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Walking across Waimea Beach
becomes part of the daily commute
for hundreds going to
school and workBrush with death makes life precious
By Jaymes K. Song
and Helen Altonn
Star-BulletinNorth Shore residents, frustrated by the closure of the only road that connects Sunset Beach to Haleiwa, expressed anger at the state for not doing something earlier about the danger from rockslides on Kamehameha Highway.
"It didn't become unsafe overnight," said Mike Cowper, who walked his two daughters across Waimea Beach to the Haleiwa side of Waimea Bay this morning. "Their (the state) primary concern is litigation. If Sacred Falls never happened, they would have blown this off. They're worried about being sued, not about public safety."
Residents woke up early, walked, hitched rides with friends on the other side or made the long detour down to the H-3 freeway in Kaneohe to get around the quarter-mile section of closed highway.
At Waimea Bay, a large trail of footprints in the sand marked the path where hundreds of people used the beach as a walkway. Dozens of others milled around in the parking lot waiting for rides or the bus to arrive.
Parking was difficult. The lot at Waimea Bay State Park was filled overnight with cars left their by residents who needed to commute this morning.Some people parked on the grass or on the side of the highway. But police began ticketing and towing cars later in the morning.
"They should have more of an attitude of mercy and grace for people who live and work on this side," said one resident.
A police officer giving out tickets who didn't want to be identified said he understands the plight of residents. But he has to keep the road clear for buses and other motorists to turn around.
Folly Murdock of Pupukea said the closure is a "major inconvenience." Normally it would take us just more than an hour to get into town but now it's going to take at least a half hour more going through Kaneohe.
"The longer it takes to repair the rockslide, the worse it's going to be," she said. She remembers when the state brought in a crane with a wrecking ball and struck the hillside to remove rocks after a rockslide that hit a tour bus 15-years ago.
Jerry Mirels said his brother's car was once hit by a falling rock near Waimea Bay. However they fix the problem, "the sooner the better," he said.
Mirels dropped his three children, who attend Sunset Beach and Kahuku Elementary, off at Waimea Bay State Park. They walked to Sts. Peter Paul where they got a ride from a family friend. In turn, Mirels was driving his friend's children to St. Michael's School. "We're doing the switch," he said.
Manager Ray Greene offered the use of Waimea Valley Adventure Park as a place where residents could park their cars and walk to the other side of the road block.
He said the parking lot holds 400 vehicles and there were probably 100 or more left there last night.
Greene said the gate count at the park was poor yesterday because tour companies couldn't run circle-island turns. Waimea Valley Adventure Park was used as a turn-around to eliminate a line of cars on Kamehameha Highway, he said.
Sts. Peter and Paul Church was the place residents parked their cars on the Sunset side of the barrier and walked on foot to Haleiwa.
Roger Morton of TheBus said two buses are replacing the "circle island" route, each stopping on each side of the roadblock.
When a bus gets to Waimea Beach Park, it radios that it has students that may need to get to the other side, said Carol Costa, the mayor's spokeswoman.Buses were held on the other side until students can walk there, she said. "So there's not too much disruption. They're getting kids very close to where they need to be."
Only about five student absences were reported today at Haleiwa Elementary School but Sunset Beach Elementary School had a number of kids and teachers missing.
Lenora Galiza, clerk at the Sunset Beach school, said, "We have a bunch of kids out, teachers too, that live in Mililani, Waipio Gentry and Waipahu. Some are driving all the way around. One teacher drove to Waimea and walked the beach with her son."
She said some parents were thinking of getting their children's homework for the rest of the week. "We're going to see what's going to happen."
Tourists Ron and Barbara Dilelio of Chicago stood in line at the tour desk at the Turtle Bay Hilton this morning to see what there is to do on the windward side since they can't go to Haleiwa.
"I'm sure we can find something fun to do," Ron Dilelio said.
Kathryn York, manager of Jameson's restaurant in Haleiwa, said business was slower than usual yesterday, and she spent a lot of time making arrangements to transport employees to their parked cars. About half the staff lives on the other side of the road closure.
