Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff and Wire

Thursday, June 5, 1997

Lums plead guilty
to conspiracy

WASHINGTON -- Democratic fund-raisers Nora T. Lum and her husband, Gene, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with the wide-ranging Justice Department investigation of political fund-raising abuses.

The Lums, part-time Honolulu residents, admitted in federal court that they arranged to pass $50,000 through "straw donors" to the campaigns of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and W. Stuart Price, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Oklahoma.

Nora Lum, 54, is an Asian-American activist and frequent visitor to the Clinton White House. She was chairman and chief executive officer of Dynamic Energy Resources Inc., an Oklahoma pipeline company, and her husband was a director.

The Lums' daughter, Trisha, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of contributing $10,000 that was not her money to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The funds were from her mother. The daughter could face up to a year in jail.

Standing before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina, the Lums remained silent except to answer "yes" and "no" to questions about their guilty pleas.

Each admitted to a single felony count of conspiring to defraud the United States and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. They face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines each.

Firefighters on alert
for seasonal brush fires

The grass is high, summer is here, and that means it's brush-fire time on Oahu's dry west side.

Firefighters in the area say brush fires have not been a problem so far, and are keeping their fingers crossed that the condition will continue until October, when the problem typically diminishes.

"We're always expecting the worst, but so far it looks pretty good because our season usually starts in April, and it's June already, so we may get a reprieve," said Fire Capt. Robert Lenchanko, who has been at the Waianae Fire Station for nearly 14 years.

That continues a "pretty fair" pattern seen for the past couple years, he said.

Acting Capt. Michael Phillips at the Nanakuli Fire Station evaluated the situation as "so far, so good."

"The grass is pretty high still, and parts of the mountain are still green, so that's a good thing," he said. "It's not totally dried out yet, but it's starting to get dry."

The National Weather Service said the area has been "unusually wet" from November into May, which has helped plant growth and kept it from drying.

Abused boy suffered
'like Cinderella'

Leisa Costello had two girls when she wed Mark A. Miller, a Schofield soldier with a 4-year-

old boy who would suffer like Cinderella during their marriage.

Costello hated her stepson, Christopher, and told a neighbor that he was like mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, a federal prosecutor said yesterday during opening statements in Costello's child-abuse trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said that Costello bragged to a neighbor on March 28, 1994: "I just whopped his ass. I gave him a spanking and I whopped him and whopped him and he didn't even cry."

He said Christopher had multiple lacerations, contusions, bruises, whip marks and burn marks when he was admitted to Tripler Hospital.

The government has alleged that Costello, 33, assaulted Christopher with her hands and with dangerous weapons in the form of a belt, switch and spoon. She faces 10 years in prison if convicted.

But he also said Christopher's abuse was a joint effort by Costello and Miller, who was court-martialed and convicted for his actions against his son.

See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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Police/Fire


By Star-Bulletin staff

Body of man is recovered
in the Haleiwa channel

The body of a man was recovered yesterday in the Haleiwa channel leading to the boat harbor.

There were no signs of foul play and police have tentatively classified the case a drowning, police said.

The man was wearing only maroon swimming shorts and had no identification. He is in his 60s and is Caucasian.

The body was recovered about 500 yards offshore near the red buoy in the channel at 2:06 p.m.

Broken water main affects
some downtown buildings

Some downtown buildings this morning were without water when a water main broke on Halekauwila Street.

Board of Water Supply dispatch said the Prince Kuhio Federal Building and the Keelikolani Building, the state unemployment office, would possibly lose their water. Crews were sent out at 5:30 a.m. to repair the water main.

Other Police/Fire headlines
in today’s Star-Bulletin:

• Woman reports rape by man she drank with at hotel
  
• Bomb hoax forces evacuation of building
  
• Missing girl may be on Big Island

See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
See our [Info] section for subscription information.