CHOPPED LIVER?

CHOPPED LIVER?: In the two newspaper city of Honolulu bloggers like Ian Lind and the King of the Rats Larry Geller often refer to a two newspaper mornings when what the news is depends on what paper you read.

Lately, with the addition of editors/reporters Mike Levine and Nathan Eagle, when those two paper moments involve the local Kaua`i newspaper, the local version usually shows a lot more enterprise that the O`ahu take.

But the reporting skills of the dynamic duo far outshine their human resources proficiency as evidenced by their recent hiring of “the worst journalist in the world” or at least the island- Paul Curtis to cover the police and courts beat.

Put it all together and you have drop-in, malihini, part-time, Honolulu Advertiser correspondent Diana Leone answering the $64,000 question that Curtis ignores in dueling reports on the fact that the state will not fight an Advertiser records request to release at least the settlement amount- if not the settlement particulars- the state must pay in the Ka Loko Dam tragedy settlement.

The question left burning after reading Curtis’s report is “what about Kaua`i County?” which was, if anything, not just negligent like the state but apparently complicit in covering up some of the grading and grubbing violations of the fiendish Jimmy Pflueger.

While Curtis- under a patently false headline of State settlement in Ka Loko suit unsealed (it hasn’t been unsealed yet but will be soon)- fails to even mention anything about the county settlement- which is equally subject to state open records laws- Leone reports that in addition to the record request for the state settlement,

The (Advertiser) also demanded that Kaua`i County, the only other public entity involved in the settlement, reveal its promised payment amount, but the county has not yet done so. Kaua`i County Attorney Al Castillo didn't respond to a request for comment yesterday.

Once the state information is obtained, The Advertiser will revisit asking Kaua`i County to make its payment amount public, said Advertiser attorney Jeff Portnoy.

The state and county shares should never have been sealed, Portnoy said.

But what neither discussed is why the records requests apparently failed to include anything asking for any information on findings or admissions of culpability on the part of either the state or county.

Anyone following the case will remember that, although the state was supposed- and failed- to inspect the dam, much of the law that was flouted by Pflueger was that of the county’s grubbing and grading ordinance, one that had been recently strengthened after Pflueger’s previous crimes in Pila`a and Ka Loko.

People have also have heard the allegations that the county, in the persons of Mayor Maryann Kusaka and her Department of Public Works personnel- Wally Kudo, Cesar Portugal and then-DPW chief and current Planning Director Ian Costa- actively protected Pflueger when Kusaka directed the three to back off on any investigation and enforcement.

And whether Kusaka indeed directed them as a member of the DPW has sworn, their negligence and reluctance to investigate is a matter of record in testimony before the county council prior to the dam break.

It would be interesting to see what if anything was stipulated in this settlement but for some reason the myopic corporate press is apparently only interested in reporting the bottom line, not getting down to the matter of responsibility.

That might take a little work in explaining the whole story, something a he-said-she-said, one-day–story, mainstream press has no interest in doing.

Don’t count on there being anyone who will reveal the criminal culpability or prosecute those involved at either the state or county level. The dollar amount will have to intimate culpability and the truth will be left to speculation.

No one tried to say a thing
When they carried him out in jest
Except of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along alone
With his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
"Nothing is revealed"

DIGGING UP THE DIRT

DIGGING UP THE DIRT: The grand jury looking into criminal charges against Jimmy Pflueger in the Ka Loko dam break tragedy seems as leaky as the dam itself was, as press reports of immunity for former Kaua`i Mayor Marianne Kusaka and details of evidence presented pepper press reports.

One report in particular today from Malia Zimmerman of Hawaii Reporter lays out a lot of history and background of the case revealing more details from an interview with Pflueger about his allegation of a $9,000 bribe paid to Kusaka to protect him- an interview that Zimmerman revealed for the first time was “recorded”.

But though the press reports and apparent focus of the investigation has been on Pflueger’s contention that the state bears some responsibility for not stopping him from causing the circumstances that led to the dam break, there is more news on the culpability of Kaua`i County.

She writes

Where Was County Enforcement?

(T)he county of Kauai was notified by at least two concerned citizens of Pflueger’s unpermitted grading around the dam. A County’s Department of Public Works inspector was dispatched to investigate the Ka Loko property on Nov. 7, 1997.

The inspector documented illegal grading with heavy equipment on the hilltop adjacent to Ka Loko Reservoir, and 11 days later, sent a “Notice of Grading Violation” by a certified letter to Pflueger saying inspectors “observed and verified the grading on the subject property to be in violation” of the County’s ordinances. Pflueger was ordered to “stop work immediately with the exception of work to correct any hazards to public safety and health.”

But Pflueger did not stop work. Instead, John Buist, Jr., a civil engineer for the county, says on Nov. 26, 1997, he was “summoned by Mayor (Maryanne) Kusaka” to her office for a meeting to discuss the grading violation for Mr. Pflueger. Buist’s memo says: “Buist informed the Mayor that the investigation was prompted by an anonymous phone call, but that the inspector saw and took a picture of the equipment being used for the work and the cut mountain top.”

