ACCESS SCHMACCESS: For a moment it looked like the story of the new apparently illegal fence at Lepeuli (Larsen’s) Beach had hit the big time.
After seeing the headline and subhead in this morning's Honolulu paper stating that "Development blocks traditional access; Landowners on three isles prevent people from using trails crossing their land" and seeing the story began with the name of Linda Sproat- one of those who has been most aggrieved and active in preserving the Alaloa that is now blocked by the fence- what else could it be?
But although the article is an all too familiar story of Kaua`i Planning Department bungling in preserving an access to Kauapea (Secret) Beach, nothing on the blocking of the ancient traditional access by Paradise Ranch's Bruce Laymon.
And there's nothing new on our story of Jesse Reynolds' allegation that Laymon tried to kill him last month although County Public Information Officer Mary Daubert says that "(a)ccording to KPD, the case is under investigation pending further developments, therefore, we cannot comment."
But there is news from Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a who has filed a complaint with the Land Use Commission asking how the heck they can ignore the fence which was apparently constructed in a conservation district (CD) without a conservation district use permit (CDUP) after Laymon withdrew his permit when the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) decided to take a second look at it.
Kallai presents documentation noting that in 2009 the DLNR had already determined the fenced in area to be in the CD when they cited Laymon for unpermitted work and essentially asks for action.
She then presents the whole sordid history of Laymon's action in the area- a story which deserves a concise presentation.
Which is why today we present her letter in full.
-----
1 June 2011
Hope Kallai
Malama Moloa`a
Fred Talon
Land Use Commission
Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
State of Hawaii
P.O. Box 2359
Honolulu, Hawaii 96804-2359
(808) 587-3822 Fax: (808) 587-3827
Re: Prioritization of Conservation District Boundary Interpretation Request TMK (4) 5-1-3:003
Waioli Corporation (owner), Paradise Ranch (lessee)
Lepeuli, Kauai,
Aloha e Mr. Talon:
I would like to request prioritization of the Conservation District Boundary Interpretation on Waioli Corporation lands in Lepeuli, Kauai, that we previously spoke about on the phone (Feb., 2011 and April 2011). This request was also made by the Kauai Chapter of the Sierra Club (attached Feb. 10, 2011 letter). I understand that your office is understaffed and that your work load is heavy, but there is a need for this boundary determination interpretation to be expedited. Fencing has been recently constructed by lessee, Paradise Ranch LLC, in what appears to be this Conservation District.
May 2011 Fencing in Lepeuli
In 2009, Paradise Ranch was cited for performing work in the Conservation District. Paradise Ranch applied for a SMA Minor permit from the county of Kauai for fencing and this fencing map were submitted then.
2009 Lepeuli Map with County Engineer’s notes
An After-The-Fact CDUP was applied for work in this Lepeuli Conservation District, CDUP KA-3525, (attached), with fencing proposed at 110‘ from the shoreline. This permit was awarded, appealed by community groups, then later surrendered by the applicant, stating they had decided to move operations out of the Conservation District. After community members requested that stamped surveyors maps be presented as per the County Engineer’s original 2009 request (attached), Paradise Ranch LLC recently presented a stamped map (below) with a proposed fenceline in very close proximity to applicant’s interpretation of the CD location. This map states “minimum distance to be 110’ from shoreline” for the proposed fenceline.
2011 map with fenceline next to CD Boundary (as interpreted by Paradise Ranch)
Attached Conservation District maps and articles show the Conservation District to be 300’ from a certified shoreline in this area.
A entirely new fence was recently constructed by Paradise Ranch LLC in Lepeuli. We believe this fence is in the Conservation District and blocks the lateral coastal Alaloa. This project is federally funded through NRCS EQIP program. The pasture created by this new makai fence configuration will enable cattle to graze on a site where Hawaii State Department of Historic Preservation relocated human skeletal remains from 3 individuals. This is illegal as well as socially unconscionable.
Paradise Ranch has continued to manage the coastal vegetation in the Conservation with heavy equipment, brushhogs and chainsaws. The fenceline has been constructed in the apparent Conservation District, blocking an ancient lateral trail.
Steps need to be taken to determine the location of the boundary between the Conservation District and the Agricultural District in Lepeuli, as soon as possible. The Conservation District boundary presented on the maps by Paradise Ranch LLC is erroneous and and the fencing negatively impacts public access, human remains and archaeological sites.
This makai Conservation District is a primary monk seal pupping and rearing area. Two pups are being reared at Ka`aka`aniu reef right now. Impacts must be considered to endangered species by the restriction of public access on the ancient Alaloa trail. This forces all lateral transit on to the beach.
There are significant impacts to this fencing project. The Conservation District Boundary needs to be interpreted and determined by the state as soon as possible. What can we do to expedite this? Mahalo for your help.
Hope Kallai
Attachments:
Sierra Club Land Use Request
SMA-Minor
CDUA 3525
2011 map
CD maps
CD Boundary article
Engineers notes
Showing posts with label Bruce Laymon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruce Laymon. Show all posts
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
(PNN) N. SHORE FARM WORKER ACCUSES LAYMON OF ATTEMPTED MURDER IN LEPEULI BEATING
N. SHORE FARM WORKER ACCUSES LAYMON OF ATTEMPTED MURDER IN LEPEULI BEATING
(PNN) -- A North Shore farm workers says rancher Bruce Laymon beat and tried to kill him as he was walking down the "new" trail to Lepeuli Beach on the night of May 23.
Jesse Reynolds of Anini Beach told police on May 25 that Laymon jumped out of the bushes at about 9 p.m. and beat him on the head and lower back and then dragged him by his hair and attempted to throw him over the cliff as Reynolds was going down to the beach.
"He tried to kill me" Reynolds can be heard saying on a digital audio file obtained by PNN, which was recorded by a North Shore farmer- who asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions- as Reynolds gave his statement to the police.
The incident occurred the same day that Laymon and his workers had erected a fence blocking the traditional "Ala Loa", a gently sloping ancient trail, that was apparently constructed without a required conservation district use permit (CDUP) from the state.
"Bruce Laymon's the one who did this to me" said Reynolds apparently as he showed police marks and bruises on his back and head, saying he had still had pain in his kidneys.
According to the audio recording Reynolds can be heard telling police that "Bruce Laymon came up and started hitting me for no reason."
He continued, saying that Laymon jumped out of the bushes as Reynolds was going down to the beach, saying that Laymon was accompanied by one of his workers, known to Reynolds as "BJ," and another man whom Reynolds said he could not identify.
Reynolds says he got away and briefly hid on the beach before making his way to Kilauea where he called police from a pay phone around midnight. He says he then decided not to report the alleged beating to the police at that time for fear that they might blame him due to Laymon's position in the community. In addition he said he didn't want to have to pay for an ambulance after the dispatcher asked him if she should send one so he decided to terminate the call.
Two days later, at the urging of many- including the farmer who made the audio recording- Reynolds finally did file a complaint with police, accompanied by the farmer who verified to PNN that the audio file was indeed recorded by him and that the persons on the recording were he, Reynolds and the two policemen who took the complaint.
According to the farmer, Reynolds is trying to obtain the police report and find out what the status of the case is and whether Laymon has been questions and/or arrested.
(PNN) -- A North Shore farm workers says rancher Bruce Laymon beat and tried to kill him as he was walking down the "new" trail to Lepeuli Beach on the night of May 23.
Jesse Reynolds of Anini Beach told police on May 25 that Laymon jumped out of the bushes at about 9 p.m. and beat him on the head and lower back and then dragged him by his hair and attempted to throw him over the cliff as Reynolds was going down to the beach.
"He tried to kill me" Reynolds can be heard saying on a digital audio file obtained by PNN, which was recorded by a North Shore farmer- who asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions- as Reynolds gave his statement to the police.
The incident occurred the same day that Laymon and his workers had erected a fence blocking the traditional "Ala Loa", a gently sloping ancient trail, that was apparently constructed without a required conservation district use permit (CDUP) from the state.
"Bruce Laymon's the one who did this to me" said Reynolds apparently as he showed police marks and bruises on his back and head, saying he had still had pain in his kidneys.
According to the audio recording Reynolds can be heard telling police that "Bruce Laymon came up and started hitting me for no reason."
He continued, saying that Laymon jumped out of the bushes as Reynolds was going down to the beach, saying that Laymon was accompanied by one of his workers, known to Reynolds as "BJ," and another man whom Reynolds said he could not identify.
Reynolds says he got away and briefly hid on the beach before making his way to Kilauea where he called police from a pay phone around midnight. He says he then decided not to report the alleged beating to the police at that time for fear that they might blame him due to Laymon's position in the community. In addition he said he didn't want to have to pay for an ambulance after the dispatcher asked him if she should send one so he decided to terminate the call.
Two days later, at the urging of many- including the farmer who made the audio recording- Reynolds finally did file a complaint with police, accompanied by the farmer who verified to PNN that the audio file was indeed recorded by him and that the persons on the recording were he, Reynolds and the two policemen who took the complaint.
According to the farmer, Reynolds is trying to obtain the police report and find out what the status of the case is and whether Laymon has been questions and/or arrested.
Monday, May 23, 2011
GIMME LAND LOTSA LAND
GIMME LAND LOTSA LAND: As we age time compresses so although it was nearly a decade ago- 2002 to be exact- it seems like only a few years since the biggest issue in the election that year was the disappearing access to mauka and makai.
It was finally dawning on local people that we have gone to one too many places only to find one too many "no trespassing" signs and worse, fences where once we roamed.
And another thing that happens as we age- those accesses that are left seem to get steeper and more dangerous every time we go. Photographer and teacher David Boynton found that out only too late when he slipped and fell to his death on a trail he had hiked for decades.
That's why it so distressing to read our friend Joan Conrow not just excusing but actually celebrating the news she reported Sunday that hate-monger Bruce Laymon has finally erected his fence at Lepeuli (Larsen's) Beach closing off the prescriptive rights to that section the Ala Loa- an ancient trail that leads gently down to the beach- in favor of a steep, rocky trail that has been designated by the county as the "new" access.
Although she says "I don’t like fences, especially near the beach" she goes on to say:
Still, I totally understand why he did it. Keeping cattle in is only part of it. Quite frankly, it’s the only thing that would keep me, and everyone else who has ever used that path, out.
Besides, let’s not forget that there is, after all, another perfectly good access right there, and it had been freshly weed-whacked to make its presence quite clear.
Then bafflingly she includes a picture that shows a zig-zagging, steep, rocky, narrow trail- one that looks more like it was sprayed with roundup than cut- that disappears into the woods.
She goes on to recount the reaction from a "friend" whose age and agility isn't noted.
“That’s it?” said my friend. “From what I’d heard, I thought you had to scale rocks, risk life and limb. It doesn’t look bad at all.”
“It's not,” I replied. “That’s been totally overblown. Most anyone could go down it.”
Most anyone? One other thing about aging is that the ground seems to get farther and farther away each year and ankles seem to twist a lot more when navigating rocky, steep, uneven accesses.
We can't imagine that what came next wasn't a joke but she wrote that when she got home she received an email from Lepeuli activists describing how a woman whose husband had drowned at the beach was now unable to go there due to a subsequent brain injury.
I wonder, did those who heard her story suggest she call Bruce? Because I’m pretty sure he would have been happy to drive her. And did her husband drown because the lateral trail made it oh so very easy to access the dangerous waters of that beautiful beach?
Is that what we need to do to get access these days? Call a total turd like Laymon to arrange a ride around his fence- which may or may not have been legally constructed after he withdrew his request for a state permit to construct the fence after it became apparent it was about to be pulled.
And, knowing Laymon's predilections I'm sure if it was a group of naked, gay "hippies" he would have dropped everything to welcome them to "his" beach.
Aside from the fact that Laymon has a history of racist, homophobic rants and threats against beach users that would make anyone think a lot more than twice about calling him- assuming they had his number- what kind of precedent does that set when an access that has been used for centuries is suddenly cut off and you have to call the owner and ask for ask to go there as a "favor?"
At the risk of over-simplifying someone else's mana`o, Joan is among those who think that it's okay to restrict access- or make places harder to get to- to preserve "special" places. And there is something to be said about that.
But this is not one of those cases.
When she says that she's "very interested in the question of whether the trail it blocks is a traditional ala loa — an issue that will be decided by the courts, and not Bruce Laymon’s fence," she points to the problem here and in other places because what tends to happen is that it becomes the community's responsibility to hire an attorney at great expense to fight a rich landowner in a state where land equals power and money speaks in the courts.
In this case, even though the state is currently essentially on "our" side it appears that they are way too cash strapped to initiate any legal action against Laymon after he withdrew his permit so as to take an immediate and potentially binding decision out of their hands and make it harder still to enforce conservation district laws and regulations.
And as for the county, despite pleas from the public to withhold action the council recently pushed through a "deal" with property owner Waioli Corporation right before Laymon pulled his fast one by abandoning any claim to the Ala Loa, in favor of the the "new" access. That further complicated the state's case because they had a stipulation in place that required that the county "work out" access issues with Waioli giving them leverage on the Ala Loa.
One thing is clear. Anything that some court might do, some day, would be at the end of years and years of litigation during which time the public- or at least na kupuna- is shut out from the access they've enjoyed since time immemorial. And if that goes on long enough- like say 20 years as it has in other instances- any prescriptive rights go out the window too.
It's hard enough to deal with our disappearing recreational opportunities with greedy landowners scooping up accesses and closing them off. But when those that enjoy them the most start sleeping with the enemy it only make it that much harder to protect them.
That's getting old too.
It was finally dawning on local people that we have gone to one too many places only to find one too many "no trespassing" signs and worse, fences where once we roamed.
And another thing that happens as we age- those accesses that are left seem to get steeper and more dangerous every time we go. Photographer and teacher David Boynton found that out only too late when he slipped and fell to his death on a trail he had hiked for decades.
That's why it so distressing to read our friend Joan Conrow not just excusing but actually celebrating the news she reported Sunday that hate-monger Bruce Laymon has finally erected his fence at Lepeuli (Larsen's) Beach closing off the prescriptive rights to that section the Ala Loa- an ancient trail that leads gently down to the beach- in favor of a steep, rocky trail that has been designated by the county as the "new" access.
Although she says "I don’t like fences, especially near the beach" she goes on to say:
Still, I totally understand why he did it. Keeping cattle in is only part of it. Quite frankly, it’s the only thing that would keep me, and everyone else who has ever used that path, out.
Besides, let’s not forget that there is, after all, another perfectly good access right there, and it had been freshly weed-whacked to make its presence quite clear.
Then bafflingly she includes a picture that shows a zig-zagging, steep, rocky, narrow trail- one that looks more like it was sprayed with roundup than cut- that disappears into the woods.
She goes on to recount the reaction from a "friend" whose age and agility isn't noted.
“That’s it?” said my friend. “From what I’d heard, I thought you had to scale rocks, risk life and limb. It doesn’t look bad at all.”
“It's not,” I replied. “That’s been totally overblown. Most anyone could go down it.”
Most anyone? One other thing about aging is that the ground seems to get farther and farther away each year and ankles seem to twist a lot more when navigating rocky, steep, uneven accesses.
We can't imagine that what came next wasn't a joke but she wrote that when she got home she received an email from Lepeuli activists describing how a woman whose husband had drowned at the beach was now unable to go there due to a subsequent brain injury.
I wonder, did those who heard her story suggest she call Bruce? Because I’m pretty sure he would have been happy to drive her. And did her husband drown because the lateral trail made it oh so very easy to access the dangerous waters of that beautiful beach?
Is that what we need to do to get access these days? Call a total turd like Laymon to arrange a ride around his fence- which may or may not have been legally constructed after he withdrew his request for a state permit to construct the fence after it became apparent it was about to be pulled.
And, knowing Laymon's predilections I'm sure if it was a group of naked, gay "hippies" he would have dropped everything to welcome them to "his" beach.
Aside from the fact that Laymon has a history of racist, homophobic rants and threats against beach users that would make anyone think a lot more than twice about calling him- assuming they had his number- what kind of precedent does that set when an access that has been used for centuries is suddenly cut off and you have to call the owner and ask for ask to go there as a "favor?"
