Home Care In Kapolei, HI

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Related Photo Gallery: Residential waste center now open in Kapolei

For the first time in over 30 years, Honolulu says it’s added a more convenient, efficient way for Oahu residents to responsibly dispose of their household rubbish.

That effort will, the city hopes, avert illegal dumping along the island’s roadsides and around its neighborhoods in favor of properly disposing residential solid waste, green waste and metal, including propane tanks, bulky items and other recyclables, at city-run waste sites.

To that end Mayor Rick Blangiardi, along with other city officials, presided Friday over the grand opening of the newly completed Kapolei Convenience Center.

Built within the greater expanse of Campbell Industrial Park, the site at 91-184 Kaomi Loop is the 10th municipal waste disposal facility on Oahu. It’s also the first new facility of its kind since the Wahiawa Convenience Center opened in 1992, the city says.

“First and foremost, this is a project that was begun long before we came into office,” Blangiardi said during an on-site news conference in Kapolei. “But having the opportunity to bring it into fruition and have it open is a nice milestone for us, because this was something that was really needed.”

The mayor added that “we were having long lines at our other convenience centers.”

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“And we’re trying to encourage people to go to the convenience centers because we don’t want illegal dumping,” Blangiardi said.

Spearheaded by the city Department of Environmental Services, construction on the nearly $2.45 million Kapolei project began in 2021 and was recently completed. The site, which spans 355,624 square feet, will provide more convenience for residential waste disposal options for West Oahu, the city says.

In addition to Wahiawa and now Kapolei, five similar facilities are in Waianae, Waipahu, Ewa Beach, Laie and Waimanalo.

These sites do not accept commercial or construction waste, the city says.

Besides the mayor, Honolulu City Council members Augie Tulba and Andria Tupola also attended, each approving of the new facility.

“How exciting this is that we’re all here for trash!” Tulba quipped.

However, he said that in his own Council district — covering Waipahu, Iroquois Point, West Loch, Ewa Villages and portions of Ewa Beach — “we have a lot of illegal dumping.”

“At the end of the day, what we want to do is make sure our districts are clean,” Tulba said.

Representing the Leeward Coast, Tupola said the new Kapolei Convenience Center will be “convenient” to more people living in West Oahu.

“In Waianae it’s not as convenient,” she said. “The large space that you have up here to actually enter and exit the facility, many of the facilities right now don’t have this much space, so it’s convenient in that way.”

Meantime, the city says the newest center relieves pressure on all adjacent sites, particularly in Ewa Beach and Waianae.

“So this gives an alternative for folks on the West side and gives a different place to bring their opala,” ENV Director Roger Babcock said.

According to the city, the latest convenience center offers a versatile array of services, which include having eight 40-cubic-yard containers to dump household trash, and disposing of items like furniture and large metal appliances.

On Friday, Ewa Beach resident Samie Jo Ongory, along with her father-in-law, Bill Paith, showed up with a truckload of wood and metal and other household rubbish to toss into the large green metal bins waiting for them at Kapolei Convenience Center.

“That was great,” Ongory said after they’d chucked their trash, saying wait times at the Ewa Beach site drove her family to use the Kapolei facility instead. “The one in Ewa is a little congested all the time and smaller, and out here it’s wider, and you can fit more vehicles and more containers, so it’s going to be great for everyone out here.”

The city’s seven convenience centers are open to the public from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Sunday. The sites are closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day.

According to the city, residents can check the city’s website to view — with the help of a livestreaming video camera — the waiting lines to enter the Kapolei site. That online, on-camera feature is already being implemented at dump sites in Waipahu, Wahiawa, Ewa and Waianae.

Meanwhile, residents are allowed two loads per day at the city’s disposal sites, including the city’s green waste contractor, Hawaiian Earth Recycling in Wahiawa.

For more information about the city’s refuse program and convenience centers, visit honolulu.gov/opala.

The Waiakea High girls volleyball team’s state run ended at home, as the Warriors were swept by visiting Kapolei High on Monday night during the first round of the HHSAA Division I state playoffs.

Despite a close start to the first set, the Hurricanes dominated the remainder of the match — prevailing in straight sets of 25-15, 25-12 and 25-8.

“I think we were kind of nervous, and of course, we’re kind of young,” Waiakea head coach Laura Thompson said. “We know Kapolei got better, and we were just not really ready. They got us on really good serves, and that shook us up a bit. There was a lot of pressure, since we really wanted to go to O‘ahu.”

Waiakea’s offense was unable to keep up with Kapolei’s — which was led by the hitting of Leila Paraocan with 14 kills and Matilyn Royal with 13, as well as Anny Scott’s 41 assists.

The Hurricanes hit .407, .500 and .452 while the Warriors struggled to get it going — hitting .111, .077 and .000.

Waiakea’s defense was led by Lexie Uchima, who notched 16 digs and received 21 serves.

