The Puna Connection
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
~ o ~
From: Hapa1234@aol.com
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 07:22:15 EST
Subject: Check out Sherman Skolnick's Report
To: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov, admin@ehawaii.gov, sf.nancy@mail.house.gov, senatorleahy@leahy.senate.gov, getinvolved@pogo.org, editor@educate-yourself.org, jrcole@umich.edu, bobby_n_harmon@yahoo.com, webmaster@uk-human-rights.org
GOODMORNING AMERICA!
MORE HAWAIIAN LEGENDS, AIPAC MYTHS, AND BROKEN TRUST CONFEDERACY TALES FROM THE "OFF-SHORE" SOUTH PACIFIC.
ITEM OF NOTE: DATELINE 05/11/01: SHERMAN SKOLNICK'S REPORT.....PRIOR TO 9/11 AND OTHER U.S. GOVERNMENT EVENTS IN HAWAII, COLORADO, WASHINGTON DC, AND THE MIDDLE EAST.
PUBLIC SCOPE OF FOCUS: THE SHADOW FIFTH - COLUMN "VICHEY" U.S. GOVERNMENT, AKA, SPECIAL FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC "AGENTS" AND NON PROFIT SPECIAL ENTITLEMENTS, AKA, POLITICAL LOBBYIST, AND THEIR STEALTH POLITICAL INFLUENCE FOR U.S. FOREIGN & DOMESTIC POLICIES, UTILIZING VAST AMERICAN RESOURCES AND LAUNDERED PUBLIC PROCEEDS IN WASHINGTON DC.
SUPPORTING REFERENCES TO THIS FORESIGHTED REPORT:
A] PRIOR TO THE OKLAHOMA BOMBING TRIAL IN DENVER, COLORADO I WORKED FOR A WELLS FARGO COURIER {PONY EXPRESS} AND MADE NUMEROUS PICK UPS AND DELIVERIES TO THE DENVER FEDERAL BUILDING. I WAS STOPPED ON ONE OCCASION IN 1999 BY SECURITY CAMARAS GUARDS SINCE I WAS IN THE WRONG AREA FOR THE STANDARD PICK UPS AND DELIVERIES AT THE DOWNTOWN FEDERAL BUILDING. THE EXTREME MEASURES WERE BEING TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS DUE TO THE NATURE OF EVENTS IN OKLAHOMA AS WELL AS THE CHAOS BEING CREATED BY THE NATIONAL MEDIA NEWS VANS AND REPORTERS COMING TO DENVER TO REPORT THE OKLAHOMA BOMBING CASE.
B} I MOVED TO HAWAII IN OCTOBER OF 1999 TO ESTABLISH A SMALL, QUIET, AND UNIQUE ECO-TOURISM B&B BUSINESS IN THE REMOTE PUNA DISTRICT ON THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII. I RECALLED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE FROM THE COLORADO, IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, HAVING FATAL "ACCIDENTS" IN THE VOLCANO AREA REGION IN THE PUNA DISTRICT NEARBY OUR PLACE. ONE PERSON THAT CAME TO MIND WAS THE OKLAHOMA BOMBING CASE JUDGE RICHARD MASTCH'S DAUGHTER. SHE APPARENTLY WAS REPORTED TO HAVE MET SOME FLY-BY NIGHT CHARACTER IN HAWAII DURING HER SHORT VISIT TO THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII. THEY BOTH WENT TO VISIT THE BIGGEST TOURIST ATTACTION IN HAWAII AT THE VOLCANOS NATIONAL PARK IN THE PUNA DISTRICT. THEY WERE BOTH SUPPOSEDLY RELAXING OR "STEAM BATHING" {IF I RECALL WITH LITTLE CLOTHES FOUND ON HER FROM REPORTS} NEAR AN OPEN AND SUPER HOT TOXIC STEAM VENT CAVITIES AND SHE ACCIDENTLY SLIPPED DOWN THE OPEN STEAM CAVITY AND WAS SCALDED TO DEATH. THE VOLCANOS NATIONAL PARK AREA HAS SEVERAL PARK RANGERS AT THE MAIN ENTRANCE WITH SAFETY GUIDE BROCHURES, AS WELL AS NUMEROUS DANGER WARNINGS SIGNS POSTED AROUND THE CLOSER STEAM VENT AREAS FOR THE VISITING TOURIST INFORMATION. THESE EVENTS WE FOUND TO BE QUESTIONABLE SINCE THE AREA IS LOCATED AT A HIGH ELEVATION, COLD, RAINY, AND FOGGY ON MANY OCCASSIONS. ONLY A VERY ADVERTEROUS OR STUPID PERSON, YET ALONE A TOURIST, WOULD VENTURE INTO SUCH A DANGEROUS AREA WITH SOME HAVING IRON PIPE RAILS FOR SAFETY FEATURES. ONCE AGAIN, WE FOUND THE JUDGES DAUGHTERS FATE A VERY STRANGE TALE OF EVENTS WHICH MUST HAVE IMPACTED HER FAMILY AND THE JUDGE'S ABILITY TO PROCEED FURTHER IN ANY HIGH PROFILE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY.