At the risk of over-simplifying someone else's mana`o, Joan is among those who think that it's okay to restrict access- or make places harder to get to- to preserve "special" places. And there is something to be said about that.
But this is not one of those cases.
When she says that she's "very interested in the question of whether the trail it blocks is a traditional ala loa — an issue that will be decided by the courts, and not Bruce Laymon’s fence," she points to the problem here and in other places because what tends to happen is that it becomes the community's responsibility to hire an attorney at great expense to fight a rich landowner in a state where land equals power and money speaks in the courts.
In this case, even though the state is currently essentially on "our" side it appears that they are way too cash strapped to initiate any legal action against Laymon after he withdrew his permit so as to take an immediate and potentially binding decision out of their hands and make it harder still to enforce conservation district laws and regulations.
And as for the county, despite pleas from the public to withhold action the council recently pushed through a "deal" with property owner Waioli Corporation right before Laymon pulled his fast one by abandoning any claim to the Ala Loa, in favor of the the "new" access. That further complicated the state's case because they had a stipulation in place that required that the county "work out" access issues with Waioli giving them leverage on the Ala Loa.
One thing is clear. Anything that some court might do, some day, would be at the end of years and years of litigation during which time the public- or at least na kupuna- is shut out from the access they've enjoyed since time immemorial. And if that goes on long enough- like say 20 years as it has in other instances- any prescriptive rights go out the window too.
It's hard enough to deal with our disappearing recreational opportunities with greedy landowners scooping up accesses and closing them off. But when those that enjoy them the most start sleeping with the enemy it only make it that much harder to protect them.
That's getting old too.
Monday, May 16, 2011
A GORY BUSINESS
A GORY BUSINESS: While some might say it's practically oxymoronic we've been been on a quest lately with a holy grail of being nicer and kinder to others.
But yesterday's letter to the editor from that slime ball masquerading as a human being, Ron Agor, was so insulting that all bets are off today.
Agor's defense of apparently-fired Kauai District Archaeologist and SHPD Deputy Director Nancy McMahon on the heels of an onslaught of Kanaka Maoli activists who successfully testified against her appointment to the county's Historic Preservation Commission, was to call the Native Hawaiians "savages" in practically every other paragraph.
Real sensitive to the host culture, Ron- especially from a member of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources. What, heathen and pagan weren't strong enough?
But his screed defending McMahon seems kind of appropriate for these two-peas-in-a-pod, since for the past few years every time some kind of outrageous treatment of`iwi kupuna (bones) burials occurred, the names Agor and McMahon seemed to come up every time.
Agor's rant begins by praising McMahon for her actions as state archeologist in trying to:
compromise with private property owners where the burials are respected and the private property owners have reasonable use of their properties.
Nancy McMahon during her tenure as the qualified state’s archaeologist always did her job in making sure the above mentioned compromise came to fruition on every project subjected to this process.
And compromise the `iwi she did.
In actuality McMahon's cavalier attitude has led to blatant abuse of her position to favor developers, ignoring the wishes of the Kaua`i Burial Council to the point where, during the court battle over the Brescia property cemetery debacle, she was singled out for blame in the fiasco by 5th Circuit Court judge Kathleen Watenabe for, among other things, ordering the `iwi be permanently encased in concrete.
That's what made this statement from Agor all the more removed from reality
It is interesting to know that recently the courts have recognized the practices and procedures of DLNR as reasonable and have often rendered decisions in favor of private property owners when they followed their permit conditions imposed by the State.
Here's what a letter from a group called Kānaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration- signed by a list of notable scholars as long as your arm- said about McMahon's actions in the Brescia case
The SHPD’s own rules empower the island Burial Council to determine the disposition of previously known burials. The island Burial Council’s decision on this issue is supposed to be binding. Yet, SHPD deputy administrator Nancy McMahon sanctioned the use of vertical buffers and concrete caps on the burials to make way for installing the footings of Brescia’s house. Her authorization for such an intrusive "preservation" measure is a fundamental repudiation of the power allocated to all of the island Burial Councils.
By ignoring the decision of the island Burial Council, her actions undermine both the very concept of historic preservation and the reason for the founding of the island Burial Councils. Tragically, before a court could intervene, and based on McMahon’s unauthorized agreements, Brescia’s team managed to install massive house foundations on a portion of the cemetery.
In another incident almost exactly a year ago on May 12, 2010 the headline of a PNN news story pretty much summed up what happened in saying:
Three Burials Unearthed By Cows At Lepeuli Unceremoniously Reburied By SHPD's McMahon Without Burial Council Notification.
You might want to read the article and followups- it's actually even worse than that with McMahon attempting to cover up the discovery of a Hawaiian house site by another local archeologist.
So how did McMahon get away with this stuff for so long- stuff including many unproven accusations from burial protectors of taking home `iwi and even stealing artifacts from sites and offering them for sale?
Well. many times it was Agor's position on the all powerful BLNR that made it possible.
Agor has been a Republican Party mainstay for many years and so when Republican Governor Linda Lingle took over she appointed him as the lone Kaua`i representative.
Now you'd think that with all the other BLNR members one single rep wouldn't be able to insure things go the way he wants. But the "tradition" on the board is to defer to the single neighbor island reps on matters on their island.
For instance when Lepeuli rancher Bruce Lymon tried to lie his way into a conservation district use permit (CDUP) it was Agor who convinced the board to grant it without examining the facts- a decision that was reversed later after the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, OHA and others set the record straight and the permit was rescinded.
As for Agor his tenure has been marked by deceit and misrepresentation to members of the community, often telling people he would assure the BLNR would vote a certain way only to do exactly the opposite according to the minutes of the meeting, as he did with the Koke`e leaseholders and other cases during his tenure.
One thing became clear to us today in reviewing our coverage of the Agor and McMahon- they deserve each other. Their actions go way beyond the usual racism and promotion of monied American interests to, not just being active participants in the continuing genocide of na kanaka, but being leaders in the theft of the land and culture.
And there's nothing nice or kind about that.
We now return you to the "trying very hard not to be mean anymore" Parx.
But yesterday's letter to the editor from that slime ball masquerading as a human being, Ron Agor, was so insulting that all bets are off today.
Agor's defense of apparently-fired Kauai District Archaeologist and SHPD Deputy Director Nancy McMahon on the heels of an onslaught of Kanaka Maoli activists who successfully testified against her appointment to the county's Historic Preservation Commission, was to call the Native Hawaiians "savages" in practically every other paragraph.
Real sensitive to the host culture, Ron- especially from a member of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources. What, heathen and pagan weren't strong enough?
But his screed defending McMahon seems kind of appropriate for these two-peas-in-a-pod, since for the past few years every time some kind of outrageous treatment of`iwi kupuna (bones) burials occurred, the names Agor and McMahon seemed to come up every time.
Agor's rant begins by praising McMahon for her actions as state archeologist in trying to:
compromise with private property owners where the burials are respected and the private property owners have reasonable use of their properties.
Nancy McMahon during her tenure as the qualified state’s archaeologist always did her job in making sure the above mentioned compromise came to fruition on every project subjected to this process.
And compromise the `iwi she did.
In actuality McMahon's cavalier attitude has led to blatant abuse of her position to favor developers, ignoring the wishes of the Kaua`i Burial Council to the point where, during the court battle over the Brescia property cemetery debacle, she was singled out for blame in the fiasco by 5th Circuit Court judge Kathleen Watenabe for, among other things, ordering the `iwi be permanently encased in concrete.
That's what made this statement from Agor all the more removed from reality
It is interesting to know that recently the courts have recognized the practices and procedures of DLNR as reasonable and have often rendered decisions in favor of private property owners when they followed their permit conditions imposed by the State.
Here's what a letter from a group called Kānaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration- signed by a list of notable scholars as long as your arm- said about McMahon's actions in the Brescia case
The SHPD’s own rules empower the island Burial Council to determine the disposition of previously known burials. The island Burial Council’s decision on this issue is supposed to be binding. Yet, SHPD deputy administrator Nancy McMahon sanctioned the use of vertical buffers and concrete caps on the burials to make way for installing the footings of Brescia’s house. Her authorization for such an intrusive "preservation" measure is a fundamental repudiation of the power allocated to all of the island Burial Councils.
By ignoring the decision of the island Burial Council, her actions undermine both the very concept of historic preservation and the reason for the founding of the island Burial Councils. Tragically, before a court could intervene, and based on McMahon’s unauthorized agreements, Brescia’s team managed to install massive house foundations on a portion of the cemetery.
In another incident almost exactly a year ago on May 12, 2010 the headline of a PNN news story pretty much summed up what happened in saying:
Three Burials Unearthed By Cows At Lepeuli Unceremoniously Reburied By SHPD's McMahon Without Burial Council Notification.
You might want to read the article and followups- it's actually even worse than that with McMahon attempting to cover up the discovery of a Hawaiian house site by another local archeologist.
So how did McMahon get away with this stuff for so long- stuff including many unproven accusations from burial protectors of taking home `iwi and even stealing artifacts from sites and offering them for sale?
Well. many times it was Agor's position on the all powerful BLNR that made it possible.
Agor has been a Republican Party mainstay for many years and so when Republican Governor Linda Lingle took over she appointed him as the lone Kaua`i representative.
Now you'd think that with all the other BLNR members one single rep wouldn't be able to insure things go the way he wants. But the "tradition" on the board is to defer to the single neighbor island reps on matters on their island.
For instance when Lepeuli rancher Bruce Lymon tried to lie his way into a conservation district use permit (CDUP) it was Agor who convinced the board to grant it without examining the facts- a decision that was reversed later after the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, OHA and others set the record straight and the permit was rescinded.
As for Agor his tenure has been marked by deceit and misrepresentation to members of the community, often telling people he would assure the BLNR would vote a certain way only to do exactly the opposite according to the minutes of the meeting, as he did with the Koke`e leaseholders and other cases during his tenure.
One thing became clear to us today in reviewing our coverage of the Agor and McMahon- they deserve each other. Their actions go way beyond the usual racism and promotion of monied American interests to, not just being active participants in the continuing genocide of na kanaka, but being leaders in the theft of the land and culture.
And there's nothing nice or kind about that.
We now return you to the "trying very hard not to be mean anymore" Parx.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
PAUL HARVEY’S REVENGE
PAUL HARVEY’S REVENGE: It feels like “Let’s All Blow Smoke Up Bruce Laymon’s Ass Week” what with Laymon getting the kid-glove treatment from our friend Joan Conrow yesterday and again much more so from out no-so-much-friend Leo Azambuja in today’s local newspaper, all over Laymon’s hatemongering and intimidation campaign at Lepeuli (Larsen’s).
From multiple reports we’ve heard, the level of fear and loathing out there has increased exponentially with reports of confrontational incidents spurred by Laymon against beach goers since he withdrew his request for a state permit recently... as those who can read between the lines of Conrow’s and the paper’s reports can tell.
But one “comment” on Conrow’s post struck us as needing further exposure, that of Lepeuli activist Richard Spacer.
While many on both sides of the issue have criticized Spacer for both his tactics and his position on some of the issues- and although we don’t necessarily agree with him on all points- we thought his rebuttal needed exposure especially regarding some of the history of prescriptive rights and the case law concerning nudity. We also think his “report” regarding the FBI’s visit to Laymon investigating possible hate crimes- which we have independently confirmed- needs more exposure.
The rest, we need to point out, we can neither confirm or refute but are lending today’s column to his side of a story that was presented so one-sidedly, especially in today’s newspaper.
The third part was originally “edited” by Conrow but we requested and received that portion from Spacer today and have included it below.
Here are his comments, all “sic.”
Seems like Bruce Laymon has got to you as well, Ms. Conrow.
The reason the public has the right to access the ala loa trail THROUGH Waioli Corporation land because under the Highways Act of 1892, passed during the reign of Queen Lililoukalani, all roads, trails, etc, at that time were guaranteed to be public forever. The trail through Lepeuli existed in 1892. There are official maps from 1878 clearly showing the trail. There is Native Hawaiian testimony. Waioli Corporation is crying foul becasue they do not like that 1892 law that Lililoukalani had the wisdom to install as she saw the changes coming, and how arrogant haole landowners would keep Hawaiians off the land. A court case on the Big Island concerning an ala loa there was resolved with maps and Native Hawaiian testimony. It is not a private property issue. That is PR spin from Waioli and Laymon becasue they do not want the public to know about the Highways Act of 1892. Google it, see for yourselves.
The same is true in next door Kaakaaniu, owned by Patricia Hanwright. DLNR's Curt Cottrell in 2007 sent her a letter essentially saying to get ready and let them in, as the state claims a coastal trail through there. Patricia Hanwright won't budge. The same stubborness as Waioli. Waioli and Patricia Hanwright are united in denying this trail exists. I have discussed this on KKCR.
The FBI investigated because the KPD has a long history of racism against Caucasians and activists feel little to no vaule will come from filing complaints against Bruce Laymon's hate speech with KPD. How coincidental was the Caucasian guys were at Laymon's home at the time of the FBI visit. Was the FBI visit scheduled in advance or did they make a surprise visit? Do you honestly think the macho he-man local boy police officer would do anything about a gay, lesbian or naturist being attacked? Whether his father is or is not Caucasian or anything else is irrelevant. Bruce Laymon's behavior stands on its own. Bruce Laymon on March 6 told Colorado beachgoer Dennis Bosio at 9:30 am that next week he was going to have 50 Hawaiians down at Larsen's and RUN the f****** haoles out. At 11:30 am the same day he told me he would have 100 Hawaiians there and said he was "taking back the beach." Whatever that is supposed to mean. Exactly HOW are the whites going to be "RUN" out of a PUBLIC beach? With guns, knives, machetes, spearguns, pit bulls?? Mr. Bosio made a notarized statement of the incident and this document is in the posession of the activists, DLNR, KPD, and attorney Colin Yost. It is publically accesible. It clearly documents Bruce Laymon's desire to drive white people out of Larsen's Beach. That means he is a bigot.
The Conservation District Use Permit (now void) granted to Bruce Laymon stated there would be no driving accross Waioli property to access the beach, unless it is NOAA or emergency vehicles. This is violated almost weekly by Filipino and Hawaiian associates of Bruce Laymon including Sherwood Iida who use Schoolhouse Road to set up camps, leave unattended fishing poles, and generally harass beachgoers. Funny how Bruce Laymon leaves that bit out.
Part 2.
The steep, un-maintained easement trail to the beach the Hawaiians mention is just that, an EASEMENT. We do not own it, Waioli does. If you read the easement document, and I assume you did because you were at county council July 7, 2010 when it was introduced, you would know Waioli reserves the right to erect walls or fencing on it. Waioli Attorney Don Wilson's theatrical on-camera denials notwithstanding, the legal document language reserves the right of Waioli to close it off.
Multiple times I have asked county spokesperson Mary Daubert to ask public works when they are going to maintain the county right-of-way trail we obtained in 1979 and the easment trail. I never get an answer as to when, and no improvement has been made to either trail in over a year. My latest request was referred to the county attorney. Why does Kauai County need to ask their lawyer before weed-whacking trails?
This "cattle ranching" project has little to do with cattle; it is all about keeping people away from Larsen's Beach that Bruce Laymon objects to. Who are those people? Bruce Laymon, Robert Schleck and Patricia Hanwright confidante and neighbor Steve Frailey have told us many times in public conversations, including October 16, 2009 at Larsen's. They use the euphemistic term "illegal behavior" to describe them. On January 19, 2011 a young lady who lives near the beach was attempting to use the gradual, lateral trail and was stopped by Bruce Laymon, busy installing 2 fence posts. She asked him who he was to stop her. He said he was the landowner. That is a fallacy. He is a lessee. She asked him WHY he was fencing. Bruce Laymon told her the fence is to keep campers, nudes, and gays from getting to the beach. In 2011 can you believe such bigoted speech is being uttered!? Campers on Waioli land is one thing. Gays and naturists on a public beach have legal protections and this hate speech against both groups is criminal and leaves Bruce Laymon and Waioli Corporation vulnerable to civil litigation. Being gay or lesbian in Hawaii is not illegal. Neither is topfree or nude sunbathing if you are not intending to affront of alarm (offend) someone on a NON-state park beach. A unanimous state supreme court ruling in 2000 settled this issue once and for all. A group called Kauai Naturists has been formed in response to recent events to document harassment of naturists, disseminate correct information, and to make certain this hate speech stops.