Because Waiakea lost in the first round, it will not have the opportunity to enter the consolation bracket. Teams must make it to at least the quarterfinals in order to qualify for consolation matches.

The Warriors end their season 6-8 overall (excluding invitational tournaments), and went 6-7 during the regular season.

Waiakea was the BIIF DI runner-up, falling 3-0 to Kamehameha schools – Hawai‘i in the BIIF championship two weeks ago after overcoming Hilo High 3-2 in the semifinal for its season-first victory against the Vikings.

Thompson said that the semifinal victory over Hilo was her team’s proudest accomplishment this season.

“We got consistently better throughout the season, and that was kind of the high point,” she said. “We went in there not knowing what was gonna happen, and we were just there to play. I know for (the match against Kapolei), we went in with the same mentality — but we were nervous.”

The Warriors and Hurricanes last encountered each other early in the season, during an invitational tournament at KSH.

During that match — which the Hurricanes won 2-0 — a spike from Kapolei’s Malinah Purcell-Telefoni hit Waiakea’s Sadie Calma in the head (unintentionally), giving her a concussion.

“We were a little nervous about that before the game,” Thompson said. “Also, because we had heard some of their girls had signed to (UH) Manoa.”

After Monday’s game, Purcell-Telefoni approached Calma to apologize, and the pair hugged it out.

Kapolei (12-2) will return to O‘ahu to face Maui DI champion No. 4 Baldwin High (13-1) in the quarterfinals tomorrow at Moanalua High.

KS-Hawai‘i

No. 2 KSH, which received a first-round bye, will face Roosevelt High in the quarterfinals tomorrow on O‘ahu. The Rough Riders defeated KS-Maui 3-0 on Monday.

Update: This story has been updated to include comment from the Department of the Attorney General.

Three former female students are alleging that the principal of their public charter high school performed illegal strip searches on them after they had been accused of vaping and smoking on a class field trip in September 2019, according to court documents.

The allegations were originally laid out in complaint filed in 2020 when the students were juniors, and were represented by guardians in the court documents. The three plaintiffs who are no longer minors have now chosen to be publicly identified in an updated filing and to speak publicly about the allegations.

During the incident Kapolei Charter School by Goodwill Hawaii principal Wanda Villareal allegedly asked high school juniors Randell Akau, Chevelle Peter and Anuhea Morales Nelson to lift their shirts during the search which occurred four days after the field trip.

Villareal also grabbed the middle of their bras, forced each student to jump up and down and patted down their “waist, hips and buttocks.”

“It made me feel very uncomfortable. I felt like I was violated,” Akau said Friday.

One plaintiff said that Villareal ordered her to “pull her pants down to her knees.”

Vice principal Mailani Gaspar and another teacher were also present during the search, the filing said.

The amended complaint named Villareal, Kapolei Charter School by Goodwill Hawaii, the Hawaii Department of Education and the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission as defendants alleging assault, battery, violation of civil rights and a slew of other charges including false imprisonment and conspiracy.

In a response submitted to the 1st Circuit Court, the defendants argued that they had “reasonable grounds” to search the students and that the search was “lawful” and not a “strip search.”

The Kapolei Charter School and Goodwill Hawaii did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The DOE and the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission referred requests to The Department of the Attorney General.

David Day, Special Assistant to the Attorney General, said the defendants vehemently deny all claims, and “we look forward to presenting our defense at trial.”

After the search the students were told to return to class and each called her parents, according to the complaint. “I went into the bathroom and I called my mom crying,” Akau said.

Akau’s mother, Heidi, said the students’ parents had not been informed about the search. Akau was told that her mother had signed a consent form that allowed for her and her personal belongings to be searched, said Akau. “I was under the impression that my parents knew that this was happening.”

The complaint said that not informing the parents of the search violated “school policy and the law.”

According to the 2019 Kapolei Charter School Student Conduct and Discipline Policy, searches are permissible if there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect a student has violated school disciplinary policy, which includes the possession of “drugs, drug paraphernalia, tobacco.”

Kapolei Charter School by Goodwill Hawaii had its state contract renewed for four more years on July 1. More than half of the 161 students enrolled in the 2021-2022 school year were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

The court has scheduled hearings in the case for Tuesday and Wednesday. Jury selection is set for July 17.

The Hawaii Community Development Authority approved a new affordable housing project in the Kaulu residential community in Kapolei right behind Costco.

Gentry Kalaeloa LLC’s proposal to build a 390-unit residential project in the Kalaeloa subdivision went unchallenged during HCDA’s decision-making meeting Wednesday and cleared the HCDA’s board on a unanimous vote.

The project will be the first residential project development on the more than 500-acres of the former Barbers’ Point Naval Air Station.

