Two soldiers and woman accused of attempted murder in Kalihi beating

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100202/BREAKING01/100202078/Trio+indicted+for+attempted+murder+in+Kalihi+beating+case

Updated at 7:57 p.m., Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Trio indicted for attempted murder in Kalihi beating case

Advertiser Staff

An O’ahu grand jury on Tuesday indicted two Schofield Barracks soldiers and a Liliha woman with plotting to kill a 25-year-old man and then dispose of his body.

Ramon A. Alcantara, 25, Ray N. Puga, 20, and Hazel K.R. Davis, 18, each were indicted on one count of second-degree attempted murder in connection with the case. Bail for each was set at $1 million.

Tuesday’s indictments supercede earlier charges against the trio.

Alcantara and Puga were identified in a police affidavit as enlisted men stationed at Schofield Barracks. Davis gave a North Kuakini Street address as her residence.

The three are accused of beating Jose Abrante with a hammer and stabbing him with a knife on the night of Jan. 24 near Lanakila Elementary School in Kalihi. Abrante was critically injured, but he was able to identify his assailants to police, according to the affidavit.

“Close but distant neighbors” – Pearl Harbor and Hickam merge

My understanding is that the merger will place Hickam under the Navy.   Sitting on Restoration Advisory Board that advise on the clean up of military sites for both Hickam and Pearl Harbor has been very instructive. The culture of the two organizations are quite distinct.  I have found the Navy to be much more closed and resistant to questions and challenges.  The Air Force RAB has been more accommodating with information and public input into the choices made.   It is unclear what will happen with the clean up projects currently under the Air Force.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/30/AR2010013001314.html

Pearl Harbor merging with Hickam Air Force Base

By AUDREY McAVOY

The Associated Press

Saturday, January 30, 2010; 1:01 PM

HONOLULU — Most Americans have heard of the naval base at Pearl Harbor. Some are also aware of the air base next door called Hickam, where Japanese planes destroyed U.S. bombers during the 1941 aerial attack.

On Sunday, the two historic sites will cease to be separate bases, merging into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. They will be among 26 installations across the country that are combining to form 12 joint bases as the military strives to become more efficient.

Commanders are bringing together two very distinct military service cultures – while making sure one doesn’t dominate or overwhelm the other. The large role the Japanese attack has in the national memory gives them an especially solemn responsibility to preserve and protect the historic sites within their grounds, military officials said.

“We are caretakers in this effort for the sake of all who came before us and actually died on our fields,” said Col. Giovanni Tuck, commander of the 15th Airlift Wing and the Air Force’s leader in the merger. “We just need to make sure we do this right by them.”

Pearl Harbor and Hickam have been close but distant neighbors for decades. They’re right next to one another on the southern edge of Oahu, but each have their own schools, golf courses, bowling alleys, churches and other facilities.

A chain-link fence divides the two properties – even though the only people they’re keeping out are other military personnel. In 1975, the Navy even built a sentry post from where guards screened those crossing between the bases. On Sunday, sailors and airmen will take down part the fence in a symbolic ceremony.

The bases encompass multiple historic landmarks.

There’s the old barracks at Hickam that still displays holes from machine gun bullets Japanese airmen fired during the attack. The building now houses the Air Force’s headquarters for the Pacific region. It’s not far from a distinctive water storage tower, called the Freedom Tower, that Japanese pilots avoided shooting at because they thought it was a religious shrine.

In Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona and the remains of more than 1,000 sailors and Marines lie where the battleship sank on Dec. 7, 1941.

The base’s century-old shipyard is where workers completed one of the fastest repair jobs in history: in a few days in 1942 they patched up the USS Yorktown after the aircraft carrier had been severely damaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Their quick work gave the U.S. the firepower it needed to defeat the Japanese at the Battle of Midway and begin the push across the Pacific.

“We’re turning the page in both of these historic organizations,” said Capt. Richard W. Kitchens, the Navy commander leading the joint base effort. “We’re joining them and changing their names. That’s not something we should take lightly.”

The decision to join the two bases dates to 2005, when an independent panel on military bases recommended they merge. The commission recommended similar unions across the country to save money and create a more efficient military. In some cases, many of these bases aren’t next door neighbors. In Alaska, for example, Elmendorf Air Force Base and the Army’s Fort Richardson are combining.

About 4,500 of the military and civilians working on the two bases – less than 10 percent of a total workforce numbering 50,000 – have jobs in departments that will be combining. The new base doesn’t plan any layoffs. It would only eliminate positions by not replacing employees who retire or quit.