February 14, 2011 8:28 PM
Part 3 (note: only the final paragraph was permitted to be posted by Conrow. As noted above we received the first two paragraphs from Spacer):
Bruce Laymon is a Jehovah's Witness according to a member of that church I spoke with in Kapaa. This sect, many say cult, is well known for its intolerance of gays and lesbians. They consider it sinful and illegal. They also hate naturists. Bruce Laymon sees Larsen's as a sinful place and he is the appointed moral messenger to bring pure, "christian" values to that location, whether anyone agrees with him or not. Under Bruce Laymon's vision of Larsen's Beach, judge Sabrina Shizue McKenna, nominated by Governor Neil Abercrombie to sit on the state supreme court, would be excluded from this PUBLIC beach because she is gay. The passing of civil unions and the imminent signing into law of that legislation must be causing Bruce Laymon to lose his mind. Meanwhile, how is it that Robert Schleck, who is gay, is Bruce Laymon's boss, a man who hates gays?! What is that?
Of course, the joke is on Bruce Laymon because Waioli Corporation is using him as a pawn to "clean up" the land so it can be sold to the highest bidder for housing development. Waioli Vice President Charles Spitz told us that recently, as well as that Waioli spent over $40,000. in legal fees over this issue. So much for Waioli valuing preservation.
This issue has severely damaged Waioli's reputation. Ms. Conrow, you ask how to stop the "insanity". How to stop it is for the pro-access board members (there ARE pro-access members) to dump Robert Schleck, Bruce Laymon, and the anti-access trustees on the board NOW. Deed to the public in perpetuity and irrevocably the gradual trail from the Kaakaaniu line to the Waipake line. It is time for Waioli Corporation to say "aloha" instead of "kapu".
From multiple reports we’ve heard, the level of fear and loathing out there has increased exponentially with reports of confrontational incidents spurred by Laymon against beach goers since he withdrew his request for a state permit recently... as those who can read between the lines of Conrow’s and the paper’s reports can tell.
But one “comment” on Conrow’s post struck us as needing further exposure, that of Lepeuli activist Richard Spacer.
While many on both sides of the issue have criticized Spacer for both his tactics and his position on some of the issues- and although we don’t necessarily agree with him on all points- we thought his rebuttal needed exposure especially regarding some of the history of prescriptive rights and the case law concerning nudity. We also think his “report” regarding the FBI’s visit to Laymon investigating possible hate crimes- which we have independently confirmed- needs more exposure.
The rest, we need to point out, we can neither confirm or refute but are lending today’s column to his side of a story that was presented so one-sidedly, especially in today’s newspaper.
The third part was originally “edited” by Conrow but we requested and received that portion from Spacer today and have included it below.
Here are his comments, all “sic.”
Seems like Bruce Laymon has got to you as well, Ms. Conrow.
The reason the public has the right to access the ala loa trail THROUGH Waioli Corporation land because under the Highways Act of 1892, passed during the reign of Queen Lililoukalani, all roads, trails, etc, at that time were guaranteed to be public forever. The trail through Lepeuli existed in 1892. There are official maps from 1878 clearly showing the trail. There is Native Hawaiian testimony. Waioli Corporation is crying foul becasue they do not like that 1892 law that Lililoukalani had the wisdom to install as she saw the changes coming, and how arrogant haole landowners would keep Hawaiians off the land. A court case on the Big Island concerning an ala loa there was resolved with maps and Native Hawaiian testimony. It is not a private property issue. That is PR spin from Waioli and Laymon becasue they do not want the public to know about the Highways Act of 1892. Google it, see for yourselves.
The same is true in next door Kaakaaniu, owned by Patricia Hanwright. DLNR's Curt Cottrell in 2007 sent her a letter essentially saying to get ready and let them in, as the state claims a coastal trail through there. Patricia Hanwright won't budge. The same stubborness as Waioli. Waioli and Patricia Hanwright are united in denying this trail exists. I have discussed this on KKCR.
The FBI investigated because the KPD has a long history of racism against Caucasians and activists feel little to no vaule will come from filing complaints against Bruce Laymon's hate speech with KPD. How coincidental was the Caucasian guys were at Laymon's home at the time of the FBI visit. Was the FBI visit scheduled in advance or did they make a surprise visit? Do you honestly think the macho he-man local boy police officer would do anything about a gay, lesbian or naturist being attacked? Whether his father is or is not Caucasian or anything else is irrelevant. Bruce Laymon's behavior stands on its own. Bruce Laymon on March 6 told Colorado beachgoer Dennis Bosio at 9:30 am that next week he was going to have 50 Hawaiians down at Larsen's and RUN the f****** haoles out. At 11:30 am the same day he told me he would have 100 Hawaiians there and said he was "taking back the beach." Whatever that is supposed to mean. Exactly HOW are the whites going to be "RUN" out of a PUBLIC beach? With guns, knives, machetes, spearguns, pit bulls?? Mr. Bosio made a notarized statement of the incident and this document is in the posession of the activists, DLNR, KPD, and attorney Colin Yost. It is publically accesible. It clearly documents Bruce Laymon's desire to drive white people out of Larsen's Beach. That means he is a bigot.
The Conservation District Use Permit (now void) granted to Bruce Laymon stated there would be no driving accross Waioli property to access the beach, unless it is NOAA or emergency vehicles. This is violated almost weekly by Filipino and Hawaiian associates of Bruce Laymon including Sherwood Iida who use Schoolhouse Road to set up camps, leave unattended fishing poles, and generally harass beachgoers. Funny how Bruce Laymon leaves that bit out.
Part 2.
The steep, un-maintained easement trail to the beach the Hawaiians mention is just that, an EASEMENT. We do not own it, Waioli does. If you read the easement document, and I assume you did because you were at county council July 7, 2010 when it was introduced, you would know Waioli reserves the right to erect walls or fencing on it. Waioli Attorney Don Wilson's theatrical on-camera denials notwithstanding, the legal document language reserves the right of Waioli to close it off.
Multiple times I have asked county spokesperson Mary Daubert to ask public works when they are going to maintain the county right-of-way trail we obtained in 1979 and the easment trail. I never get an answer as to when, and no improvement has been made to either trail in over a year. My latest request was referred to the county attorney. Why does Kauai County need to ask their lawyer before weed-whacking trails?
This "cattle ranching" project has little to do with cattle; it is all about keeping people away from Larsen's Beach that Bruce Laymon objects to. Who are those people? Bruce Laymon, Robert Schleck and Patricia Hanwright confidante and neighbor Steve Frailey have told us many times in public conversations, including October 16, 2009 at Larsen's. They use the euphemistic term "illegal behavior" to describe them. On January 19, 2011 a young lady who lives near the beach was attempting to use the gradual, lateral trail and was stopped by Bruce Laymon, busy installing 2 fence posts. She asked him who he was to stop her. He said he was the landowner. That is a fallacy. He is a lessee. She asked him WHY he was fencing. Bruce Laymon told her the fence is to keep campers, nudes, and gays from getting to the beach. In 2011 can you believe such bigoted speech is being uttered!? Campers on Waioli land is one thing. Gays and naturists on a public beach have legal protections and this hate speech against both groups is criminal and leaves Bruce Laymon and Waioli Corporation vulnerable to civil litigation. Being gay or lesbian in Hawaii is not illegal. Neither is topfree or nude sunbathing if you are not intending to affront of alarm (offend) someone on a NON-state park beach. A unanimous state supreme court ruling in 2000 settled this issue once and for all. A group called Kauai Naturists has been formed in response to recent events to document harassment of naturists, disseminate correct information, and to make certain this hate speech stops.
February 14, 2011 8:28 PM
Part 3 (note: only the final paragraph was permitted to be posted by Conrow. As noted above we received the first two paragraphs from Spacer):
Bruce Laymon is a Jehovah's Witness according to a member of that church I spoke with in Kapaa. This sect, many say cult, is well known for its intolerance of gays and lesbians. They consider it sinful and illegal. They also hate naturists. Bruce Laymon sees Larsen's as a sinful place and he is the appointed moral messenger to bring pure, "christian" values to that location, whether anyone agrees with him or not. Under Bruce Laymon's vision of Larsen's Beach, judge Sabrina Shizue McKenna, nominated by Governor Neil Abercrombie to sit on the state supreme court, would be excluded from this PUBLIC beach because she is gay. The passing of civil unions and the imminent signing into law of that legislation must be causing Bruce Laymon to lose his mind. Meanwhile, how is it that Robert Schleck, who is gay, is Bruce Laymon's boss, a man who hates gays?! What is that?
Of course, the joke is on Bruce Laymon because Waioli Corporation is using him as a pawn to "clean up" the land so it can be sold to the highest bidder for housing development. Waioli Vice President Charles Spitz told us that recently, as well as that Waioli spent over $40,000. in legal fees over this issue. So much for Waioli valuing preservation.
This issue has severely damaged Waioli's reputation. Ms. Conrow, you ask how to stop the "insanity". How to stop it is for the pro-access board members (there ARE pro-access members) to dump Robert Schleck, Bruce Laymon, and the anti-access trustees on the board NOW. Deed to the public in perpetuity and irrevocably the gradual trail from the Kaakaaniu line to the Waipake line. It is time for Waioli Corporation to say "aloha" instead of "kapu".
Thursday, January 20, 2011
CIRCLE GAMED
CIRCLE GAMED: It seemed too good to be true when those who have been fighting to keep the alaloa at Lepe`uli (Larson’s) Beach informed us that, through his attorney Lorna Nishimitsu, Bruce Laymon said he was surrendering his Conservation District Use Permit (CDUP) and apparently would not be fencing off the ancient trail, denying easy access to the shoreline.
But there it was in black and white. And when the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) made it official at its meeting in Honolulu a week ago the activists couldn’t believe all their hard work had paid off.
But guess what- as if you haven’t already?
Yesterday the calls and emails started flowing in saying that Laymon had begun clearing and fencing off the alaloa anyway.
According to a email from Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a, Laymon is “actively preparing to fence in the area of the alaloa.”
Laymon has already “brushhogged dunes 2 weeks ago (before the surrender)” according to Kallai and she cites an informed source who spoke to Laymon who told her Laymon is “planning to remove all the ironwoods and plant grass.”
Kallai also says that the harassment has begun again and that “(p)ig hunters were shooting this weekend towards the beach. Beach goers were discussing caliber size not wave height.”
And while Kallai could not be reached for further clarification today, others who phoned told us that the fencing work has actually begun.
But how could that be?
Kallai says that “(t)he ‘victory’ was all smoke” and that apparently Nishimitsu is claiming that the conservation district ends makai of the alaloa.
In her letter to the BLNR surrendering the CDUP Nishimitsu cryptically wrote:
Paradise Ranch has been waiting far too long to fence the makai section of its leased lands to expand its pasture area and needs to attend to confining its livestock while providing it the best forage possible.
The contested case before the BLNR was going to rest in small part on past contentions from Nishimitsu and Laymon about the actual location of the alaloa that have since been shown to be false. But thus far there had never been a contention that the alaloa did not rest in the conservation district and, rather, was in the state Agricultural District.
But while how the BLNR will react and how the determination of the conservation district boundary will be made isn’t yet clear, there is another, more local apparent violation- that of the “over the counter” or “minor” Shoreline Management Area (SMA) Permit Laymon has to do the clearing and fencing.
The SMA is a federal provision under the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Act that is administered by the county under state law. And any work done in the SMA- which many times exceeds the reach of the state conservation district as it apparently does in this case- no matter how minor, must have an SMA permit.
A “minor” SMA permit is different from a regular SMA in that it is not determined by the planning commission which would call for staff reports and public hearings but is issued “over the counter” based on representations to department staff. And the main determining factor for whether a “minor” SMA can be issued is the cost of the work to be done in the SMA area.
And that cost, last we checked, is $125 or less.
Of course there’s no way in hell the cost of the clearing and fencing operations are that low but a complaint must be filed and the department staff must ascertain the truth of the matter.
While it should be pointed out that we haven’t been able to actually see the operation and haven’t been able to independently verify what is going on at Lepe`uli with Laymon or Nishimitsu, multiple sources apparently confirm each others’ stories.
But there it was in black and white. And when the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) made it official at its meeting in Honolulu a week ago the activists couldn’t believe all their hard work had paid off.
But guess what- as if you haven’t already?
Yesterday the calls and emails started flowing in saying that Laymon had begun clearing and fencing off the alaloa anyway.
According to a email from Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a, Laymon is “actively preparing to fence in the area of the alaloa.”
Laymon has already “brushhogged dunes 2 weeks ago (before the surrender)” according to Kallai and she cites an informed source who spoke to Laymon who told her Laymon is “planning to remove all the ironwoods and plant grass.”
Kallai also says that the harassment has begun again and that “(p)ig hunters were shooting this weekend towards the beach. Beach goers were discussing caliber size not wave height.”
And while Kallai could not be reached for further clarification today, others who phoned told us that the fencing work has actually begun.
But how could that be?
Kallai says that “(t)he ‘victory’ was all smoke” and that apparently Nishimitsu is claiming that the conservation district ends makai of the alaloa.
In her letter to the BLNR surrendering the CDUP Nishimitsu cryptically wrote:
Paradise Ranch has been waiting far too long to fence the makai section of its leased lands to expand its pasture area and needs to attend to confining its livestock while providing it the best forage possible.
The contested case before the BLNR was going to rest in small part on past contentions from Nishimitsu and Laymon about the actual location of the alaloa that have since been shown to be false. But thus far there had never been a contention that the alaloa did not rest in the conservation district and, rather, was in the state Agricultural District.
But while how the BLNR will react and how the determination of the conservation district boundary will be made isn’t yet clear, there is another, more local apparent violation- that of the “over the counter” or “minor” Shoreline Management Area (SMA) Permit Laymon has to do the clearing and fencing.
The SMA is a federal provision under the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Act that is administered by the county under state law. And any work done in the SMA- which many times exceeds the reach of the state conservation district as it apparently does in this case- no matter how minor, must have an SMA permit.
A “minor” SMA permit is different from a regular SMA in that it is not determined by the planning commission which would call for staff reports and public hearings but is issued “over the counter” based on representations to department staff. And the main determining factor for whether a “minor” SMA can be issued is the cost of the work to be done in the SMA area.
And that cost, last we checked, is $125 or less.
Of course there’s no way in hell the cost of the clearing and fencing operations are that low but a complaint must be filed and the department staff must ascertain the truth of the matter.
While it should be pointed out that we haven’t been able to actually see the operation and haven’t been able to independently verify what is going on at Lepe`uli with Laymon or Nishimitsu, multiple sources apparently confirm each others’ stories.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
WILL IT GO ROUND IN CIRCLES?
WILL IT GO ROUND IN CIRCLES?: We know better than to get too get delusional when the prospects for a governmental action exceeds expectations.
And after eight years of getting up every day wondering what kind of f**ked-up s**t ex-Governor Linda Lingle (boy it feels good to write that) has cooked up today we have to be careful not to engage in too much relativism.
But even before tomorrow’s first meeting of the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) under new Chair Bill Aila takes place his appointment has already bourn fruit with the news that the infamous rage-a-holic Bruce Laymon has given up his efforts to fence off the alaloa at Lepe`uli (Larsen’s) Beach.
Copies of a letter (thanks to Joan Conrow and Roger Jacobs for the document postings) from Laymon’s attorney, Lorna Nishimitsu, to the BLNR’s staff surrendering his Conservation District Use Permit (CDUP) came flying into our inbox Monday from many who had fought to stop Laymon from harassing beach goers and violating kanaka rights.
It comes on the heels of a new staff report recommending a contested case hearing be granted after the original report was found to be a bunch of bogus bullbleep that simply ignored the testimony of many in the community and rammed through the permit based on Laymon’s misrepresentations.
The problem is that now comes the hard work for Aila, mostly because he’s stuck with most of Lingle’s appointees like the Kaua`i BLNR “representative” Ron Agor whose two-faced actions led to the permit being issued in the first place.
