Hawaii
Five Hawaii officials get HOF nod
The Hawaii Sports Officials Hall of Fame’s 2024 class of inductees will include well-known figures from the worlds of football, water polo, boxing and basketball.
The five august arbiters of competitive sport—Jim Beavers, Aaron Chaney, Abraham Pacheco, Kenichi “Stupe” Shimogawa and Thomas Yoshida—are fresh proof that the hall is not for those short of tooth or tender of foot.
“We are extremely excited to honor these five individuals for induction to the class of 2024,” said HSOHOF president Cal Evans. “This is our seventh class and we are very proud to celebrate their accomplishments.”
Beavers started officiating youth football games in Oklahoma in 1956 before moving to Hawaii in 1960. He joined the Oahu Interscholastic Association Football Officials Association in 1974 and spent the next 44 years officiating middle and high school football games, a run that included six Oahu Prep Bowl games and the 2000 HHSAA championship game. In 1999, he succeeded Roy Chong as OIA football commissioner, a post he held for 17 years.
Before he became an official, Chaney was a national championship athlete in water polo at UC Santa Barbara. His involvement in the sport provided the grounding he needed to spend more than 40 years as an acclaimed coach and internationally respected official. Chaney worked 20 NCAA men’s and 10 women’s championships including 15 championship games. He also worked the 2004 and 2008 Olympics in Athens and Beijing, including the men’s semifinal in 2004. Chaney also worked four FINA World Championships highlighted by the women’s bronze medal game. He is a member of both the UCSB and University of Hawaii Swimming Halls of Fame and was inducted to the 2023 USA Water Polo Hall of Fame as a coach and a referee.
Pacheco was also an accomplished athlete before becoming an official in his sport of choice. He was born in Hilo and raised in the sugar plantation camps of Wainaku, competing as a boxer in the 119-pound weight class before becoming a sanctioned official in the 1970s. Pacheco officiated numerous Golden Gloves and Police Activities League events and later worked fights in the North American Boxing Federation, US Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation. He worked over 30 world championship fights across three decades.
Shimogawa, who is being honored posthumously, was a founding member of the Kauai Pop Warner football program in 1963 and served as commissioner of the league from 1964 to 2005, performing every job from on-field official to chain crew, timer to ball person. He was also instrumental in designating game proceeds to the local Shriners organization. His honors include National Federation of Interscholastic Officials Association Hawaii official of the year in 1997.He was also honored at the Hawaii State Legislature in 2011 and 2015 for his contributions to Kauai Pop Warner football. Shimogawa died in 2017.
Thomas Yoshida began officiating when he was just 19 years old, learning under the tutelage of HSO hall-of-famer Fuzzy Richards. Yoshida worked his first varsity basketball game with another hall-of-famer, Sam Delos Reyes, then proceeded to make a name for himself over 41 high school seasons, working 13 state championship games and 31 OIA championships. In 1993, he was hired to work in the Western Athletic Conference and spent 20 years in Division I and 26 years in Division 2 and NAIA. He continues to contribute by serving as rules analyst with Spectrum OC16 as well as presenting rules clinics on Oahu and the neighbor islands.
The five will be honored on Sunday, Sept. 1, at the Ala Moana Hotel. For reservations or to view a complete list of previous inductees, visit the HSOHOF web site at www.hawaiisportsofficialshalloffame.org.
Three convicted sex offenders were arrested on Hawaii Island last week for allegedly failing to comply with sex offender registry requirements.
Multiple law-enforcement agencies conducted checks in Kona on registered sex offenders who had been identified as potentially out of compliance with the state’s Sex Offender Registry laws, according the Department of the Attorney General.
As a result of the three-day operation, several individuals were brought back into compliance, and three West Hawaii men were arrested for allegedly failing to comply with the requirements.
The three men who were arrested are Joseph Debus, 56, of Kailua-Kona, Garth Coleman, 53, of Holualoa and Alexsandr Skelcey, 34, of Kailua-Kona.
Debus was convicted of second-degree sex assault in Hawaii in 1993 and sentenced to five years probation with a year in jail. Coleman was sentenced to 20 years in prison for first-degree assault in 2000 after a jury trial in Hawaii. And Skelcey was convicted in Michigan in 2012 of assault with intent to commit sex assault.
“Sex offender registration requirements exist to protect our communities and ensure law enforcement knows where convicted offenders are living,” Tom Alipio, chief of the AG department’s Investigations Division, said in a press release. “Compliance operations like this send a clear message that we will actively monitor the registry, investigate violations and work closely with our law enforcement partners to hold offenders accountable when they fail to meet their legal obligations.”
HPD Chief Reed Mahuna said, “Operations like this allow us to verify that offenders are maintaining strict compliance with registration laws and those who aren’t will be addressed immediately. We will continue to leverage these multi-agency partnerships to keep our island communities safe,”
Members of the public can look up publicly available offender information and subscribe to notifications at sexoffenders.ehawaii.gov/coveredoffender/.
Anyone with information regarding a registered sex offender who may be violating registration requirements is encouraged to contact the Department of the Attorney General’s Investigation Division at (808) 586-1240 or their local law enforcement.
A brush in North Kona, near the Ulu Wini Apartments, has closed a portion of Hina Lani Street, between Route 190 and Ane Keokalole Highway.
According to Hawai‘i Island police, the road is expected to be closed for the next three hours and motorists are advised to avoid the area.
Hawai‘i Fire Assistant Chief Chris Carvalho confirmed at least two engines, two brush trucks, Chopper 2 and a medic vehicle responded to the blaze that started in some bushes.
No evacuations or injuries have been reported at this time.
At 11:09 a.m., an AlertWest camera, installed by Hawaiian Electric in wildfire-prone areas, showed smoke billowing above the Keahuolu Courthouse. As of 12:06 p.m., that smoke appears to have dissipated.
This is a developing story. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
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