The base will likely even see a net increase of some 5,500 personnel over in coming years as the Navy shifts new Virginia-class submarines to Hawaii and the Air Force brings in F-22 fighter jets and the Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft.

Action Alert: Sign Holding at Army briefing on Makua

ACTION ALERT!

Sign Holding at Army briefing on Makua

Army Colonel Margotta will speak about “Makua Future Training Update” at the Wai’anae neighborhood Board on Feb 2, 2010.

7 pm

At the Waianae Neighborhood Community Center 85-670 Farrington Hwy

(Past McDonalds, Taco Bell and the stream on the mauka side; there’s a bust of Iz Kamakawiwo’ole out front)

Dr. Fred Dodge of Malama Makua writes:

We would like to have as many people as possible greet him and be present with signs. E.g., “Do a valid EIS NOW!” &/or “Lease runs out in 2029” &/or

“Leave Makua” &/or “No More Training” &/or “Clean up”; “Good Neighbors Clean Their Messes”; ” No Live Fire”; “Fix EIS Now”; etc.

Please tell your friends. Questions? E-mail me or call 696-4677.

Mahalo, fred

Jam the meeting! Bring signs. Please come out to tell the Army that the only future plans it should be discussing for Makua is to clean up and get out.

Not one more bomb! Not one more bullet!

Army out of Makua!

Stop the wars from Makua to Afghanistan!

Former Schofield soldier charged with murder of Nevada woman

http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/victorville-7755-barstow-woman.html

Soldiers to stand trial for killing of Barstow woman

January 25, 2010 3:33 PM

By DAVID HELDRETH, staff writer

VICTORVILLE • A pair of soldiers accused of killing a 29-year-old Barstow woman during an apparent robbery in September will stand trial for murder.

Judge Eric Nakata found Monday that the prosecution provided enough evidence to continue with a jury trial for Melvin Satcher, 23, of Barstow and Phillip Franke, 22, of Las Vegas. Satcher and Franke are being charged with murder for the shooting death of Sandi Lee Duncan, an ex soldier.

Duncan’s body was found in the open desert southeast of the intersection of Dale Evans Parkway and Stoddard Wells Road in Apple Valley on Sept. 21. Deputy District Attorney Jill Gregory said that although Franke and Phillip have only been charged with murder, additional charges can be filed before their arraignment on February 3. The pair face 25 years to life if they are convicted of first degree murder.

Gregory called Det. Neal Rodriguez early in the preliminary hearing Monday. Rodriguez testified that Satcher told him that he was friends with Duncan, and he had last seen her on the morning of Sept. 21.

Det. Scott Landen testified that after Franke was in custody he admitted that he drove Duncan to the location where her body was found and witnessed her murder. Franke said that Satcher, Duncan and two unidentified friends of Satcher’s were driving to Los Angeles when they pulled off of Interstate 15 at Dale Evans Parkway to use the bathroom, Landen testified. Franke then took a dirt road into desert area and one of the unidentified men, who was sitting behind Duncan, began to choke her with a piece of fabric. Franke claimed he got out of the car and walked around, but got back into the car after Satcher pulled Duncan out of the front passenger seat.

Landen said that Franke told him that he saw Satcher stand over Duncan and shoot her twice.

Franke told Landen that Duncan had $400 on her. Franke received $40 for gas and the group split the remaining money, according to Landen.

Satchel’s defense attorney, Ron Powell, questioned Landen about the other possible suspects and whether Duncan could have died from strangulation. Landen said that although Duncan’s body did show signs of strangulation, the coroner said she was still alive when she was shot. Landen also said he couldn’t prove or disprove that there were other people involved in the killing.

Rodriguez testified that the tread from tires on Franke’s car appeared to match tire tracks found near Duncan’s body.

Duncan had been stationed at Fort Irwin, but was medically discharged in December of 2006 after being injured on duty, Fort Irwin spokesman John Wagstaffe said in October.

Satcher was a member of the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment at Fort Irwin and was court-martialed from the Army in September of 2008 for criminal activity, according to Wagstaffe. Wagstaffe said that Satcher then served a prison sentence at the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar, near San Diego, for being absent without leave, escaping from confinement and use of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines. He was released from Miramar on June 15 and returned to Barstow.

Franke was stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii before being court-martialed for possession, distribution and use of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines and Ecstasy in December of 2008, according to Wagstaffe. Franke also served his prison sentence at the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar and was released on June 29 and returned to Las Vegas.

