2010: A Look Back (2 of 3)
Some hang on, others don’t in a vulnerable year for incumbents
It was a bad year to be an incumbent just about anywhere in the United States in November 2010. And, in Maui County, a few incumbents felt the sting of voter discontent while others cruised back into office, easily handling those seeking to unseat them.
Mayor Charmaine Tavares finished on top of an 11-candidate field in the primary election for mayor, but in the Nov. 2 general election she was unable to hold back the surging momentum of runner-up former Mayor Alan Arakawa.
Arakawa aggressively campaigned in the weeks after the September primary, winning key endorsements, particularly from third-place finisher Randy Piltz. in the general election, Arakawa beat Tavares by more than 7,200 votes, 24,169 to 16,911.
The election was payback for Arakawa, who lost the mayor’s office four years earlier to Tavares, whose term was weighed down by the county’s poor economy. she also took hits from critics who said her administration’s enforcement of county ordinances on transient vacation rentals hurt business.
Also swept out of office were South Maui Council Member Wayne Nishiki and South Maui Democratic Rep. Joe Bertram III.
After it was revealed in early 2009 that Nishiki had been late in filing documents showing that he had accepted a $100,000 loan from developer Everett Dowling, the veteran council member was dogged by the issue during the campaign. he eventually lost to challenger Don Couch, who had unsuccessfully tried to unseat Nishiki in 2008.
Republican George Fontaine, a former Maui Police Department captain, succeeded in his second attempt to beat Bertram, who took stands in favor of liberalizing marijuana laws and expressed public support for a friend convicted of trying to entice a police officer – posing as a 14-year-old girl online – for sex.
Fontaine became Maui County’s only Republican member of its legislative delegation. Other Democratic House and Senate members from Maui County won re-election easily.
With a combination of term limits and a couple of election upsets, the Maui County Council will see, in addition to Couch, four other new members for the term beginning next week.
Business owner Elle Cochran overcame the revelation that she had a criminal conviction and won the West Maui council residency seat vacated because of term limits by Jo Anne Johnson. Ka’anapali Beach Hotel general manager Mike White, a former state legislator, grabbed the Makawao-Haiku-Paia seat left by Mike Molina, also because of term limits. And former Council Member Bob Carroll defeated Bill Medeiros to reclaim the East Maui seat he held previously; Riki Hokama was returned to the Lanai seat, which fell vacant when Sol Kaho’ohalahala stepped down for an unsuccessful run for mayor.
2 found guilty – one of a reduced charge – in domestic disputes that ended tragically
Two defendants, each charged with second-degree murder for domestic violence killings at Kahului residences, went on trial in 2010, leading to convictions – in one case on a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Joe Antonio, 47, who also is known as Jose Antonio Sr., was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after being found guilty as charged for the Dec. 16, 2008, shooting of his 19-year-old son, Jose “JR” Antonio Jr.
According to trial testimony, in the hours before the shooting, father and son had argued over $1,400 that the father had borrowed from the son and over a video game cord that ran from a living room computer to the son’s bedroom.
Responding to the family’s two-bedroom cottage on South Kamehameha Avenue after a 10:40 p.m. call, police found the son lying on the ground just outside the residence with five gunshot wounds in his body.
In the other case, Rachael Berta, 25, was found guilty of manslaughter in the stabbing death of 33-year-old John Shaniyo the afternoon of Jan. 5, 2009, at their residence on West Kauai Street.
He reportedly had planned to leave Berta to return to his former girlfriend, with whom he had a son.
After Berta called 911 saying she had stabbed her boyfriend, police found Shaniyo lying in blood on the kitchen floor of the one-bedroom cottage. he was rushed to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where he died that night.
After a five-week trial, 2nd Circuit Judge Joel August found that a preponderance of the evidence showed that Berta was acting under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation.
She is awaiting sentencing.
Both defendants opted for nonjury trials, with August hearing weeks of evidence and rendering verdicts in both cases.
Crews spare homes in a year of major blazes
With Maui County hit by the worst drought in decades, firefighters battled 310 brush fires that in some cases came perilously close to homes in 2010.
The Maui fire Department also fought for additional funding for its Air one helicopter, which was called on to respond to more rescues and fires, even as its budget was cut by the Maui County Council.
At least three brush fires neared homes and other buildings before being brought under control by firefighters.
In June, a wildfire covered 5,800 acres of brush in the West Maui Mountains above Maalaea, threatening the Harbor Shops at Maalaea.
In July, a brush fire ignited by fireworks blackened 24 acres on a ridge above Happy Valley, making for a sleepless night for residents of older houses below.
In August, residents were evacuated as fire crews fought a 60-acre fire in scrub brush below Wailuku Heights and near townhouses in the Kehalani Subdivision.
In November, fire Chief Jeff Murray cited an unusually busy brush fire season in asking for an additional $1.1 million in funding. Most of the money was sought to cover operations of the department’s Air one helicopter, which often is activated to help fight brush fires. The funding request is pending.
Earthquake off Chile sends island residents to high ground
Maui County residents prepared for the worst in the early-morning hours of Feb. 27 when they awoke to Civil Defense sirens and learned that a tsunami warning had been issued for Hawaii after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the coast of Chile the night before.
The sirens sounded at 6 a.m., and people called each other to prepare for the likelihood of a tsunami hitting the islands. People were roused from their sleep and jammed gas stations, crowded supermarkets and headed to higher ground, particularly Upcountry, Wailuku Heights and other areas beyond the reach of waves.