Sunset Beach residents Karen and Ed Dascoli trudged through the sand carrying suitcases just after sunset yesterday to a car they had parked at Waimea Bay Beach Park. Karen had to catch a flight to Paris this morning so the couple planned to stay in town last night.
Reporters Pat Gee and Leila Fujimori contributed to this story.
Close call reminds
By Helen Altonn
‘life is precious’
Star-BulletinMEREDITH Day says she's always believed angels were watching over her and they "definitely made their presence known" when a Waimea rock slide hit her car, sparing the lives of her and a friend.
Day, 29, was returning to her Sunset Beach home from town about 12:15 or 12:30 a.m. yesterday in her newly acquired 1987 Honda Accord.
With her was Candis Burton, a friend visiting from California.
"It was a calm evening -- no winds, no rain," Day said. "All of a sudden, we hear this crash and I knew I had been hit by a rock. I pulled over and looked. It crunched the side and shattered the back window."
Day had visited Hawaii often and fell in love with the islands, so moved here about six months ago from Chico, Calif. She got a job selling memberships at 24-Hour Fitness and moved just a week ago, on March 1, to Sunset Beach from town.
"I found a great deal on a house and I couldn't pass it up. I always wanted to live on the North Shore," she said.
"Everything in my life was going really great right now. I moved to this new house. I have a great reliable vehicle and a great new job. ... My boyfriend is moving here in a few months from Chico.
"I guess something bad had to happen."
Day estimated the boulder that fell 60 feet onto her car was about half the size of her Honda.
"Candis and I could have been smashed easily. I picked up a small rock, and it's really heavy. I kept it as a reminder that life is precious."
Other cars were on the road but most of the traffic was stopped by the rock slide after she got through, she said. A circle-island city bus on the same side of the road with her called police, she said.
"I was really shaken up. My heart was racing. My friend and I were hugging each other. We couldn't believe what could have happened. We just drove home. It's not that big of a dent on the right side, but it crunched my window.
"It's the closest brush with death I've ever had."
State may erect barrier
to catch Waimea rocksA highway official says it could be days
By Mary Adamski
before one lane of the highway
is open for traffic
Star-BulletinState transportation officials are considering a barrier about halfway up the Waimea Bay mountainside to catch falling rocks on Kamehameha Highway, state Transportation Director Kazu Hayashida says.
Another possible action to lessen the danger from rock slides is to widen the two-lane highway by adding another lane toward the beach.
But regardless of what long-term solution is chosen, the highway remains closed after a chunk of the mountain broke off early yesterday slightly damaging two cars. No injuries were reported.
State Highways Administrator Pericles Manthos said it could be days before one lane of the highway is opened but he won't predict when both lanes would open.
Officials should have a better idea after road excavation contractors look at the slide today or tomorrow.
Geologist Glenn Bauer said there is one rock -- about four feet by three feet by two feet -- that needs to come down immediately.
"At that particular spot there is one rock that I see as a problem because it is bounded on all sides by cracks, roots are coming out of the cracks and there is soil on the backside which may expand," Bauer said. "I don't see what's holding that rock there. I think it's possible to knock it down. I'd rather see someone pry it out and get it down."
Manthos said: "We are looking at immediately removing loose rocks and maybe could open up one lane, one way traffic with signals at both ends.
He said the department is also looking at the possibility of extending roads in back of the slide area.
The problem of rock slides on highways is not just limited to Kamehameha Highway, Manthos said.
"We've been looking at this and other potential rock slides across the state and various ways to correct it. Some places we have fabric fence, as on Maui. Generally those have much wider shoulders at bottom and aren't as tall."
The state is trying to come up with a ranking system evaluating the amount of traffic and the chances of a rock falling at several sites, Manthos said. The DOT has $350,000 to hire a consultant. He said the department had been concentrating on Kalanianaole Highway near the Makapuu Lighthouse where some boulders have fallen.
The state is also looking at Kamehameha Highway at Pearl City and Pali Highway between Kamehameha Highway and Castle Hospital.
"It's hard to predict these things," Manthos said. "The rock could be up there 100 years or it could fall tomorrow."
Bauer said the cause of yesterday's slide wasn't known yet.
"I saw roots of plants, there is soil behind that particular rock. Didn't see any water seeping. I don't think water was involved recently."