While Agor was telling opponents of the permit that he would fight it, records showed that his support for Laymon was the deciding factor in convincing the board to approve it since many times the board relies on neighbor island reps in deciding issues on their islands.
Aila- and Kaua`i- is stuck with Agor for another year and a half since his four-year term doesn’t end until June 30, 2012- unless he can somehow be forced or persuaded to resign.
In addition to the issue of prescriptive and PASH rights to access to the alaloa- an historic trail that runs around the island near the shore which Laymon’s permit allowed him to fence off in the area- one of the issues has been Laymon himself and his campaign to “clean up” the area.
Although the “cleaning” was said by Laymon and his handful of supporters to relate to trash that’s been left in the area it’s been clear that the real cleansing Laymon desired was that of haoles from the area with a plethora of notorious episodes of harassment of tourists and local Caucasians reported over the last few years in which Laymon insisted on characterizing them all as “hippie campers.”
Laymon was even accused of vandalizing his own equipment and blaming “campers” to gain public sympathy although no one was able to prove who did it one way or the other.
Another winner in all this, aside from the people of Kaua`i, appears to be the owner and leaser of the land, the Waioli Corporation, whose non-profit, do-good, historical-preservation mission has been tainted in all this and will now be able allow the episode to fade into memory.
As we said, we’re not ready to declare a new era for the Department of Land and Natural Recourses and it’s Board. But it is nice when the good guys win every once in a while.
For more information on some of the incidents see our past coverage and Joan Conrow’s Tuesday report and recap.
And after eight years of getting up every day wondering what kind of f**ked-up s**t ex-Governor Linda Lingle (boy it feels good to write that) has cooked up today we have to be careful not to engage in too much relativism.
But even before tomorrow’s first meeting of the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) under new Chair Bill Aila takes place his appointment has already bourn fruit with the news that the infamous rage-a-holic Bruce Laymon has given up his efforts to fence off the alaloa at Lepe`uli (Larsen’s) Beach.
Copies of a letter (thanks to Joan Conrow and Roger Jacobs for the document postings) from Laymon’s attorney, Lorna Nishimitsu, to the BLNR’s staff surrendering his Conservation District Use Permit (CDUP) came flying into our inbox Monday from many who had fought to stop Laymon from harassing beach goers and violating kanaka rights.
It comes on the heels of a new staff report recommending a contested case hearing be granted after the original report was found to be a bunch of bogus bullbleep that simply ignored the testimony of many in the community and rammed through the permit based on Laymon’s misrepresentations.
The problem is that now comes the hard work for Aila, mostly because he’s stuck with most of Lingle’s appointees like the Kaua`i BLNR “representative” Ron Agor whose two-faced actions led to the permit being issued in the first place.
While Agor was telling opponents of the permit that he would fight it, records showed that his support for Laymon was the deciding factor in convincing the board to approve it since many times the board relies on neighbor island reps in deciding issues on their islands.
Aila- and Kaua`i- is stuck with Agor for another year and a half since his four-year term doesn’t end until June 30, 2012- unless he can somehow be forced or persuaded to resign.
In addition to the issue of prescriptive and PASH rights to access to the alaloa- an historic trail that runs around the island near the shore which Laymon’s permit allowed him to fence off in the area- one of the issues has been Laymon himself and his campaign to “clean up” the area.
Although the “cleaning” was said by Laymon and his handful of supporters to relate to trash that’s been left in the area it’s been clear that the real cleansing Laymon desired was that of haoles from the area with a plethora of notorious episodes of harassment of tourists and local Caucasians reported over the last few years in which Laymon insisted on characterizing them all as “hippie campers.”
Laymon was even accused of vandalizing his own equipment and blaming “campers” to gain public sympathy although no one was able to prove who did it one way or the other.
Another winner in all this, aside from the people of Kaua`i, appears to be the owner and leaser of the land, the Waioli Corporation, whose non-profit, do-good, historical-preservation mission has been tainted in all this and will now be able allow the episode to fade into memory.
As we said, we’re not ready to declare a new era for the Department of Land and Natural Recourses and it’s Board. But it is nice when the good guys win every once in a while.
For more information on some of the incidents see our past coverage and Joan Conrow’s Tuesday report and recap.
Monday, July 12, 2010
YOU’D BETTER HURRY ‘CAUSE IT’S GOING FAST
YOU’D BETTER HURRY ‘CAUSE IT’S GOING FAST: Like the contents of Fibber Mcgee’s closet the Lepe`uli (Larsen’s) Beach Controversy spilled into its first recorded public forum at last Wednesday’s council meeting replete with hidden agendas, denials of racism, land grabs and lawyerly gaffs.
It all began suddenly when Mayor Bernard Carvalho conspired with the owner that’s been blocking access to the portion of the alaloa- a Hawaiian language word meaning “highway, main road, belt road around an island, along road” not the name of a trail itself as the newspaper reported- where it runs above the beach at Lepe`uli.
In seeking to throw a monkey wrench in owner Waioli Corporation’s lessee Bruce Laymon’s plans to cut off access to the alaloa and limit access to the beach Carvalho and Waioli Attorney Don Wilson sprung a “new access” easement agreement on the council just before the long July 4th/furlough Friday, four-day weekend and then tried to ram it though the council the following Wednesday.
The battle has finally gotten traction at the state level with a Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) investigation of the whole matter including bogus claims by another Waioli attorney Lorna Nishimitsu and Laymon himself, first as to whether there is even a traditional trail portion from Anahola to Kilauea and later as to it’s location (see previous reports linked above).
But it became obvious that Waioli was trying to “donate” an easement via a trail that isn’t the official but overgrown county owned access at the south end of the beach but is right next to it, in order to convince the DLNR that there is access to the beach so it’s ok to block that portion of the alaloa, which has been in use “since time immemorial” according to everyone not associated with either Waioli or Laymon and his ranching operation.
The fear that the DLNR will soon find that the alaloa is a “prescriptive use” access has apparently struck so much fear in Waioli that they replaced Nishimitsu with Wilson, whose stammering, often contradictory and occasionally high pitched testimony before the council only served to make matters worse for Waioli
Wilson tried at times to deny the existence of the alaloa and later to perpetuate the confusion as to where it was before admitting under questioning by Councilpersons Tim Bynum and Lani Kawahara that yes, the alaloa did exist but echoing Laymon’s desire to stop access due to what’s been characterized as “nude campers leaving trash” at the beach- a characterization that has been taken by many to mean “haoles” especially after a slew of reports of rants by Laymon using that term pejoratively .
This is not the first attack on the alaloa. In the 90’s developer of Kealia Kai Tom McCloskey, whose Moloa`a Bay Ranch encompasses another portion of the trail just north of Moloa`a lost his battle to relocate the trail to the rocks below and the alaloa became a candidate for preservation by the state Na Ala Hele Commission before the state withdrew support and funding for the group and it fell apart.
At first Wilson tried to give the impression that the offer might go away if it wasn’t accepted by the council last Wednesday although later, after a break, he admitted that wasn’t the case.
Coincidentally the last time we remember anyone trying to rush through a Trojan Horse gift like this- one with a one day “take it now or lose it” rider- was McCloskey’s gift of the area above the area of the bike path north of Kealia which would have become a private beach with limited access had the deed been accepted "as is" the day it was introduced and set for fast tracking by then Mayor Maryanne Kusaka and then Councilperson Bryan Baptiste.
Then, as on Wednesday, the matter was deferred after some on the council smelled a rat.
Those records left by Na Ala Hele were apparently a taking off point Bynum and Kawahara used to show where the trail runs and the prior attempts to preserve it.
But what stood out was this bizarre argument by Laymon and Wilson along with one of Laymon’s employees that the gently sloping alaloa with it’s many easy side trials to the beach would somehow encourage the “trash” in the area, presumably left by these so-called naked campers even though much of the trash Laymon cleaned up in a beach clean up recently had been there for many decades.
The thinly veiled race card hung over the room as did Laymon’s apparent homophobic rage over clothing optional nature of the secluded beach- where his employees have been accused by witnesses of using binoculars to ogle naked women- as he ranted in code about maintaining access for “local people” while keeping others out, intimating that somehow local people including kupuna could and would navigate the steep new access while others would not.
But, as revered kupuna Richard and Linda Sproat’s daughter, attorney and UH Professor of Hawaiian Studies Kapua Sproat told the council the alaloa is legally protected under state laws as a prescriptive access for all that’s been in continual use as long as anyone can remember.
The DLNR investigation was initiated after the Office of Hawaiian Affairs responded to citizen’s complaints over Laymon’s Conservation District Area Use permit, especially complaints by the Kaua`i Group of the Sierra Club which has been trying to protect the alaloa segment for more than a decade as we’ve detailed during the past year.
What Waioli is doing backing Laymon in this is the one of the more baffling things about the whole matter. You would think they’d take advantage of the terroristic threatening he’s been accused of along with his historic utter disregard for grubbing and grading laws to try to revoke his lease and give it to someone sensitive to the community’s concerns.
Laymon still doesn’t get it. He tried to tell a story complaining that recently he was ready to just illegally bulldoze the old overgrown county owned access without a permit in a sensitive special management area and conservation district but was “threatened” with being reported to the authorities by those trying to preserve the area to somehow say he is being prevented from “helping”.
For the record Laymon denied being “a racist”
The area at Lepe`uli contains not just documented burials but documented evidence of a “ancient” Hawaiian village which have been disturbed by his ranching and fencing operations without a cultural study of the area.
Wilson wondered aloud why the alaloa is even part of the discussion complaining that this is “going on and on and on” for Waioli. But didn’t seem to notice the irony that it’s been their actions in allowing Laymon to garner community enmity by blocking access and perpetuating the race-baiting conflicts that has made put the issue before the council.
Waioli Corp used to have a good name in the community through it’s historic preservation mission and actions. Now that has seemingly gone out the window due to the blind spot they have for Laymon and Lepe`uli and the disregard for the historic and cultural nature of the alaloa and Lepe`uli in general.
If they had decided to say “ok- we’ll move our fence back and the pubic can have the alaloa and beach access- it would have cost them less in blood and treasure than this fight which now may not end for the community until the whole area becomes an historic and cultural preserve.
The question remains for Laymon and Waioli Corp– are “illegal activities” at Larson’s beach such as littering enough to block access? Even if so is the answer blocking access or enforcing the law? And if so, should we block access to all beaches where litter is found?
The public awaits answers to those questions and more as the council awaits the DLNR report and will take up the matter again on August 23.
It all began suddenly when Mayor Bernard Carvalho conspired with the owner that’s been blocking access to the portion of the alaloa- a Hawaiian language word meaning “highway, main road, belt road around an island, along road” not the name of a trail itself as the newspaper reported- where it runs above the beach at Lepe`uli.
In seeking to throw a monkey wrench in owner Waioli Corporation’s lessee Bruce Laymon’s plans to cut off access to the alaloa and limit access to the beach Carvalho and Waioli Attorney Don Wilson sprung a “new access” easement agreement on the council just before the long July 4th/furlough Friday, four-day weekend and then tried to ram it though the council the following Wednesday.
The battle has finally gotten traction at the state level with a Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) investigation of the whole matter including bogus claims by another Waioli attorney Lorna Nishimitsu and Laymon himself, first as to whether there is even a traditional trail portion from Anahola to Kilauea and later as to it’s location (see previous reports linked above).
But it became obvious that Waioli was trying to “donate” an easement via a trail that isn’t the official but overgrown county owned access at the south end of the beach but is right next to it, in order to convince the DLNR that there is access to the beach so it’s ok to block that portion of the alaloa, which has been in use “since time immemorial” according to everyone not associated with either Waioli or Laymon and his ranching operation.
The fear that the DLNR will soon find that the alaloa is a “prescriptive use” access has apparently struck so much fear in Waioli that they replaced Nishimitsu with Wilson, whose stammering, often contradictory and occasionally high pitched testimony before the council only served to make matters worse for Waioli
Wilson tried at times to deny the existence of the alaloa and later to perpetuate the confusion as to where it was before admitting under questioning by Councilpersons Tim Bynum and Lani Kawahara that yes, the alaloa did exist but echoing Laymon’s desire to stop access due to what’s been characterized as “nude campers leaving trash” at the beach- a characterization that has been taken by many to mean “haoles” especially after a slew of reports of rants by Laymon using that term pejoratively .
This is not the first attack on the alaloa. In the 90’s developer of Kealia Kai Tom McCloskey, whose Moloa`a Bay Ranch encompasses another portion of the trail just north of Moloa`a lost his battle to relocate the trail to the rocks below and the alaloa became a candidate for preservation by the state Na Ala Hele Commission before the state withdrew support and funding for the group and it fell apart.
At first Wilson tried to give the impression that the offer might go away if it wasn’t accepted by the council last Wednesday although later, after a break, he admitted that wasn’t the case.
Coincidentally the last time we remember anyone trying to rush through a Trojan Horse gift like this- one with a one day “take it now or lose it” rider- was McCloskey’s gift of the area above the area of the bike path north of Kealia which would have become a private beach with limited access had the deed been accepted "as is" the day it was introduced and set for fast tracking by then Mayor Maryanne Kusaka and then Councilperson Bryan Baptiste.
Then, as on Wednesday, the matter was deferred after some on the council smelled a rat.
Those records left by Na Ala Hele were apparently a taking off point Bynum and Kawahara used to show where the trail runs and the prior attempts to preserve it.
But what stood out was this bizarre argument by Laymon and Wilson along with one of Laymon’s employees that the gently sloping alaloa with it’s many easy side trials to the beach would somehow encourage the “trash” in the area, presumably left by these so-called naked campers even though much of the trash Laymon cleaned up in a beach clean up recently had been there for many decades.
The thinly veiled race card hung over the room as did Laymon’s apparent homophobic rage over clothing optional nature of the secluded beach- where his employees have been accused by witnesses of using binoculars to ogle naked women- as he ranted in code about maintaining access for “local people” while keeping others out, intimating that somehow local people including kupuna could and would navigate the steep new access while others would not.
But, as revered kupuna Richard and Linda Sproat’s daughter, attorney and UH Professor of Hawaiian Studies Kapua Sproat told the council the alaloa is legally protected under state laws as a prescriptive access for all that’s been in continual use as long as anyone can remember.
The DLNR investigation was initiated after the Office of Hawaiian Affairs responded to citizen’s complaints over Laymon’s Conservation District Area Use permit, especially complaints by the Kaua`i Group of the Sierra Club which has been trying to protect the alaloa segment for more than a decade as we’ve detailed during the past year.
What Waioli is doing backing Laymon in this is the one of the more baffling things about the whole matter. You would think they’d take advantage of the terroristic threatening he’s been accused of along with his historic utter disregard for grubbing and grading laws to try to revoke his lease and give it to someone sensitive to the community’s concerns.
Laymon still doesn’t get it. He tried to tell a story complaining that recently he was ready to just illegally bulldoze the old overgrown county owned access without a permit in a sensitive special management area and conservation district but was “threatened” with being reported to the authorities by those trying to preserve the area to somehow say he is being prevented from “helping”.
For the record Laymon denied being “a racist”
The area at Lepe`uli contains not just documented burials but documented evidence of a “ancient” Hawaiian village which have been disturbed by his ranching and fencing operations without a cultural study of the area.
Wilson wondered aloud why the alaloa is even part of the discussion complaining that this is “going on and on and on” for Waioli. But didn’t seem to notice the irony that it’s been their actions in allowing Laymon to garner community enmity by blocking access and perpetuating the race-baiting conflicts that has made put the issue before the council.
Waioli Corp used to have a good name in the community through it’s historic preservation mission and actions. Now that has seemingly gone out the window due to the blind spot they have for Laymon and Lepe`uli and the disregard for the historic and cultural nature of the alaloa and Lepe`uli in general.
If they had decided to say “ok- we’ll move our fence back and the pubic can have the alaloa and beach access- it would have cost them less in blood and treasure than this fight which now may not end for the community until the whole area becomes an historic and cultural preserve.
The question remains for Laymon and Waioli Corp– are “illegal activities” at Larson’s beach such as littering enough to block access? Even if so is the answer blocking access or enforcing the law? And if so, should we block access to all beaches where litter is found?
