Top stories of 2019
Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island
“I like octopus,” said Jeff Haigh of California who created this New Year’s sand sculpture that finished Tuesday morning at Kalapaki Beach. Haigh, who also created a sand piece for Christmas, has been doing these event sculptures for the past 16 years during his visits to Kauai.
The Garden Island staff reflected on the top stories of 2019. Here is a look at what happened.
The Garden Island staff reflected on the top stories of 2019. Here is a look at what happened.
North Shore reopens
After a 14-month closure of Kuhio Highway west of Hanalei, the North Shore’s only access road reopened in June, alongside a new version of Ha‘ena State Park.
The reopening triggered a brief period of protests, with several tourists reportedly turned away by a group of residents concerned the North Shore wasn’t ready for visitors.
The highway was briefly blocked on the day of the road opening and some community members continued to linger on the side of the road for several days, counting cars, stopping drivers and passing out informational sheets.
April 2018 floods destroyed big portions of both the highway and the state park, triggering closure of both. The weather set national rainfall records and triggered federal emergency fund money for rebuilding.
Officials were already looking for ways to mitigate overuse at Ha‘ena State Park when the storm hit.
Records showed the place was accepting more than 2,000 visitors per day. Illegally parked vehicles lined the roads. The restrooms couldn’t accommodate the amount of people visiting the park. It was time for a change.
A year before, the Ha‘ena State Park Master Plan was finalized and officials took the opportunity to move that plan forward and re-design Ha‘ena State Park while making repairs.
The park reopened the same day as the highway with new entry fees, a 900-person cap on daily visitors, and new methods for parking reservations and a brand new shuttle system with a little parking lot/pick-up spot just past Hanalei.
The state also hired three new park rangers for the Napali. Classified as interpretative technicians, these people don’t have law enforcement powers but do provide education on trail conditions and answer questions.
Southwest arrives
Bringing with them lower fares and more frequent travel between the Hawaiian Islands, Southwest Airlines flew from Honolulu to the Lihue Airport on Nov. 11, with the first plane to touch down piloted by Kauai resident Capt. Josh Golm.
It wasn’t the first Hawaii flight for Southwest. The company started flights from California to Hawaii in March, with introductory prices ranging at $99 for one-way flights.
Throughout the year, Southwest continued to expand their Hawaii-Mainland flights and that extends through the new year. Direct flights from mainland to Lihue start Jan. 21, 2020.
It was interisland flights that really grabbed Kauai attention, though. So much attention, in fact, that Southwest moved up the launch of those flights two months.
Originally the interisland flights to Lihue were going to start at the beginning of 2020.
Southwest joined Hawaiian Airlines as the only major companies providing interisland travel with introductory fares as low as $39 for a one-way ticket. That triggered sales for Hawaiian Airlines inter-island tickets as well, and an overall decrease in the price of interisland travel.
Zuckerberg Kuleana
Carlos Andrade, a retired history professor and partial heir to several small land parcels on Mark Zuckerberg’s North Shore estate, outbid a group of his distant relatives at court-ordered auctions this year, purchasing 2.25 acres for just over $2 million.
The four family-owned “kuleana” lots have been the subject of a controversial dispute that has pitted one of the world’s richest men against hundreds of descendants of Manuel Rapozo, a Portuguese emigrant to Kauai, who acquired the land in the 19th century.
The auctions ostensibly closed proceedings in a three-year-old lawsuit brought by Andrade and a Zuckerberg-controlled corporation seeking to consolidate ownership of the kuleana. The case made international headlines and prompted a public apology from the Facebook CEO, who promised to drop his pursuit of the land in a 2017.
Several heirs to the land are contesting the outcome of the lawsuit and the auction in Hawaii’s appellate court, claiming Zuckerberg financed the $2.1 Andrade bid on the kuleana in an attempt to surreptitiously gain control of the parcels on his estate.
Three die in Anahola crash
Orange traffic cones still line Kuhio Highway near Whalers General Store in Anahola, where three young men died in a single-vehicle crash on Nov. 23.
According to Kauai Police Department, Ryder Kaui, 16, Max Jonah, 16 and Tyler Bigno, 20, were southbound in a gray Toyota pickup truck at 12:20 a.m. at a high rate of speed.
Bigno was driving the pickup, according to reports, which crossed over to the northbound lane, struck a guardrail, and rested upside down near Whalers General Store.
Bigno, Kaui and Jonah were pronounced dead at the scene. Two other occupants survived non-life-threatening injuries.
Memorabilia started appearing alongside the road in front of Whalers General Store that Saturday and grew from one or two T-shirts and flowers to a memorial that’s still standing in memory of the three “Kauai Boyz” who lost their lives that day.
In December, several paddle-outs were held to commemorate the boys’ lives.
Safadago trial
A former Washington state resident faces life in jail after being convicted of manslaughter for a hit-and-run accident in 2017 that caused the death of a young woman from Kapa‘a.
A Fifth Circuit Jury found Cody Safadago, 48, guilty on eight counts, following a two-week trial in August.
