Mike Wilson, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, meets with reporters yesterday after the arrests at Makua. He told them they were kept at bay during the evictions for their own safety. Photo by Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin

"I felt that was wrong that they asked you folks (reporters) to leave," said Cory Cidade, one of those arrested at Makua.

"The people need to know what's going on at all times. Without the cameras, then no one else would know what's going on," Cidade said.

Daryl Huff, president of the Hawaii chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and a reporter at the scene, said the goal of state officials was to "sanitize the area of media."

At one point during the day, deputy sheriffs brought in a van to take media to two points where they were to be briefed. One of the two points was about two miles away on a bluff near Makua dry cave, the site of one of three roadblocks on Farrington Highway.

Although it offered a vista, there was no clear view of the campsites where all of the arrests and the evictions took place.

Other reporters and photographers, told to leave the area, ended up at a command post 250 to 300 yards away, behind brush and vegetation.

After the last resident left the area - about 7:30 a.m. - media at the Makua cave site were taken by van to an area where some of the shacks were being torn down.

Two television news teams, at another site near the camp, refused orders to leave and negotiated to have their cameras set up about 100 to 150 yards from the action and were able to get some footage.

Gov. Ben Cayetano and other state officials defended the tough stance, saying safety was the primary concern.

"We are responsible for the safety of the public, including the press," the governor said yesterday. "Just because you don't care about your safety doesn't mean we shouldn't care about it."

Cayetano said he received reliable information of 10 men, some Vietnam War veterans, "who were inclined to engaged in violence and who were waiting for the state to take them down. There was talk about guns and (the drug) 'ice.'"

Michael Wilson, chairman of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, noted that some campers had burned structures, giving rise to further concerns about safety.

"It's clear it wouldn't have been appropriate for the press to be there in the beginning," Wilson said.

"The key thing in all of this was nobody should get hurt," said Ernest Moritomo, administrator for the sheriff's office. "That's what we focused on."

Moritomo said it was easy to play "Monday morning quarterback" after the episode and potential dangers had passed.

Moritomo said he believes those being evicted would have been "more demonstrative in front of the camera to prove a point - it's only natural."

Huff said he, KGMB-TV reporter Stacy Loe and their camera crews refused to leave when ordered under threat of arrest by state sheriffs. They negotiated with sheriffs and a deputy attorney general to move to a spot on the beach between 100 and 150 yards from the arrests.

Eventually, a Channel 8 camera person shooting footage of a camp was told to join them, Huff said.

"We told them we're on public property, we weren't in any jeopardy and we weren't going to get in their way," Huff said.

"Clearly the state had made up its mind it wanted no media at the site of the arrests."

Some of those arrested and later bailed out felt the media should have been present to document the incident.

"I think the media should've been allowed to film the indignity of the eviction," said Kaleo Patterson, one of those arrested.

Media attorney Jeffrey Portnoy also questioned the state's decision to bar the media. He said it is reasonable for public safety officials to balance the need to conduct legitimate government functions with the First Amendment rights to the public.

"The question is a matter of degree." He said officials should have sat down with the media in advance to discuss arrangements, regardless of when the evictions were to take place.

Cayetano's argument that the media needs physical protection is "bogus," Portnoy said. "It doesn't need the assistance of government to tell them of danger."