The public awaits answers to those questions and more as the council awaits the DLNR report and will take up the matter again on August 23.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
(PNN) THREE BURIALS UNEARTHED BY COWS AT LEPEULI UNCEREMONIOUSLY REBURIED BY SHPD’S MCMAHON WITHOUT BURIAL COUNCIL NOTIFICATION.
THREE BURIALS UNEARTHED BY COWS AT LEPEULI UNCEREMONIOUSLY REBURIED BY SHPD’S MCMAHON WITHOUT BURIAL COUNCIL NOTIFICATION.
LETTER DETAILS HARASSMENT OF TOURISTS BY LAYMON CONTINUES ON DISPUTED TRAIL
(PNN) -- Three burials that were disinterred by Bruce Laymon's cattle operation on Waioli Corporation property at Lepeuli (Larsen’s Beach) and were unceremoniously moved and reinterred by State Historical Preservation Division (SHPD) Archeologist Nancy McMahon, according to a letter from McMahon to Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a.
And in other developments the harassment of tourists by Laymon continues according to 62-year-old “snowbird” tourist Dennis L. Bosio.
The re-burials were apparently done without any notification or processing by the Kaua`i Burial Council (KBC).
In response to a letter from Kallai detailing her discovery of the reburials including maps to the area of the apparent re-interment, McMahon wrote to Kallai on December 17, 2009
Hi Hope,
This looks like the reinterment location that Eddie Ayau former Burial Staff of SHPD and myself did after three individuals were discovered at the base of the trail in the sandy beach as someone cut the fence or it broke and cattle wandered the area, apparently following the trail.
Thanks I will take a look as soon as possible.
Nancy McMahon,
Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer
Archaeology and Historic Preservation Manager
State Archaeologist
According to a Sept 11, 2009 memo marked “confidential” and obtained by Kallai. McMahon wrote to the DLNR’s Sam Lemmo:
"In Field 12 near the shoreline Hawaiian burials were found when the cattle broke the fence and eroded a trail. The reinterment is just below the fence in the boulder area in a gully at the end of Larsen's Beach Trail. In this area we recommend hand clearing no machinery and little herbicide use."
According to Kallai the burials are part of an ancient Hawaiian village as determined by archeologist David Burney of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens who has done extensive work at the caves in Maha`ulepu.
According to minutes from a Na Ala Hele meeting in 1998 Burney said the site may be “the oldest archaeological site on Kauai ”.
Kallai says that despite the fact that “Dr. Dave Burney (NTBG) corroborated the area as a significant archaeological site, with at least 2 distinct habitation layers”- a fact he reported to Waioli shortly after Hurricane ‘Iniki- “no protective measures were instituted” and no environmental assessment, which would include cultural impacts under HRS 343, has ever been conducted.
Currently there is an appeal pending before the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) for a conservation district use permit (CDUP) Laymon has obtained to do work in the area to pasture cattle, as PNN reported last month.
The incident of harassment occurred on March 6 according to Bosio, when he and a friend were “on the lateral trail where the trail becomes a road” according to a letter written that day by Bosio and obtained by PNN.
The letter says:
This morning about 9:30am... (a) man who identified himself as Bruce Laymon got out of a dump truck and confronted me.
He said " you are on private property and you know it, I am going to take your picture and the next time we see you on our property we will have you arrested". He was agitated, threatening and confrontational. He did not take my picture at this time but did yell at some workers to remember me if I came back on their property.
He accused me of being part of the group vandalizing his equipment and taking pictures and stirring up trouble. I had no idea about the damage to the equipment until the afternoon when I got the newspaper and saw today’s story.
A little while later I walked back down south on the beach a hundred yards or so and was talking to 2 guys I see there alot. We were on the sand not too far from the grass line. The guy who said he was Bruce Laymon came down on to the sand and started yelling at me again. He took my picture with a disposable camera and asked me for my name. When I smiled for the picture he said, "you better watch out, you think this is funny." He was yelling about how he was going to have 50 Hawaiians down here next week and they were going to take the beach back. "You watch and see, we will run you haoli's (sic) out of here. That's all you fucking haoli's do is come down here, get naked, and leave all kinds of shit back here in woods." He also yelled about how his entire crew was family and that's why they were doing this work, to reclaim the beach for their family and the Hawaiians.
I tried to calm him down and talk to him but he was having none of that. He kept accusing me of stirring up trouble. He also said that I was spreading lies through the newspaper.
Nice aloha spirit,
dennis
But Bosio did not make the letter public until May 5th saying
I have waited this long to make this account public because at the time my wife and I had 3 weeks remaining of vacation, we were renting near the Larsens (sic) Beach road, we walked Koolau road and Larsen’s Beach access road daily and were afraid we would run into either Bruce Laymon or one of his hired hands again. He was very threatening.
He ended by saying:
The above is a true and honest narrative of my encounter on March 6, 2010.
When I was confronted I was on a trail that I have used hundreds of times over the past seven years. There was a large truck, several pickups, guys with chain saws, and other large machinery clearing right up to the beach sand. I did not think that was right. I had taken pictures of the clearing work previous days, shared them with locals, and at least one of my pictures was in The Garden Island newspaper. I don’t know how they got it.
My wife and I are 62 year old retirees and have been coming to Kauai each winter for a month or two. We have real reservations about spending our vacation dollars on Kauai in the future. Just the lodging and rental car taxes for our two month’s on island this year were over $1,300. Larsen’s Beach is a unique natural treasure and the Larsen’s Beach experience is one that attracts a great deal of tourist revenue to Kauai . I hope it is protected for future generations.
Dennis L. Bosio
Kallai’s research into the significant cultural activities at Lepeuli are summarized in a letter to Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chief Executive Officer Clyde Nāmu'o.
The letter details the history of the region and so the need for a cultural impact statement according to Kallai. For those with an interest it is reprinted in full below.
RE: Cultural Impact Assessment Request
CDUA Permit Application 3525
DOCARE KA 09-12
Lepeuli, Ko`olau District, Kauai
Aloha no Mr. Nāmu'o and OHA:
There is a very distressing situation in the Lepeuli ahupua`a, Ko`olau District, of Kauai . A Conservation District Use Application has been submitted by Paradise Ranch, LLC and its attorney, Lorna Nishimitsu. This ahupua`a was acquired by Abner Wilcox in 1851 (Land Grant 530 for 535 acres for $535.68), with reservations (Koe ke kuleana o na kanaka) for the following kuleana(see attached): Kamokuliu (0519), Koleaka (05020), Kawelo(09073) , Kalawa (09149), Luahine (10014 also RP 4233), Makulu (0000K01), and a 20 acre Land Grant to Kane (523 in 2 apana). These kuleana areas are proposed to be disked, fenced and cross fenced for pasturage for commercial cattle production.
The Lepeuli Ahupua`a in the Ko`olau District of Kauai was a densely occupied coastal community of several hundred Native Hawaiians for about a thousand years, with features including ancient habitation sites,`auwai, agricultural sites and lo`i kalo, mala of noni, wauke, and u`ala, ponds and fish ponds, heiau and pa, and burial sites of `iwi kupuna. Coastal Alaloa connected the inter-related ahuua`a of the Koolau District from Kealia to Hanalei, through neigh boring areas of Moloa`a, Ka`aka`aniu, Lepeuli, Waipake, Pila`a, Kahili,Namahana, Kilauea and Waiakalua. Waipake kuleana landholders had kula of wauke in Moloa`a, connected by the coastal Ala Loa. A houselot in a Ka`aka`aniu kuleana had lo`i kalo in Lepeuli, documenting the inter-connectedness of these coastal fishing and agricultural communities
Taro production continued in Lepeuli Stream valley until the mid-1930's, when it was replaced by rice grown by the Japanese famers of Waipake. Contact period historic features include a four-room school, church, cemetery, pasture lands and piggery, sugar plantation ditches, and railroad tracks and the summer house of the plantation luna, L. David Larsen.
There has been no archaeological or cultural impact assessment of the potential impacts of proposed Paradise Ranch project on Waioli Corporation lands. There has never been any survey or inventory of Lepeuli. Applicant is applying for federal funds through the EQIP conservation program, subject to National Environmental Policy Act, which requires an assessment of environmental injustice assessment for particular impacts to subsistence hunters and gathers, dis-advantaged economic groups, races and cultural minorities.
According to Articles IX and XII of the State Constitution and other state laws, the state requires government agencies to "promote and preserve cultural beliefs, practices, and resources of Native Hawaiians and other ethnic groups."
The Department of Health (DOH), Chapter 343, requires an Environmental Assessment of cultural resources in determining significance and potential impacts of a proposed project.
Lepeuli has significant cultural and historic resources. The Ka`aka`aniu Reef system is the most highly documented tended limu in Hawai`i Nei, still of great important to the local residents. According to the predictive model of nearby archaeological assessments in Waipake and Moloa`a Bay Ranch, habitation sites and agricultural developments are expected to be in the stream valley with dryland terracing and agriculture on the slopes. Ancient and earlier prehistoric sites are predicted to be under the kuleana land filings. The historic ala loa joined the coastal communities throughout the Ko`olau District from Kealia to Hanalei.
The large swells of early December, 2009 exposed a significant archaeological site overlooking the stream channel of (de-watered) Lepeuli Stream. I notified SHPD (see attached); they claim it as one of their re-interments (see attached) - but there are significant features and charcoal firepits. I don't believe Nancy McMahon has been out to take a look.
There must be an archaeological and cultural impact assessment of the potential impacts of this Paradise Ranch CDUA to the Native Hawaiian community and it's special cultural resources and practices, including religious, subsistence fishing and gathering, by considering the impact of agricultural runoff to the reef resources of Ka`aka`aniu and cattle upon the historic kuleana lands of native Hawaiians in Lepeuli. Historic use by Japanese workers of Kilauea Sugar Plantation is highly documented. The only current residents of Lepeuli are descendents of Ko` olau School students.
I read with great respect your comments on the Moloa`a Bay Ranch CDUA. This Paradise Ranch project is of greater (more habitation and cultural uses) or equal importance, yet the Hawaiian community was not included for comments. The only history (and wildlife biology) was done by the applicant's attorney. Most of the Anahola community (including traditional cultural users and lineal descendents) do not know about this project. Federal funds should not be used to close off access to this important reef system. Paradise Ranch should not be allowed to rip and disk kuleana sands and back dunes (to increase water percolation!). Mr. Laymon, (known to disturb resting places of `iwi kupuna in prior CD violations) has stated that he knows where there are native Hawaiian burials. Scary.
Attached is a section excerpted from the Paradise Ranch SMA application that really deserves serious scrutiny.
Mahalo for your immediate action on this request and for requiring a cultural impact and archaeological assessment prior to any more impacting actions on these precious ancient Hawaiian homes and Conservation District Lands. Please contact me if you need any more information. Thank you for taking immediate steps to protect these resources and keep our history alive.
Hope Kallai
There were kuleana reserved in Lepeuli and resided on by Native Hawaiians until the 1930-1940’s. There are plenty of records and rememberences of these people. There are lineal descendents in the area.
One kuleana holder questioned whether he had to still pay taxes to the konohiki after Wilcox got Grant 530 Plenty of Hawaiian presence. The remains of a population of several hundred people living in Lepeuli for perhaps a thousand years are in the sands and lands of Lepeuli – not just 3 individuals. Conversion of house lots of kuleana to pasture has potential to significantly impact preservation and salvage of significant cultural resources. Closure of an ancient trail to important cultural resources is unacceptable.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has concerns with this project. Their comments have not been considered. There must be a culturally respectful plan for the re-burials; they must be offered protection from mechanized manipulation of the soil, herbicides and cattle manure. This is culturally and socially unconscionable. Burials in a commercial cow pasture! AUWE!
--------
We’re again forced to take a long weekend to take care of pressing matters. See ya Monday or so.
LETTER DETAILS HARASSMENT OF TOURISTS BY LAYMON CONTINUES ON DISPUTED TRAIL
(PNN) -- Three burials that were disinterred by Bruce Laymon's cattle operation on Waioli Corporation property at Lepeuli (Larsen’s Beach) and were unceremoniously moved and reinterred by State Historical Preservation Division (SHPD) Archeologist Nancy McMahon, according to a letter from McMahon to Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a.
And in other developments the harassment of tourists by Laymon continues according to 62-year-old “snowbird” tourist Dennis L. Bosio.
The re-burials were apparently done without any notification or processing by the Kaua`i Burial Council (KBC).
In response to a letter from Kallai detailing her discovery of the reburials including maps to the area of the apparent re-interment, McMahon wrote to Kallai on December 17, 2009
Hi Hope,
This looks like the reinterment location that Eddie Ayau former Burial Staff of SHPD and myself did after three individuals were discovered at the base of the trail in the sandy beach as someone cut the fence or it broke and cattle wandered the area, apparently following the trail.
Thanks I will take a look as soon as possible.
Nancy McMahon,
Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer
Archaeology and Historic Preservation Manager
State Archaeologist
According to a Sept 11, 2009 memo marked “confidential” and obtained by Kallai. McMahon wrote to the DLNR’s Sam Lemmo:
"In Field 12 near the shoreline Hawaiian burials were found when the cattle broke the fence and eroded a trail. The reinterment is just below the fence in the boulder area in a gully at the end of Larsen's Beach Trail. In this area we recommend hand clearing no machinery and little herbicide use."
According to Kallai the burials are part of an ancient Hawaiian village as determined by archeologist David Burney of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens who has done extensive work at the caves in Maha`ulepu.
According to minutes from a Na Ala Hele meeting in 1998 Burney said the site may be “the oldest archaeological site on Kauai ”.
Kallai says that despite the fact that “Dr. Dave Burney (NTBG) corroborated the area as a significant archaeological site, with at least 2 distinct habitation layers”- a fact he reported to Waioli shortly after Hurricane ‘Iniki- “no protective measures were instituted” and no environmental assessment, which would include cultural impacts under HRS 343, has ever been conducted.
Currently there is an appeal pending before the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) for a conservation district use permit (CDUP) Laymon has obtained to do work in the area to pasture cattle, as PNN reported last month.
The incident of harassment occurred on March 6 according to Bosio, when he and a friend were “on the lateral trail where the trail becomes a road” according to a letter written that day by Bosio and obtained by PNN.
The letter says:
This morning about 9:30am... (a) man who identified himself as Bruce Laymon got out of a dump truck and confronted me.
He said " you are on private property and you know it, I am going to take your picture and the next time we see you on our property we will have you arrested". He was agitated, threatening and confrontational. He did not take my picture at this time but did yell at some workers to remember me if I came back on their property.
He accused me of being part of the group vandalizing his equipment and taking pictures and stirring up trouble. I had no idea about the damage to the equipment until the afternoon when I got the newspaper and saw today’s story.
A little while later I walked back down south on the beach a hundred yards or so and was talking to 2 guys I see there alot. We were on the sand not too far from the grass line. The guy who said he was Bruce Laymon came down on to the sand and started yelling at me again. He took my picture with a disposable camera and asked me for my name. When I smiled for the picture he said, "you better watch out, you think this is funny." He was yelling about how he was going to have 50 Hawaiians down here next week and they were going to take the beach back. "You watch and see, we will run you haoli's (sic) out of here. That's all you fucking haoli's do is come down here, get naked, and leave all kinds of shit back here in woods." He also yelled about how his entire crew was family and that's why they were doing this work, to reclaim the beach for their family and the Hawaiians.
I tried to calm him down and talk to him but he was having none of that. He kept accusing me of stirring up trouble. He also said that I was spreading lies through the newspaper.
Nice aloha spirit,
dennis
But Bosio did not make the letter public until May 5th saying
I have waited this long to make this account public because at the time my wife and I had 3 weeks remaining of vacation, we were renting near the Larsens (sic) Beach road, we walked Koolau road and Larsen’s Beach access road daily and were afraid we would run into either Bruce Laymon or one of his hired hands again. He was very threatening.
He ended by saying:
The above is a true and honest narrative of my encounter on March 6, 2010.
