COH Highway Safety Council Meeting

The Hawaii County Highway Safety Coucil Meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at the Mayor’s Conference Room in Kona via Video Conference.

Co-Chair Jim Cohn represents KTSC at the County Highway Safety Council Meetings, which meets with other district traffic safety council representatives to submit recommendations to the Mayor regarding County highway safety issues.

Hawai’i County Mayor – History

In the County of Hawai’i, the Mayor is the Chief Executive Officer with municipal jurisdiction over the Big Island.  Mayoral elections began in 1968, when the present form of charter government was instituted.  Prior to charter government, an elected Board of Supervisors selected a Chairman who was basically the chief operating officer of the County.  Act 73 of the 1963 Legislature enabled counties to draft their own charters. 

Former Honolulu Deputy Corporate Counsel Shunichi Kimura was selected in 1964 as the last County of Hawai’i Chairman and elected in 1968 as the first County of Hawai’i Mayor. 

West Hawai’i road development history can be compared to the chart below, establishing which Administration initiated specific projects and plans. 

Term in Office	Name	Party	Other notes
1968 – 1974	Shunichi Kimura	Democrat	Resigned to become a 3rd Circuit Court judge.[2]
1974	Bruce McCall	Democrat	Kimura’s managing director; became mayor after his resignation.[3]
1974 – 1984	Herbert Matayoshi	Democrat	Resigned to run for Hawaii State Senate.[4]
1984	Megumi Kon	Democrat	Matayoshi’s managing director; became mayor after his resignation.[5]
1984 – 1988	Dante Keala Carpenter	Democrat	Lost reelection.[6]
1988 – 1990	Bernard Akana	Republican	Died of cancer while in office.[7]
1990	Larry Tanimoto	Republican	Bernard Akana’s managing director after Susan Labrenz left the post earlier; became mayor after Akana’s death.[8]
1990 – 1992	Lorraine Rodero Inouye	Democrat	Won special election held eight months after Akana’s death.[9]
1992 – 2000	Stephen Kei Yamashiro	Democrat
2000 – 2008	Harry Kim	Republican and unaffiliated	In the 2004 elections, local laws were changed so mayoral candidates were without party affiliations.

References

• 1. ^ County of Hawaii – Mayor, Hawaii County, 2005. Accessed 2007-08-05.
• 2. ^ http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806240346
• 3. ^ http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806240346
• 4. ^ http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806240346
• 5. ^ http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806240346
• 6. ^ http://starbulletin.com/98/11/09/editorial/chang.html
• 7. ^ http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2007/07/31/local/local03.txt
• 8. ^ http://www.hawaii-county.com/annual_reports/annual96_97/parks01.htm
• 9. ^ http://www.lorraineonline.com/accomplishments.shtml

Information, Chart and Links From: Wikipedia contributors, “Mayor of Hawaii,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mayor_of_Hawaii&oldid=224560412 (accessed July 17, 2008).

July 15, 2008 – Volcanoes National Park Traffic Fatality

Puna Resident Dies after Auto Accident

On Saturday, June 15, at about 11:45 p.m., a single-car accident occurred at the 29-mile marker on H-11, near the park’s Hilo entrance. One of the passengers, a 17-year old female, died yesterday at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu from internal injuries.

The passenger van, with a driver and two occupants, was traveling in a Hilo direction when, according to the driver, it hydroplaned, hit an embankment, and overturned. The 17-year old woman was thrown from the van.

National Park Service rangers, Kilauea military Camp federal firefighters, and Hawaii County Fire and Police personnel responded.

The 18-year old female driver was released at the scene and went home with her parents. The two passengers, both miinor females, were taken by ambulance to Hilo Medical Center. The 16-year old was treated and released. The 17-year old was airlifted to Honolulu.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. It is believed that the woman who died was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. The weather that night was rainy.

This is the park’s first traffic fatality of the year.

http://www.massachusettsaccidents.com/Accident-news.cfm/Article/6796/Puna-Resident-Dies-after-Auto-Accident.html

[Awaiting verification from HCPD sources]

Kona Community Development Plan

Over the past few weeks, our KTSC emails included a discussion on the KCDP. Editorial comments were presented and pros and cons of the KCDP were considered, along with other very pertinent KTSC issues.

The KTSC Blog site was set up originally as a site where discussions are available, easily accessed, and organized for future reference.

Not much interest had been expressed in the Blog since the site was started, and my contributions are few and far between due to scheduling conflicts; however, the site is intended as a place for KTSC participants to hold discussions outside of their personal emails and without overloading inboxes.

This an invitation to each person on the KTSC email list to access the Blog – as you are all welcome to post on the site and add comments to postings. All suggestions for the Blog format are also welcome. KTSC is a volunteer organization – our success in improving traffic safety in the North and South Kona Districts depends on commications. Further discussion will certainly benefit the organization.

Available options include privacy, which can prevent the Blog from being viewed by anyone except KTSC participants. At this time, the Kona KTSC Weblog is public.

The original blog was set with Google, but I did have some problems with the site format – although there is plenty of room for improvement on the current WordPress site (I’m open to suggestions).

Anyone who is interested in using the Blog is welcome. If there are any qustions about access, please let me know.

HCPD Stats – 7/8/08 to 7/14/0

DUI arrests included seven drivers involved in traffic crashes and included two drivers under 21 years old.  DUI roadblocks and patrols will continue islandwide.

DUI ARRESTS BY DISTRICT – 7/8/08 to 7/14/08
District	Weekly Total	Monthly Total	2008  to 7/14		2007 to 7/16		YR % Change
Hamakua	0	0	10		6		+66%
North Hilo	1	1	3		0		+300%
South Hilo	13	21	247		224		+10%
Puna	4	6	67		78		-14%
Ka’u	1	2	16		17		-5.9%
Kona	3	15	320		335		-4.5%
South Kohala	2	2	61		38		+60.5%
North Kohala	0	1	14		16		-12.5%
Island Total	24	48	738		714		+3%
MAJOR ACCIDENTS
Island Total			963	1,132		-14.9%
TRAFFIC FATALITIES
Island Total			14	18		-22%

From HCPD DUI Stats http://www.hawaiipolice.com/releases/dui_stats_07-14-08.html