By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Kahu Samuel Saffrey Jr. of Queen Liliuokalani Protestant Church
performs the dedication and blessing at the restored Waialua courthouse,
which will be managed by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and used to
provide services to native Hawaiians.
Restored Waialua
courthouse dedicated
OHA will manage and use the site
By Pat Omandam
but cannot charge rent to tenantsStar-Bulletin
As a descendant of Archibald Mahaulu, the first judge of the old Waialua Courthouse, Vanderlyn Anana remembers when he ordered prisoners to build a rock wall behind what is now the Haleiwa Shopping Plaza. The retired Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate employee said the 86-year-old courthouse, now renovated, serves as a link between Waialua's past and present, a reminder of what makes the area different from the rest of Oahu.
"We have the ocean, the mountains, the taro patches, the farmers and their farms," Anana said. "That's what makes it a nice place; that's what makes (living in Waialua) such a versatile lifestyle."
The Waialua community, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, state officials and others gathered yesterday for the dedication of the restored courthouse, now managed by OHA under a 35-year lease with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The courthouse represents OHA's first substantial property acquisition since Hawaii Kai's Pahua Heiau was donated to the agency eight years ago.
"When we first started this project, about five years ago, we envisioned a site for OHA that would provide services for the betterment of native Hawaiians . . . ," said OHA Chairwoman A. Frenchy DeSoto.
"The courthouse is no longer the home of the judicious application of justice. Rather, as we have intended, it will be a home to nourish the strident aspirations of our people and the Haleiwa community."
Dexter Soares, executive director of Ke Ola Mamo, OHA's first tenant in the courthouse, said four Ke Ola employees will use a portion of the building for programs that empower and improve the health of Hawaiians. He said the agency's unique partnership with OHA allows it to offer services to the North Shore community ranging from aerobics to native Hawaiian traditional healing practices.
The courthouse was built on one acre of land fronting Kamehameha Highway. It has been the home of a public health center, post office, courtroom and four-room cell block, which was retained after the renovation. The work was supervised by DLNR's Historic Preservation Division, with the state Legislature and the Land Department paying $640,000 for the restoration.
Historic Division Administrator Don Hibbard said an effort was made to maintain the look and feel of the original.
"Many coats of paint were stripped away from the woodwork to reveal the building's original color scheme," he said. "The courthouse looks very much the same way it did in 1913, when it opened its doors for the first time."
Patricia Ramos, a retired state Department of Education principal and Waialua Lions Club member, said using the building again "reconnects the roots" of those who ever had business in the courthouse.
"It is a good symbol of community cooperation," said Ramos, who has lived in Waialua since 1963.
Joe Lazar, president of Haleiwa Main Street, the community group that urged OHA to lease the building, said the goal was to return the courthouse to community use after it was vacated in 1989 and became an eyesore.
For the next several years, Main Street and other groups pushed for its restoration.
Lazar said his group approached OHA about taking on a lease with the state a few years ago. OHA signed the lease on March 5.
The lease allows OHA to use the site rent-free, but it can't charge rent to tenants.
Tenants, however, are asked to pay for the building's upkeep.
About 150 people attended the dedication.
