November 10, 2010 – NAALEHU, Hawaii
Video by David Corrigan | Voice of Stephanie Salazar
The County Council held a public hearing and site visit in the Ka’u District on Tuesday for the contentious Kamaoa Road situation near South Point.
In the afternoon, residents and officials gathered at the head of the public road, within the normally gated entrance, and took public testimony on location.
The council’s Finance Committee recently undertook a resolution – submitted by outgoing Ka’u councilman Guy Enriques – to abandon the western end of Kamaoa Road so it can become the dominion of ranchers who use it to access their property.
A vote was postponed in August in order to first hold the hearing and site visit.
At Tuesday’s site visit, emotions over the proposed road sale ran high, on both sides of the issue. 5 of the 6 adjacent landowners are in favor of privatizing the road, and it will likely be gated if the transaction is approved. However, some other residents in the area were crying foul over the proposal.
After touring the long dirt road, the Ka’u community gathered in Naalehu to give more testimony.
According to Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong, the whole issue may soon be rendered moot. Yagong says that former county planning director Chris Yuen plans to submit a letter to current council chair J Yoshimoto – detailing his research that shows that Kamaoa Road does not dead end at private property as the county previously thought, but instead was a connector from South Point Road to Mamalahoa Highway in the past.
Ka’u community debates Kamaoa Road during Tueday’s site visit
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The statement by Paul saying they can’t get to hunting grounds is really just about one family. Everyone knows each other along South Point Road. If you want to go hunting on someone’s land you pick up the phone and ask . No problem…..it’s a respect thing. If someone buys land out here are they just supposed to let everyone come onto their land with dogs and guns without permission. Would you let that happen??
Yes I would who ever you are when not using an alias. I used to own a home in Kapoho so close to the ocean it was practically in the ocean at high tide. I came to know many local folks, mostly Hawaiians who had the habit of trespassing across my neighbors land to access ancestral fishing grounds. I could name them all for you, the one that stands out is Mr Kealoha who as with all the others I told “please use my property, just close both gates as you go” this is how we get along here in the Aloha state Lynette AKA??? from the mainland with a mainland attitude. The mainland haoles down there tried to put up a vehicle gate to keep the locals out on a private road, Chris Yuen under Harry Kim shut them down in a New Your minute, New York, thats where you belong Lynette.
Rodney leased the land on this public road and need no permission from anyone, let alone busy-body Kaniho, to hunt nor do whatever he pleases on his leased land. The respect thing is about minding your own business at the very least, if you are unable or unwilling to support your neighbors. Respect is about sharing and being pono, not about hoarding, intimidating, manipulating, bullying, and disrespecting Hawaiian culture. The gig is up, the game over, Kaniho. Call off your dog Thalia and stop the manipulation and violence.
http://www.bigislandchronicle.com/?p=18132#comments
“Why take such drastic actions to deliberately vilify and sabotage your neighbors in order to retain control of a road you and your husband call your “driveway”. Watch the video closely, it’s very telling. At :50, you said “keep the gates on, keep our animals in”, “I’m all for keeping this private”. Now, how can a public road be kept private if it never was private? During the hearing, your husband, Dean Kaniho chose not acknowledge the Highways Act of 1892, but it is law. You need to accept the fact that this is a public road and will remain so. No amount of planted loose cattle, planted trash will change this fact.
Highways Act of 1892:
If the State can document the existence of a trail prior to 1892, and the feature has not been disposed of pursuant to Chapter 171, the State may claim the trail. This applies even if the trail does not currently exist on the ground physically- in many instances trail sections have been destroyed over time due to various land uses or natural process.
Due diligence was sorely lacking on the part of your friend, Mr. Enriques, when he authored the resolution to sell off this public road that he called a ‘road going to nowhere’ when it is in fact the King’s highway, the original beltway and therefore, may not be sold. The planning department, public works, and county counsel are also implicated.
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2010/11/10/local_news/local02.txt
“Yagong said that Chris Yuen, a former county planning director, is writing a letter to Council Chairman J Yoshimoto stating that his research has found that the western portion of Kamaoa Road at one time connected South Point Road to Mamalahoa Highway, making it unsalable.
“That, in itself, would make this whole issue moot,” Yagong noted.”
These public/private access road issues are so old, I imagine they go back to early human times. The basic point I would like to convey here is that these access issues only go one way!! I have seen hundreds of public roads get swallowed up by greedy landowners. I have only seen 2 private roads get legally opened for public access – only after years of lawsuits.
Once you lose it people – you do not get it back!
Do not bow to the landowners!!!
We should strive to create more open space, not close them off to the whim of the rich and greedy. Heed the words of the wise hunter “money is everything, just remember that”.