Wagstaffe said that Franke and Satcher were still technically in the military because they couldn’t be discharged until their prison terms were served. They were being processed for dishonorable discharges when they were arrested for Duncan’s killing. Fort Irwin spokesman Etric Smith said he couldn’t confirm Monday afternoon whether or not Franke and Satcher had officially been discharged.

Satcher and Franke are currently being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on $1 million bail.

Contact the writer:

(760) 256-4126 or dheldreth@desertdispatch.com

Okinawa Times article about Hawaii solidarity against US bases (Japanese language)

http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/article/2010-01-18_1767/

[ハワイ]「基地いらない」米国務長官訪問に県人ら抗議集会

「沖縄にもグアムにもハワイにも基地はいらない」とデモをする人たち=ホノルル市・東西センター前

[画像を拡大]

2010年1月18日 09時41分

【知花愛実通信員】12日、米国のヒラリー・クリントン国務長官がホノルル市を訪れ、市内にある東西 センターでアジア太平洋問題についてスピーチを行った。滞在中、太平洋地域のリーダーと面会し討議するほか、この後、パプアニューギニアを訪問し、環境保 護問題などについて会議を行う。

クリントン国務長官到着時、東西センターの前では、反戦・反基地を訴える活動家らが集まり、懸案の普 天間基地移設問題を前に、基地縮小の意を訴えた。地元ハワイの人々をはじめ、ネーティブハワイアン、グアム、沖縄などさまざまな地域出身の人々が集まり、 抗議行動に参加していた。

代表のカイル・カジヒロさんは「沖縄にも、グアムにも、ハワイにもどこにも基地はいらない。私たちは 基地の移設より、全面的な縮小を求めている。私たちの住んでいる所は、遠く小さな島国かもしれないが、基地のために利用される必要はない、平和に暮らす権 利がある。アジア太平洋が一つのコミュニティーとして団結してそれを訴えていくべきだ」と述べた。

Giant plane delivers military cargo in Kona

I giant Russian-made Antonov 124 cargo plane got special permission to land at the Kona airport and at Kaneohe Marine Base.  The plane was delivering oversized military cargo.   See below the post from Hawaii 24/7.  What is the purpose of these cargo deliveries?

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http://www.hawaii247.org/tag/antonov-an-124/

Big plane makes big delivery at Kona

Posted on 8:47 am, Wednesday, January 20, 2010. Tags: , ,


This Antonov AN-124 was in Kona to drop off some military equipment Friday. (Hawaii 24/7 photo courtesy of Colin Gould)

An eagle-eyed Hawaii 24/7 reader sent in these photos of the Antonov AN-124, the world’s second largest aircraft behind the Antonov AN-225, as it made a stop Friday, Jan. 15 at Kona International Airport.

The Russian-built plane measures more than 225 feet long and has a wingspan of 240 feet. It is believed to be one of the largest planes ever to land at Kona’s airport and needed special permission.

Here’s the application for emergency exemption:

Volga-Dnepr J.S. Cargo Airline requests an emergency exemption to permit Volga-Dnepr to operate three one-way all-cargo charter flights, utilizing Volga-Dnepr’s AN-124-100 aircraft, to transport outsized cargo from March Air Reserve Base, California to Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Airfield and Kona International Airport at Kaneohe, Hawaii, on or around January 11-15, 2009, on behalf of US TRANSCOM.

The outsized cargo to be transported by Volga-Dnepr from March AFB to Kanehoe Bay MCAF on January 11, 2010, will consist of a combination of UH-1H Huey Helicopters with the dimensions in shipping configuration of L-702 x W-113 x H-128, AH-1W Super Cobra Helicopters with the dimensions in shipping configuration of L-696 x W-141 x H-156, and associated/unit equipment. Number of helicopters will be determined by configuration/combination of helicopters and associated/unit equipment.

The outsized cargo to be transported by Volga-Dnepr from March AFB to Kaneohe Bay MCAF on January 13, 2010, will consist of a combination of UH-1N Huey Helicopters with the dimensions in shipping configuration of L-702 x W-113 x H-128, AH-1W Super Cobra Helicopters with the dimensions in shipping configuration of L-696 x W-141 x H-156, and associated/unit equipment. Number of helicopters will be determined by configuration/combination of helicopters and associated/unit equipment.

The outsized cargo to be transported by Volga-Dnepr from March AFB to Kona Int’l at Keahole on January 15, 2010, will consist of a combination of UH-1N Huey Helicopters with the dimensions in shipping configuration of L-702 x W-113 x H-128, AH-1W Super Cobra Helicopters with the dimensions in shipping configuration of L-696 x W-141 x H-156, and associated/unit equipment. Number of helicopters will be determined by configuration/combination of helicopters and associated/unit equipment.

