State seeks eviction
of Wailua River firm
LIHUE >> The state Department of Land & Natural Resources asked Kauai District Court yesterday to issue an order evicting Waialeale Boat Tours from the Wailua River.
According to department records, the company's owner, William Sonny Waialeale, has not paid $3,500 monthly rent for the use of state facilities since November 2000, owes the state $108,000 and ignored a March decision by the state Board of Land & Natural Resources terminating his lease.
Waialeale was still running tours yesterday and said he would be running them again today.
"There's a cruise ship arriving in the morning, and we're booked," he said yesterday.
Last week, Waialeale notified his attorney that he no longer needed a lawyer.
Waialeale has been operating boat tours to Fern Grotto, a state park, since 1968.
His is one of only two companies that run daily tours on large motorized barges up and down the Wailua, the largest river in the state, and he docks his five boats at a state marina near the mouth of the river.
Waialeale agreed he owed the state back rent, and in October worked out a payment plan that included refinancing his house.
But on Jan. 26 he wrote the state and said as a native Hawaiian he now believes the state does not own the river, the marina or Fern Grotto, and he refused to pay rent or take his boats off the river.
He stated his position again last month at a Land Board hearing, but the panel voided his lease.