Woo vs. Harmon - Witness Bob Lindsey

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

ROBERT K. (BOB) LINDSEY, JR.

Former Kamehameha Schools Land Manager, Island of Hawaii; Partner, PLK Ventures; Trustee, Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs
E-mail: info@oha.org

See: http://www.kycbs.net/Robert-Lindsey-OHA-bio.mht

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Excerpts from...

LAND AND POWER IN HAWAII

by George Cooper, Gavan Daws

... Not only did legislative leaders get extensively involved in development, but in their land business and their other enterprises they crossed lines of political party, political faction, and social class.

The 15 men listed in Table 4 below were all Democratic legislative leaders. The business associations listed occurred while they were legislative leaders. Most though not all associations involved land.

----------------------------------------- TABLE 4 ---------------------------------------

ARIYOSHI, GEORGE R. - ... Elected director 1966 Hawaiian Insurance & Guaranty Co., Ltd., wholly-owned subsidiary of C. Brewer. As attorney represented Brewer 1967 before Honolulu City Council re improvement district matters involving Brewer downtown Honolulu property....

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August 25, 2005

Battle brewing on Big Isle
over coffee roasting plant

By Stewart Yerton, Star-Bulletin

There's a $25 million project brewing on the Big Island and the venture is not something that the local coffee industry wants to wake up with in the morning.

Albert Kam, a founder of PLK Air Services Group LLC, said the company's proposed coffee roasting and packaging center will enhance the Big Island's coffee industry, providing a market for growers and a boost to the island's heralded export.

The proposed project, to be built at Hilo Airport, also will process and package macadamia nuts for export and include a fulfillment center where PLK can process orders before sending them out on airplanes.

But many Hawaii growers, roasters and packagers say the venture is bad for the local coffee and nut business. They say the Big Island doesn't need more roasters battling for a limited supply of unroasted coffee beans. A new player the size of PLK, they say, would drive up local prices of unroasted coffee beans and macadamia kernels to unsustainable levels, leading to a painful bust in the future.

In addition, there's a question of whether PLK will sell only Hawaiian-grown coffee. Although Kam insisted that it will, others fear PLK will import nuts and coffee beans from elsewhere, package them on the Big Island and misleadingly label the products as Hawaiian.

Finally, Big Island coffee and nut producers point to their central gripe: PLK has gotten special support from the state Legislature, which granted PLK the right to issue $25 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project.

The project has turned into a political football, just as PLK faces more bureaucratic hurdles before it can issue its so-called special purpose revenue bonds to finance the facility.

Last week, Gov. Linda Lingle's senior policy adviser Linda Smith attended a meeting in Kona where more than 100 Big Island coffee and macadamia growers and executives, including some of the state's biggest players, decried the project as a state-supported behemoth that would hurt their businesses.

PLK must submit an application with the state before it can issue the bonds, and the state Department of Budget and Finance must study the company's business plan to determine if it is sound before granting approval.

Smith said there's no guarantee that the state will grant final approvals.

"There are actually numerous special purpose revenue bonds that are approved (by the Legislature) that never get issued," Smith said.

"We just feel (PLK) has been given unfair advantage and there's no need for it," said Una Greenaway, owner of Kuaiwi Farm, an organic coffee grower.

Dennis Simonis, president and chief executive of nut grower ML Macadamia Orchards, agreed.

"I think the last thing Hawaii needs is another processor of macadamia nuts," he said.

Also this week, one of the original sponsors of the measure backing the project's bonds, state Rep. Josh Green, D-Honokohau-Keauhou, said in an e-mail to coffee executives that he had been asked to support the bill only because it would "support Kona businesses."

"I now realize the intent of the bill was misrepresented that day," Green wrote.

With the tide apparently turning against him, Kam is engaged in a bitter fight to keep his project on track.

"These people -- when you read through the rhetoric -- simply don't want competition," said Kam, whose partners in PLK are Frederick Parr and Robert Lindsey Jr.

"It's ridiculous that anyone wants to contest a bill that went through public hearings, that went through public testimony," Kam said.