— Find out more:
www.volga-dnepr.com/
www.airlineinfo.com/ostpdf76/772.pdf

The Russian-built Antonov AN-124 is the world’s second largest plane. (Hawaii 24/7 photo courtesy of Colin Gould)

The Insular Empire: America in the Mariana Islands to show in Honolulu

mail8-blogheader

What is it like
to be a colonial subject
of the greatest democracy on earth?

The Insular Empire: America in the Mariana Islands

What: FREE public screening of the PBS documentary The Insular Empire: America in the Mariana Islands. Screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmaker and special guests. Refreshments.

When: February 21, 2010

Where: UHM, Architecture Auditorium, Room 205

Time: Doors open at 3pm/Screening 4-5pm

with special guest panel

  • Lino Olopai
  • Dr. Hope Cristobal, Jr
  • Angela Hoppe Cruz
  • Terri Keko’olani
  • Vanessa Warheit

Sponsored by:

  • The Hawai’i Council for the Humanities
  • UHM Center for Pacific Islands Studies
  • Hawai’i People’s Fund
  • UHM Department of Anthropology
  • AFSC Hawai’i
  • UHM Marianas Club
  • Pacific Islanders in Communications

www.theinsularempire.com

IEHawaiiFlyer[1]

Download the leaflet

Honolulu Advertiser editorial: “Army needs to make case for Makua plan”

Editorial from the Honolulu Advertiser:

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100113/OPINION01/1130306/Army-needs-to-make-case-for-Makua-plan

Posted on: Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Army needs to make case for Makua plan

The Wai’anae community in particular and the state in general need a clearer understanding of what the Army has in mind for Makua Valley, in the near and short term.

It’s been more than a decade since the type of training conducted in Makua Military Reservation, at the far reaches of West O’ahu, first set off legal disputes between the Army and community and environmental groups. The gulf between the two sides still hasn’t been bridged, so it’s clear the Army still has work to do to make the case for the latest variation of its training plan.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, has restated plans to return to live-fire training in Makua in March. But in an interview with Advertiser military writer William Cole, he also outlined a plan to move that training to Pohakuloa on the Big Island and shift the use of Makua toward training soldiers to cope with convoy fighting and roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices.

It’s easy to understand why the Army wants to boost this kind of training, given the toll the IEDs have taken on soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Even the notion that roads snaking through the valley simulate what troops encounter in battle seems logical.

But so much about the plan is still murky, and considering the proximity of residences and the sensitivities about the Hawaiian cultural sites and native species at risk, clarity is essential.

The Army owes the community a series of face-to-face meetings where residents of the area can get their questions answered — and it should happen early in the planning process.

For example, the Army describes an IED training facility at Makua that would involve constructing mock “villages” for gunfights, and yet maintains this use would pose less harm to the environment and cultural sites than the live-fire, heavy-artillery training the community has fought for so long. How can impact be reduced this way?

Opponents still insist that the Army’s studies did not adequately test the threats to subsurface archaeological artifacts and marine life. Federal court has upheld that view, and further challenges are likely should live-fire training resume.

But even if the Army does restart live-fire exercises at Makua, officials haven’t explained why it should take an estimated five to 10 years to make the transition to Pohakuloa. A much more definite and reasonable timetable is needed.

Army officials have described Makua as “uniquely suited” to this next-generation kind of training. The neighbors in close proximity to the noise and fire risk of training — some of them living as close as three miles away — should be told the reasoning behind that choice.

“Constancy & Change: The Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa – from the 1950s to the 21st Century”

10.1.21 okinawa constancy_&_change

Download leaflet here

Center for Okinawan Studies Lecture Series

“Constancy & Change: The Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa – from the 1950s to the 21st Century”

Two doctoral students at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa will make presentations on sixty-five years of diverse resistance by the movement to demilitarize Okinawa.

Mami Hayashi’s presentation, “Military Bases in Okinawa: A Pressure for Migration,” covers the contrast between pre-war and postwar emigration and how a desire to defuse domestic dissent led the pre-Reversion U.S. military and the U.S.-controlled Ryukyu Government to encourage migration from Okinawa.

Rinda Yamashiro’s presentation, “Women’s Rights Perspective: A New Direction in the Anti-U.S. Base Movement in Okinawa,” draws on empirical research to articulate how the contemporary Okinawan women have engaged in resistance against U.S. military bases.

Presenters:

Mami Hayashi (Ph.D. Student, American Studies)

Rinda Yamashiro (Ph.D. Student, Sociology)

Discussant:

Vincent Pollard (Lecturer, Asian Studies)

Vincent Pollard teaches in the Asian Studies Program and conducts research on anti-bases movements.

