the wedding receptions -- one in the afternoon, the other in the evening Saturday -- for Gov. Ben Cayetano and first lady Vicky Liu Cayetano, who were married 26 days ago. It is the second marriage for both.
The receptions are historic. They mark the first time that a sitting governor is holding his wedding reception at the governor’s mansion.
More than 2,000 guests were expected to crowd onto the 3.1-acre estate, where six open Camelot-like tents had been set up as food areas.
