Ex-HPD officer indicted in child sex assault case ADVERTISING Ex-HPD officer indicted in child sex assault case HONOLULU (AP) — A former Honolulu police officer has been accused a sexually assaulting a child over a four-year period. Teddy Van Lerberghe
Ex-HPD officer indicted in child sex assault case
HONOLULU (AP) — A former Honolulu police officer has been accused a sexually assaulting a child over a four-year period.
Teddy Van Lerberghe turned himself in to police Thursday and posted $100,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in state Circuit Court this Thursday on first-degree and third-degree sexual assault charges.
An Oahu grand jury indicted Van Lerberghein the case last week.
The alleged abuse against the victim under the age of 14 took place from 2004 to 2008.
The Honolulu Police Department says Van Lerberghe was fired in May after nine years with the department.
Judge sides with American Samoa local fishermen over feds
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — A federal judge in Honolulu has ruled that the decision to reduce the area off-limits to large vessels along the coast of American Samoa “is invalid,” clearing the way for exclusive access by local fishermen and small boats.
U.S District Court Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi also ruled that National Marine Fisheries Service’s change of the rule “was arbitrary and capricious.”
Fishing waters had been preserved for the local “alia” — or small boat — fishing fleet from the shoreline out to 50 miles since 2002. Last year, the National Marine Fisheries Service reduced the large-vessel-protected area, or LVPA, to 12 miles from the shoreline, allowing vessels 50 feet and longer to net hauls once reserved for local fishermen.
The plaintiffs, through the American Samoa government, filed the lawsuit in March 2016 arguing that American Samoa’s cultural fishing rights are found in the two Deeds of Cession — the 1900 Deed of Cession for Tutuila and Aunu’u islands and the 1904 Deeds of Cession for Manu’a islands — with the U.S.
The defendants, who include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, countered in court documents that deeds say nothing, about fishing or marine resources and “that silence should not be read to establish rights.”
In a 42-page ruling issued Monday, Kobayashi says the Deeds of Cession require the United States to respect the American Samoans’ customary practices — such as fishing — even though the deeds do not specifically identify the practices.
American Samoa Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga said he hopes the case serves as a reminder to the federal government that “we have rights and they should not be easily dismissed.”
American Samoa Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale, who appeared for the territorial government at federal court during oral arguments last month, describes the ruling as “thorough and well-reasoned.”
“This decision is the first federal case law to articulate the meaning of the deeds as it relates to our direct dealings with the federal government,” Ale said. “It establishes a critical pathway towards clarifying our relationship with the federal government, as well as our status as a people and culture within the American family.”
Federal defendants in the lawsuit include NMFS, the Secretary of Commerce, Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council executive director Kitty Simonds and the Fisheries Service’s Pacific Islands Regional Office administrator Michael Tosatto.
Tosatto said late Tuesday afternoon from Honolulu that NOAA Fisheries is reviewing the court’s decision and evaluating its next steps.
Council spokeswoman Sylvia Spalding said that the council may discuss the ruling as it meets in Honolulu this week.
Legal counsel Frederick Tucker with the NOAA Office of General Counsel-Pacific Islands Section said NOAA hasn’t had an opportunity to discuss the ruling extensively with other federal parties including the US Justice Department, which represented defendants in the lawsuit.
“Currently, we’re in the evaluation state,” Tucker said.
Plans for Kauai dairy put on hold for environmental review
LIHUE, Kauai (AP) — A judge has ruled that Hawaii Dairy Farms must forego all permits and approvals for construction of a proposed 560-acre dairy in Kauai’s Mahaulepu Valley pending an environmental assessment.
Kawailoa Development LLP, which owns the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort &Spa and a golf course near the proposed dairy, filed a lawsuit against Hawaii Dairy Farms based on claims that its business and recreational interests would be adversely affected by the dairy’s wastewater treatment unit. Judge Randal Valenciano ruled in favor of Kawailoa on Tuesday, The Garden Island reported (http://bit.ly/2mrGj8p).
Kawailoa says any harm associated with the project could be avoided with an environmental assessment to review the effects of discharge, odors and other pollution.
Hawaii Dairy Farms is looking to develop the site with at least 700 cows and institute a rotational-grazing system that would use all the manure as natural fertilizer to grow grass, according to reports.
Spokeswoman Amy Hennessey said the company is disappointed with the ruling for putting the dairy in the same category as the wastewater treatment plant. She said the decision sets “a dangerous precedent for farmers and ranchers.”
“Today’s decision could force all future animal agricultural endeavors that are striving to be more sustainable and environmentally sensitive to produce an Environmental Assessment before beginning operations,” she said. “This environmental review has never before been required and would likely prove too onerous and expensive for the average farmer or rancher.”
But opponents of the proposed dairy welcomed Valenciano’s ruling.
“We’ve been asking for this for as long as the owners of the Hyatt,” said Bridget Hammerquist, president of Friends of Mahaulepu. “We are very happy for them, with this result.
Ship’s name honors Pearl Harbor Medal of Honor recipient
HONOLULU (AP) — The Navy this summer plans to commission a new guided-missile destroyer named after a sailor who received the Medal of Honor for his service during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Navy said Tuesday the destroyer will be commissioned on July 15 during a ceremony in Pearl Harbor.
The warship is named for Chief Aviation Ordnanceman John Finn. He fired a .50-caliber machine gun as Japanese bullets and bombs pounded the Naval Air Station at Kaneohe Bay on Dec. 7, 1941. He received the first Medal of Honor awarded during World War II.
The Navy plans to base the ship in San Diego.
Finn died in 2010 at the age of 100. He retired from the Navy in 1956 after three decades of service.
