WAILUA — Developer Chad Waters was on the Coco Palms property Friday. He had just gotten done feeding several animals and called the Kauai Humane Society regarding their condition and removal.
About a dozen chickens, two goats and a dog were still there, left behind, Waters said, by occupiers recently ordered from the land.
The livestock was secured in pens and a dog was tied up outside of a tent. Pigs had gotten loose and were roaming the property.
“We feed and water the animals everyday,” said Kamu “Charles” Hepa,” one of the land’s occupiers for over a year. He said he has been working with KHS to remove them.
Part of the problem, said Ke‘ala Lopez, who had been living on the property since January, is that when they were ejected, they were given certain times to remove their belongings.
“Monday through Friday, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.,” she said. “That’s when most people are working.”
Lopez said the other issue is they don’t have a place to put their stuff.
Waters said Coco Palms Hui LLC is planning to start cleaning up the site.
“They can come anytime before that to the site, (to collect their belongings), “or meet us at off site storage after Tuesday,” Waters said. “We’ll store their belongings for 30 days.”
As for the dog, Lopez said, he didn’t belong to them. He wandered onto the property one day, thin and frail. They were concerned the dog was going to die, so they began caring for him. “He’d be dead by now if we hadn’t started feeding him,” she said.
“In a situation like this we want to do what’s best for the animals and give the original owners the opportunity to take care of them,” said Jessica Venneman, KHS field services manager.
As for the dog, Venneman said a good Samaritan has agreed to take him in until a permanent home can be found.
After a nearly two month-long civil trial over land in Wailua where the once famed Coco Palms Resort stood until it was damaged during Hurricane Iniki in 1992, a group of occupiers was ejected following a court order. Some said they had been living on the property for two years, claiming ownership through ancestry and a royal patent.
The hotel has lay in waste since the hurricane, with no one claiming ownership until developers Tyler Greene and Waters purchased the land through a special warranty deed from Prudential Insurance for $23 million, with the intention of reconstructing the derelict resort. Their plan calls for a $175 million, 350-room resort.
During the trial, Judge Michael Soong ruled in favor of Coco Palms Hui, issuing the ejectment order.
Since last week’s ejectment enforcement, the occupiers have moved to a different location, but remain in Wailua. This week, they were ordered by state Department of Land and Natural Resources officers to leave their current location on state land by March 5.
There was one other animal corpse that was left behind.. It is the dead horse that is being mercilessly beaten by The Garden Island News by their over reporting of a trespassing incident, which sets a really bad precedent to inspire all other attention starved ne’er do wells.
Those of us who have jobs know that yes, you can move 2 goats and some chickens between 3-7pm. No problem.
My thought exactly! Most ppl work from 3pm to 7pm? Really? These excuses are ridiculous. No, most ppl don’t work from 3pm to 7pm. It’s just lies and excuses, lies and excuses from these ppl. They have lost my support.
Ke‘ala Lopez – You have a college education such as it was. While the others with you may not be very bright, you know very well that you people were going to be ejected from a property that is not yours. You knew you would loose the court cases. You were simply doing this for attention (witness your many public video selfies on FB) and publicity for your cause. So you knew what was going down and you should have prepared. But to allow innocent animals to suffer for your sovereignty issues is downright uncaring and evil. So much for your brand of Aloha! Get a job, be productive and have some self-respect like the vast majority of proud Hawaiians!
Oh such brave and true Aloha aina warriors. Dig out and leave your trash and animals for others to tend.