Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 23 February 2018

Law enforcement raids Hawaii hotel site to remove protesters

By AUDREY McAVOY has caused delays, so the
HONOLULU (AP) — State developers hope to start
sheriffs on Thursday re- construction soon after the
moved protesters from protesters leave.
the ruins of a Hawaii ho- The renovated hotel will
tel where they have been have 350 rooms, including
squatting since last year in 22 master suites and about
an attempt to block rede- 50 junior suites. Hyatt will
velopment of land where manage the hotel once it's
Hawaiian chiefs once lived reopened.
and where Elvis Presley's The protest is the latest ex-
character got married in ample of Native Hawaiian
the movie "Blue Hawaii." activists taking a stand on
The Hawaii Department of cultural issues and sacred
Public Safety said in a state- places. Protesters in recent
ment Thursday that state years blocked a road lead-
sheriffs arrested 23-year-old ing to the summit of Mauna
Mahealani Hanie-Grace Kea, the Big Island's highest
for trespassing at Coco peak, to stop the construc-
Palms on Kauai. tion of one of the world's
The protest began when largest telescopes. That
two men arrived claiming case is currently before
they owned the property the courts. Hawaiian chiefs
because they descend were born and lived on the
from King Kaumualii, the property hundreds of years
last ruler of Kauai. Dozens ago. Royalty favored the
of other protesters have area for its plentiful water,
come and gone. which made it ideal for irri-
Police have cited protest- Sheriffs from the Hawaii Department of Public Safety collect details at Coco Palms hotel in a raid gating fields for the starchy
ers for trespassing. A judge in in Wailua on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. State sheriffs on Thursday vegetable taro, a staple
last month issued an order removed protesters from the ruins of the Hawaii hotel where they have been squatting since last crop. Coco Palms opened
year in an attempt to block redevelopment of land where Hawaiian chiefs once lived and where
to evict them. Elvis Presley's character got married in the movie "Blue Hawaii." as a resort in 1953. Eight
The public safety depart- (Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island via AP) years later, it served as the
ment said 25 deputy sheriffs backdrop for scenes in a
participated in the raid. since 1992, when Hurricane property. with the goal of reopen- Hollywood romantic com-
Coco Palms has been shut Iniki heavily damaged the Demolition began in 2016, ing in mid-2018. The clash edy featuring Presley.q

Man arrested in shooting death of postal worker on highway

By CLAUDIA LAUER employee was engaged online court record had not spection Service — the law Ferrell why he had shot.
DALLAS (AP) — A man ar- in official duties. U.S. Postal been created as of Thurs- enforcement and security The witnesses, who were
rested in the fatal shooting Inspection Service spokes- day afternoon. arm of the U.S. Postal Ser- not named, said Ferrell told
of a postal worker driving woman Amanda McMur- Police said they responded vice — cooperated to in- them the driver of the truck
a delivery rig on a Dallas rey said Ferrell was due to after 2 a.m. to shots being vestigate the shooting. had made a hand gesture
highway may have been appear before a magis- fired and found the 11-ton The U.S. attorney's office at them and it made him
acting out of road rage, trate judge Thursday. (10-metric ton) postal rig says two witnesses who mad, according to the af-
authorities said Thursday. "With this arrest, we take crashed into a guardrail were with Ferrell came for- fidavit. The two said they
U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy a crucial step towards en- on Interstate 30 outside of ward to tell the FBI that they had met up with Ferrell and
Cox issued a statement suring that the person al- downtown Dallas. The driv- saw him fire several shots another person for dinner
saying that Donnie Ferrell, legedly responsible for this er, 58-year-old Tony Mosby, from the front passenger at a Dallas restaurant be-
25, of Hutchins, had been senseless murder is brought was dead from an appar- seat of the car they were fore drinking alcohol to-
arrested and was being to justice," Cox wrote in her ent gunshot wound and all riding in at the rig Mosby gether at a pool hall. The
charged with murder of an statement. slumped over in the cab. was driving. They said they charge carries a sentence
officer or employee of the Jail records did not list an FBi investigators, Dallas po- had seen sparks flying and of up to life in prison and a
U.S. government while that attorney for Ferrell and an lice and the U.S. Postal In- the truck swerve and asked $250,000 fine.q