HPD pioneer to lead state panel
Advertiser Staff
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Barbara Uphouse Wong, who was the first woman to serve as an assistant police chief in Honolulu, was chosen yesterday to lead the state Campaign Spending Commission.
Wong, who was recently an attorney with The Pacific Law Group, will replace Robert Watada as the commission's executive director in October. Watada announced his retirement this year.
Wong, in a statement released by the commission, said she wants to make "a positive contribution to this community by ensuring that the playing field will remain level."
Wong was one of the Honolulu Police Department's first female officers and became its first woman assistant police chief in 1997. She retired from the force in 2000 and attended law school at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
"I think the community and the commission are fortunate to have somebody of her caliber as executive director," Watada said.
STATE
FALL ENROLLMENT AT UH DOWN BY 1%
Preliminary figures released yesterday show fall enrollment down at the University of Hawai'i system by 1 percent from last year after five years of steady increases.
UH's four-year campuses saw modest increases in enrollment, while its two-year campuses have seen modest decreases, officials said in a statement.
UH-Manoa's enrollment rose from 20,463 to 20,619, or a 0.8 percent increase, over 2004.
UH-Hilo's enrollment increased by 2 percent, while UH-West O'ahu's increased by 2.6 percent.
LITTLE LEAGUERS IN BURGER HEAVEN
All 75 McDonald's restaurants in Hawai'i will hang special pennants for customers to write congratulatory messages to the 'Ewa Beach Little League World Series champions.
The pennants will be presented to the team next month at a special community event at the McDonald's of 'Ewa Beach, which also plans to give each team member a special pass good for free food for one year at any McDonald's Restaurants of Hawai'i.
SALT LAKE
1-YEAR SENTENCE IN PRIVACY CASE
A 23-year-old Salt Lake man began serving a one-year jail term this week for secretly videotaping his roommate engaging in sex last year.
Jason Turner, an Air Force member stationed at Hickam Air Force Base, is the first person convicted of a felony under state privacy laws. He was found guilty by a jury earlier this year of videotaping his 20-year-old roommate with a camera hidden in an alarm clock-radio in the roommate's bedroom.
Circuit Judge Steven Alm placed Turner on five years' probation Monday, but also ordered him to serve the jail term immediately.
State prosecutors asked for a maximum five-year prison term, while Turner's lawyer asked that Turner, who has no prior convictions, be placed on probation but without any jail term.
KAUA'I
YUKIMURA WON'T RUN FOR MAYOR
County Council member JoAnn Yukimura, who served as mayor from 1988 to 1994, announced yesterday that she will not seek her former office in the 2006 election.
Instead, she said she wants to focus on her job as a council member. Yukimura was the top vote-getter in last year's council election, sparking speculation she would run for mayor.
"My plans are to stay at the county level and run for council. I really feel that the county is the venue for my work," she said.
That leaves the mayor's race open for the incumbent, Bryan Baptiste, who has not formally announced his candidacy, and former councilman Jesse Fukushima, who has been telling friends that he plans to run for the county's top elected post.
Fukushima, 54, served eight terms on the council before opting to not seek re-election in 1996. He said at the time that he wanted to spend time with his family and focus on his work as a landscape contractor.
Baptiste, 49, said he plans to announce his re-election campaign in a meeting with supporters in a few weeks.
