Kauai tower now target
By Anthony Sommer
of more legal action
Star-BulletinLIHUE -- An unused 250-foot radio tower built atop scenic Haupu Ridge two years ago over the loud protests of many Kauai residents continues to draw more lawyers than radio stations.
Bruce Casey Stangl, a former Honolulu resident who built the tower, sold it and then departed for the mainland complaining of the rough treatment he received from state and county officials. Stangl has not answered a lawsuit filed against him in January by South Sea Tours Corp.
Yesterday, Joe Kobayashi, attorney for South Sea, asked for and received a Sept. 16 hearing date on an application for a lien against the tower.
South Sea claimed in its lawsuit that Stangl owes them $34,000 for shuttling workers by helicopter from Oahu to the ridgetop, which cannot be reached by road. Kobayashi said he has been unable to contact Stangl.
If South Seas is granted a lien by the court, it will be the second obtained by one of Stangl's creditors. Last spring, Prime Leasing Inc. of Chicago obtained a writ of attachment from U.S. District Court in Honolulu. The company contends Stangl has defaulted on a $105,397.90 loan to build the antenna atop the tower.
Haupu Ridge divides the county seat in Lihue from the resort district in Poipu. The completed tower is clearly visible on the skyline from both areas.
In 1996, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources granted Stangl permission to build the tower on conservation land leased from Grove Farm. It was placed on top of the ridge so that even moderately powered radio stations based on Kauai could reach an audience on Oahu.
No one spoke against the tower at the Land Board hearing. After the permit was granted, however, a coalition of Kauai business leaders, environmentalists, native Hawaiians and the state's congressional delegation came out against construction of the tower.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs filed an appeal with the Federal Communications Commission, which granted licenses to broadcast from the tower, claiming Haupu Ridge contains important religious sites.
While the OHA appeal was pending, Stangl completed construction of the tower and shortly afterward announced he had sold it to the Tower Co. of Reno, Nev.
Attorneys involved in the lawsuits -- including two others in state court on Oahu and Kauai -- also have had no success attempting to reach officials of the Tower Co.
The FCC ultimately rejected OHA's appeal, holding the cultural sites were so far away from the tower that they would not be affected.