C} IN REFERENCE TO SHERMAN SCOKNICK'S FORESIGHTED REPORT OF EVENTS, PRIOR TO 9/11, THE DISAVOWED HAWAIIAN FRAUD AND CORRUPTION, DOCUMENTED UNDER THE PUNA CONNECTION, REVEALS DOCUMENTED DIVERSION FOR MULTI-MILLIONS OF PUBLIC PROCEED FEMA FUNDS FOR NATURAL DISASTER ROYAL GARDEN ESTATES AND KALAPANA VICTIMS FOR THEIR HAWAIIAN REPLACEMENT SUBDISIVION HOMES {AT LOW INTEREST RATES}. THIS INCLUDES MISSING DLNR PUBLIC REVENUES, GENERATED BY MASSIVE, ILLEGAL, DIVERSIFIED REGULATED AGRICULTURE VENTURES, BEING CHANNELED AND LAUNDERED INTO UNKNOWN PROJECTS OR PRIVATE ENTITIES WHICH IS BEING STONEWALLED BY HAWAII GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. THE REPLACEMENT SUBDIVISION: KIKALA-KEOKA {SEC. 201G - 170.5}. THE FICTIOUS SUBDIVISION IN THE REMOTE PUNA DISTRICT, WITH VACANT GRID LOCK ROADS AND INSTALLED FIRE HYDRANTS, WAS GRUB AND CLEARED BY OUR FORMER NEIGHBOR / DEVELOPER RELATED TO THE FORMER HAWAII LT. GOVERNOR / GOVERNOR, JOHN WAIHEE LINKED TO THE KAPOHO LAND AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY {LYMAN ESTATE}.
D} THE CONTROVERSIAL {JOINT} PRIVATE / GOVERNMENT PUNA GEOTHERMAL VENTURE, PROJECTED AND SOLD TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY UNDER WAIHEE'S ADMINISTRATION, WHICH WOULD LIGHT UP HONOLULU WITH A UNDERWATER CABLE AND SAVE HAWAII CONSUMERS MONEY, PRESENTLY SUPPLIES LESS THAN 1/4 OF THE BIG ISLAND'S ELECTRICTY SOLD TO HELCO.
E} IN RETROSPECT {JANUARY 2000}......THE INVASIVE SPECIES FOR THE HAWAIIAN COQUI FROG INVASION BEGAN SUDDENLY IN OUR AREA, WHICH INCLUDES OUR FRAUDULENT HAWAII REGULATED PROPERTY SALE, ADJACENT TO THE HAWAIIAN DEVELOPERS PROPERTIES NEAR LAVA TREE STATE PUBLIC PARK, IN PUNA, ON THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII. THE PUBLIC STATE PARK AREA, INCLUDING THE PRISTINE NANAWALE FOREST RESERVE RAINFOREST, BECAME THE MOST HEAVILY INFESTED AREA ON THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII INCLUDING THE ENTIRE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. THE HAWAII COUNTY OFFICIALS AND STATE DLNR WERE NOTIFIED OF THE COQUI FROGS SUDDEN APPEARANCE ON OUR PROPERTY AS WELL AS VERY NOTICEABLE NUISANCE ANIMALS {VICIOUS PACKS OF DOGS AT THE PARK ENTRANCE SCARING THE TOURIST; LOOSE FIGHTING COCK ROOSTERS ON OUR PROPERTY, AND VERY NEW NOTICEABLE "PRIVATE ROAD" SIGNS TO KEEP THE TOURIST AWAY FROM OUR SMALL ESTABLISHED BUSINESS, FROM THE PUBLIC PARK ENTRANCE FROM A PUBLIC HIGHWAY. THIS CAN ALL BE VERIFIED BY OUR TESTIMONIALS IN THE AREA, AS WELL AS THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII'S TROPICAL AGRICULTURE RESEARCH DIRECTOR, DR. LYLE WONG, WHO VISITED OUR PROPERTY IN 2000 TO INVESTIGATE THE COQUI FROG INFESTATION ON OUR PROPERTY. THE DLNR PROJECTED COST TO ERADICT THE HAWAII COQUI FROG: FORTY MILLION DOLLARS, WITHOUT ANY ERADICATION GUARANTEES, IMPACTING: THE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR HAWAII REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY, THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURE AND NURSERY BUSINESSES, THE TOURISM INDUSTRY, THE LOCAL BUSINESS AND RESIDENCE, AND THE PRISTINE HAWAIIAN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LANDS FOR THE ECOLOGICIAL BALANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL NATURE IN HAWAII.
