Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Friday, June 27, 1997

Catholic Charities celebrates
50 years of services

Homeless people were one of Honolulu's worst human-services problems when Sister Janet McConnell started at the Catholic diocese's social-services office.

Another tragedy of the times was the breakup of families and "the havoc it wrought ... with children falling through the slats," said Sister Mary Naab.

It sounds like the 1990s, but the time was the 1940s. The women were among the first Maryknoll sisters from New York who arrived before the end of World War II to establish the social-services arm of the church here.

They are among the crowd celebrating the 50th anniversary of Catholic Charities today at its annual meeting at the Hale Koa Hotel.

The agency is celebrating its 1947 incorporation, but its work was begun earlier. The two Maryknollers arrived in 1944 on ships carrying civilian workers and accompanied by a convoy of military ships for protection.

Maemae school gets
top mark in recycling

Oahu schoolchildren have collected 366,000 old phone books for recycling since May 1.

The books collected amount to more than 6,200 trees, according to GTE Hawaiian Tel.

Maemae Elementary School won first place in GTE's phone book recycling contest. The school will receive $3,000.

Second through fourth places were, respectively, Pauoa Elementary, Kahala Elementary and Kaimuki Intermediate.

Through Monday, people can recycle their old phone books at the newspaper recycling bins located at many schools. To find the nearest bin, call 527-5335.

Fishman staffer accused
of taking bribe

A legislative analyst in city Managing Director Bob Fishman's office has been under investigation for allegedly accepting a $5,000 bribe to speed up building permit applications for a new business.

Yesterday, Police Chief Michael Nakamura said, however, that the case has been stalled because no one has come forward to provide evidence.

The analyst has been on vacation since Wednesday, city spokeswoman Carol Costa said.

Mayor Jeremy Harris heard about the allegation in mid-May.

"Several weeks ago, a city employee told me that they had a third-hand rumor that an employee in the managing director's office had been involved in illegal activity," Harris said in a news release.

The mayor said he immediately went to Nakamura with the information.

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

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Police/Fire


By Star-Bulletin staff

Flipped car closes
highway lane

A car flipped over after colliding with another car this morning in Punaluu.

Police said the accident occurred in front of Punaluu Beach Park about 4:30 a.m. No major injuries were reported, but police had to close a lane of Kamehameha Highway, causing traffic to crawl along the lane left open.

Weight-loss try
leads to arrest

Police arrested a 25-year-old Village Park woman yesterday for suspicion of trying to forge a doctor's prescription for weight-loss drugs.

Police said a pharmacist noticed the woman's prescription was not filled out properly. Police said the pharmacist called the doctor and found that the woman, from Kupuohi Street, had stolen blank prescription sheets and forged the doctor's signature. Police said the woman was released pending further investigation.

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

• Two held for assault in Waikiki
• Fire burns Maui coffee roaster
• Waiau man charged in shooting

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