COURTESY HAWAII ISLAND JOURNAL Land activist Jerry Rothstein and his wife Judy, pictured in this undated photo, died Sunday in a two-car crash.

---

Crash takes
land-rights maverick

Jerry Rothstein forged a strong
alliance with Hawaiian interests

KAILUA-KONA » By combining his love for the environment with native Hawaiian cultural concerns, Kona activist Jerry Rothstein developed a powerful alliance that continues to challenge development interests today.

Rothstein used the winning formula while opposing a development in Kohanaiki, North Kona, said Hawaii County Councilman Angel Pilago. It was just one of many fights that Rothstein led on the Big Island, where he helped create an expanded trail system, fought for native Hawaiian rights to undeveloped lands and led efforts to open public shoreline access.

Rothstein, 68, and his wife Judy, 67, of Kailua-Kona died Sunday night in a two-car accident on Queen Kaahumanu Highway. Judy Rothstein was driving when their car crossed the center line and hit an oncoming car driven by Ernest Wefelmeyer, 76, of Minneapolis, Minn. Wefelmeyer and wife Gearetta, 70, were also killed, police said. An investigation is continuing.

Engaged in shoreline issues since 1982, Rothstein created Public Access Shoreline Hawaii, or PASH, and used it to oppose Kohanaiki, where concerns included the effects of a marina on whales.

Rothstein joined Pilago, then a state employment counselor concerned about native Hawaiian shoreline food-gathering rights. Together they brought the Kohanaiki issue to the state Supreme Court, which ruled that Hawaiians retain cultural rights on private land that is undeveloped.

The alliance between native Hawaiians and environmentalists later stopped developments at Keopuka and Hokulia, Pilago said.

Rothstein's activism was not taken well by some.

"Whether he was loved or hated didn't matter to him," said Tammy Rouleau, who worked with Rothstein measuring shorelines to ensure public seashore was not taken by private developers.

"Jerry was not a man of compromises," said state Rep. Joshua Green. By showing that environmental preservation is possible here, Rothstein showed it could be done elsewhere, Green said.

"When he decided to latch on to an issue, he just never let go," said County Councilwoman Virginia Isbell. Rothstein was in the midst of opposing a shoreline estate in Kailua-Kona where public access is denied by a new landowner, she said.

Judy Rothstein, a librarian, deserves credit for backing her husband for years, Isbell said. "She was his staunchest supporter," she said.

A 1958 graduate in sociology from Brooklyn College, Jerry Rothstein moved to Hawaii in 1970. He ran a restaurant in Hilo, then a photo-portrait business and a company distributing fresh oranges in Kona.

He was unable to block a resort facing Hapuna Beach in the 1980s, but succeeded in the 1990s when he joined Pilago.

Rothstein's aggressiveness combined with Pilago's quiet style "made a natural partnership," Pilago said.