Buist continues: “I was questioned (by the mayor) as to why we responded to an anonymous phone call and responded that it was our procedure to respond with an investigation. She questioned as to the other wasted manhours to follow up on anonymous tips and that no other County Agency responded to anonymous tips. Mayor Kusaka asked whether Mr. Pflueger had applied for a grading permit, and was told that a permit application had been filed, but without any grubbing plans. The Mayor and the Assistant Administrator, Wallace Rezentes, Sr., questioned why Mr. Pflueger should be required to obtain a permit for work in such a remote area. Mr. Buist explained that the ordinance applied no matter how remote the site may be, and noted that this was not the first violation for which Mr. Pflueger had been cited. ... In closing, Mr. Portugal instructed me that I was to stop all actions involving Mr. Pflueger and all further communications from or to Mr. Pflueger are to go directly to Mr. Portugal.”

Buist notes Caesar Portugal was in charge of handling Pflueger’s case for the county, and also that Yolanda Portugal-Cabral was under contract with Pflueger in November 1997 to help him submit the grubbing plans to the county. What is not disclosed in this correspondence - because the county officials already knew - Yolanda Portugal-Cabral ran the family engineering business for her father Caesar Portugal and ultimately it would be up to him to approve Pflueger’s plans that his daughter submitted.

Many pieces of evidence that so far have seemingly escaped scrutiny sit in the minutes of a series of Kaua`i County Council meetings from 2000-2002 during which Portugal and former acting head of the Department of Public Works (DPW) and now Planning Director Ian Costa answered questions from the council.

During many months of testimony- almost every week for more than a year- the two were grilled over another Pflueger-caused disaster in Pila`a, which PNN detailed at the time.

But included at some hearings was the issue of the illegal grubbing and grading Pflueger had done just above the Ka Loko dam and the seeming inability of the DPW engineers and inspectors to enter the Ka Loko property to search for violations.

During those sessions various DPW personnel including Portugal, Costa and engineer Wally Kudo were asked about Kusaka’s involvement and did indeed reveal extensively the pressure they received from her regarding Pflueger and developer Tom McCloskey who was also accused of illegal grubbing and grading in Moloa`a and Kealia.

Any examination of the verbatim minutes or video of council meetings and the notes of council committee meetings would provide a gold mine for the questioning of Kusaka and would indicate exactly who else needs to be questioned under oath by the grand jury to get to the truth. But it is doubtful that the minutes have been reviewed.

The council was on the verge of launching an investigation in late 2002 before many of them- including now Senator Gary Hooser, who initiated and pushed the investigation forward- left the council after the 2002 election.. The investigation would have allowed them to compel witnesses and get sworn testimony.

Council records show just what the criminal case is as PNN reported at the time. but no such investigation took place.

Another passage in Zimmerman’s piece gives a picture of Pflueger’s attitude toward his properties.

She writes

In a July 2006 exclusive interview with Hawaii Reporter on his property at Ka Loko and Pilaa on Kauai, Pflueger talked about his love for grubbing and grading the land so he could make it more “beautiful.”

He says he had a special tractor made, 44 feet wide and 17 feet tall, which can literally bury trees and shrubs and create a smooth and manicured look to the grass. “You know, you see all these weeds, we buried them. Anything you see here you can knock down and bury them,” he said, motioning across his beach side property at Pilaa.

Pflueger also said he didn’t remember ever seeing a spillway at Ka Loko, but admitted he could have covered it himself.

"And that reservoir around it is beautiful because I mowed it right down there to the edge. I did, mowed everything. I mowed everything. And if I filled something up or if somebody filled it up – tell me. Tell me. I mean, tell me," Pflueger said.

(The day after talking with Hawaii Reporter, Pflueger arranged another meeting and asked that this conversation not be disclosed, however, the interview was recorded and on the record.)

One of the lines of questioning of the DPW by the council was as to why they couldn’t just take a helicopter and inspect at the lands from above if they couldn’t get land access as they claimed at the time.

So, during the height of those “Developer Gone Wild” council meetings as they were dubbed, we were invited to tail along with activist extraordinaire Ray Chuan on a helicopter trip over Pflueger’s and McCloskey’s lands.

And what struck us was expressed in a question we asked during the flight- “What are all those ponds?” having never seen anything like it in island watersheds.

After the Ka Loko catastrophe we all to painfully figured it out- they’re reservoirs

It is quite obvious Pflueger didn’t do all the land moving by himself and in fact, as PNN has reported in the past, various “friends of Jimmy” were privy to what was at the heart of all of the damage- Jimmy Pflueger’s love for “water-skiing” on his “lakes”

We chanced upon to one of those friends who has requested anonymity who said that he and another friend of Jimmy were invited to go water skiing with Pflueger.