AGAIN FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD: "WHAT IF A CRIMINAL CABAL, A WHITE-COLLAR CRIME SYNDICATE, TOOK OVER THE U.S. GOVERNMENT {OR HAWAII}?" AL MARTIN - THE CONSPIRATORS
"WHAT WERE THESE PEOPLE DOING WITH A MAMMOTH DRUG-FINANCING, MONEY-LAUNDERING, TAX-EVADING {REAL ESTATE} INVESTOR-FRAUD OPERATION?" JOHATHAN KWITNY - THE CRIMES OF PATRIOTS
".....A PERVASIVE WAY OF CONDUCTING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS IN WHICH STATE AND LOCAL OFFICE HOLDERS THROUGHOUT HAWAII TOOK THEIR PERSONAL FINANCIAL INTERESTS INTO ACCOUNT IN THEIR ACTIONS AS PUBLIC OFFICIALS YEARS AGO." NEW YORK TIMES - "LAND AND POWER IN HAWAII" - ORGANIZED CRIME / SUBDIVIDING THE LAVA FIELDS {COOPER & DAWS}
ALOHA MAI MO. ALOHA AKU......DO THE FACTS MATTER?
CORPORATE GOVERNMENT WHITE KNIGHTS FOR SOLDIERS OF MISFORTUNES IN THE DISMISSED CATBIRD SEAT FROM THE REMOTE SOUTH PACIFIC, IMPACTING U.S. FOREIGN POLICY FOR A CASE OF WAR IN IRAQ.
April 12, 2007
DLNR's Young under fire in
Attorney General investigation
by Nancy Cook Lauer
Stephens Media Capitol Bureau
HONOLULU -- The Attorney General's Office has launched a criminal investigation into the state Bureau of Conveyances, the official repository of all Land Court certificates of title, property liens and matters of record.
The investigation came to light Wednesday when the Senate Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs held a closed-door hearing with investigator Dennis Nagamuma, whom the committee had subpoenaed to testify in the confirmation hearing of Peter Young, chairman of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the conveyance bureau.
The closed-door session is the first time a committee has held an executive session for a confirmation hearing, and only the third time subpoenas have been issued for confirmation witnesses. Committee Chairman Russell Kokubun, D-South Hilo, Puna, Ka'u, said he closed the hearing at the request of the attorney general.
The Bureau examines, records and indexes more than 344,000 Regular System and Land Court documents and maps and collects tens of millions of dollars in taxes and fees annually. Hawaii is the only state in the nation with a single statewide recording office.
Details of the investigation were sketchy during the public portion of an eight-hour hearing that resumes today and is expected to continue into Friday. But Young and his deputy, Robert Masuda, both said that Young is not the target of the investigation that started earlier this year.
"Some of our guys started an investigation, and I told them to turn it over to the attorney general rather than have our guys do it," Young told Stephens Media. "I wanted a complete investigation by the attorney general, and we've been cooperating with them in it."
Masuda, under questioning from Sen. Sam Slom, R-Kahala, Hawaii Kai, told the committee that he handed over the investigation reluctantly. Kokubun stopped Slom's series of questions on the subject during the public part of the hearing.
"He was very insistent on having the investigation done (by the attorney general)," Masuda said of his boss. "We argued about this a little. ... I felt that we needed a little more time."
A financial audit of the department last year found problems in the Bureau of Conveyances as well as the Division of Boating and Recreation, which will be the subject of committee scrutiny today during testimony by subpoenaed witnesses. Some witnesses have alleged improper use of money in the state's boating special fund, another area touched on by auditors.
The hearing was a popular attraction. Spectators crammed into the small hearing room and overflowed into the hallways, where dozens more sat -- some munching peanuts -- in plastic chairs arranged around TV sets.
The majority of the testimony Wednesday was positive, and a lot of it came from Young's employees. But union leaders urged the committee not to confirm Young for a second four-year term, saying many good people have left the department, morale is low and staff vacancies remain unfilled.
"During Mr. Young's tenure, we have seen a very contentious labor relations climate between the employees and the administration of the department," said Randy Perreira, deputy executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association. "There are tremendous morale issues, and we have endured a large number of grievances and employee complaints during the last four years. We have seen a marked lack of direction, human resource issues in the department, very little resolution of long-standing problems, and in short the department has been quite adversarial and not responsive to employee concerns."
Young's confirmation is by no means a certainty. Kokubun bristled under a witness's accusations of a biased "trial-like" atmosphere. Sen. Clayton Hee, chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee, took umbrage with Masuda's downplaying of employee morale problems, noting the loss of longtime employees.
"Would it be news to you that they left because they did not like Peter Young," asked Hee, D-Kaneoha, Kahuku.
But Young's supporters ran the gamut from environmentalists to agribusiness to developers.
"I am sure that you will receive undeserved negative testimony, testimony that would not have been generated had he kept his head down and not tried to fix the many problems that festered and grew long before his tenure," said retired Big Island Judge Jeff Choi in written testimony.
"Not all the decisions will be popular with some, but overall, I know Peter has the best long-range interests of Hawaii and her residents at heart," said S. Cotta Schoenberg, a Kailua-Kona resident and 40-year friend of Young.
Volcano resident Bobby Camara took a more cynical view while lamenting the sorry shape of the area's parks.
