A revised Ewa Development Plan, which pitted the area's residents against environmentalists, has been approved by the City Council. Council OKs plan
for Ewa developmentThe Council, meeting yesterday in Kapolei, approved the measure 7-1 after lengthy and heated debate.
Councilman Steve Holmes cast the sole dissenting vote. Council members Donna Mercado Kim and Duke Bainum, who both joined Holmes in raising questions about the plan, voted "kanalua," or pass, which meant their votes went with the majority.
Councilwoman Rene Mansho is on a trip to Japan.
The Ewa Development Plan is the first of eight on the island to receive a major overhaul.
While some have viewed development plans as a critical part of the land-use process, voters in 1992 approved an amendment to the City Charter that makes the plans conceptual in scope, saving most detailed issues to zoning action.
Plan advocate Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board, criticized those seeking to delay the vote when area residents had been working on the plan for years.
"I'm annoyed and take offense at opponents of this plan and I ask them, 'Where do you live? Where have you been?' We're no fools. We know there are tradeoffs in life."
A group of teen-agers driving in Waipahu this morning found the body of a man who police believe was murdered. Teen-agers find body of man
on Waipahu roadPolice said an unidentified man, in his 20s to 30s, with head injuries was lying half in the road and half on the sidewalk on a bridge on Waipio Point Access Road.
"A lot of people heard gunshots," acting homicide Lt. Anderson Hee said after interviewing neighbors.
Police said the road is mainly used by people driving to the golf course and is pretty deserted at night. Police said the seven teen-agers drove to the Pearl City Police Station about 12:30 a.m. after finding the dead man.
Hee said detectives will continue their investigation today.
WASHINGTON -- Hawaii is the worst state in the nation when it comes to finding permanent homes for foster children, a two-year study released today has found. Foster kids worst off in Hawaii
The study, prepared by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Institute for Children, found that only 9.6 percent of the foster children available for adoption in Hawaii were actually adopted during 1996.
Pennsylvania, at 15.2 percent, had the second-lowest adoption rate. North Dakota, at 96.7 percent, had the highest rate, and only four states were below 20 percent.
"It looks like Hawaii is the worst," said Derek Herbert, co-author of the study and associate director of the institute. "They don't have an overloading case level, so there's no excuse there for not having a higher rate."
Hawaii adoption officials say they probably do have a higher rate. According to Kate Stanley, deputy director of the Hawaii Department of Human Services, the state has stepped up efforts to find permanent homes for foster children over the past year.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPolice have arrested a man in connection with murder after another man was run over by a pickup truck at Kunia Store yesterday. Police arrest suspect
in Kunia store deathBoth men, believed to have argued over a woman, were Del Monte workers employed at Kunia Fresh Produce yard. The victim, Rudy Saladino, 56, of Mililani, went by Army medevac helicopter to Queen's Hospital following the 6 a.m. incident and died there shortly after noon.
Witnesses told police the suspect, 48, ran his speeding truck off the road and struck Saladino in the store parking lot shortly after Saladino left the store.
A large brush fire near Makakilo has been burning overnight. Brush fire near Makakilo
continues overnightThe fire reported yesterday brought out 12 Honolulu fire companies, three tankers and the department helicopter.
The military also responded with several fire trucks. The fire was first contained after three hours, and then it flared up again.
The fire was east of the shopping center along Makakilo Drive, but no damage was done there.
In other police/fire news:
Harvest gets 3,323 more pot plants
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