Kam said the minutes of the Hawaii Coffee Association's March meeting show that the group discussed the bill, and therefore was aware of it back then.

But Jim Wayman, chairman of the Hawaii Coffee Association's governmental affairs committee, said the group didn't understand the bill's significance at the time.

Wayman, president and chief executive of Hawaii Coffee Co., said the association didn't hear about the bill again until it was about to become law.

"Who's fault is that?" Kam said. "Are people supposed to call (the Hawaii Coffee Association)? That's a lame excuse."

Kam also is fighting the perception that he is getting a special break from the state. He said the project needed the special purpose revenue bonds because the airport would not grant the type of long-term lease PLK needed to obtain standard financing.

Special purpose revenue bonds essentially transfer to a private entity the state's ability to issue tax-exempt bonds, Smith said. The bonds are not serviced with taxpayer money, she said. Plus, PLK is required to provide collateral covering the full amount of the bonds, Smith said, so the state's coffers would not be exposed if the project were to fail.

Still, Smith said, the tax-exempt status of the bonds represents a benefit to PLK that has not been granted to many other coffee companies, which would face new competition if PLK's project got off the ground.

Kam acknowledged that his project could drive up prices for unroasted Kona coffee beans, which he said would be good for local farmers. Kam noted that Howard Yamasaki of C & H Farms of the Big Island testified in favor of the project before the Legislature, saying it would "ensure a more secure marketplace for farmers."

"How can we be bad for the industry if we're here to help farmers?" Kam said.

Kam, who was once a senior executive with the predecessor of Wayman's Hawaii Coffee Co., said it is wrong to assume that the market could not sustain higher coffee prices. Whether consumers would be willing to pay higher prices in the long run is a question of marketing, he said.

Kam cited Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, which he said sells for $48 per pound.

As for whether he would import coffee from elsewhere, Kam said: "We are marketers of 100 percent Kona coffee. I have never said we're going to do anything but that."

Critics are unmoved by such rebuttals. In the end, Wayman said, if PLK wants to develop its facility, it should do so without support from the state.

"The state is creating a preferred competitor by backing them," Wayman said.

"I haven't heard anything from PLK to change my mind."

www.archives.starbulletin.com/2005/08/25/business/story2.html

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April 26, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

Kamehameha Schools Tests

Aerial Rodenticide Drop

Kamehameha Schools tested an experimental aerial application of rodenticide pellets in the Keauhou, Ka‘u forest in August to study the feasibility of controlling feral rat populations in hard-to-reach sections of one of Hawai‘i’s most pristine native forests.

Rats are a primary culprit in the decimation of Hawaii’s native bird populations and the extinction of several species. As part of the study, wild pig populations in the area were also monitored.

After the Keauhou drop – which consisted of a single application over an area of roughly 750 acres of Kamehameha Schools land – 240 rats and 71 mice were confirmed killed by the rodenticide within the first two days of the drop. In addition, 12 wild pigs were found dead in the test area. The inadvertent animal deaths were immediately reported to health, forestry and wildlife officials.

“Kamehameha Schools regrets the inadvertent loss of the pigs in this situation,” said Robert Lindsey, Kamehameha’s Hawai‘i Island Region manager. “While we do work with the local hunting community to control wild pig populations on our land, our target in this case was the rat. The lessons we learn from this incident should be of value to all of us as we develop safe and effective tools to help control pests, and to manage our forests to the benefit of future generations.”

Use of the rodenticide had been allowed under an Experimental Use Permit (EUP) issued to Kamehameha Schools by the US Environmental Protection Agency in May 2003. Dropping rodenticide pellets by air is a methodology used successfully in New Zealand and on the Channel Islands off the California coast. However, aerial applications are not yet widely allowed in Hawai‘i. The aerial application in Keauhou was permitted as part of the EUP. Results from this experiment are of great interest to bird and forest conservation groups and other Hawai‘i landowners, including the state and federal governments, as a potentially effective, efficient method of controlling feral rat populations in highly sensitive areas.

