Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 3

AG BOARD TAKES STEPS TO BOLSTER BIG ISLE WATER, A-5 LIQUOR LICENSE BATTLE RENEWED IN KAPAHULU, A-6 w. N. HF. i i City Desk: 525-8640 E-mail: citydesk( starbulletin.com 6 A-3 Friday, August 27, 1999 Honolulu Star-BuHdin Pf 19 ililll exempt a recipient from working. The Human Services Department has been criticized for not setting itself up as a referral service to help recipients find volunteer work.

The ones who will suffer the most will be the children in recipient families, said Kathleen Hase-gawa, executive director of the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance. "You're hurting the children in this situation rather than providing positive or helpful incentives to the parents," Hasegawa said. Newswatch AAA Coast Guard finds boat suspected cf smuggling More than 75 people were aboard a disabled 140-foot vessel suspected of smuggling undocumented Asian migrants Wednesday after the Coast Guard responded to a distress call about 350 miles off Midway Island. The crew reported by radio they were low on food and water and needed medical attention after drifting for about a month. A Coast Guard C-130 aircraft from Barbers Point located the vessel.

Later, a team from the Coast Guard Cutter Kukui, out of Honolulu, went aboard. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is investigating. Burst pipe clogs traffic on Kaianianaols Kwy. A water main break in Wailupe closed two lanes of the Kalanianaole and clogged rush-hour traffic this morning.

Crews planned to patch the broken pavement this morning, then following evening rush hour, determine whether the main needs to be replaced or repaired. Water to area residents should not be affected, officials said. In other news Rear Adm. Charles Kubic assumed command of the Pacific Division of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command and the Third Naval Construction Brigade today. A Halawa Heights rental home was damaged today when fire swept through one of its three units at about 10 a.m.

By Star-Bulletin staff Able adult recipients must soon find work, volunteer or begin job training By Gordon Y.K. Pang Star-Bulletin At Helping Hands Hawaii, Joan Naguwa has seen a steady stream of phone calls since July from welfare recipients looking for volunteer positions that will allow them tto continue to get benefits. "We're trying our best to find placements for them throughout the island," said Naguwa, whose office specializes in pairing volunteers and organizations. The effort takes on particular importance since the state Human Services Department this week said 1,055 families will not get their welfare checks Sept. 4 because able adults in the families did not meet a deadline to find work or begin job training.

Department officials warned that an additional 1,100 families will lose their benefits in October if they do not meet the requirements by the end of this month, and that the numbers will increase in subsequent months. In the wake of the announcement, social service advocates are trying to reach as many welfare families as they can to help them keep or regain benefits. The newly formed Stairway to Employment Program, or STEP, is doing what it can to make sure recipients continue to get welfare payments while trying to teach them job skills, said Stanlyn Pla-centia, program director for the nonprofit Waianae Community Outreach. The outreach group and the Waianae district office of the Honolulu Community Action Program led the way in forming STEP to address the full-family sanc niques, he said. Danette Rayford, the community action program's Waianae district director, said the toughest part has been finding places for volunteers to work.

To meet requirements, volunteers must work only for government or nonprofit agencies. The city's Friends of Honolulu Hale volunteer program, meanwhile, is bracing for an increase in requests for temporary assignments. "The city is working with state and private agencies to coordinate their efforts to accommodate this group," city spokeswoman Carol Costa said. "We're also exploring the idea of offering basic employment skills." Social service advocates say typical barriers faced by welfare recipients include a lack of affordable child care or transportation, substance abuse, abusive spouses, and mental illnesses that may not tions being imposed. To keep benefits, those in the state's First-to-Work program need to be employed at least 32 hours a month, of which 12 hours can be in the classroom.

