Kamehameha
alumni presidents
want Lindsey out

If the Bishop trustee does not quit, they
will ask Circuit Court to oust her

By Rick Daysog and Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

The Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association board of presidents today demanded that trustee Lokelani Lindsey step down as a Bishop Estate board member.

The group, which represents some 4,000 Kamehameha Schools graduates, said it plans to petition the Circuit Court to remove Lindsey if she doesn't voluntarily resign.

William Fernandez, the association's president, said nine of the heads of the alumni association's 13 chapters met in Lihue Airport on Saturday and voted to seek Lindsey's ouster by majority vote.

Fernandez cited the recent report by court-appointed fact finder Patrick Yim that criticized Lindsey for managing the schools through "intimidation."

"That has been a subject of distress," he said.

Fernandez, a former Superior Court judge for Santa Clara County in California, said that alumni members in the various chapters will vote on the measure seeking Lindsey's removal.

He noted that the alumni association's Maui, Molokai and Big Island chapters have voted in support of the petition.

Doug Carlson, Lindsey's spokesman, argued that the board's vote to was orchestrated by trustees Oswald Stender and Gerard Jervis.

Carlson said Stender and Jervis have campaigned for Lindsey's removal at alumni meetings on the neighbor islands.

"The meetings were one-sided and not one invitation was extended to Mrs. Lindsey so she could present her side of the issues," Carlson said.

"The board of presidents also failed to invite her for her side of the story."

Carlson said Stender and Jervis "are attempting to accomplish outside the board room what they are unable to accomplish inside it."

The two trustees are determined to destroy Lindsey so they can change the board's makeup, Carlson said.

The alumni association board reached its decision independently of others seeking Lindsey's removal. They said they discussed the issue for many months before seeking Lindsey's removal.

"This shows a lot of depth and deliberation on the part of the alumni association," said Beadie Kanahele Dawson, attorney for Na Pua a Ke Ali'i Pauahi, a student, parent and alumni group that has criticized trustees' management of the schools.

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