The discovery of the pigs came as a surprise to researchers since the active ingredient in the pellets, diphacinone, is consid- ered safe for large mammals. In fact, diphacinone was originally developed – and is still used -– as a blood-thinning agent for humans. Prior laboratory tests of diphacinone on domestic pigs had not resulted in any animal fatalities. Tests and follow-up study have confirmed that the pigs died from eating an excessive amount of rodenticide pellets. Preliminary conclusions are that the consumed pellets were either raided from bait boxes, foraged from the forest after the aerial drop, or foraged from the test staging area.

In addition to the devastating impact rats and other rodents have had – and continue to have – on Hawai‘i’s native birds, they are also a major contributor to retarding the natural recovery of native forest and grass species. Rats and mice forage on the seeds and young sprouts of native trees and other plants, reducing or eliminating the natural seed stock available for forest and grassland regeneration. Rats are also considered a major vector in the spread of leptospirosis in Hawai‘I.

KS Press release dated April 26, 2004. Contact: Kekoa Paulsen, 808-523-6369

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Children's Health Environmental Coalition

HealtheHouse

www.checnet.org/HealtheHouse

Remember, the health effects noted in these profiles assume exposure to the pure form of the substance. The risk you face is affected by how much of the substance you are exposed to, its concentration, its form, the timing of the exposure (when and how long exposure occurs), other substances your child is exposed to, and his or her own individual sensitivity, which in turn can be influenced by age, sex, health status, and genetic make-up.

Chemical Profile

diphacinone

Rank: Red

Red = Danger! Prevent Exposure

Orange = Warning - Avoid Exposure

Yellow = Caution - Limit Exposure

Common Names: diphacin, ratindan, dipazin, diphenadione, diphenacin

Diphacinone is a restricted use rodenticide in the indandiones family, used in and around buildings, sewers, landfills and in agricultural settings. Diphacinone, an anticoagulant, causes bleeding and blood-thinning. It is more effective against rats than mice. Children may come into contact with diphacinone in its powder, pellet or bait forms. It should never be used anywhere near children!

Diphacinone is also used for medical purposes.

Significant Statistics:

According to American Association for Poison Control Centers, 20,206 people were exposed to rodenticides in 1999. Young children are the most common victims of exposure to rodenticides: 17,498 cases of exposure (87%) were children under six years of age.

Source: Litovitz, Toby, et al. “1999 Annual Report of the American Association for Poison Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System,” American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 18, No. 5 (September 2000).

http://www.aapcc.org/Annual%20Reports/99report/Entire%20Report.pdf

For more, see: http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop4.htm

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Bob Lindsey is expected to testify with regard to his business, professional and personal relationships with Defendant Bobby Harmon; Governor George Ariyoshi, Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate; Bishop Museum; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Kirk Belsby; Peter Savio; Robert Herkes; Mark Bennett; Mary Lou Woo; Guy Lam; Paul Cathcart; Bob Rosehill; Sam Hata, William Rosehill; Douglas Ing; Gil Tam; Robert Kihune; Nam Snow; Hamilton McCubbin; Dee Jay Mailer; Alexander & Baldwin; Neil Abercrombie; Jeremy Harris; Frank Fasi; Richard S.H. Wong; Henry Peters; Myron “Pinkie” Thompson; Nainoa Thompson, Matsuo Takabuki; Rey Graulty; Nathan Aipa; Milton Holt; Steven Yamashiro; Hawaii Land Use Commission; Donald Clegg; Allen K. Hoe; Ka`upulehu Developments; Seibu Group; Starwood Resorts; Governor John Burns; Governor John Waihee; Governor Ben Cayetano; Governor Linda Lingle, Bob Awana, David Farmer, Haunani Apoliona, Oswald Stender, John Waihee IV, Rowena Akana, Judge Kevin Chang; Judge David Ezra; Judge Barry Kurren; Faye Kurren, J.C. Shannon, David C. Farmer, and others to be named upon discovery.