Date: January 21, 2010 (Thursday)

Time: 3:00-4:30 pm

Location:  Center for Korean Studies Auditorium

Event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Center for Okinawan Studies, tel. 956‐0902 / 956-5754

For disability access, please contact the Center for Okinawan Studies.

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution

Soldier killed in fall from ridge in Makaha valley

A young man who fell to his death 1/10/2010 from the steep ridge at the back of Makaha valley was a soldier.

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http://www.starbulletin.com/news/breaking/81153657.html

Fire crews recover hiker’s body in Makaha

By Star-Bulletin staff

POSTED: 08:30 a.m. HST, Jan 11, 2010

Firefighters this morning recovered the body of a 28-year-old man who fell about 400 feet to his death from the Waianae Mountains yesterday afternoon.

Fire officials said the man and a fellow hiker had returned to the ridge to retrieve a tent that they had lost. They were rappelling down the ridge when one of them fell toward the Makaha side.

A fire helicopter picked up the second man and brought him off the trail yesterday. However high winds, poor visibility and darkness hampered efforts to recover the body, which had been spotted at 5:00 p.m. several hundred feet below where he was last seen.

“It was located in a steep heavily forested gully that was not easily accessible by helicopter or by foot. From the position of the body and the distance of the fall, it was determined that the hiker could not have survived the fall,” according to a statement from HFD Capt. Robert Main.

Recovery efforts resumed at daybreak and after working for three hours today, Honolulu Fire Department personnel took the body out of the valley at about 9:30 a.m.

A total of 12 firefighters were involved in the recovery mission.

An HFD helicopter dropped off firefighters at a landing zone and they hiked up the steep terrain to the body and carried it back down, which took more than 90 minutes, officials said. The helicopter returned the body to the HFD command center at the Mauna Olu Estates Community Center. Firefighters turned the body over to the Honolulu medical examiner for an autopsy.

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http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=888239

Area soldier, activist killed climbing in Hawaii

Wynantskill man was both passionate, disciplined about life and his beliefs

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer

First published in print: Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Garland English, a humanitarian from Wynantskill who became an Army platoon leader, died Sunday after falling about 400 feet in a rock climbing accident in Hawaii, where he was stationed, his friends said. He was 28.

English grew up on Oberlook Avenue and graduated from Averill Park High School before attending Columbia University in Manhattan. He was proud of being arrested at political protests, tried his hand at acting and writing poetry and traveled extensively before joining the Army in 2007, which he thought could lead to a career in politics, friends said.

English recently returned from a tour of Iraq.

He and a friend Sunday had returned to a rocky cliff in the remote and rural Makaha Valley near Honululu to try to retrieve a tent one of them dropped days earlier while hiking, said Capt. Terry Seelig of the Honululu Fire Department. English, who had a fearless side, didn’t have enough rope to climb down, and died trying to reach the gear, Seelig said.

High winds stalled a recovery effort for his body in the forested area until Monday, Seelig said.

“There will never be anyone quite like Garland,” English’s close friend and former Manhattan roommate Katharine Jose said. “He was a force of life.”

English was raised in Rensselaer County by his father Reed, and his grandmother would serve him hot meals. He named the Helena M. English Fund after her, a humanitarian organization that raised money to improve the political and health care systems of less fortunate countries. English pledged one-tenth of every paycheck he earned to it.

“He had certain deep beliefs about social justice, conservation and kindness that he tried to put into practice,” said Michael Crowley, a friend who recalled that English never took an elevator down from his 13th-floor dorm room.

English’s father could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Garland English was a military leader who cared about his soldiers. He asked people he knew in the U.S. to write to those under him who didn’t have family, his friend Joanna Siegel recalled. English smuggled five jars of date paste from Iraq and sent them to his friends with individual notes,

“He brought a sort of independent spirit to the military, but he also used it as a tool to gain discipline and experience,” Siegel said. Garland English was interested in cooking and adventure, and he wrote poetry under a pen name. He had exceptional good looks, Siegel said.

Garland worked as a deputy campaign manager for a New York City Council candidate in 2005, when he, Jose and his girlfriend at the time, Gillian Osborne, were featured in a New York Times story about sharing apartment space in the city at a time of high rents.

Garland had been living on Oahu island at the time of his death, but had been discussing buying a farmhouse upstate. Funeral service information could not be obtained late Tuesday.

“He was alive, really and truly alive, in a way that most of us only dream about,” Crowley said.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=888239#ixzz0cVldrIfz