DEATH IN PRINCEVILLE- HO HUM

Today's death on the rocks of Queen's Bath could have been predicted for it's regularity.

Going down the trail and climbing on the rocks, especially when the waves are massive, has killed many tourists over the years- or should I say their own stupidity has done them in for the ones who more recently purposely ignored signs and videos and all. And as for books, like one called “Ultimate Kaua`i Guide Book” many have continued to list it as a good place to go leaving out weather warnings and, in years past, some, like the UKTB, telling visitors to disregard the warnings.

In the 90's it got so bad the County Engineer tried to close the access- the only one who has the right, by law (county charter) to a close trail completely (partial closings for safety are permitted) to do so. But apparently, it was explained by Ray, there is also a state law that allows any one citizen to reopen any trail that has been closed (it's a little more complicated than that but that's the essence).

So enter the great Kaua`i activist Ray Chuan who took members of his “Limu Coalition “ to the trail-head and “reopened” it.

Why, you might rightly ask? Well, if you remember, beach access had been designated the top issue in a poll prior to the 1998 election (or maybe '96- this is “seat-of-the-pants”).

Well, the county attorney wanted to sue the UK tour book but came up against the 1^st Amendment so things stand where they are. I'm not sure of the various other guide books and what they say but Kaua`i Visitors Bureau's Sue Kanoho made it a priority to try to talk to them about it for quite a while with pretty good success with most guide books (although the “Ultimate” was still refusing to de-list it last I heard maybe 10+ years ago... I'm not sure about the “disregard the signs” part)

File under the “Darwin Awards,” a popular designation here, where people forget to pack their brains when they are “on vacation.”