State and county parks, along with county landfills, were closed and traffic gridlock was reported on South Kihei Road and on Upcountry roads. Water and sewer facilities in low-lying areas were shut down, and people were asked to conserve electricity.
Fortunately, a destructive tsunami never arrived.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center estimated the first wave would arrive at about 11:19 a.m. around that time, observers in Wailuku could see the water level dropping in Kahului Harbor, followed by a surge that sent white water up the harbor beach.
A cloud of silt was visible in the harbor and grew larger with the subsequent surges and observers saw choppy “boiling” water near the harbor mouth.
The state’s highest wave was reported at Kahului Harbor at 11:47 a.m. It measured 3.2 feet.
There were no reports of damage from the multiple surges that rolled onto Maui County shorelines around noon.
This year will bring choice of paper or cloth – not plastic
Maui County residents, businesses and county officials have spent 2010 preparing for the plastic bag reduction ordinance that will go into effect Jan. 11.
Council Member Mike Molina introduced the plastic bag ban measure, which the council approved in 2008. His aim was to reduce the amount of plastic bags going into landfills and stop them from making their way into the ocean, where they can kill fish and other marine life.
In 2010, county officials, businesses and members of the public continued discussions on implementing the measure. County officials established administrative rules in October.
Businesses and critics have complained about the costs of eliminating the plastic bags, which are less costly than alternatives. some residents say they like the plastic bags for use as trash can liners at home.
Under the ordinance, some types of plastic bags still will be allowed for items such as meat, poultry, seafood, produce, dry cleaning and some prescription drugs.
Under the measure’s provisions, no business will be able to provide plastic bags to consumers at the point of sale. there is an exception if the plastic bag is specifically designed and manufactured for multiple reuse, has handles and is a certain thickness. The ban is aimed to reduce what is known as “T-shirt bags” in the industry, or the typical thinner plastic bags less than 1 millimeter thick.
The ordinance calls for a $500 initial fine and $500 a day until a store is in compliance.
Businesses during the year have been trying to get their customers to switch over to reusable bags, with some offering discounts and other incentives to use reusable bags.
The county also has an informational campaign: “B.Y.O. Bag: Shop Smart.”
More information can be found online at co.maui.hi.us. Click on the “Plastic Bag Reduction” icon on the left side of the page.
Visitor industry bounces back while other sectors struggle
Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar co. could stand as a symbol of Maui County’s economy in 2010: Production of sugar was up 24 percent, but that output was still around 15 percent below a typical good year.
The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization described the state’s economy as diverging on two tracks. The visitor industry track was recovering smartly by the end of the year, though still nowhere near back at its peaks. But just about everything else was lagging.
Real estate sales were dull. Construction (except a few publicly funded projects) was languishing. Maui County employment remained unusually high (although lower than the national average), and tax collections were lower than they had been.
The woes of business were revealed in two figures that went up: About 9,000 people were receiving food assistance each month from Feed my Sheep; and enrollment at the University of Hawaii Maui College grew past 4,500. Community college enrollment typically goes up when employment goes down.
The nation’s credit crunch continued to be felt in the islands, with most resorts in Hawaii and Maui County being in default on their financing. Smaller businesses closed their doors at the rate of about one a week. Government, state and county furloughed employees two or three days a month to save on employee wages.
Furloughs for public workers, layoffs, short weeks and pay reductions for private workers were common.
Every business day brought several more foreclosures of residential property.
The best that could be said of 2010 is that it wasn’t as bad as 2009.
Dive-bomber ditched during World War II is rediscovered
In August 1944, a Navy pilot practicing high-speed dive-bombing maneuvers damaged his rudder and ditched his plane in shallow water off Maalaea.
More than 65 years later, divers checking out the site on a tip from local fishermen in January 2010 were astonished to discover a nearly pristine wreck that had never before been documented.
The aircraft was later identified by a maritime archaeologist working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as an SBC-2 Helldiver, a heavy dive-bomber launched from aircraft carriers during World War II. Navy records later revealed that pilot Lt. William E. Dill survived the water landing without injury.
The wreck has quickly become a popular Maui dive spot, and the divers who first reported the site have spoken out for it to be preserved. Federal authorities said they would mark the site with a plaque, and warned that it was against the law for anyone to touch or disturb the plane.
Baldwin softball players sue over gender discrimination
In March, Baldwin High School girls softball players Trisha Nobriga, Tayler Shimizu and Julia Kinoshita, along with their parents and their coach, filed a federal lawsuit claiming gender discrimination, alleging that the playing field that they had been provided was inferior to facilities given the boys baseball team.
The girls scored in the suit’s first inning, when U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled that he found an “obvious disparity” between the facilities and ordered that the girls’ playing field be brought up to standard immediately.
But while officials fretted that the lawsuit could make it harder for the county to make its ball fields, gymnasiums and pools available to public schools, the case was settled in less than three weeks.
Both sides said they were pleased with the settlement, which included an agreement by the state to release funding to build a softball complex on the Baldwin campus. also, the Baldwin girls team was allowed to practice at its usual field at Keopuolani Park for the rest of the season and play its games at the Maui High School softball stadium.
“Everybody’s happy, and I think it’s going to be a new day for girls’ sports,” said Kit Grant of the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent the teen players.
About a month after the settlement, the Baldwin girls team went on to win the school’s seventh straight Maui Interscholastic League Division I title.