A possible thief or vandal apparently caused a siren to go off early Monday morning in Waimanalo, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said in a news release.
The siren sounded at 12:40 a.m. after someone opened a control panel on the siren’s pole, agency officials said.
The siren had just been installed at Kaiona Beach Park in Waimanalo with a security alarm, which went off when the control panel door was opened, officials said.
The city Department of Emergency Management muted the siren and re-secured the cabinet.
There was no emergency associated with the warning siren, and the public should be aware that in a real emergency the siren would have been accompanied by an Emergency Alert System message, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said in the news release.
Ex-islander sentenced in stalking
PHOENIX >> A transgender man formerly of Hawaii accused of stalking his estranged wife last year has been sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation in Arizona.
Maricopa County Superior Court officials say 41-year-old Thomas Trace Beatie was sentenced Monday.
He pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct last month.
Beatie was arrested after his spouse told Phoenix police that she found a GPS tracking device under her car in September 2014.
Police investigators say Beatie admitted to installing the tracking device in 2012 and monitoring it through an online account.
Beatie was born female, but he began testing to determine his psychological gender in 1997. He underwent the first of his gender-reassignment surgeries in 2001.
Under Hawaiian law he was able to have his birth certificate amended and be legally recognized as male. He subsequently married.
Beatie married his partner, Nancy, in early 2003 in Honolulu and became pregnant because Nancy was unable to have children. Thomas Beatie conceived with donated sperm and gave birth to children who are now 4, 3 and 2 years old. The couple eventually moved to Arizona.
New hospital in Kona proposed
KAILUA-KONA >> A state lawmaker is looking to put the hundreds of acres of state land near Kona Airport to use as a new Kona hospital.
West Hawaii Today reported Monday that Rep. Richard Creagan (D, Naalehu-Captain Cook-Keauhou) wants the hospital to provide health care services and serve a teaching function. He says he already has support from the dean of the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, Dr. Jerris Hedges, for a partnership with the hospital.
The land is close to the airport and Hawaii Community College — Palamanui, which Creagan says would also allow the college to coordinate training opportunities for its nursing program.
Callers claiming to work for IRS
Hawaii County police are warning the public about a scam involving IRS impersonators.
Area residents have reported receiving phone calls from people purporting to be IRS officials asking for personal information.
Police urge the public never to give out personal information on the phone to anyone not known to you.
The IRS says if you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, you should record the person’s name, badge number, callback number and caller ID; and call 800-366-4484 to determine whether the person is an IRS employee and has a legitimate need to contact you.
If the person is an IRS employee, then call the person back.
If not, report the incident to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov with the subject line “IRS Phone Scam.”
