Yim report
‘devastated’ Lindsey,
ex-aide says

The Bishop trustee felt
the report by retired judge Yim
was unfair, the aide says

By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey was "scared to death" by a report criticizing her role at the estate-run Kamehameha Schools, according to testimony from her former public relations consultant.

Doug Carlson, hired last year by Lindsey's attorneys to help in their media relations efforts, yesterday said that Lindsey was devastated by a report compiled by the estate's court-sanctioned fact finder, retired Circuit Judge Patrick Yim.

The Yim report, released last December, alleged that Lindsey managed by intimidation and fostered an environment of favoritism at the Kapalama Heights campus.

"I have seen the fact-finder's report and I am scared to death," Lindsey told Carlson last December.

Lindsey's remarks are recorded in a notebook kept by Carlson.

Bishop Estate trustees Gerard Jervis and Oswald Stender are seeking Lindsey's removal from the estate's five-member board, alleging she breached her fiduciary duties and is unfit to serve.

During a hearing before Circuit Judge Bambi Weil, attorneys for Jervis and Stender have argued that Lindsey was so distraught by the Yim report, which was given to the trustees under seal last Dec. 2, that she released the controversial "Lindsey report" on Dec. 5 to deflect blame from herself.

Jervis and Stender say the Lindsey report -- which alleged that students' test scores have declined steadily during school President Michael Chun'stenure -- is inaccurate and has damaged school morale.

Meanwhile, Lindsey's attorneys tried to depict her as a champion of education who was attacked for trying to improve the quality of programs at Kamehameha Schools.

Michael Green, Lindsey's lawyer, suggested that Lindsey's response to the Yim report was part of a broader statement in which Lindsey criticized Yim's objectivity and was faulting him for failing to examine students' declining test scores.

But under questioning by Stender's attorney Douglas Ing, Carlson conceded that his notes indicate that Lindsey as quoted by her former media relations assistant, Doug Carlson

was devastated by the charges contained in the Yim report.

During yesterday's hearing, which was attended by Jervis, Stender and Lindsey, Carlson testified that one of the key goals of his work was to damage the credibility of Stender, who had been one of Lindsey's chief critics.

Carlson said he did not circulate untruths about Stender but called attention to potentially damaging information. He said that in the past year, media reports unfairly have painted Lindsey badly and have depicted Stender as a "white knight."

"I'd say that we were attempting to focus attention that was less favorable than that afforded to him," he said.

Carlson also disclosed that he charged Lindsey's attorneys about $48,000 for his services.

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Delay plan to turn
drive-in into park,
estate says

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

A representative from Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate gave a lukewarm response to City Council Chairman Mufi Hannemann's plan to turn Kam Drive-In into a park.

Guy Gilliland, a land management director for Bishop Estate, said trustees are willing to discuss the future of the 14-acre site with city officials but asked members of the Council's Planning Committee yesterday to postpone moving on Hannemann's proposal.

"We're available and we'll welcome the opportunity," he said.

Bishop Estate, the state's largest private landowner, owns the site and has a lease with Consolidated Amusement through 2016.

The committee, despite Gilliland's request for a deferral, voted to move a resolution urging Mayor Jeremy Harris to initiate action.

Gilliland said the business-commercial zoning on the site has been in effect for more than 30 years "and is appropriate given the commercial nature of the adjacent properties."

Consolidated stopped showing movies at the drive-in after Labor Day but the site is still used three days a week as a swap meet. Gilliland said the estate's lease with Consolidated allows Bishop Estate to terminate the contract if it wants to develop the property for higher-revenue use.

The site is directly across from Pearlridge Center and other commercial properties.

Hannemann said the density of the area is precisely why he believes the site needs to be green space and not developed into a property that would add traffic to an already congested area. "I will oppose any use in this area that will bring in another intensive commercial use," he said.

Gilliland said the estate has willingly provided more than 5,000 acres in the Leeward region toward public use and green space including sections of Pearl Harbor, Fort Smith, the Pearl Country Club and public park lands in Kalauao, Kaonohi and Waiau.

Hannemann said the public park lands contributed are few in number and that most people cannot use military bases for recreation.

"All those areas you talked about are selective uses," Hannemann said. "What I'm talking about here is an active park."

City Planning Director Patrick Onishi said his department would study the issue.

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