DENNIS ODA / DODA@ STARBULLETIN.COM Sanae Wood, a worker at Gloria Bridal Services' St. Catalina Seaside Chapel, stood yesterday in the reception room in the guest house overlooking the ocean and Rabbit Island. A liquor license issued to the chapel is being protested by some Waimanalo residents.

Chapel liquor OK
raises concern

Residents fear that a Makapuu
wedding chapel's license will
lead to drunken drivers

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By Mary Vorsino
mvorsino@starbulletin.com

Waimanalo residents say a Makapuu chapel's recently acquired liquor license could bring drunken drivers to Kalanianaole Highway.

"We don't want kids killed," said Wilson Ho, Waimanalo's neighborhood board chairman. "We want the roads safer."

Ho spoke yesterday at a press conference at Makapuu Beach Park, across the highway from Gloria Bridal Services' St. Catalina Seaside Chapel, which received its liquor license last month at a Honolulu Liquor Commission meeting.

Gloria Bridal's attorney, Wayne Luke, called Ho's and other residents' fears unfounded. "We're not licensing a bar. It's a business, and it (the license) helps the business out."

Luke said the license would primarily be used for wedding toasts or liquor at receptions. Chapel-goers will be policed to prevent drunken driving, he said.

The chapel, which caters mainly to Japanese couples and can accommodate 49 people, received the license by default at the commission's May 30 meeting after a majority vote could not be reached at an April 4 meeting.

Jim Andrews, a 25-year Waimanalo resident, said the commission "isn't listening" to community members who oppose the license. About 35 residents attended yesterday's press conference.

The Liquor Commission has said that the license review process for the chapel was fair and thorough. Commission administrator Wallace Weatherwax was unavailable for comment.

The chapel's license type allows alcoholic beverages to be sold from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., which Ho said "raises a lot of concerns."

"Our children are not even in school yet (at 6 a.m.)," he said.

But Luke said that the restaurant-type license was the only option for the business. "We're just relying on the commission's decision," he said.

In 2000 the chapel withdrew a request for a liquor license because of community opposition.

A year earlier, Gloria Bridal's Kapahulu chapel was denied a liquor license after more than 200 nearby residents signed a petition against the license application.