"I am having a difficult time deciding whether or not to support the confirmation of Mr. Young," Camara said. "The system is broken, but I'm not sure it's the fault of Mr. Young. He has worked in government for a while and seems to know the bureaucracy. I'm afraid that if he isn't confirmed, his replacement will not be any more effective and may not know the ins and outs of the operation. The job may simply be too much for any one person to do."
Date Posted: 16:57:55 01/11/07 Thu
Author: Da Little Gray Fox
Subject: THE LUCRATIVE WAR ON TERRORISM
Stich,R. Russell,T.C. Disavow: A CIA Saga of Betrayal. 1995
(http://www.namebase.org/sources/ZS.html )
Aloha CB.....{and Counselors}
If you go to pages 253 & 254, in the above book, you will come across a fella named Robert W. Jinks. He was an California attorney and was involved in a big cover up Napa Valley investment scheme {400 people lost their money} with a fraudulent loan company front called LENDVEST MORTGAGE CO.
This involves a partner named Robert Pitner and Don Hanson and a bankrupted vintage California Winery {Joseph Mattews Winery} with an exclusive B & B business {Hennessey House} in Napa. My friend lives in the area and recalled the incident which was reported in the California news journals.
This also involves fraudulent land investments in Hawaii and the Puna Connection with a California investor mystery title deed front named Robert & Lois Mathias....the front for the Hawaiian Chow Estate {tmk: 3-1-4-1-042} adjacent to the Lava Tree State Public Park {Public forgery - E. O. 3117} and later my new mysterious neighbor, from Wenner's World documented appearance on Public Tax Records with no real estate transactions {Sim Wenner, eccentric wealthy mother of another multimillionaire, Jann Wenner - AIPAC supporter, Rolling Stone, and political environmentalist} protecting the Hawaiian Hui investors front linked to Susan Tius and Mary Loo Woo in collusion with the Broken Trust Legacy associates.
This Hawaiian Connections to California defrauded investors includes: the largest drug bust in San Francisco Bay {58 tons of Marijuana & Hash} which government agencies claim are from Afghanistan by way of Iran, the Middle east, and to the U.S.
This shipment was linked to Robert Pintner and the Napa Valley investor fronts {Attorney Robert Jinks} who was planning to purchase BBRDW from the government seizures, as well as the Hawaii Polo Club {Mokuliea}, and its CIA operations around the Globe!
He was a prospective buyer until the Government Officials found out that he spoke to Rewalds then Attorney, Robert Smith and the deal was immediately canceled for fear of exposure by the rogue Government Agencies {Bill Casey, Bush 41, et al}.
Soon after the 58 ton pot bust in S.F. Bay {Intrepid Venture barge} the Napa Valley investor went "bankrupted" with Robert Mattews Winery, Lendvest Mortgage Co., and other investor fronts which was linked to BBRDW laundering rich Billionaire proceeds and small investors into numerous investment fronts which was actually Government Grand Theft in the name of National Security and the War on Terrorism today!
This was a "win-win" situation for Government Officials since the judicial system made a lucrative spin off business being trumped up by ILLEGAL Commerce and Trade while holding the public accountable at the same time!
Doesn't get much better than this if you are a Politician, Lawyer, or "inside" Government investor in Hawaii, California, and the United States.
You won't believe how many Foreigners from Japan, the Philippines, Asia, Europe, {a lot of Hungarians for some reason in Puna} and around the Globe lost their proceeds or investments from the Puna Connection and manipulated Public Land Records, while being sheltered and protected by Regulated Government Agencies and stonewalled "investigations" implicating former Federal, State, and local officials in diversified Hawaii.
Inouye, the war hero, like Duke Cunningham, becomes "drunken" with Political power, playing the liberal Senator from Hawaii in Washington DC while spinning Political capital agendas with the GOP in Washington DC.
During the Clinton Administrations, the Hawaii Delegates to Congress became the unknown Jack Abramoff's in Washington DC to seek full Government immunity and protection to lobby for ILLEGAL agendas and Pork Barrel the most Federal funds per capital than any other State in the Union while holding the Federal Government "hostage" to extort, bribe, and blackmail more Federal funds for the rank and file Hawaiians which is similar to the Native American Indian Reservation Tribal leaders being the beneficiaries from Federal Regulated mismanagement and abuse to profit and protect lucrative assets for the few.
By all rights, the rank and file Hawaiians, with the World's largest private Charitable Trust, should be the most highly educated and skilled people on this planet but due to the deceptive Hawaii Politicians, Lawyers, and rogue Government "insiders", the rank and file Hawaiians have the highest rate of incarceration and are being shipped off to the mainland prisons more than any other ethnic group in Hawaii......gee....wonder why?
Genocide.....Hawaiian Style while lobbying for more Federal funding programs in Congress?
Ck out the Hawaii - California drug, arms, and land connections documented in the book. The rogue CIA Octopus does have long tenacles with a web of public deceptions and set ups by "inside" government officials - investors, determined to hide their IRAN - CONTRA scandal in Hawaii.
