Keeping Akaka’s dream alive

An 12-years attempt to achieve Native Hawaiian nationhood under a bill named after then-U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka ended in frustration last year, so Hawaii’s congressional delegation has met with leaders of other native peoples for continued support of federal recognition and related issues.

The meeting Tuesday evoked memories of the friendship between Hawaii’s late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye and the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. Support by Alaska’s present congressional delegation and about 100 American Indians and Alaska natives should keep the issue of federal recognition of Native Hawaiians alive.

Protect elders from scammers

Caveat emptor — let the buyer beware.

Those wise words can be hard enough to heed when it comes to buying, but harder still if trust is involved.

That’s what’s at stake when scammers target human frailties, and it is particularly vile when the victims are elderly.

So it was that a 73-year-old Pauoa man got conned out of $22,000 by Katy Sterio, 34, who, with another woman, befriended him then convinced him the money was needed for stomach-cancer surgery for the other woman. Bogus.

The man’s family called police when he tried to withdraw an additional $120,000, and there’s still $12,000 that appears missing. It’s good to have alert family around.

Sterio previously received a six-month jail term in California for a 2007 financial elder-abuse case. For her current conviction, because she returned her victim’s $22,000, Sterio is due out of prison by month’s end.

Caveat emptor.