At least 20% of the parcel will be sold to households earning 140% of the area median income, or a family of four earning about $148,400. Gentry Homes’ vice president Quentin Machida said they strive to provide affordable homes for lower income families, but with the rise of interest rates and inflation, the price of a unit and the total cost that is needed to finish the project is unknown.

Gentry doesn’t have an exact price range for units yet, but company representatives estimated that each unit could cost about $600 to $650 per square feet.

“We know it’s going up and we know how it’ll affect construction costs and sales prices in the future,” Machida said. “We’re just asking for greater flexibility with the staff on this project.

The project will add about 262 multi-family attached units and 128 single-family detached units on about 30 acres of land. None of the units planned for the Kaulu community will be as big or as expensive as others in Ewa by Gentry. Gentry Homes will look to provide down payment assistance and home buyer education programs.

“I’ve been in a Gentry home now for over 12 years. This is probably our fourth project we’ve moved into,” local financial advisor Ben Geise said. “I can attest to the quality of what we’ve seen in the Gentry home as well as the workmanship and their economically and environmentally friendly features.”

The units will have energy efficient central air conditioning, foam insulation, LED lighting and water saving plumbing fixtures, as well as two full sized parking stalls. There will be an oversized single car garage for the attached units and a two car garage for the detached units.

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This story was written by AP reporter Jennifer Cinco Kelleher.

U.S. prosecutors who introduced Russian spy intrigue into the case of a couple accused of living for decades in Hawaii under identities stolen from dead babies are now saying they don’t want jurors to hear about photographs showing them wearing foreign uniforms.

A U.S. judge granted the request last week, ruling that the uniforms are not relevant to the upcoming trial for charges involving identity theft and passport fraud. Defense attorneys have said from the start those uniforms were worn once for fun.

When the former U.S. defense contractor and his wife were arrested last year, prosecutors suggested the case was about more than just identity theft.

According to prosecutors, Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison are the real names of the couple who have been fraudulently living for decades under stolen identities Bobby Fort and Julie Montague.

Prosecutors say Primrose spent more than 20 years in the Coast Guard as Bobby Fort, where he obtained secret-level security clearance. After retiring in 2016, he used the secret clearance for his defense job, prosecutors said.

There is no indication in court papers why the couple in 1987 assumed the identities of deceased children, who would have been more than a decade younger than them.

A search of the couple’s home in Kapolei, a Honolulu suburb, turned up Polaroids of them wearing jackets that appear to be authentic KGB uniforms, an invisible ink kit, documents with coded language and maps showing military bases, prosecutors said.

They have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, false statement in a passport application and aggravated identity theft. Trial is scheduled for next month, but it will likely be delayed because a new lawyer was appointed for Primrose last week.

At a video hearing Tuesday, his new attorney, Marc Victor, said he thinks the earliest he can be ready for trial is next year.

Prosecutors last month filed a motion “to preclude examination or testimony concerning Defendants wearing or being photographed in foreign military uniforms.” Prosecutors said they were irrelevant to the charges, and U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi agreed.

Defense attorneys for the couple have said they took a photo wearing the same jacket years ago as a joke.

In an email from prosecutors to defense attorneys, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Muehleck wrote that a witness said the photos were taken sometime in the 1990s and U.S. agents were given the “alleged uniform.”

Defense attorneys said that debunks the spy theory.

In a subsequent email from prosecutors to defense attorneys about seized letters referring to the couple using other aliases, Muehleck wrote, “The United States retracts that argument,” adding that they later learned those were just nicknames “and some of them were the product of inside jokes in relation to Primrose and Morrison.”

Alexander Silvert, a retired federal defender for the Hawaii district who is not involved in the case, said it sounds like prosecutors overreacted to the photos.

Upon searching further, “they probably … realized they overreacted and these are not Russian spies,” he said. “These are people who stole other people’s identity, which is not, unfortunately, uncommon these days.”

But there’s also another far-fetched possibility, he said.

“The wild conspiracy theorists would say maybe they really are Russian spies, but the government doesn’t want anybody to know that,” Silvert said.

In response to an Associated Press email asking what became of the spy speculation, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Enoki, a spokesperson for the office, said, “We have nothing further to add to any public filings or comments already made.”

A hearing is scheduled Wednesday for Morrison’s request to reconsider a previous detention ruling. A hearing for Primrose’s similar request hadn’t yet been scheduled.

“I said from the beginning this is not a Russian spy case,” Silvert said. “It’s just a vanilla ID theft that had a wrinkle to it.”

Since 2010, Civil Beat’s reporting has painted a more complete picture of Hawaii — stories that you won’t find anywhere else.

Your donation, however big or small, will ensure that Civil Beat has the resources to provide you with thorough, unbiased reporting on the issues that matter most to Hawaii.

Make a gift to Civil Beat today and help fund our daily coverage in 2024. And if you’re able, consider a sustaining monthly gift to support our work all year-round.