The trading of Illegal arms to Taiwan was supposedly illegal under the new agreements between China and the U.S. while supporting Aghan War Lords against Russian interests while courting the Russian Government toward Democracy values..... so this could be one reason why, like IRAN - CONTRA , Bush (41}, Clinton, and Bush jr. are hiding this from the Public with their diverted bad Karma for the diversified War on Terrorism in the Middle East.
The undiscriminating Government officials were not only targeting the small investors, but very wealthy American Philianthropist, Arab Royalties, and rogue Third World Government laundering their government proceeds {Cambodia, Philippines, and Indonesia} became a way of life for the deceptive Hawaii Delegates to Congress, the Aloha State of Hawaii officials, and the very opportunistic rogue CIA investors and ex military vets finding a golden opportunity from the Asian Golden Triangle into the isolated South Pacific.....some 5,000 miles away from Washington DC.
Like the song says: "If you come to San Francisco, be sure to wear a flower in your hair".....hey! If you go to Napa Valley, be sure you stop off at a comfort B&B and taste the winery....it could be another CIA Government investor front for rogue "inside" investors and opportunistic lawyers & kick back judges.
If you come to Hawaii, be sure to hide your assets unless you have super wealth and will share it with the Hawaiian hui government investors for special entitlements {Oprah's exclusive B & B on Maui in return for preserving 150 acres of prime Hawaiian lands} with the Broken Trust Legacy associates linked to Government {both Federal and State}.
If you are Ronald Rewald, Rodney Stich, and Arizona reporter Don Bollen, being a Patriot and doing your public citizen duty to help expose blatant and incompetent Government Corruption with hidden regulated monopolies, it has hazardous consequences which conflicts with the War in Iraq!
If you are Brian Tomanaha, Rewald's old lawyer, you become rewarded with a District Judge job in California. {Is this the same Circuit Court for Dancing Judge Stanley Ito from O.J. fame?}
If you are Robert Watada {Hawaii Campaign Commissioner} with his son, Iraq War protester, Lt Efren Watada, you volunteer to serve your country, collect government benefits, and later be reprimanded for not reporting for duty after being assigned to a combat zone, and be rewarded with a lifetime secure State job with lucrative benefits for life in Hawaii!
If you are Duke Cunningham, Tom Foley, Tom Ney, Tom Delay, Scooter Libby, Claude Allen, or any "Inside"Government lobbyist - associate, you retain lucrative Government benefits sitting in Country club jails or just resign back to the private sector, with more government lifetime benefits or huge windows of opportunity as business "consultants" being associated to Washington politics.
Doesn't get much better than this for the average, defrauded American Public Tax Payers in the U.S.
Again, is it "We the little people"....or "WE THE BIG GOVERNMENT"?
I'm confused?
"ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS, MARCHING OFF TO WAR" & "PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION"?
SHALOM, YA TA HAY, SAYONARA, MABUHAY, ADIOS, AND ALOHA PUMEHANA FOR THE NEXT BIRD HUNT AT THE SUGARLAND RANCH.....
Ck out the Hawaiian - California Connections documented in Napa Valley.
- da little gray fox with the non profit, no profit coconut crab club {CCC}....a possible tax deductible front?
December 4, 2006
Barnwell takes Hualalai stake
Pacific Business News
Barnwell Industries Inc., a longtime landowner in the Kaupelehu area above Kailua-Kona, has taken a minority stake in the Hualalai Resort.
The company said Monday it paid $3 million to be one of the new owners of the resort after affiliates of Kajima Corp. sold it.
The resort, on the Kona coast just north of the airport, includes the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, two golf courses, and undeveloped residential property.
"We are pleased to have acquired an interest in Haualai Resort, which our majority-owned Kaupulehu Developments partnership began development of in 1984," said CEO Morton Kinzler.
Honolulu-based Barnwell (Amex: BRN) has land holdings on the Kona side of the Big Island and oil and natural gas leases in Alberta, Canada.
September 19, 2004
New mood kills Kona project
By Kevin Dayton, Advertiser Big Island Bureau
KAILUA, Kona, Hawai'i — Developers have been pushing for new projects along the crowded Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway north of Kailua, and last week the community pushed back.
A crowd of more than 180 people pressured the Big Island County Council to kill a major proposed commercial and hotel development there. They heckled supporters of the development, and finally convinced most of the council to vote to bury the project proposed by Clifto's Kona Coast LLC.
That angry crowd and the council vote may signal a sea change in the development atmosphere north of Kona at a time when the real estate market is sizzling and more projects are planned for the area.
John Ray, president of the Hawai'i Leeward Planning Conference, said major landowners watched with "a lot of apprehension" as the Clifto's project was vetoed by Big Island Mayor Harry Kim, and council members last week refused to override Kim's veto.
County Planning Director Chris Yuen said developers should be concerned. He said the handling of the project was a turning point for the county, with Kim refusing to approve Clifto's because it relied on still-tentative state plans to widen the highway.
The highway has been at capacity since 1998, and it isn't clear when the state will begin widening it near the airport. A widening project for Queen Ka'ahumanu closer to Kailua is scheduled to begin next year.
