A fundraiser for the Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hawai‘iloa and the nonprofit group that manages it, Friends of Hokule‘a and Hawai‘iloa, will take place 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Waikiki.
Tickets are $40 presale online at fhh-hawaiiloa.eventbrite.com or $50 at the door, according to organizers. Price includes admission, heavy pupu, beer, wine, soft drinks, a silent auction and live entertainment by John Cruz, Robi Kahakalau, Nathan Nahinu, Donald Kaulia and special guests.
Funds raised will go toward rebuilding the 25-year-old canoe, which is made from mostly traditional, natural materials — an authenticity that has been difficult to maintain. Hawai‘iloa has spent much of its life in need of repairs. In 2015 the canoe returned to the water after years on land.
For more information, visit nahoaaloha.org.
Hawaii island
Prisoner’s aunt to do time
WAILUKU >> A Hawaii woman has been ordered to serve 18 months in jail for attempting to smuggle drugs to her inmate nephew, Steven Capobianco, who in March was sentenced to life in prison for allegations that he killed his pregnant ex-girlfriend.
The Maui News reports that 50-year-old Susan Capobianco was sentenced to jail Tuesday in addition to being placed on probation for four years.
Deputy Prosecutor Tracy Jones says a Maui Community Correctional Center guard saw Susan Capobianco pass her nephew a package during visiting hours in February. In it was 12 cigarettes, about 0.3 gram of methamphetamine, marijuana, hash oil and rolling papers.
Jones says Susan Capobianco acknowledged to guards that she passed the package, but said she thought it contained just cigarettes to be traded for food.
Kauai
Manslaughter nets 20 years
A 36-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter after ending an altercation by getting in his car and running over the victim.
Fifth Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe sentenced Evan R. Craft on Wednesday in the death of Michael Helppie Jr., 37, of Koloa.
The Hawaii Paroling Authority will determine the minimum term Craft must serve in prison before he becomes eligible for parole.
Craft, of Westlake Village, Calif., and Helppie were involved in an argument that escalated during the early morning hours on June 1, 2015, outside of the Nawiliwili Tavern.
Craft then entered his vehicle and accelerated toward Helppie, fatally striking and crushing him against a concrete parking lot divider, according to a news release by the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney.
Later that month Watanabe found Craft guilty of manslaughter after he pleaded no contest to the charge.