When I was confronted I was on a trail that I have used hundreds of times over the past seven years. There was a large truck, several pickups, guys with chain saws, and other large machinery clearing right up to the beach sand. I did not think that was right. I had taken pictures of the clearing work previous days, shared them with locals, and at least one of my pictures was in The Garden Island newspaper. I don’t know how they got it.
My wife and I are 62 year old retirees and have been coming to Kauai each winter for a month or two. We have real reservations about spending our vacation dollars on Kauai in the future. Just the lodging and rental car taxes for our two month’s on island this year were over $1,300. Larsen’s Beach is a unique natural treasure and the Larsen’s Beach experience is one that attracts a great deal of tourist revenue to Kauai . I hope it is protected for future generations.
Dennis L. Bosio
Kallai’s research into the significant cultural activities at Lepeuli are summarized in a letter to Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chief Executive Officer Clyde Nāmu'o.
The letter details the history of the region and so the need for a cultural impact statement according to Kallai. For those with an interest it is reprinted in full below.
RE: Cultural Impact Assessment Request
CDUA Permit Application 3525
DOCARE KA 09-12
Lepeuli, Ko`olau District, Kauai
Aloha no Mr. Nāmu'o and OHA:
There is a very distressing situation in the Lepeuli ahupua`a, Ko`olau District, of Kauai . A Conservation District Use Application has been submitted by Paradise Ranch, LLC and its attorney, Lorna Nishimitsu. This ahupua`a was acquired by Abner Wilcox in 1851 (Land Grant 530 for 535 acres for $535.68), with reservations (Koe ke kuleana o na kanaka) for the following kuleana(see attached): Kamokuliu (0519), Koleaka (05020), Kawelo(09073) , Kalawa (09149), Luahine (10014 also RP 4233), Makulu (0000K01), and a 20 acre Land Grant to Kane (523 in 2 apana). These kuleana areas are proposed to be disked, fenced and cross fenced for pasturage for commercial cattle production.
The Lepeuli Ahupua`a in the Ko`olau District of Kauai was a densely occupied coastal community of several hundred Native Hawaiians for about a thousand years, with features including ancient habitation sites,`auwai, agricultural sites and lo`i kalo, mala of noni, wauke, and u`ala, ponds and fish ponds, heiau and pa, and burial sites of `iwi kupuna. Coastal Alaloa connected the inter-related ahuua`a of the Koolau District from Kealia to Hanalei, through neigh boring areas of Moloa`a, Ka`aka`aniu, Lepeuli, Waipake, Pila`a, Kahili,Namahana, Kilauea and Waiakalua. Waipake kuleana landholders had kula of wauke in Moloa`a, connected by the coastal Ala Loa. A houselot in a Ka`aka`aniu kuleana had lo`i kalo in Lepeuli, documenting the inter-connectedness of these coastal fishing and agricultural communities
Taro production continued in Lepeuli Stream valley until the mid-1930's, when it was replaced by rice grown by the Japanese famers of Waipake. Contact period historic features include a four-room school, church, cemetery, pasture lands and piggery, sugar plantation ditches, and railroad tracks and the summer house of the plantation luna, L. David Larsen.
There has been no archaeological or cultural impact assessment of the potential impacts of proposed Paradise Ranch project on Waioli Corporation lands. There has never been any survey or inventory of Lepeuli. Applicant is applying for federal funds through the EQIP conservation program, subject to National Environmental Policy Act, which requires an assessment of environmental injustice assessment for particular impacts to subsistence hunters and gathers, dis-advantaged economic groups, races and cultural minorities.
According to Articles IX and XII of the State Constitution and other state laws, the state requires government agencies to "promote and preserve cultural beliefs, practices, and resources of Native Hawaiians and other ethnic groups."
The Department of Health (DOH), Chapter 343, requires an Environmental Assessment of cultural resources in determining significance and potential impacts of a proposed project.
Lepeuli has significant cultural and historic resources. The Ka`aka`aniu Reef system is the most highly documented tended limu in Hawai`i Nei, still of great important to the local residents. According to the predictive model of nearby archaeological assessments in Waipake and Moloa`a Bay Ranch, habitation sites and agricultural developments are expected to be in the stream valley with dryland terracing and agriculture on the slopes. Ancient and earlier prehistoric sites are predicted to be under the kuleana land filings. The historic ala loa joined the coastal communities throughout the Ko`olau District from Kealia to Hanalei.
The large swells of early December, 2009 exposed a significant archaeological site overlooking the stream channel of (de-watered) Lepeuli Stream. I notified SHPD (see attached); they claim it as one of their re-interments (see attached) - but there are significant features and charcoal firepits. I don't believe Nancy McMahon has been out to take a look.
There must be an archaeological and cultural impact assessment of the potential impacts of this Paradise Ranch CDUA to the Native Hawaiian community and it's special cultural resources and practices, including religious, subsistence fishing and gathering, by considering the impact of agricultural runoff to the reef resources of Ka`aka`aniu and cattle upon the historic kuleana lands of native Hawaiians in Lepeuli. Historic use by Japanese workers of Kilauea Sugar Plantation is highly documented. The only current residents of Lepeuli are descendents of Ko` olau School students.
I read with great respect your comments on the Moloa`a Bay Ranch CDUA. This Paradise Ranch project is of greater (more habitation and cultural uses) or equal importance, yet the Hawaiian community was not included for comments. The only history (and wildlife biology) was done by the applicant's attorney. Most of the Anahola community (including traditional cultural users and lineal descendents) do not know about this project. Federal funds should not be used to close off access to this important reef system. Paradise Ranch should not be allowed to rip and disk kuleana sands and back dunes (to increase water percolation!). Mr. Laymon, (known to disturb resting places of `iwi kupuna in prior CD violations) has stated that he knows where there are native Hawaiian burials. Scary.
Attached is a section excerpted from the Paradise Ranch SMA application that really deserves serious scrutiny.
Mahalo for your immediate action on this request and for requiring a cultural impact and archaeological assessment prior to any more impacting actions on these precious ancient Hawaiian homes and Conservation District Lands. Please contact me if you need any more information. Thank you for taking immediate steps to protect these resources and keep our history alive.
Hope Kallai
There were kuleana reserved in Lepeuli and resided on by Native Hawaiians until the 1930-1940’s. There are plenty of records and rememberences of these people. There are lineal descendents in the area.
One kuleana holder questioned whether he had to still pay taxes to the konohiki after Wilcox got Grant 530 Plenty of Hawaiian presence. The remains of a population of several hundred people living in Lepeuli for perhaps a thousand years are in the sands and lands of Lepeuli – not just 3 individuals. Conversion of house lots of kuleana to pasture has potential to significantly impact preservation and salvage of significant cultural resources. Closure of an ancient trail to important cultural resources is unacceptable.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has concerns with this project. Their comments have not been considered. There must be a culturally respectful plan for the re-burials; they must be offered protection from mechanized manipulation of the soil, herbicides and cattle manure. This is culturally and socially unconscionable. Burials in a commercial cow pasture! AUWE!
--------
We’re again forced to take a long weekend to take care of pressing matters. See ya Monday or so.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
...AND THE UGLY
...AND THE UGLY: There’s good news and bad news on the Lepeuli- aka Larsen’s Beach- front.
The good news is that the appeal of the Bruce Laymon’s CDUA permit- filed by Sierra Club- along with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (HLC) and the Surfrider Foundation and supported by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has been granted.
The bad news is that it will be heard in Honolulu on the May 13th meeting of the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR).
According to Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a (MM) Laymon has clearcut the beach and shredded coral and apparently no agency seems to care. And there’s still no usable access while the various “stakeholder” parties wrangle over whether or not to honor the traditional Alaloa or make believe it never existed with the later seemingly being the one thing they all agree upon.
For those who are uninitiated in the debacle, follow the links above for our past posts.
Apparently the best Kaua`i people who can’t afford airfare can do is to write to various people and agencies.
Here’s a primer in preparing testimony from MM.
----
Lepeuli CDUA appeal will be discussed at the BLNR meeting May 13 in Honolulu
According to (Tiger) Kimberly K. Tiger Mills, Staff Planner for the State of Hawaii Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands (OCCL), the appeal of the approval of the Paradise Ranch Conservation District Use Application to convert shorefront coastal scrub into commercial cattle pasture will be considered by the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) on THURSDAY, May 13, 2010. Meetings begin at 9 am at the
Kalanimoku Building1151 Punchbowl St.Honolulu , HI 96813www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/occl
dlnr@hawaii.gov
The agenda is not available yet, but Lepeuli as an agenda item has been confirmed. Book flights now!
The BLNR meeting agenda for May 13th will appear on our website one week prior on May 6th: http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/chair/meeting
· There are many reasons for considering the appeal of this CDUA. There has been seriously inadequate community involvement. Repeated requests from the public as well as 3 requests from Senator Gary Hooser (even offering to fund the DLNR trip to Kauai for the meeting) have been refused.
-There are inadequate agency comments. Three federally listed species will potentially be negatively impacted by this project, yet there is no Habitat Conservation Plan (as required under HRS 195D-21) for these species. Federal funds are being used for pasture conversion of a native habitat with potential impacts to endangered species.
-There must be a current shoreline certification. There has not been a state survey since 1978. Project applicant states “property boundary is makai of shoreline.” He manages the coral cobble and sand with a BrushHog. This is PUBLIC LAND in the Conservation District. Applicant has removed the debris line with machinery.
-Ancient Alaloa has NEVER been closed off. It is a significant trail with important cultural and PASH access needs. It has been in continual use for many hundreds of years. All ancient roads and trails are state land. The cultural comments of segment of the Alaloa (Arch siste 1034) managed by the Na Ala Hele trail system document the importance of this trail system and the antiquity of it. The Lepeuli must be recognized as an Archaeological Site and offered state protection.
-There must be a Cultural Impact Assessment of the ahupua`a of Lepeuli before any more mechanized manipulation of cultural sites present.
DLNR never contacted any harvesters or user groups of the most important limu kohu resources in Hawaii .
-Agriculture (cattle operations) will not benefit the reef. This statement is ridiculous.
-There has never been an estimate at the usage and visitation of the Alaloa or the County Right-Of-Way. The user groups must be defined and consulted before any new trail is designed. Traditional gathers must be consulted about trail access.
-Any new trail configuration must be designed to PASH and ADA Standards. The Ancient Alaloa falls under Historic Trail standards; the County Right of Way must adhere to ADA Trail standards.
-Impact to protected species of Alaloa closure (and subsequent increase in beach travel) has not been considered.
-Native plant communities and indigenous wildlife are protected under HRS 195.
-Beach access is protected by Hawaii state laws including the right of safe transit along the shorelines. HRS 115-5 offers the public a 6’ transit corridor in areas where there are rocky shorelines or cliffs. Blocking any public access with fences or gates to the shoreline is a misdemeanor and punishable by fines.
Letters can be written to the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) at
Adaline Cummings, SecretaryBoard of Land & Natural Resources1151 Punchbowl Street, Suite 130Honolulu, Hawaii 96813Phone: 808-587-0404Fax: 808-587-0390
adaline.f.cummings@hawaii.gov
Comments should also be sent to Tiger Mills of the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands
Kimberly K. (Tiger) Mills, Staff PlannerState of HawaiiDepartment of Land & Natural ResourcesOffice of Conservation and Coastal LandsP.O. Box 621Honolulu, Hawaii 96809
kimberly.mills@hawaii.gov
Request a current Shoreline Certification from the State Land Survey Division
Reid K. Siarot, State Land Surveyor
Department of Accounting & General Services
Land Survey Division
1151 Punchbowl St., Rm 210
Honolulu Hawaii 96813
(808) 586-0390
(808) 586-0383 fax
reid.k.siarot@hawaii.gov
and
Christopher L. Conger, Shoreline Specialist
University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program
Department of Land and Natural Resources
1151 Punchbowl St., Rm 131
Honolulu Hawaii 96813
(808) 587-0049 work
(808) 520-4892 work cell
(808) 587-0322 fax
Chris.L.Conger@hawaii.gov
Request a Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA) and Archaeological Inventory/Assessment from
Puaalaokalani Aiu, Administrator
State Historic Preservation Division
Kakuhihewa Building,
601 Kamokila Blvd., Suite 555,
Kapolei, Hawai`i , 96707Ph: (808) 692-8015Fax: (808) 692-8020
Pua.Aiu@hawaii.gov
nancy.a.mcmahon@hawaii.gov
And
Clyde Namu`o
OHA
711 Kapi'olani Blvd., Ste. 500
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: (808) 594-1835
Fax: (808) 594-1865
clydenamuo@oha.org
OHA Washington, D.C., Bureau50 F St. NW, Ste. 3300Washington, D.C. 20001 Ph: (202) 454-0920 Fax: (202) 789-1758 timjohnson@ohadc.org
OHA Kaua'i & Ni'ihau2970 Kele Street, Ste. 113Lihu'e, HI 96766Phone: (808) 241-3390Fax: (808) 241-3508 kalikos@oha.org
kaim@oha.org
Comments should also be sent to the county at
mayor@kauai.gov;openspace@kauai.gov; councilmembers@kauai.gov; CouncilTestimony@kauai.gov; csimao@kauai.gov;
State emails:
dlnr@hawaii.gov; adaline.f.cummings@hawaii.gov; kimberly.mills@hawaii.gov; reid.k.siarot@hawaii.gov; Chris.L.Conger@hawaii.gov; Pua.Aiu@hawaii.gov;
nancy.a.mcmahon@hawaii.gov; clydenamuo@oha.org; timjohnson@ohadc.org; kalikos@oha.org
kaim@oha.org
The good news is that the appeal of the Bruce Laymon’s CDUA permit- filed by Sierra Club- along with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (HLC) and the Surfrider Foundation and supported by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has been granted.
The bad news is that it will be heard in Honolulu on the May 13th meeting of the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR).
According to Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a (MM) Laymon has clearcut the beach and shredded coral and apparently no agency seems to care. And there’s still no usable access while the various “stakeholder” parties wrangle over whether or not to honor the traditional Alaloa or make believe it never existed with the later seemingly being the one thing they all agree upon.
For those who are uninitiated in the debacle, follow the links above for our past posts.
Apparently the best Kaua`i people who can’t afford airfare can do is to write to various people and agencies.
Here’s a primer in preparing testimony from MM.
----
Lepeuli CDUA appeal will be discussed at the BLNR meeting May 13 in Honolulu
According to (Tiger) Kimberly K. Tiger Mills, Staff Planner for the State of Hawaii Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands (OCCL), the appeal of the approval of the Paradise Ranch Conservation District Use Application to convert shorefront coastal scrub into commercial cattle pasture will be considered by the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) on THURSDAY, May 13, 2010. Meetings begin at 9 am at the
Kalanimoku Building1151 Punchbowl St.Honolulu , HI 96813www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/occl
dlnr@hawaii.gov
The agenda is not available yet, but Lepeuli as an agenda item has been confirmed. Book flights now!
The BLNR meeting agenda for May 13th will appear on our website one week prior on May 6th: http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/chair/meeting
· There are many reasons for considering the appeal of this CDUA. There has been seriously inadequate community involvement. Repeated requests from the public as well as 3 requests from Senator Gary Hooser (even offering to fund the DLNR trip to Kauai for the meeting) have been refused.
-There are inadequate agency comments. Three federally listed species will potentially be negatively impacted by this project, yet there is no Habitat Conservation Plan (as required under HRS 195D-21) for these species. Federal funds are being used for pasture conversion of a native habitat with potential impacts to endangered species.
-There must be a current shoreline certification. There has not been a state survey since 1978. Project applicant states “property boundary is makai of shoreline.” He manages the coral cobble and sand with a BrushHog. This is PUBLIC LAND in the Conservation District. Applicant has removed the debris line with machinery.
-Ancient Alaloa has NEVER been closed off. It is a significant trail with important cultural and PASH access needs. It has been in continual use for many hundreds of years. All ancient roads and trails are state land. The cultural comments of segment of the Alaloa (Arch siste 1034) managed by the Na Ala Hele trail system document the importance of this trail system and the antiquity of it. The Lepeuli must be recognized as an Archaeological Site and offered state protection.
-There must be a Cultural Impact Assessment of the ahupua`a of Lepeuli before any more mechanized manipulation of cultural sites present.
