At least 40 rock crushers, graders and other Goodfellow Bros. employees packed a meeting room yesterday morning at the Lihu‘e Civic Center. Workers concerned about losing their jobs with the local contracting company disputed several South Shore citizens’ push for
At least 40 rock crushers, graders and other Goodfellow Bros. employees packed a meeting room yesterday morning at the Lihu‘e Civic Center.
Workers concerned about losing their jobs with the local contracting company disputed several South Shore citizens’ push for the county Planning Commission to halt quarry operations and end the use of a construction staging area at a 6-acre site near St. Raphael’s Church in Koloa.
Dust, noise and traffic served as the crutch of several complaints during two hours of public comments.
In his written testimony to the commission, long-time Koloa resident Burt Kubota explained “the madness of the dirt, dust and pounding noise.”
Kubota, who has been struggling with dust at his Lawa‘i Road home from nearby construction since spring, tearfully requested respite from the rock crushing.
The dust has complicated his wife’s recovery from multiple surgeries on both shoulders during the past year, he said, as she has developed asthma and suffered a collapsed lung. His mother, who lives at the same residence, has developed bronchitis.
While Goodfellow Bros. recently cut Kubota a check to install air conditioning at his home following months of back-and-forth with insurance adjusters, he says it will be a few weeks before it can be installed, as the electri-city needs to be rewired on his house to accommodate the units.
“I don’t want people to go through what I’m going through,” he said after delivering his testimony, noting the projects planned for Koloa town that have yet to begin.
Lawrence Yadao Sr. told the commissioners he dispatches water wagons two to three times per day to keep the dust down around the entire baseyard.
Goodfellow Bros. employee Mike Sheffler supported Yadao’s testimony, saying 95 percent of the dust is controlled.
But Koloa resident Hartwell Blake said the relief efforts have not been enough.
“There’s been a total lack of response to the people most adversely effected,” he said.
In requesting the commission to revoke Goodfellow Bros. baseyard permit, Blake noted the connection between where the dust is created and where the decisions are made that create the dust.
Terrie Hayes, of Koloa, said although dust continues, Goodfellow Bros. is not the only contractor causing the problem.
“It’s not the community against Goodfellow,” she told the commissioners. “We need to find another location. … There’s a lot of hard workers here who want to work. Help them get this going.”
A cease and desist was ordered to stop rock crushing at Koloa Estates a couple weeks ago, Goodfellow Bros. employees said outside the meeting.
Workers at the Koloa Landing site were off yesterday and decided to rally unpaid to protect their livelihoods, the employees added.
“They’re cutting our hours. Our babies are hungry. We work in the mud,” said Kane Pilkington, who has worked for Goodfellow Bros. on infrastructure and grading projects over the past year.
Koloa Estates resident Richard Laue, who said he spoke on behalf of a few other families from there, asked that the rock crusher be re-instated at that site so the work could be completed within the next three to four weeks as previously scheduled.
“Some people don’t like some people,” Goodfellow Bros. Island Manager Laura Cushnie said in a phone interview. “We’re caught in the middle of something that has nothing to do with us. We’re good guys doing our job.”
Goodfellow Bros. employs 110 local residents, she added, most of them born and raised on Kaua‘i.
“That’s why we’re really frustrated,” she said. “We’ll continue to do the best we can … but we have to stick up for ourselves.”
