KUKUI‘ULA — Ron Iida has one question for the person or persons who trespassed on private property and stole branches of plumeria trees: Why didn’t you just ask?
The suspected thieves took branches from 25 to 30 plumeria trees with different-colored flowers, presumably to replant elsewhere, as well as around a half dozen immature pineapples and other fruits.
“If they want something, just ask,” he said Wednesday at Prince Kuhio Park.
Iida is kalaimoku, or chief officer, of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I Kaumuali‘i Chapter 3. The retired Lihu‘e insurance salesman puts in eight-hour days, six days a week volunteering to maintain the six-acre park that belongs to the order.
He said he returned from a Mainland vacation just after the Fourth of July weekend to find stubs of plumeria branches still dripping sap at the park.
Instead of resorting to late-night or early morning thievery, Iida suggested simply asking for cuttings, pointing to some branches hanging low and getting in the way of mowing operations that would be good candidates for donation.
In the center of the park along Lawa‘i Road, order members are considering getting rid of several entire plumeria trees, and if they do, people need only ask to be able to take cuttings, he said.
The plumeria theft, and the taking of around a half dozen immature pineapples, occurred on at least four separate occasions. The most recent was when Iida arrived the morning of July 6 to find flowers and small branches piled up right under one of four signs conveying park rules (including prohibitions on picking of flowers and fruit), he said.
“They cut it, I cut it back,” he said, so flowering shoots are growing out of some of the areas where thieves cut plumeria trees.
Other large pieces the thieves cut and left on the ground were stuck into soil by Iida, and some are growing.
Kalanikumai, aka Branch Harmony, another order member, said hula halau members and others are sometimes allowed to pick flowers at the park for special occasions, but only by permission.
Banana and papaya were also taken, and the crimes rose to the level of agricultural theft because the amount taken is suspected to be more than 25 pounds, Kalanikumai said.
A police report was filed, Kalanikumai said.
“It’s like they view the park as their nursery or source,” he said.
Kalanikumai said it was more than just flora taken.
“It’s like a triple rip-off,” he said, with thieves stealing from the Hawaiian community, taking symbols of Hawaiian culture, and absconding with the commodities.
“The park is not a public park,” he said, but public access is unobstructed.
It is a private park used mainly for ceremonial observances by Native Hawaiian societies, the most public of which is the annual service marking the March birth of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole.
Kuhio was a non-voting delegate elected to the U.S. House of Representatives who helped enact the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1921 that set aside land in Hawai‘i for home and farm sites for Native Hawaiians.
A rectangular, lava-rock formation marks the site of Kuhio’s ancestral home at the park.
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
