Board of Water Supply crews scrambled to deal with four water main breaks Sunday, working overnight and into the morning in the Lanakila and Kuakini areas.
All lanes of Lanakila Avenue between Keola Street and Kunawai Lane remained closed Sunday night as crews worked to repair a 6-inch main break on Lanakila Avenue.
Traffic was also blocked on Alaneo Street between North School and North Kuakini streets to allow for repairs to two breaks on the same pipeline, an 8-inch main on Alaneo Street.
The repair work was expected to continue through this morning. The water utility said about 16 customers were affected by the break on Lanakila Avenue, while 17 customers were affected by the Alaneo Street break.
Earlier Sunday, crews responded to a main break on Lanakila Avenue between North School and North Kuakini streets, while traffic was rerouted.
Demolition is part of bigger UH project
Henke Hall on East-West Road will be demolished soon to make way for the new Life Sciences building at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
It will be fenced off this week, with demolition to follow. The move is the first step in the $50 million project to build a state-of-the-art home for the College of Natural Sciences. Construction of the 45,000-square-foot building, designed for interdisciplinary collaboration, will start this year.
“This is an exciting step for the future of science at UH Manoa,” Dean Aloysius Helminck said last week. “The possibilities for the next generation of UH scientists are tremendous.”
The Life Sciences building will replace Snyder Hall, which will be torn down once the new building opens, projected for the fall of 2019.
Henke Hall was named for Louis Albert Henke, a professor of animal husbandry who taught at UH from 1916 to 1954.
Hawaii island
Big Isle Circuit Judge Ibarra will retire after 28 years
Judge Ronald Ibarra, chief of the Hawaii island Circuit Court, will retire Friday after 28 years on the bench.
Ibarra, 69, also spent 11 years as a lawyer, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports.
“He is, in my mind, the epitome of a judge,” remarked former Chief Justice Ronald Moon.
Ibarra grew up on a coffee farm in Kealakekua and attended Konawaena High School, graduating in 1965. He went on to graduate from the University of Hawaii at Manoa as a second lieutenant through the school’s ROTC program.
After the Army he returned to Kona to work in the hotel industry, initially as a dishwasher. In 1976 Ibarra left to attend law school at Santa Clara University in California. He later worked as county corporation counsel and managing director under Mayor Dante Carpenter.
Maui
Jewelry thief pleads no contest and sentenced to 1 year in jail
A Makawao man must serve a year in jail for the theft of 16 rings from a Kaanapali jewelry store.
The prosecution had recommended no additional jail time for Joseph Scott, 28, the Maui News reported.
But Circuit Judge Peter Cahill imposed the yearlong term for the “blatant” theft of rings worth $41,000 from Whalers Fine Jewelry in December.
Of the stolen rings, 10 were recovered two days later when Scott and co-defendant Derik Sterling were found sleeping in a stolen car along Honoapiilani Highway in Lahaina, police said. The rings were in a backpack in the car.
Police were able to track down the suspects through surveillance video.
Scott had pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree theft and possession of burglar’s tools. Scott, who has spent about six months in jail, said he “wouldn’t have signed the deal” with the prosecution had he known he wouldn’t be released Thursday.
Cahill said the deal was to reduce the first-degree theft charge, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
“When you go back to the facility, think about 10 years versus five years versus one year,” Cahill told Scott. “That’s the way you should be looking at this.”
Cases are pending against Sterling, 38, who was arrested last week on warrants totaling $105,000.