From now on, developers with plans that would increase the traffic on Queen Ka'ahumanu "are either going to have to wait, or build something that is going to help alleviate the situation," Yuen said.
Cliff M. Morris, the managing member of Clifto's, promised to put up $750,000 to pay for planning and other work on the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway widening project to try to speed the project along to offer some relief from traffic jams.
He pledged to turn over a half-mile-long strip of choice beachfront property to the county for a new park, and promised to provide 78 affordable housing units as part of the project, which is twice the amount of affordable housing normally required.
That wasn't good enough for residents furious about the daily traffic jams on the highway. They worried the Clifto's development would dump even more cars on the commuter thoroughfare, and wanted nothing to do with the project.
"Just stop any more rezoning, stop any more construction, and let's just catch up with what we've got," Kailua View Estates resident Dan Olson told the council last week.
Project defeated
The council finally voted 5-4 against overriding Kim's veto of the project. Clifto's was seeking permission to put 390 apartments and condominiums, about 392,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and a 250-room airport hotel on 83 acres north of Kailua.
Morris estimated the total construction cost for the project would have been $160 million to $180 million.
Killing Clifto's hardly solves the traffic problem. Yuen estimated that landowners along the corridor from Kailua to the airport already have the zoning they need to build up to 1,500 new housing units, which would further clog the highway even if the council refused to grant any new rezoning requests.
More projects are on the way. One of the largest is Hiluhilu Development LLC, which is owned by Charles Schwab and local contractor Guy Lam, and is seeking permission to develop 725 acres mauka of the airport.
That project, now known as Palamanui, would include space for a long-sought new Kona campus for the University of Hawai'i, a golf course, 825 homes and about 120 hotel units, said Guido Giacometti, the owners' representative.
Closer to Kailua, the state is considering proposals to redevelop 350 acres in the Honokohau Harbor area, and the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust is also making plans to develop lands the trust owns in the area.
Giacometti said the Palamanui developers are well aware of the public concerns about traffic from Kailua to the airport, and said the existing zoning for the Palamanui property requires the developer to build a mauka-to-makai road from Mamalahoa Highway to Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway.
That new road should help, and Giacometti said the developer hopes the Palamanui project will be better received than Clifto's was.
Ray, who was a county council member in the 1990s, said studies done years ago warned that Kona was headed for major traffic and other problems, "but really, nothing happened" to head off the problems. Ray's organization now represents major Big Island landowners.
Pushing development
Ray doesn't blame the local government entirely because the county was in an economic slump at the time. That meant there was little county money available to cope with the looming infrastructure problems, and there was political pressure on the council to push new development to get the economy moving again.
"Instead of concentrating on catching up, we were concentrating on giving entitlements but falling further and further behind" on road and other public facilities improvements need to serve the new development, Ray said.
Now there is not nearly enough state, county or federal money available to solve the problem, Ray said. He contends the only way to catch up is to approve new developments, tapping the developers for money and other help, and combine those contributions with state and county resources to speed up the necessary highway and other improvements.
Without the new projects, Ray believes the county will never catch up.
The Kona crowd openly mocked Ray when he made those same points to the council, and observers such as Sierra Club spokesman David Frankel are skeptical.
"The development community always says if you allow more development to proceed, our problems will be solved," Frankel said. "But history shows that the more development we allow, the more infrastructure problems we face."
Frankel and Yuen both say the long-term solution is to require developers to build more affordable housing close to jobs so that working people don't need to commute long distances.
< < < FLASHBACK < < <
August 26, 1996
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Bishop Estate cares more about
hotel than the aina
A lot of attention is being paid to the federal suit brought against the Army Corps of Engineers and Hualalai Development for destroying the shoreline in front of the Four Seasons Resort in Kaupulehu. In all of the controversy about this case, there is one participant that has not been mentioned: Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate owns the land on which the Four Seasons is located.
Is it true that KS/BE has supported Hualalai Development in every way, in every permit process? Why didn't it ever do anything to preserve the shore and the cultural assets?
Through its silence, it has aligned itself with "culturally insensitive" government agencies and developers who have destroyed our shoreline.
As an alii trust, what is KS/BE's moral responsibility to the Hawaiian people, especially since it owns so much land on the island of Hawaii?
Luana Solomon
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
http://starbulletin.com/96/08/26/editorial/letters.html
October 12, 2006
Barnwell shareholder
demands breakup
The company's largest investor wants to sell off
its Canadian oil and gas business
By Dave Segal, Star-Bulletin
Barnwell Industries Inc.'s largest shareholder is demanding that the Honolulu-based company's board of directors maximize shareholder value by looking into selling off the company's oil and natural gas business in Canada.
Greenwich, Conn.-based Mercury Real Estate Advisors LLC, which owns 19.2 percent of Barnwell, said yesterday there remains "substantial unrealized value" in the assets of the company's energy business and in its real estate holdings on the Big Island.
"We believe the company's current corporate structure, egregious executive compensation and disparate business divisions are fundamentally flawed," Mercury said in a letter to Barnwell's board dated yesterday, issued via an electronic press release....