There, Pflueger regaled them with tales of how much effort he was putting into building up the water levels of the lakes by moving earth around the edges so that the water skiing would be better.

If there was one witness there were surely two and more but that, as yet, doesn’t seem to be a focus of the jury.

The other person there with our source was one of the closest “friends of Jimmy”- none other than the notorious Gary Baldwin the economic development guru of the Kusaka administration that left Kaua`i in disgrace after it was learned that he was a scam artist wanted by the law in connection with some deals in Colorado.

Baldwin was also a close associate of Kusaka’s- one whose Kaua`i Economic Development Board was lavished with money from the county’s largess, as PNN detailed in the 90’s on “The Parxist Conspiracy” TV news magazine.

Whether Baldwin- who we hear is out of jail and living in the northwest- has been subpoenaed in unknown but improbable.

YOU GOT A PERMIT FOR THAT BONE?

YOU GOT A PERMIT FOR THAT BONE?: Well it’s only taken the State a few years but it appears that Honolulu Star Bulletin reporter Tom Finnegan has uncovered the existence of a secret investigative grand jury that may actually pursue criminal charged against convicted land-rapist and alleged murderer Jimmy Pflueger.

The article also says that former Mayor Marianne Kusaka may finally get her come-uppance and share a cell with Pflueger if he lives long enough to land in one, especially given his penchant for spending the family fortune on attorneys.

Kusaka could face obstruction charges if not conspiracy for her role in allegedly stopping county workers from stopping Pflueger’s illegal activities.

But it remains to be seen, not as much how many people the grand jury calls, but who they hear from since they may not know many who might have valuable information

Because there are at least a few “friends of Jimmy” out there who saw Pflueger in action when he created his “water-skiing lakes” and one “acquaintance” spoke to us a few years back.

Our source, who has asked we not use his or her name for fear of retaliation, told us that Pflueger regularly regaled both our source and disgraced former Kaua`i business honcho Gary Baldwin with how he had turned all reservoirs in the area on his land into lakes for water skiing during the 90’s- all without any permits.

Both Baldwin and Pflueger were in the auto business and our source suggested that others in the rent-a car and car sales business were friendly with Pflueger and might also be able to provide information under subpoena.

The source told us that during a social visit with Pflueger bulldozers and land moving equipment were ubiquitous on Pflueger’s properties.

And our source reported that Pflueger bragged about how he had been busy over the years moving land to raise the level of his “water-skiing lakes” to allow for better rides- and even took them to see the activity.

Is Baldwin- who was known to be a prime go-between for Kusaka and Pflueger and who has paid his dues for a con-job before he came to Kaua`i and now reportedly lives in the northwest- going to be called by the grand jury?

We don’t know but would strongly suggest they find out what he knows.

Pflueger’s responsibility for the Pila`a mudslide, where a storm washed down a mountain on the Marvin Family’s beach kuleana land after Pflueger illegally grubbed and graded a mountain creating a new road, was extensively documented in hours, days and weeks of community and government official’s testimony before the County Council early in the decade.

That resulted in the largest EPA fine in history for among other things killing the reef at Pila`a beach.

Parenthetically, it also led to a new grubbing and grading ordinance that has never been “activated”. Despite Department of Public Works (DPW) guarantees that they would set a short timetable for creating administrative rules to implement the ordinance they never have.

But included in those hearings and viewings of what became know as the “Developer’s Gone Wild” videos were details of illegal activity throughout Pflueger’s lands..

A review of the tapes and transcripts of the meetings would certainly provide the grand jury with a plethora of evidence of Pflueger’s habit of re-designing the land and reservoirs without any engineering plans or permits.

Although Kusaka has reportedly been called to testify we wonder how many DPW employees with knowledge of Pflueger’s illegal activities- the ones who apparently did “get the memo” from Kusaka telling them not to investigate but didn’t tell the authorities about it- will be called to tell what they know and when they knew it under oath.

Many of the statements by Kusaka allies in the DPW such as county engineer Caesar Portugal and others like Wally Kudo and Ian Costa came after pointed questions by then Council member Gary Hooser and are damning to say the least.

Throughout the months of testimony they repeatedly attempted to make excuses for why they hadn’t shut down Pflueger’s apparent and apparently illegal operations.

Despite testimony of violations that had been seen and even photographed they failed to even charge Pflueger with obvious violations of the county’s grubbing and grading ordinance which requires engineering studies and permitting in order to do the kind and scope of work Pflueger was doing.

Hooser and dozens in the public were incredulous with their “he won’t give us permissions to look” excuse to the point where it would have neared comedy if it wasn’t tragic- such as when the suggestion was made that they go up in a helicopter for a look and they responded “oh- that’s a good idea”.

Or like when it was suggested they did have the right to inspect properties with probable cause to believe violations had occurred their response was “oh we never do that” despite the fact that inspectors of all stripes commonly enter properties after going through the proper procedures during every council meeting for many months.

And, oh - all this happened before the Ka Loko dam break.