City Councilman Ron Menor knows that the city pays attorney fees to defend its employees for work they do in pursuit of their duties. That, Menor said, is the problem with paying legal fees for former Police Chief Louis Kealoha, who allegedly conspired with other police officers to frame someone.

“These are not the kinds of actions that a police officer would be doing in performance of his official duty,” Menor said.

Many Honolulu taxpayers undoubtedly have made the same observation, but it’s good to see the Council joining the chorus.

HELCO’s poles sweating it out

Residual heat from last year’s Kilauea eruption is still cooking in some affected areas. How hot is it? Toasty enough for four wooden power poles — installed by Hawaiian Electric Light Co. several weeks ago along a new road opened by the Puna Geothermal Venture — to break into a “smoldering” sweat.

With ground temperatures in some spots still topping out at 350 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, HELCO now plans to install steel replacements treated with thermal paint and wrapped with insulation surrounded by a thermal backfill. If the Plan B poles stay cool, the utility hopes to have service restored to PGV and its neighbors this summer.