Those on the waiting list to get into First-to-Work and who are not employed or active in job training need to meet a "work activity" of at least four hours a month, which may include volunteer work, schooling or job searching. Placentia said STEP is requiring each adult to commit to at least 16 hours of classroom and volunteer work. "Seriously, what are you going to gain in four hours a month that's going to get you employed?" she said. STEP program manager Ed Suka said about 75 people are currently being helped. Those in the program are learning a broad range of skills, from proper grooming to basic computer tech Hat lino cn fcsnsfits i The state Human Services Department suggests that fami- lies that have lost or are at risk of losing benefits call the Wei- fare Reform Volunteer Re- quircment Hotline at 696-5067 for help.

i Authorities squelch work-at-home scam Dancers welcome Navy destroyer Ok Isle officials had received nearly 300 complaints about the fraudulent ads Sff H' if tpfo alt I f. iv. largest telemarketing companies in Southern California, was also ordered to dissolve the corporation and is prohibited from conducting business anywhere in the future, he said. The company had been operating for the past 20 years, with revenues of $4.5 million a year. Broughton Hall officials could not be reached for comment The Federal Trade Commission decided to investigate Broughton Hall and a number of Santa Barbara telemarketing companies after hundreds of complaints began pouring in, Whittlesey said.

The Hawaii Better Business Bureau has received nearly 300 requests for information about Broughton Hall since 1996, said president Anne Deschene. Complaints were forwarded to the Santa Barbara Better Business Bureau. Cook said she was among those filing a complaint. Cook sent $69.95 to Broughton Hall for a list of books she would like to proofread. Instead of a list of books, she got a list of publishers, who when contacted, told Cook they didn't hire outside help.

"I felt like an idiot I should have known better. How did I fall for something like that?" she said. Refunds will be made available to consumers who file complaints with the Santa Barbara Better Business Bureau at 805-963-8657. Proof of purchase is required. Cook yesterday said she was pleased that she may get her $69.95 back, but is not holding her breath until she actually receives it Her advice to consumers looking for work-at-home opportunities: Stick to Tupperware.

By Debra Barayuga Star-Bulletin The ad jumped out at Nichole Cook, an at-home mother with one child and another on the way. Read books at home and get paid for it, it basically said. Unable to work outside the home but needing the extra income, Cook, of Wahi-awa, jumped at the chance. She called the company and was impressed at how much they said she would be paid for proofreading manuscripts. "This is cool," thought Cook.

"This isn't one of those scam things, or so I thought" Broughton Hall, a Santa Barbara telemarketing firm that advertised work-at-home guides in newspapers across the nation, including Hawaii, yesterday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to one count of false advertising in interstate commerce, a violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act "In their ads, they represented that people could earn $30,000 a year working at home and they had no basis for making that claim," said U.S. Attorney Brent Whittlesey. The violation caries penalties of a maximum six months in jail and $10,000 fine. Broughton Hall was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $236,000 to victims of their fraudulent advertisements, Whittlesey said.

Hall, one of the Home on the Web AAA Major Internet -event to be held Some major players in Internet development will be coming to a convention Oct 25-30 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. The event WebNet 99, is hosted by the University of Hawaii. You can get details at David Lassner, UH director of Information Technology Services, is urging local Internet and high-tech companies to register for the convention now. "It is not every day that local companies get this kind of opportunity to introduce themselves to the world of potential clients," he said. More than 400 companies and groups from around the world will be presenting papers and discussing the role of the Internet in education, research and communication.

Local students can attend the conference without charge in return for eight hours of volunteer time. Regular student registration fees are Information is available at By Craig T. Kojima, sur-Buiietin Dancers Sky Canon and Noni Kaneta perform during the arrival of the U. S. Navy destroyer Hamagiri in Honolulu Harbor today along with the Japanese trainer Kashima.

Groups decry 'prejudice' in America Police pondering whether deaths were connected nity center, wounding five. White supremacist Buford Furrow has been arrested in connection with the shootings. Asian Pacific American leaders say that incident was only the latest aimed at their minority. Since October of last year, four other Asian Americans, in Illinois and Maryland, have been shot and killed, apparently because of their ethnicity. The groups also cited growing anti-Asian-American sentiment posted on the Internet And they pointed to what they said was unfair focus on national scandals involving Asian Karen Narasaki, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, at a news conference here yesterday.

