Pflueger sentencing delayed — again

LIHUE — Sentencing has once again been delayed for James Pflueger.

The retired car dealer pleaded no contest in July to first-degree reckless endangerment for his role in the deadly 2006 Ka Loko dam disaster on Kauai’s North Shore.

In January, a medical condition related to Pflueger’s leg kept him from traveling to Kauai for sentencing, and today’s rescheduled hearing before Chief Judge Randal Valenciano of the 5th Circuit has also been continued.

In the meantime, a pair of attorneys filed a petition in 5th Circuit Court requesting that in its sentencing, the court consider ongoing injuries to farmers, small business and property owners, who claim they have been and continue to be adversely affected by Pflueger’s actions.

“In particular, we ask that Pflueger’s sentence include orders to restore the Ka Loko Dam and its spillway so that it complies with all applicable Hawaii state laws and regulations, and so that the Ka Loko Reservoir system may once again sustain the region’s economic vitality which Pflueger’s reckless actions have endangered,” states the petition.

Pflueger, of Honolulu, is charged with tampering with a spillway around the dam on his 33-acre property in Kilauea. The dam breached in March 2006, sending a wall of water downhill that killed seven people and causing millions of dollars in property damage.

Attorneys Michael Green and Brian Mackintosh filed Monday’s petition on behalf of Kilauea Irrigation Company (KICO), Inc., Catamaran Trading, LLC and dozens of Kilauea farmers and residents.

In total, 43 parties joined the petition.

By phone Wednesday, KICO owner Tom Hitch said he and the others are asking Valenciano to do the right thing — “make Pflueger make our community whole again.” While Hitch recognized it may be a long shot, he said it’s the only shot he and others have at getting Pflueger to fix the dam.

“In addition to the seven lives lost on March 14, 2006, Pflueger’s recklessness resulted in a desiccated Ka Loko Reservoir — a result that scars the earth and wounds the heart of the community,” reads the petition.

By not fixing the dam in the eight years since the disaster, Green and Mackintosh argue Pflueger forced the state Board of the Land and Natural Resources to consider decommissioning the Ka Loko Dam, thereby placing the water system fed by the reservoir in jeopardy.

KICO owns an 18-inch pipeline that takes water from the reservoir and delivers it to farmers in Kilauea Farms Agricultural Subdivision.

“We, the other, unrecognized victims of the Ka Loko Breach, feel that since Mr. Pflueger broke it (the dam) he should fix it,” the petition states.

In the past year, however, Pflueger has sent several letters urging the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to stop water from entering his property at the Ka Loko Reservoir, claiming that the ditch has not been properly maintained by KICO and continues to present a safety hazard.

“I have asked you repeatedly to remove your water because I do not want to be responsible for the condition of the system,” he wrote in a letter to DLNR Chairman William Aila Nov. 19.

Pflueger’s attorney, William McCorriston, previously told The Garden Island that while his client has no rights to the water in his reservoir, he is unfairly liable for it should a problem arise.

Phone calls Wednesday to Pflueger and McCorriston were not returned by press time.

Just as he did after hearing of the sentencing delay in January, Bruce Fehring, who lost a daughter, son-in-law and 2-year-old grandson in the incident, expressed his disappointment.

“I am sorry that Mr. Pflueger is not feeling well enough to fly to Kauai for his sentencing hearing,” he wrote in an email Thursday. “On the other hand, he must feel good that he is still receiving the best ‘justice’ that money can buy.”

Pflueger’s hearing has been continued until 9 a.m. Aug. 28.

• Chris D’Angelo, environmental reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or cdangelo@thegardenisland.com.