Mercury also demanded that Barnwell hire an investment bank to evaluate strategic alternatives, immediately implement a substantial stock buyback program, and set up a meeting with the seven independent directors on Barnwell's 11-member board.
Alexander Kinzler, president, chief operating officer and general counsel of Barnwell, said yesterday that Mercury had yet to contact Barnwell directly with its demands.
"Barnwell is not going to take any precipitous action based on shareholder comments put in a press release without the courtesy of sending it to the company," Kinzler said. "Shareholders make recommendations to companies and board of directors all the time and we're going to take it under advisement and deal with it in due course in an appropriate manner."
Barnwell was the best-performing Hawaii stock in each of the last two years, with a share price that doubled in both 2004 and 2005 to achieve a gain of more than 375 percent during the period. The company also split its shares twice last year, 2-for-1 in January and 3-for-1 in November.
But so far in 2006, even with the rise of the past two days, Barnwell's stock is down 14.9 percent for the year.
Mercury, in its letter, blasted Kinzler and his father, Chairman and Chief Executive Morton Kinzler, for their "million-dollar-plus salaries," which Mercury said is partly responsible for driving general and administrative expenses to 21 percent of revenue for the nine months that ended June 30.
Barnwell most recently reported Morton Kinzler's 2005 compensation as $1.1 million. He also is Barnwell's second-largest shareholder with 16 percent of the company. Alexander Kinzler's total compensation in 2005 was $1.3 million. He owns 3.6 percent of the company.
The younger Kinzler declined to comment on the compensation issue. However, he said that Barnwell's objective for "a number of years" has been to increase shareholder value and the liquidity of its stock...
Mercury demanded that Barnwell buy back stock using the $10.8 million in cash and cash equivalents on the company's balance sheet, as well as proceeds received from real estate sales from its majority-owned Big Island development.... Equity analyst Dan Pratt of John S. Herold Inc., an energy research and consulting firm in Norwalk, Conn., said yesterday that now would be a good time to sell energy interests in Canada.
Over the last several years there has been a big increase in activity in Canada by royalty trust companies, which acquire oil and natural gas assets and distribute excess cash to shareholders, he said....
http://starbulletin.com/2006/10/12/business/story01.html
October 11, 2006
Barnwell shareholder
urges energy spinoff
GREENWICH, Conn. --Barnwell Industries Inc.'s largest shareholder, Mercury Real Estate Advisors LLC, on Wednesday urged the real estate investor and oil producer's board to evaluate strategic alternatives, including the sale of its energy division.
Honolulu-based Barnwell explores for oil in Alberta, Canada, holds Hawaiian property investments and drills water and geothermal wells.
In a letter to Barnwell directors, Mercury called the company's current corporate structure "fundamentally flawed." Mercury also said it believes "a substantial share buyback program should be put into effect immediately." Mercury holds about 20 percent of Barnwell's outstanding stock.
In its argument for a spinoff of the energy unit, Mercury estimates the value of Barnwell's proven barrels of oil equivalent at about $18 per share.
A Barnwell representative could not be immediately reached for comment.
Mercury Real Estate Advisors is an affiliate of Mercury Partners LLC, a real estate investment management company based in Greenwich, Conn.
Barnwell shares jumped rose $2.01, or 10.6 percent, to $21 in morning trading on the American Stock Exchange. The stock has moved in a 52-week range of $16.82 to $28.25.
July 20, 2006
OHA buys Wao Kele forest land on Big Island
By Rod Thompson, Star-Bulletin
HILO » The Office of Hawaii Affairs has completed the purchase of 25,856 acres of forested land known as Wao Kele O Puna south of Hilo, the agency announced yesterday.
"OHA is acquiring the area to protect the natural and cultural resources on the land, to guarantee that native Hawaiians can continue to exercise traditional and customary activities on the land, and to ensure that OHA can pass it on to a sovereign governing entity," an OHA statement said.
OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona called the purchase a "gifted moment" in increasing the assets of native Hawaiian people. The Hawaiian culture-based Pele Defense Fund asked the Trust for Public Lands to buy the land in February 2005. With $3.35 million of the $3.65 million purchase price supplied by the U.S. Forest Service, the sale to the trust and then to OHA was concluded Friday, OHA announced.
The term "wao kele" refers to the wet, lush middle elevations between the coast and the dry mountain uplands. Although few people lived there in ancient times, coastal dwellers often went upland to collect resources there.
Starting two miles downhill from the present Puu Oo eruption site and stretching another nine miles, Wao Kele O Puna was a site of controversy in the 1980s when a large geothermal energy development was planned in the native ohia forest by True/ Mid-Pacific Geothermal Venture.
Environmentalists and Hawaiians opposed the project, sometimes in demonstrations that resulted in arrests. The Pele Defense Fund sued to halt drilling.
Opponents credited demonstrations and the lawsuit with stopping the project. True/Mid-Pacific said it could not find a usable geothermal resource.
Meanwhile, land ownership shifted. The initially state-owned Wao Kele O Puna lands were traded in 1986 to Campbell Estate. In turn, the state received Campbell's Kahaualea lands immediately uphill.