According to evidence presented in court, Safadago got drunk, stole a truck and drove it recklessly down the highway at a speeds approaching 90 miles an hour, until he crashed head-on into oncoming traffic, killing Kayla Huddy-Lemn, a 19-year-old woman on her way home from work. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 23.
School threats
A series of violent threats interrupted class at public schools across Kauai during the last few months of the year.
The string of incidents began on Sept. 19 when a Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School student allegedly said he was going to “shoot up the school” in a social media media post, prompting increased security and police presence on campus the following day.
Kauai High was forced to close its doors just five days later while police looked into a threat made via text message, and Waimea and Kauai High both schools closed early on Sept. 30, as law-enforcement officials investigated reports of text messages referencing plans to “bomb every single building” on one campus and “shoot every student and teacher” on another.
Threats on back-to-back school days in mid-October caused temporary lockdowns at campuses in Lihue and Kapa‘a, and police officers were dispatched to three more schools in December, as law enforcement agencies investigated yet another round of anonymous threatening social media posts.
Brun arrest
Kauai County Councilmember Arthur Brun was arrested in late October after allegedly fleeing from police during a traffic stop in Lihue and hitting an officer with his car in the process.
Brun, 47, was indicted by a grand jury on two felony counts — assault against a law enforcement officer and resisting an order to stop a motor vehicle — each punishable by up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.
County prosecutors have turned the case over to the state Attorney General’s Office, citing a conflict of interest. The case is tentatively scheduled for trial in March.
According to police, Brun drove away from a traffic stop as officers approached his car, running into Lt. James Miller. before leading police on a car chase that ended about 10 minutes later and several miles north.
Kintaros Fire
Kintaro Japanese Restaurant in Wailua caught fire late at night on Oct. 18. Employees who worked that night said they left the restaurant around 11 p.m. An hour later, flames were shooting through the roof while firefighters struggled to control the blaze.
The next morning, family, friends and restaurant staff gathered at Kintaros to help the restaurant’s owners clean out the gutted kitchen area and salvage what remained of the inventory. They hauled dozens of boxes of seafood and vegetables out of a walk-in freezer, whose steel door had melted off its hinges.
The family-owned and operated business had been a staple in the Kapa‘a community for years.
Internet outage
An undersea fiber optic cable malfunctioned on a Sunday evening in October, leaving many Kauai residents without internet, cable TV or phone service for 24 hours.
Repairs to the faulty fiber optics line required the use of a “specialized repair vessel” which engineers used to retrieve the severed cable from the seabed, ten miles offshore and over a half-mile deep, according to Martin Valence, vice president of network operations for Century Link, one of two companies that co-own the fiber optic line.
A CenturyLink spokesperson said Tuesday that had been completed, and broadband services were fully restored on Dec. 7.
Mauna Kea rally
In July, thousands of demonstrators marched up Rice Street in solidarity with the Native Hawaiians who blocked the road to the peak of Mauna Kea, where construction was scheduled to begin on the Thirty Meter Telescope.
The fight over access to Mauna Kea, one of the most significant sites in the state, has been going on for years, but the cause recently attracted national attention, amid escalating tensions.
Shortly after the march began, clouds opened up above the throng of people, who moved like a river of gold and red under Kanaka Maoli banners, signs, and state flags turned upside-down, symbolizing the United States’ occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
The demonstration was expected to draw about a thousand protesters, but at least twice that many showed up.
In August, about 300 people turned out Pine Trees on Hanalei Bay on a sunny day for a protocol and paddle-out that followed in support of those standing against the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.
It was a time for prayer, chant, dance, song and coming together, “mauka to makai,” for a common cause.
Many wore red shirts that said, “See You on the Mauna.” A sign read: “Kapu Aloha Is: Truth. Sacred. Inclusive. Righteous Action. Aloha Aina. Aloha Kai. Aloha Wai. A Philosophy For Life.”
Auntie Louise Sausen was pleased with what she saw and heard. She loved how everyone was there with hearts for Mauna Kea.
“If I die tonight, I’m happy,” she said.
Shopping center opens
The North Shore’s first new shopping center in 30 years — long delayed by everything from rainy weather to road construction, planning and other uncertainties — opened its doors in September in Kilauea.
The center, which has been anticipated under the its original name, Lighthouse Village neighborhood center, will be known as “Ahuimanu” — Hawaiian for “a gathering place for the people.”
A veterinary practice, Kauai North Shore Animal Clinic, was the first operating tenant of the new center. Ahuimanu’s anchor is Kilauea Market + Café, a new store concept developed by the Sullivan Family of Companies, parent of the Foodland supermarket chain.
Other tenants that have signed up for space at Ahuimanu include Grande’s Gems Hawaii, Island Soap & Candle Works, Kai Bar Coffee Roasters, Kauai Boba & BBQ, the Kauai Government Employees Credit Union, Shipwrecked Kauai lifestyle boutique and Wyland Galleries.