Narasaki's was one of several organizations, representing a spectrum of ethnic groups, staging protests this week against violence aimed at Asian Americans. Vigils were planned in Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago. The trigger for the protests was the slaying two weeks ago of Joseph Ileto, the Filipino-American mailman shot by the man who earlier that day sprayed gunfire inside a Jewish commu Racist killer's parents baffled. A-7 By Pete Pichaske Phillips News Service WASHINGTON The slaying of five Asian Pacific Americans in the past 12 months, including the Aug. 12 shooting of a Filipino American in California, has national Asian-American groups calling for tougher federal legislation against hate crimes and greater national awareness of the prejudice they face.

"There's no excuse for Americans to continue to permit violence based on bigotry," said Both victims were nude and about the same age "Home on the Web" is a Friday feature by Richard Borreca of the Star-Bulletin. -V' 1 1 Jubilee Michelle Anne Lum Bensinger Judge denies Lindsey's petition to dismiss ByJaymesKSong and Rod Oihra Star-Bulletin Homicide investigators are trying to determine if the deaths of Michelle Anne Bensinger and Jubilee Lum could be connected. Both women were found nude, and both were about the same age. Bensinger was 24, Lum 21. Bensinger's body was discovered Aug.

10 in a field off Kaukonahua Road near Thomson Corner in Wa-ialua. Police believe the body had been there at least two weeks. body was found Tuesday inside a trash bag that was left outside a Dumpster on the 1200 block pf South Beretania Street Police are investigating Lum's death as a murder, while Densinger's case is classified as a suspicious unattended death," said homicide Lt. Allen Napoleon. The cause of death in both cases has been deferred pending lab tests.

Corrections AAA Two separate private investment companies did not disclose the price they paid for 6 percent of Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate Co. A report Monday in Hawaii Inc. listed a $1 million figure but that was actually a rough estimate of the two stakes' total market value on Monday. Also one of the investors, Financial Investment Management Group did not predict company earnings in the range of $2.15 to $2.25 a share in the next three years. That statement should have been attributed solely to the other investor, Kennedy Capital.

Singer-composer Lani Kai's signature song was titled "Shells." Another song title was used in some editions of yesterday's Star-Bulletin. tential surcharges against Lindsey during the five-month trial before Circuit Judge Bambi Weil that resulted in Lindsey's permanent removal from her $1 mil-lion-a-year post Gierlach argued that Lindsey should not be retried for issues raised the removal trial. That trial was initiated by a suit filed by then-trustees Oswald Stender and Gerard Jervis. Daniel Morris, deputy attorney general, said the state is seeking "tens of millions of dollars" in surcharges against the former trustees of the Bishop Estate for taking excessive compensation, making "ill-advised" investments and for fees to its attor neys and outside consultants. Dismissing the state's claims against Lindsey would deprive the beneficiaries of the Bishop Estate of potential claims not raised in the Lindsey removal trial, Morris said.

The state's claims against Lindsey are among several surcharges she potentially faces. Attorneys for Stender and Jervis are seeking payment for their legal fees relating to the Lindsey removal trial, and the attorney general's office has asked the court to dock Lindsey for the legal charges. The Internal Revenue Service, after a four-year audit of the Bishop Estate, also may seek individual claims against Lindsey. Rich Daysog Star-Bulletin The state attorney general's office can pursue millions of dollars in penalties against former Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey under a ruling by state judge today. Probate Judge Kevin Chang rejected a petition by Lindsey seeking to dismiss the state's suit to remove and surcharge Lindsey for alleged breaches uncovered during its two-year investigation of the Bishop Estate.

Lindsey's lawyer, David Gier-lach, said the state erred in not raising issues relating to the po There were no visible puncture wounds on Lum's body, and it is unknown if there were marks on Bensinger's body due to the degree of decomposition, said Napoleon. Napoleon declined comment on whether the two cases might be linked. According to court records, Bensinger has 14 prior criminal convictions in Hawaii, including seven for prostitution and three for trespassing. Her most recent arrest was for prostitution on Aug. 2, 1998.

Lum did not have an adult arrest record..