Advocates of the exchange said it was fair because Kahaualea had better native forest, with fewer invasive non-native plants.
In 1983, eruptions began that covered much of Kahaualea with lava. Preservation of Wao Kele O Puna provides a source of plant and animal life to restore the new lava lands, OHA said.
http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/20/news/story06.html
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562 F. Supp. 82
PUNA SPEAKS, an unincorporated association, on behalf of itself and as
representative of its members, included of which are Audrey Bear-Zuboty,
Barbara Bell, Greg Cameron, Theo C. Ho, Lee A. Jung, Margaret Jung, Heather
Lyman, Greg Owens, Dennis Stout, Marthann Stout, Carl A. Vasconcellos, Glenn
Yasuda, and Thomas Zoetewey, Plaintiffs,
v.
Donald P. HODEL, United States Secretary of Energy, Hideto Kono, Director of
the Department of Planning and Economic Development, State of Hawaii, the
Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii (RCUH), a Hawaii corporation,
Sidney Fuke, County of Hawaii Planning Director, Hawaiian Electric Company,
Inc., a Hawaii corporation, Susumu Ono, Chairman, Board of Land and Natural
Resources, State of Hawaii, William Yuen, Chairman, Land Use Commission, State
of Hawaii, Barnwell Geothermal Corporation, a Hawaii corporation, and Puna
Geothermal Venture, a Hawaii general partnership, Defendants.
Civ. No. 82-0457.
United States District Court,
D. Hawai'i.
Jan. 14, 1983.
*83 Jack F. Schweigert, Honolulu, Hawaii, for plaintiffs.
Susan Cook, Washington, D.C., for defendant Dr. James Edwards.
Annette Y.W. Chock, Deputy Atty. Gen., Honolulu, Hawaii, for defendants Hideto Kono, The Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii and William Yuen.
R. Ben Tsukazaki, Deputy Corp. Counsel, County of Hawaii, Hilo, Hawaii, for defendant Sidney Fuke.
James E.T. Koshiba, Honolulu, Hawaii, for defendant Hawaiian Elec. Co., Inc.
William T. Tam, Deputy Atty. Gen., Honolulu, Hawaii, for defendant Susumu Ono.
John A. Roney, Honolulu, Hawaii, for defendant Barnwell Geothermal Corp.
Bert T. Kobayashi, Jr., Benjamin A. Kudo, Honolulu, Hawaii, for defendant Puna Geothermal Venture.
ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION AND FOR MANDATORY
INJUNCTION PENDING APPEAL
FONG, District Judge.
By their Motion for Mandatory Injunction Pending Appeal filed November 5, 1982, Plaintiff PUNA SPEAKS, an unincorporated association, on behalf of itself and as representative of its members, came to this Court seeking a mandatory injunction pending appeal restraining Defendants from the operation or continuation of activities with respect to three geothermal drilling and production projects in the Puna District on the island of Hawaii.
The matter came on for hearing on December 20, 1982, on Plaintiffs' Motion, filed pursuant to Rule 8, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, for a mandatory injunction pending appeal. At that hearing, Plaintiffs also asked the Court to reconsider its December 17, 1982 Order Denying Plaintiffs' Motion For Preliminary Injunction. Just prior to the hearing on December 20, 1982, Plaintiffs filed their Notice of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
JACK F. SCHWEIGERT, Esq., appeared on behalf of Plaintiff PUNA SPEAKS; JAMES E.T. KOSHIBA, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INC.; CAROL MURANAKA, Esq., appeared on behalf of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Land and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice for Defendant DONALD P. HODEL, United States Secretary of Energy; ANNETTE Y.W. CHOCK, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendants HIDETO KONO, Director of the Department of Planning and Economic Development, State of Hawaii, THE RESEARCH CORPORATION, University of Hawaii, and WILLIAM YUEN, Chairman of the LAND USE COMMISSION, State of Hawaii; R. BEN TSUKAZAKI, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant SIDNEY FUKE, Planning Director of the County of Hawaii; WILLIAM M. TAM, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant SUSUMU ONO, Chairman of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawaii; JOHN A. RONEY, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant BARNWELL GEOTHERMAL CORPORATION; and BENJAMIN A. KUDO, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant PUNA GEOTHERMAL VENTURE.
AND THE COURT, having considered Plaintiffs' Motion to be both a motion for reconsideration of the Court's December 17, 1982 Order Denying Plaintiffs' Motion for *84 Preliminary Injunction, as well as a motion for mandatory injunction pending appeal, having considered all of the evidence presented, having studied the various memoranda, affidavits and exhibits submitted by counsel, having heard the arguments of counsel made at the aforesaid hearing, and having studied the authorities cited by counsel and otherwise being fully advised in the premises, makes the following Findings of Fact, and Conclusions of Law and Order...
NOW, THEREFORE,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that Plaintiffs herein have failed to sustain the burden of proof for the relief prayed for.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion, considered both as one for reconsideration and for an injunction pending appeal, is therefore DENIED.