A Honolulu Liquor Commission inspector yesterday was sentenced to 17 months in federal prison for extorting owners of two bars and getting at least $2,000.

James Rodenhurst, 57, who spent 10 years as a Honolulu police officer and four years with the commission, pleaded guilty in February to the conspiracy extortion charge.

Rodenhurst was one of seven law enforcement officers charged last year with federal felonies as a result of a massive and wide-ranging FBI wiretap investigation into a cockfight gambling operation in Waialua, drug transactions and other illegal activities.

Rodenhurst, a night-shift supervisor with the liquor commission, admitted that from 2004 to January 2005, he and Herbert Naone, 57, a former police officer and former chief of Aloha Stadium security, received money from the operators of the Volcanoes and Sin City nightclubs in exchange for notifying them when liquor commission inspectors would be going to the establishments.

Naone pleaded guilty to the extortion charge earlier. In addition, five Honolulu police officers were charged as well as about 30 other individuals.

DAMIEN GRAD GETS HOE SCHOLARSHIP

A $1,000 scholarship was presented to a Damien High School graduate at Schofield Barracks in the name of 1st Lt. Nainoa Hoe of Kailua, a Kamehameha Schools graduate who was killed in Iraq in 2005.

The inaugural 1st Lt. Nainoa Hoe scholarship was presented Tuesday to Justin Sambueno of Kalihi at the battle command training center at Schofield that bears Hoe's name.

Hoe's father, Allen, along with Ohelo Kaopio and Col. Matthew Margotta, who commands the U.S. Army Garrison, Hawai'i, presented the scholarship to Sambueno.

Sambueno, 18, the son of Jason and Muriel Sambueno, will attend DePauw University.

The scholarship was endowed by Kaopio, a Waimanalo businessman.

HOUSE FIRE CAUSED BY OIL-SOAKED RAG

A rag soaked with teak oil is being blamed as the cause of a Kaua'i house fire Thursday night, the Kaua'i Fire Department said.

The rag was in a laundry basket when it "spontaneously combusted," county spokeswoman Mary Daubert said.

Within minutes, firefighters contained the fire reported at about 9:45 p.m. in Kalaheo. Parts of the home's exterior beams, walls and roof burned. No one was home at the Pu'u Road residence during the fire.

The fire was fully extinguished at 11:50 p.m. Fire officials estimated damage to be about $25,000.

Firefighters from the Hanapepe and Lihu'e fire stations also responded but returned to their stations when they were informed the fire was under control.

WORK PLANNED ON MAUI BOAT RAMP

A restoration project intended to ease sailing at Mala Boat Ramp on Maui is set to begin at the end of this year.

Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday released $600,000 to dredge the basin, which continually accumulates sandy materials and now affects larger boat navigation, according to a news release.

The work includes restoring depth to safely accommodate the many commercial and recreational vessels using the harbor are, as well as dry and dispose of dredged materials — about 3,500 cubic yards.

Construction is expected to be completed during the spring of 2008.

BACTERIA CLOSES BEACH ON KAUA'I

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The state Department of Health yesterday posted signs warning swimmers to stay out of the water at the eastern end of Kalapaki Beach after detecting bacteria from a sewage leak into Nawiliwili Bay.

The agency was notified Wednesday of the possible contamination and took samples Thursday, said Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo. Results released yesterday indicate the bacteria were from a human fecal source.

The leak was traced to a broken sewerline connection at a private residence, Okubo said. The rate of discharge has been one to five gallons per minute, and health officials and the neighboring Kaua'i Marriott Resort are working together to fix the problem, since hotel guests use the beach, she said.

Warning signs were posted 100 yards west from the eastern end of Kalapaki Beach and will remain posted until repairs are completed and bacteria levels return to normal, Okubo said.