DLNR never contacted any harvesters or user groups of the most important limu kohu resources in Hawaii .
-Agriculture (cattle operations) will not benefit the reef. This statement is ridiculous.
-There has never been an estimate at the usage and visitation of the Alaloa or the County Right-Of-Way. The user groups must be defined and consulted before any new trail is designed. Traditional gathers must be consulted about trail access.
-Any new trail configuration must be designed to PASH and ADA Standards. The Ancient Alaloa falls under Historic Trail standards; the County Right of Way must adhere to ADA Trail standards.
-Impact to protected species of Alaloa closure (and subsequent increase in beach travel) has not been considered.
-Native plant communities and indigenous wildlife are protected under HRS 195.
-Beach access is protected by Hawaii state laws including the right of safe transit along the shorelines. HRS 115-5 offers the public a 6’ transit corridor in areas where there are rocky shorelines or cliffs. Blocking any public access with fences or gates to the shoreline is a misdemeanor and punishable by fines.
Letters can be written to the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) at
Adaline Cummings, SecretaryBoard of Land & Natural Resources1151 Punchbowl Street, Suite 130Honolulu, Hawaii 96813Phone: 808-587-0404Fax: 808-587-0390
adaline.f.cummings@hawaii.gov
Comments should also be sent to Tiger Mills of the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands
Kimberly K. (Tiger) Mills, Staff PlannerState of HawaiiDepartment of Land & Natural ResourcesOffice of Conservation and Coastal LandsP.O. Box 621Honolulu, Hawaii 96809
kimberly.mills@hawaii.gov
Request a current Shoreline Certification from the State Land Survey Division
Reid K. Siarot, State Land Surveyor
Department of Accounting & General Services
Land Survey Division
1151 Punchbowl St., Rm 210
Honolulu Hawaii 96813
(808) 586-0390
(808) 586-0383 fax
reid.k.siarot@hawaii.gov
and
Christopher L. Conger, Shoreline Specialist
University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program
Department of Land and Natural Resources
1151 Punchbowl St., Rm 131
Honolulu Hawaii 96813
(808) 587-0049 work
(808) 520-4892 work cell
(808) 587-0322 fax
Chris.L.Conger@hawaii.gov
Request a Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA) and Archaeological Inventory/Assessment from
Puaalaokalani Aiu, Administrator
State Historic Preservation Division
Kakuhihewa Building,
601 Kamokila Blvd., Suite 555,
Kapolei, Hawai`i , 96707Ph: (808) 692-8015Fax: (808) 692-8020
Pua.Aiu@hawaii.gov
nancy.a.mcmahon@hawaii.gov
And
Clyde Namu`o
OHA
711 Kapi'olani Blvd., Ste. 500
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: (808) 594-1835
Fax: (808) 594-1865
clydenamuo@oha.org
OHA Washington, D.C., Bureau50 F St. NW, Ste. 3300Washington, D.C. 20001 Ph: (202) 454-0920 Fax: (202) 789-1758 timjohnson@ohadc.org
OHA Kaua'i & Ni'ihau2970 Kele Street, Ste. 113Lihu'e, HI 96766Phone: (808) 241-3390Fax: (808) 241-3508 kalikos@oha.org
kaim@oha.org
Comments should also be sent to the county at
mayor@kauai.gov;openspace@kauai.gov; councilmembers@kauai.gov; CouncilTestimony@kauai.gov; csimao@kauai.gov;
State emails:
dlnr@hawaii.gov; adaline.f.cummings@hawaii.gov; kimberly.mills@hawaii.gov; reid.k.siarot@hawaii.gov; Chris.L.Conger@hawaii.gov; Pua.Aiu@hawaii.gov;
nancy.a.mcmahon@hawaii.gov; clydenamuo@oha.org; timjohnson@ohadc.org; kalikos@oha.org
kaim@oha.org
Thursday, March 11, 2010
DON’T FENCE ME IN
DON’T FENCE ME IN: Things are heating up at Lepeuli (Larsen’s) Beach with a showdown apparently scheduled for Saturday when board members of the Waioli Corporation are planning a site visit coinciding with a Sierra Club “beach cleanup”.
Also, lessee Bruce Laymon has apparently gone off the deep end this week and is engaging in terroristic threatening with hate crime overtones according to a letter from activist Richard Spacer addressed to Senator Gary Hooser and Councilperson Lani Kawahara which we’ve obtained.
Though we haven’t confirmed the truth of matter one way or the other Spacer’s letter includes another letter from someone identified as “Dennis” detailing Laymon’s actions last Saturday.
Spacer writes:
Dear Lani and Senator Hooser:
And this came in to me today too.
This visitor to our island was at Larsen's about 2 hours earlier than me, today, Saturday March 6.
I have concealed his last name and email for privacy, but I encouraged him to go public and to contact you and other organizations and officials about this incident. This is unacceptable and charges need to be filed. Many jurisdictions would consider this a hate crime and terroristic threatening. Bruce Laymon is out of control. How long is this clearing by machine going to be allowed by DLNR? Today is the 4th day that I know about. Accusing a 50 year old visitor of breaking farm/landscaping equipment deep inside a property the guy is unfamiliar with except for the beach and lateral trail?! Writing letters that are lies? How can Laymon accuse him of writing letters if he does not even know the guys name??!! This is sooooo stupid.
Dennis writes:
This morning about 9:30 am and was on the lateral trail where the trail becomes a road.
A man who identified himself as Bruce Laymon got out of a dump truck and confronted me.
He said " you are on private property and you know it, I am going to take your picture and the next time we see you on our property we will have you arrested". He was agitated, threatening and confrontational. He did not take my picture at this time but did yell at some workers to remember me if I came back on their property.
He accused me of being part of the group vandalizing his equipment and taking pictures and stirring up trouble. I had no idea about the damage to the equipment until the afternoon when I got the newspaper and saw todays story.
I did not respond aggresively but did ask him several times if he really was B.L. I had no idea who he was other than his word.
I then got off the lateral trail and went down on the beach and walked to the picnic table on the north end.
A little while later I walked back down south on the beach a hundred yards or so and was talking to 2 guys I see there alot.
We were on the sand not too far from the grass line. The guy who said he was Bruce Laymon came down on to the sand and starting yelling at me again. He took my picture with a disposable camera and asked me for my name. When I smiled for the picture he said, "you better watch out, you think this is funny." He was yelling about how he was going to have 50 hawaiians down here next week and they were going to take the beach back. "You watch and see, we will run you haoli's out of here. That's all you fucking haoli's do is come down here, get naked, and leave all kinds of shit back here in woods." He also yelled about how his entire crew was family and that's why they were doing this work, to reclaim the beach for their family and the hawaiians.
I tried to calm him down and talk to him but he was having none of that. He kept accusing me of stirring up trouble. He also said that I was spreading lies through the newspaper.
Nice aloha spirit,
dennis (all sic)
We’ve are also in possession of a letter from Waioli Corporation’s attorney Don Wilson who is apprehensive about the coinciding Sierra Club activity and the board members’ visit, and implies that no matter what anyone does these days they are trespassing if they try to go to the beach at Lepeuli.
We haven’t confirmed the letter is from Wilson but we have no reason not to trust our source.
Wilson writes, in part:
(T)he Sierra Club has apparently scheduled a beach walk and trash clean-up at Larsen's Beach for this Saturday. I just found out about it this afternoon. As I mentioned in my last letter we have a Waioli Board of Trustees tour also scheduled for Saturday and I don't want there to be any conflict or problem with both events happening simultaneously. I'm told that the Sierra Club hasn't yet set a specific time for its event so I don't know for certain that there will be a scheduling conflict but I want to be cautious and to not inadvertently have an uncomfortable situation set up for anyone. Also, I don't know precisely where the Sierra Club is planning on conducting its beach walk. If they intend on using the lateral trail that is on Waioli's property instead of either the County-owned trail (doubtful) or the other existing trial that is not affected by the proposed fencing project and that is on Waioli property then we would have a concern about that. Given recent events and just as a general rule I don't want this to escalate into something that can be avoided and I certainly welcome the Club's beach walk and trash clean-up if it is limited to public property and is not being used as a way to exercise any control over the private property, is being conducted on the basis of a claimed legal right that is disputed by my client, or simply to prove a point. I don't assume that such is the intent but I just don't know exactly what they are planning.
If it's okay with you and if I find out anything further that indicates there may be an issue with simultaneous events or with what we consider to be trespassing (with the acknowledgment that you may not agree with that conclusion), and based on your comments below, I'll contact Sierra Club directly. I will be polite and respectful in any communication I have, and as I mentioned above I think it is a very good thing that they are doing if it is limited to the publicly-owned beach. I don't plan on any phone or other verbal communications about this and the last thing I want is for a controversy to erupt.
Although it sounds like things have already “erupted”, what with Laymon going on his “naked hippie patrols” after the alleged “vandalism” of his tractor- which some believe was self-inflicted to create sympathy although there is no evidence either way- Saturday’s showdown at the Waioli/Laymon Corral promises to be anything but a walk on the beach.
---------
We’ll be taking a long weekend- see ya Monday.
Also, lessee Bruce Laymon has apparently gone off the deep end this week and is engaging in terroristic threatening with hate crime overtones according to a letter from activist Richard Spacer addressed to Senator Gary Hooser and Councilperson Lani Kawahara which we’ve obtained.
Though we haven’t confirmed the truth of matter one way or the other Spacer’s letter includes another letter from someone identified as “Dennis” detailing Laymon’s actions last Saturday.
Spacer writes:
Dear Lani and Senator Hooser:
And this came in to me today too.
This visitor to our island was at Larsen's about 2 hours earlier than me, today, Saturday March 6.
I have concealed his last name and email for privacy, but I encouraged him to go public and to contact you and other organizations and officials about this incident. This is unacceptable and charges need to be filed. Many jurisdictions would consider this a hate crime and terroristic threatening. Bruce Laymon is out of control. How long is this clearing by machine going to be allowed by DLNR? Today is the 4th day that I know about. Accusing a 50 year old visitor of breaking farm/landscaping equipment deep inside a property the guy is unfamiliar with except for the beach and lateral trail?! Writing letters that are lies? How can Laymon accuse him of writing letters if he does not even know the guys name??!! This is sooooo stupid.
Dennis writes:
This morning about 9:30 am and was on the lateral trail where the trail becomes a road.
A man who identified himself as Bruce Laymon got out of a dump truck and confronted me.
He said " you are on private property and you know it, I am going to take your picture and the next time we see you on our property we will have you arrested". He was agitated, threatening and confrontational. He did not take my picture at this time but did yell at some workers to remember me if I came back on their property.
He accused me of being part of the group vandalizing his equipment and taking pictures and stirring up trouble. I had no idea about the damage to the equipment until the afternoon when I got the newspaper and saw todays story.
I did not respond aggresively but did ask him several times if he really was B.L. I had no idea who he was other than his word.
I then got off the lateral trail and went down on the beach and walked to the picnic table on the north end.
A little while later I walked back down south on the beach a hundred yards or so and was talking to 2 guys I see there alot.
We were on the sand not too far from the grass line. The guy who said he was Bruce Laymon came down on to the sand and starting yelling at me again. He took my picture with a disposable camera and asked me for my name. When I smiled for the picture he said, "you better watch out, you think this is funny." He was yelling about how he was going to have 50 hawaiians down here next week and they were going to take the beach back. "You watch and see, we will run you haoli's out of here. That's all you fucking haoli's do is come down here, get naked, and leave all kinds of shit back here in woods." He also yelled about how his entire crew was family and that's why they were doing this work, to reclaim the beach for their family and the hawaiians.
I tried to calm him down and talk to him but he was having none of that. He kept accusing me of stirring up trouble. He also said that I was spreading lies through the newspaper.
Nice aloha spirit,
dennis (all sic)
We’ve are also in possession of a letter from Waioli Corporation’s attorney Don Wilson who is apprehensive about the coinciding Sierra Club activity and the board members’ visit, and implies that no matter what anyone does these days they are trespassing if they try to go to the beach at Lepeuli.
We haven’t confirmed the letter is from Wilson but we have no reason not to trust our source.
Wilson writes, in part:
(T)he Sierra Club has apparently scheduled a beach walk and trash clean-up at Larsen's Beach for this Saturday. I just found out about it this afternoon. As I mentioned in my last letter we have a Waioli Board of Trustees tour also scheduled for Saturday and I don't want there to be any conflict or problem with both events happening simultaneously. I'm told that the Sierra Club hasn't yet set a specific time for its event so I don't know for certain that there will be a scheduling conflict but I want to be cautious and to not inadvertently have an uncomfortable situation set up for anyone. Also, I don't know precisely where the Sierra Club is planning on conducting its beach walk. If they intend on using the lateral trail that is on Waioli's property instead of either the County-owned trail (doubtful) or the other existing trial that is not affected by the proposed fencing project and that is on Waioli property then we would have a concern about that. Given recent events and just as a general rule I don't want this to escalate into something that can be avoided and I certainly welcome the Club's beach walk and trash clean-up if it is limited to public property and is not being used as a way to exercise any control over the private property, is being conducted on the basis of a claimed legal right that is disputed by my client, or simply to prove a point. I don't assume that such is the intent but I just don't know exactly what they are planning.
If it's okay with you and if I find out anything further that indicates there may be an issue with simultaneous events or with what we consider to be trespassing (with the acknowledgment that you may not agree with that conclusion), and based on your comments below, I'll contact Sierra Club directly. I will be polite and respectful in any communication I have, and as I mentioned above I think it is a very good thing that they are doing if it is limited to the publicly-owned beach. I don't plan on any phone or other verbal communications about this and the last thing I want is for a controversy to erupt.
Although it sounds like things have already “erupted”, what with Laymon going on his “naked hippie patrols” after the alleged “vandalism” of his tractor- which some believe was self-inflicted to create sympathy although there is no evidence either way- Saturday’s showdown at the Waioli/Laymon Corral promises to be anything but a walk on the beach.
---------
We’ll be taking a long weekend- see ya Monday.
Monday, October 26, 2009
THE ROAD MORE TRAVELED
THE ROAD MORE TRAVELED: The pilikila over the Larson’s Beach access has finally gotten some attention after a fine article in the Hawai`i Independent by Joan Conrow detailed how once again the public is about to lose a path that has been historically ours forever because of some slight of hand by a big landowner.
She writes:
An outcry over plans to fence off a trail to Larsen’s Beach is causing Kauai residents to revisit two longstanding issues: Should concerns about liability restrict access; and is the county properly recording public easements?
The controversy arose over cattle rancher Bruce Laymon’s plans to install a fence on northeast Kauai coastal land that he leases from the Waioli Corp., a kama`aina landowner whose holdings include the historic Waioli Mission House and Grove Farm Homestead Museum.
But the rest of the article deals for the most part, not with Laymon but with Waioli Corp and the history of the access.
Although going forward it’s Waioli’s actions that will determine the future of the access it’s Laymon’s past actions- with the ok of Waioli- that has brought the issue to a head.
Local rancher Bruce Laymon would have people believe, as his attorney told the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR), that he “is a rancher and landscaper... an avid fisherman who loves Kauai and the community... and is not a sophisticated developer as the Sierra Club would like to have the Board believe”
That, in part was what influenced the BLNR to approve staff recommendations to reduce his fine for illegally clearing the bluff above Larsen beach- a secluded clothing optional North Shore beach where travel-book-reading sunbathers from around the world come to vacation- from $15,000 to $2,000 according to the minutes of it’s July meeting.
Laymon claims that it was an innocent and understandable mistake when he relied on an approved “conservation plan” for his ranch, to do work along the ancient historic Alaloa trail above Ka`aka`aniu (rolling coconut) beach and reef- also knows as Larsen’s Beach after a Kilauea sugar plantation luna- which is famous for its limu kohu according to the BLNR staff report which PNN has obtained but is apparently not posted on line.
The work not only went well beyond what was permitted by the East Kaua`i Soil and Water Conservation District (EKWCD) Board when they approved his Brush Management Plan that had been developed with the help of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) but encroached on the state conservation district and county special management area where permits are required to do any work.
