LIHUE — Kauai County's effort to maintain an emergency auto junkyard near the Wailua Golf Course is meeting with opposition from federal wildlife officials. Feds forcing a decision
on Kauai auto junkyardThe U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says the site is too close to a coastal wetlands area that was created by the county and is used by endangered water birds.
"There's no way you can throw up a temporary site in a month and have adequate containment of contaminants," said Adam Asquith, a wildlife biologist based at the service's Hanalei refuge. "And it just doesn't make sense to put it next to a wetland."
The Board of Land and Natural Resources, which recently fined the county $2,000 for storing the junked cars at Wailua without a conservation district use permit, has deferred the county's request for a permit.
The board wants the county to prepare a cost analysis to see if it's cheaper to hold the vehicles at Wailua and accelerate permits for a permanent processing site at Puhi, or to more fully develop the temporary facility, said Bob Mullins, administrative aide to Mayor Maryanne Kusaka.
"The problem isn't storage — it's processing, taking the fluids out," Mullins said. "Without the authority to process, the ability to store is sort of a fool's game."
The island lost its sole auto wrecking yard in January 1996 when the state closed MasterWorks for failing to make lease payments and having an expired operating permit from the state Health Department.
WAILUKU — Michael Lyons II has fond memories of his Boy Scout days in the 1950s — of camping with his late father, Raymond "Doc" Lyons, and learning wilderness skills at Camp Maluhia. Funds sought for
Maui's Camp Maluhia"He liked to do that kind of stuff," Lyons said. "It was good. I was basically with my friends, guys I went to school with."
The 17.8-acre camp, a 20-minute drive north of Wailuku, has been the major site on Maui for scouting since it was bought from the Territory of Hawaii in 1958.
Camp Maluhia remains almost the same as it was more than 40 years ago — a reason Lyons and community leaders have embarked on a campaign to fix and improve it.
Leaders in the fund-raising want to improve and expand the camp's dilapidated water tank system, kitchen and cabins, which have 200 beds.
Organizers also want to expand the rifle and archery range, hiking areas, family camping facilities, parking lot, playing fields and a fitness course on an adjoining 195 acres leased from the state.
Their goal is to raise $2.1 million, a portion of which will go to a building endowment fund. They've already raised $661,000.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPolice yesterday charged a 27-year-old Aliamanu man with first-degree assault for allegedly slashing his wife in the face with a broken margarita glass during a domestic dispute early Saturday morning at an Aloha Tower Marketplace pub. Man held for allegedly
slashing wife with glassJesus Rosado Matos of a Plumeria Loop address is being held in lieu of $40,000 bail.
The charge was upgraded from second- to first-degree assault because of the seriousness of the 22-year-old woman's injury. The wound will leave a permanent scar, police said.
The incident was reported at 12:45 a.m.
Other Police/Fire headlines
in today’s Star-Bulletin:
- Man who called in police arrested for hitting motorist
- Rapes reported on King Street and in Kalihi
- Visitor disarms gunman, sends another into falls
- $5,000 worth of items stolen from Kau firm
- Two men escape from prisons on Big Island
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
See our [Info] section for subscription information.
