A 1 3t3r-2rJoertiscr TUESDAY 121410 A13 STARADVERTISER.COM OUR VIEW VEHICLE TOWING II i 1 Seek mew contract for towing Motorists are naturally dismayed to find their vehicles have been towed away because of parking violations, accidents or other reasons but they have a right to be angry about overcharges by the towing company. The city should stop renewing its monthly contract with the company that provides that service from downtown to Makapuu, tighten oversight and require all future towing operators to follow the rules. Under the administration of Mufi Hannemann, the city was fully aware of the problems with towing contractor Stoneridge Recoveries, and it won a court battle against it that lasted more than seven years to allow rebidding the contract. That was last May, but still, Stoneridge continues to be the sole police-initiated towing company for the city in the busiest district in urban Honolulu. Assisting the state's insurance fraud unit in its criminal investigation of Stoneridge, the nonprofit National Insurance Crime Bureau reviewed about 500 accident tows from 2009 to early this year and found that all but one included so-called difficult accident hookup fees, people familiar with the overcharging probe told the Star-Advertiser's Rob Perez.
A difficult hookup adds a fee per each 15-minute increment beyond the initial quarter-hour to hook a vehicle to the company's truck: $14 per increment during the day or $21 per increment at night. Other towing companies on Oahu say most hookups take only 15 minutes. Oahu Auto Service, which preceded Stoneridge as the city's contractor in this urban district, charged difficult fees for no more than a fourth of its accident tows, said its owner Brian Kunishige. Four years ago, then-Police Chief Boisse Correa urged Hannemann to terminate the contract with Stoneridge because "this pattern of unprofessional conduct, accusations, questionable business practices and proposals by Stoneridge jeopardizes the integrity" of the city. One insurance carrier that reviewed Stoneridge invoices and police records found that the company consistently charged for time that went beyond what police recorded for the time that accident scenes were cleared.
City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, whose district is in the Stoneridge tow zone, says she hopes the administration of new Mayor Peter Carlisle will make changes. We agree that is overdue and needs to happen in the interest of the taxpaying public. The Carlisle administration seems ready to proceed and says it intends "to solicit new bids for towing contracts that protect the public, are fair to the towing companies and are in the best interests of the city." Good start. It also needs to step up vigilance to ensure that contract terms are stringent and not being abused. Stoneridge and the city now are close to resolving a dispute over what the city says is $360,000 owed by the company and what Stoneridge claims the city owes the company for unpaid tows.
That resolution should not contractually bind the city to Stoneridge for further police-initiated towing. WAR VETERANS OF THE AND SO, THERE I VG, THE ONLY NETYfORK ADMINISTRATOR LEFT WHEN THE VflWUEAKS DENIAL. OF SERVICE ATTACKS HTL PRETTY SOOU, I DOVfN TO A 5-YEAR-OlD UNUX COMPUTER AND A PACKAGE OF SKfTTLEg, VJHCH HAD TO LAST ME UNTIL. SUPPER. OFF THE NEWS Polls are open to see who will replace Apo Traffic.
Jobs. Overcrowding. If you live in Leeward Oahu, from Ewa to Waianae, you know the problems. Now it's your turn to help find solutions by voting in the special election for the City Council's District 1 seat being vacated by Todd Apo. Ballots were mailed last week and must be returned by Dec.
29. Walk-in voting is being held at Kapolei Hale through Dec. 27. Candidate profiles can be found on the Star-Advertiser's website at http:www.staradvertiser.comnews20 1 01 2 13SpecialelectionwillfillApos CityCouncilseat.html It's your community. Do your homework and vote.
Class project in paradise Kudos to eight high school juniors and seniors in the village of llion, N.Y., for aiming to make the best out of their next spring break. They have begun an extracurricular study of Hawaiian culture and geology, to be capped in April with a trip to the Big Island, where they will hike up Kilauea to study the lava flow. "This is an independent study course, so it's not just a trip; it's a class," explained Brenda Deangelis, mother of one of the participants, to the Utica Observer-Dispatch. She said they are engaged in after-class studies and hope to raise $24,000 to finance the trip through a car wash, fresh fruit sale, candle sale, basket drawings at school craft fairs and, next month, a luau including a roasted pig. "It's not a vacation, it's work," insisted Deangelis' daughter, Courtney Brothers.
But who says work can't be fun? i I Cot. ViVMhcAm Con. Hemmings' absence makes Hee's heart grow fonder "The first time I saw Fred Hemmings, I disliked him immediately," Sen. Clayton Hee said in April, beginning a remarkable paean to Sen. Hemmings, who retired this year.
In his speech before the Legislature adjourned, Hee recalled as a young Kamehameha student going to the Kamehameha-Puna-hou football games. "He was the first of a great generation of Punahou linebackers The Big RICHARD Borreca On Politics Hee responded, "It is a typical response of a non-Hawaiian who tells a Hawaiian what is wrong with him." Those fellows sure knew how to wrestle. Hee noted in his speech that Senate President Colleen Hanabusa had once pulled him aside, "asking me if there was a hormonal imbalance between Fred and me, as the reaction was clearly driven by testosterone." Hee said, "There was probably some truth to that," adding in an interview last week that Hemmings "has an athletic mind he wants to win." "In today's Legislature a voice like his is refreshing. He is not someone who was elected on the belief that you go along to get along," Hee said. Hemmings became a world champion surfer and then a surf promoter and businessman.
He then turned to politics, winning first a state House seat in 1986. He ran for governor as a Republican in 1990, then came back in 1994 to run for lieutenant governor. Hemmings returned to the Legislature in 2000 as a senator, always steadily pushing budget cuts and educational reform. He was passionate without being a pain. Hee called Hemmings "the ideological salmon swimming upstream against all odds." Hemmings, still the strong athlete but suffering from arthritic joints, lectures on both surfing and Hawaiian history.
Hemmings might want to put on his business card the final tribute paid to him by Hee, who noted that when the Legislature was honoring a group of native Hawaiian surfers, Hemming would not join them because he was not Hawaiian. "Fred, you are as Hawaiian as all of us, and for that, I say mahalo, from one Hawaiian to another." that I was privileged to watch, and I disliked him from that day," Hee said. By the end of his speech, Democrat Hee was covering the Republican Hemmings in praise, finishing by saying he had asked the Republican senator not to give up his seat. "I cannot think of a single person who will take that place," Hee said. Five years ago, it was Hee (D, Kahuku-Kaneohe) charging after a Hemmings (R.Lanikai-Waimanalo) attack.
The Senate was skirmishing over who would lead it and Hemmings, looking at Hee, the formeOffice of Hawaiian Affairs trustee, said he didn't want the Senate to become like OHA. "Let there be no doubt, regardless of my brother from Punahou, he kanaka koko ole (a person without Hawaiian blood), my brother from Outrigger, he kanaka haole (a person not from Hawaii). Let us be clear that the last thing the kanaka need is an outsider telling the insider what's wrong with it," Hee said. After the session, Hemmings fumed: "How dare Clayton Hee insult the people of Hawaii with his self-righteous racism?" What type of Christmas tree will you have this year? A.Real B. Artificial C.
None Yesterday's Big Is fixing Hawaii's state parks a priority that deserves Gov. Neil Abercrombie's immediate attention, along with reviving the state's economy? Yes 50 No 50 (of 6X0 total votes) Vote by 4 p.m. today on our website at staradvertiser.com. Results will run in tomorrow's edition and online. Richard Borreca writes on politics every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
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