As if she needed them along, Gov. Linda Lingle took two armed plainclothes security men with her when she visited Ni’ihau yesterday. At the invitation of Bruce and Keith Robinson, owners of Ni’ihau and around 50,000 acres of Kaua’i, Lingle
As if she needed them along, Gov. Linda Lingle took two armed plainclothes security men with her when she visited Ni’ihau yesterday.
At the invitation of Bruce and Keith Robinson, owners of Ni’ihau and around 50,000 acres of Kaua’i, Lingle and Mayor Bryan Baptiste were among those aboard two helicopters full of military and civilian personnel that landed on the Forbidden Island yesterday.
It was the first visit to Ni’ihau for both Lingle and Baptiste, and followed Lingle’s first-ever stop at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands yesterday morning.
She flew from Honolulu aboard military transport, nonstop into Barking Sands, in an arranged tour of the base’s high-tech present and planned future that was closed to the press.
Accompanying Lingle, besides the security, were Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, state adjutant general in charge of both the Hawai’i Air and Army National Guard, and a handful of Lingle department heads and senior staff, including Chief of Staff Bob Awana, Senior Advisor for Communications Lenny Klompus, and advisor Randy Roth.
Lee said Lingle was impressed with the beauty of Ni’ihau and warmth of her people, the natural preservation efforts going on involving the Robinsons and Ni’ihau residents, and the “great cooperation Ni’ihau residents have with the Pacific Missile Range.”
Ni’ihau residents do most of the repair-and-maintenance work on Navy instrumentation and other equipment located on Ni’ihau, Lee said.
U.S. Navy Capt. Kevin Connelly, new PMRF commanding officer, also thanked the Robinsons and Ni’ihau populace (about 250 people in the village of Pu’uwai) for their support of a federal military presence on the island, Lee said.
Much of Lee’s senior staff also went to Ni’ihau, following the Ni’ihau Helicopter craft in an Army Blackhawk, he said.
“We were extremely honored to meet with the residents of Ni’ihau, at the invitation of the Robinson family,” Lee said.
At Barking Sands, Lingle met with Connelly and Rear Adm. Bernard J. “Barry” McCullough, III, commander of Navy Region Hawai’i and Naval Surface Group Pacific. They toured the facility and learned of current capabilities and future plans for the multi-purpose range and base.
Since part of his job description includes homeland security for the state, Lee said he was “very happy to hear the robust work and future activities (planned) to make sure we have a good theater missile defense, not only for the state of Hawai’i,” but for the country.
It is possible that Army Patriot 3, portable, missile-defense systems will be tested at or near PMRF, he said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