Rather than just carefully hand- remove all the non-native plants and leave the foliage in place to hold together the hillside- as the “approved plan” for the other areas required- Laymon apparently came in and cleared the entire area of “brush” denuding the hillside including cutting large trees down to stumps in order to harass the homeless in the area.
According to the report Laymon apparently tried to dispose of the campers’ property calling it “household trash”, engaging in a confrontation with some when they tried to retrieve their belongings.
Though Laymon claimed ignorance and said he was “doing something good for the community”- a position with which members of the BLNR agreed- this isn’t his first run-in with the law for land-clearing operations without necessary permitting- nor is it the first time he’s had confrontational run-ins with nude sunbathers or so-called “illegal campers” on property he leased.
In 2003 Laymon did apparently illegal grubbing and grading on a three acre parcel above Kealia for which he didn’t have an NRCS approved plan. But the EKWCD Board said he made an “honest mistake” in including the three acre parcel in a plan for a different 2011 acre parcel in Kealia according to a lengthy article on the subject in the local newspaper.
This occurred during the infamous Kaua`i County Council “Developers Gone Wild” grubbing and grading hearings, spurred by the 2001 Pila`a mudslide disaster for which developer Jimmy Pflueger received the then-biggest-ever fine for a federal Clean Water Act violation.
Despite the fact that Council Chair Kaipo Asing called actions “another Pila`a waiting to happen” Laymon’s buddies on the EKWCD Board- a group comprised of large landowners in the area who obtain votes based on the acreage they own- cleared him of all charges saying Laymon was just an unsophisticated rancher and landscaper who actually made the area look “beautiful” despite the fact that if a heavy rainfall had occurred while the land was denuded it could have despoiled the reef at Kealia.
Laymon was also involved in the similarly infamous harassment of nude sunbathers in 1990 when he apparently organized an armed vigilante squad that roamed Kaupea Beach- aka Secret Beach- on ATVs at the behest and in the employ of landowners above the beach until the state told him to stop because the beach was state property.
Among those owners were Michelle and Justin Hughes who leased Laymon the Kealia Property that they had obtained from developer Tom McCloskey who bought the entire Kealia ahupua`a after area sugar cane went defunct.
But it seems the BLNR staff either never heard about these incidents or chose not to tell the board about them and rather convinced the board that Laymon was just an unsophisticated rancher and landscaper who made an understandable mistake in clearing the area above Larsen.
The minutes of the BLNR meeting are revealing for what they don’t contain as much as what they do. Although Kaua`i member of the Board Ron Agor told many people that he would push for the full fine the minutes reveal that he actually led the other board members to accept the staff report and reduce the fine.
Laymon is currently applying for an “after the fact” permit from the BLNR for not just the denuding of the hillside but to do the real work he intended to do before complaints stopped him in October of 2008- changing not just the historic Alaloa trail but the traditional easier access to the beach and substituting one more treacherous.
As to the future, the Sierra Club has been on the case and, in a letter, refutes testimony by Laymon’s attorney Lorna Nishimitsu who at one point actually tried to claim to the BLNR staff that the Alaloa trail was actually Ko`olau Road.
The Sierra Club letter to the board details the issues and misrepresentation in the after the fact permit application and is apparently not available on line so is reproduced in full here.
As you know, Paradise Ranch has submitted a CDUA for land leased from Waioli Corporation. This application calls for brush management for ranching and the construction of two sections of fence – one portion designated as pre-existing (near the northern boundary), and additional fencing that is not pre-existing, approximately twice the length of the first portion. We agree that cattle should be kept off the beach. However, the siting of this additional fencing raises a number of concerns.
Safe Beach Access
We appreciate that Waioli Corporation provided a public access easement to Larsen’s Beach years ago, but that route is steep and difficult for both children and elderly to use. The CDUA survey map Exhibit E, indicates that the proposed fence will block the favored public access along the gradual slope labeled “Existing Road” and “Existing Trail”. Emergency responders who routinely rescue visitors from the two rip currents at Larsen’s Beach also favor this route. Therefore, we ask you to keep the existing trail behind the beach unblocked.
Historic Alaloa
Exhibit D in the CDUA notes the State of Hawaii’s claims of ownership of the historic coastal trail – the Hawaiian Alaloa. The Alaloa is not Ko`olau Road as put forth by attorney Lorna Nishimitsu in a letter dated August 5, 2009 (Exhibit C). The evidence of the trail’s location is provided in the document called Ref: K98:1 Moloa`a (from September 1, 1998) which was not included in the CDUA exhibits, but is cited at the top of the Na Ala Hele Memo dated March 1, 2000 (Exhibit D).
Therefore, attached to this letter is documentation from the 1998 Abstract Ref: K98:1 Moloa`a which includes an historic map labeled: Na Ala Hele Exhibit B – “Portion Registered Map 1395 dated 1878 depicting portion of Old Alaloa”.
It is clear from this map that the Alaloa is a coastal trail and not the Kauai Belt Road, Kuhio Highway or Ko`olau Road. Furthermore, there is ample oral testimony collected by Na Ala Hele Kauai Advisory Council members in the late 1990’s that the path traversed close to the coastline and over the Pali. Kupuna in the area can corroborate this.
The “pre-existing” fence does not interfere with the Alaloa. However, the proposed alignment for the new, additional fencing is makai of the existing trail ( see CDUA Survey Map-Exhibit E). The fence would block the “Existing Trail” at two points, cutting off existing public access to Larsen’s Beach via the Alaloa. We encourage Waioli Corporation to seek confirmation from the Na Ala Hele staff abstractor as soon as possible on this matter and to encourage DLNR to conduct a metes and bounds survey of the Alaloa in order to properly site the fence, and submit a corrected survey map for the Conservation District Use Application.
Endangered Species
The project area is adjacent to the sensitive coastal habitat of monk seals, green sea turtles, albatross and other endangered seabirds. Has the lessee considered using fencing that is dog proof so that endangered ground nesting birds would be protected? We hope that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be consulted and afforded the opportunity to comment.
Summary
We ask that you relocate the proposed fencing so that it is mauka of the trail/road. Doing so would:
a) Preserve the traditional and customary Alaloa;
b) Provide the only safely graded beach access from Larsen’s Beach parking lot;
c) Assist lifeguards and emergency responders in their rescue efforts, and
d) Allow the public access when Monk Seal volunteers routinely ribbon off sections of this beach.
If liability is a concern, Waioli Corporation could dedicate the existing trail/road/Alaloa to the State under the Na Ala Hele Hawaii Trail & Access System, thereby removing the threat of liability. Neighboring Moloa`a Bay Ranch also has a portion of the Alaloa and that easement was adopted into the State Na Ala Hele trail system several years ago. Also, please note that your neighbor Falko Partners, north of Larsen’s Beach, is currently in discussion with the Kauai Public Land Trust about transferring rights to the coastal portion of the Conservation District to the public.
Thank you for your consideration. Perhaps board members would benefit from a site visit to better understand the significance of this coastal gem and its importance to the community.
Sincerely,
Judy Dalton
on behalf of the Executive Committee
(Sierra Club)Kaua`i Group, Hawai`i Chapter
--------------------------
We’ve managed to screw-up the handiwork of our shoulder surgeon and are back to hurtful hunting and painful pecking. We may be posting a little lighter than usual in the coming weeks. Pardon the interruption- try to do better next time.
She writes:
An outcry over plans to fence off a trail to Larsen’s Beach is causing Kauai residents to revisit two longstanding issues: Should concerns about liability restrict access; and is the county properly recording public easements?
The controversy arose over cattle rancher Bruce Laymon’s plans to install a fence on northeast Kauai coastal land that he leases from the Waioli Corp., a kama`aina landowner whose holdings include the historic Waioli Mission House and Grove Farm Homestead Museum.
But the rest of the article deals for the most part, not with Laymon but with Waioli Corp and the history of the access.
Although going forward it’s Waioli’s actions that will determine the future of the access it’s Laymon’s past actions- with the ok of Waioli- that has brought the issue to a head.
Local rancher Bruce Laymon would have people believe, as his attorney told the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR), that he “is a rancher and landscaper... an avid fisherman who loves Kauai and the community... and is not a sophisticated developer as the Sierra Club would like to have the Board believe”
That, in part was what influenced the BLNR to approve staff recommendations to reduce his fine for illegally clearing the bluff above Larsen beach- a secluded clothing optional North Shore beach where travel-book-reading sunbathers from around the world come to vacation- from $15,000 to $2,000 according to the minutes of it’s July meeting.
Laymon claims that it was an innocent and understandable mistake when he relied on an approved “conservation plan” for his ranch, to do work along the ancient historic Alaloa trail above Ka`aka`aniu (rolling coconut) beach and reef- also knows as Larsen’s Beach after a Kilauea sugar plantation luna- which is famous for its limu kohu according to the BLNR staff report which PNN has obtained but is apparently not posted on line.
The work not only went well beyond what was permitted by the East Kaua`i Soil and Water Conservation District (EKWCD) Board when they approved his Brush Management Plan that had been developed with the help of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) but encroached on the state conservation district and county special management area where permits are required to do any work.
Rather than just carefully hand- remove all the non-native plants and leave the foliage in place to hold together the hillside- as the “approved plan” for the other areas required- Laymon apparently came in and cleared the entire area of “brush” denuding the hillside including cutting large trees down to stumps in order to harass the homeless in the area.
According to the report Laymon apparently tried to dispose of the campers’ property calling it “household trash”, engaging in a confrontation with some when they tried to retrieve their belongings.
Though Laymon claimed ignorance and said he was “doing something good for the community”- a position with which members of the BLNR agreed- this isn’t his first run-in with the law for land-clearing operations without necessary permitting- nor is it the first time he’s had confrontational run-ins with nude sunbathers or so-called “illegal campers” on property he leased.
In 2003 Laymon did apparently illegal grubbing and grading on a three acre parcel above Kealia for which he didn’t have an NRCS approved plan. But the EKWCD Board said he made an “honest mistake” in including the three acre parcel in a plan for a different 2011 acre parcel in Kealia according to a lengthy article on the subject in the local newspaper.
This occurred during the infamous Kaua`i County Council “Developers Gone Wild” grubbing and grading hearings, spurred by the 2001 Pila`a mudslide disaster for which developer Jimmy Pflueger received the then-biggest-ever fine for a federal Clean Water Act violation.
Despite the fact that Council Chair Kaipo Asing called actions “another Pila`a waiting to happen” Laymon’s buddies on the EKWCD Board- a group comprised of large landowners in the area who obtain votes based on the acreage they own- cleared him of all charges saying Laymon was just an unsophisticated rancher and landscaper who actually made the area look “beautiful” despite the fact that if a heavy rainfall had occurred while the land was denuded it could have despoiled the reef at Kealia.
Laymon was also involved in the similarly infamous harassment of nude sunbathers in 1990 when he apparently organized an armed vigilante squad that roamed Kaupea Beach- aka Secret Beach- on ATVs at the behest and in the employ of landowners above the beach until the state told him to stop because the beach was state property.
Among those owners were Michelle and Justin Hughes who leased Laymon the Kealia Property that they had obtained from developer Tom McCloskey who bought the entire Kealia ahupua`a after area sugar cane went defunct.
But it seems the BLNR staff either never heard about these incidents or chose not to tell the board about them and rather convinced the board that Laymon was just an unsophisticated rancher and landscaper who made an understandable mistake in clearing the area above Larsen.
The minutes of the BLNR meeting are revealing for what they don’t contain as much as what they do. Although Kaua`i member of the Board Ron Agor told many people that he would push for the full fine the minutes reveal that he actually led the other board members to accept the staff report and reduce the fine.
Laymon is currently applying for an “after the fact” permit from the BLNR for not just the denuding of the hillside but to do the real work he intended to do before complaints stopped him in October of 2008- changing not just the historic Alaloa trail but the traditional easier access to the beach and substituting one more treacherous.
As to the future, the Sierra Club has been on the case and, in a letter, refutes testimony by Laymon’s attorney Lorna Nishimitsu who at one point actually tried to claim to the BLNR staff that the Alaloa trail was actually Ko`olau Road.
The Sierra Club letter to the board details the issues and misrepresentation in the after the fact permit application and is apparently not available on line so is reproduced in full here.
As you know, Paradise Ranch has submitted a CDUA for land leased from Waioli Corporation. This application calls for brush management for ranching and the construction of two sections of fence – one portion designated as pre-existing (near the northern boundary), and additional fencing that is not pre-existing, approximately twice the length of the first portion. We agree that cattle should be kept off the beach. However, the siting of this additional fencing raises a number of concerns.
Safe Beach Access
We appreciate that Waioli Corporation provided a public access easement to Larsen’s Beach years ago, but that route is steep and difficult for both children and elderly to use. The CDUA survey map Exhibit E, indicates that the proposed fence will block the favored public access along the gradual slope labeled “Existing Road” and “Existing Trail”. Emergency responders who routinely rescue visitors from the two rip currents at Larsen’s Beach also favor this route. Therefore, we ask you to keep the existing trail behind the beach unblocked.
Historic Alaloa
Exhibit D in the CDUA notes the State of Hawaii’s claims of ownership of the historic coastal trail – the Hawaiian Alaloa. The Alaloa is not Ko`olau Road as put forth by attorney Lorna Nishimitsu in a letter dated August 5, 2009 (Exhibit C). The evidence of the trail’s location is provided in the document called Ref: K98:1 Moloa`a (from September 1, 1998) which was not included in the CDUA exhibits, but is cited at the top of the Na Ala Hele Memo dated March 1, 2000 (Exhibit D).
Therefore, attached to this letter is documentation from the 1998 Abstract Ref: K98:1 Moloa`a which includes an historic map labeled: Na Ala Hele Exhibit B – “Portion Registered Map 1395 dated 1878 depicting portion of Old Alaloa”.
It is clear from this map that the Alaloa is a coastal trail and not the Kauai Belt Road, Kuhio Highway or Ko`olau Road. Furthermore, there is ample oral testimony collected by Na Ala Hele Kauai Advisory Council members in the late 1990’s that the path traversed close to the coastline and over the Pali. Kupuna in the area can corroborate this.
The “pre-existing” fence does not interfere with the Alaloa. However, the proposed alignment for the new, additional fencing is makai of the existing trail ( see CDUA Survey Map-Exhibit E). The fence would block the “Existing Trail” at two points, cutting off existing public access to Larsen’s Beach via the Alaloa. We encourage Waioli Corporation to seek confirmation from the Na Ala Hele staff abstractor as soon as possible on this matter and to encourage DLNR to conduct a metes and bounds survey of the Alaloa in order to properly site the fence, and submit a corrected survey map for the Conservation District Use Application.
Endangered Species
The project area is adjacent to the sensitive coastal habitat of monk seals, green sea turtles, albatross and other endangered seabirds. Has the lessee considered using fencing that is dog proof so that endangered ground nesting birds would be protected? We hope that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be consulted and afforded the opportunity to comment.
Summary
We ask that you relocate the proposed fencing so that it is mauka of the trail/road. Doing so would:
a) Preserve the traditional and customary Alaloa;
b) Provide the only safely graded beach access from Larsen’s Beach parking lot;
c) Assist lifeguards and emergency responders in their rescue efforts, and
d) Allow the public access when Monk Seal volunteers routinely ribbon off sections of this beach.
If liability is a concern, Waioli Corporation could dedicate the existing trail/road/Alaloa to the State under the Na Ala Hele Hawaii Trail & Access System, thereby removing the threat of liability. Neighboring Moloa`a Bay Ranch also has a portion of the Alaloa and that easement was adopted into the State Na Ala Hele trail system several years ago. Also, please note that your neighbor Falko Partners, north of Larsen’s Beach, is currently in discussion with the Kauai Public Land Trust about transferring rights to the coastal portion of the Conservation District to the public.
Thank you for your consideration. Perhaps board members would benefit from a site visit to better understand the significance of this coastal gem and its importance to the community.
Sincerely,
Judy Dalton
on behalf of the Executive Committee
(Sierra Club)Kaua`i Group, Hawai`i Chapter
--------------------------
We’ve managed to screw-up the handiwork of our shoulder surgeon and are back to hurtful hunting and painful pecking. We may be posting a little lighter than usual in the coming weeks. Pardon the interruption- try to do better next time.
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