FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM James Pflueger, right, was at the county building in Lihue earlier this month with Gordon Rosa, his Kauai property manager.

Pflueger denies alleged dam work

He also says he never saw a concrete spillway at Ka Loko Dam, as others have attested*

KILAUEA, Kauai » Dam owner James Pflueger is tired of being portrayed as a killer. And he says he wants to set the record straight: He never touched the Ka Loko Dam and had nothing to do with the breach that killed seven people.

"What you see is what you see," Pflueger said. "The (only) work I did was on the other side" of the reservoir.

In an interview with the Star-Bulletin yesterday, the former auto dealer said Ka Loko did not have a concrete spillway and he denied allegations that he covered up the safety feature.

"If the cement (spillway) is there, go find it," he said.

Pflueger's Kauai property manager, Gordon Rosa, went one step further. Rosa blamed both Tom Hitch, owner of Kilauea Irrigation Co., and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources for failing to maintain and inspect the dam.

"We have nothing to hide," Rosa told the Star-Bulletin. "All we did was mow."

The irrigation company owns a pipe in Ka Loko that supplies about 20 farmers in two Waiakalua subdivisions. According to a water-rights agreement between KICO and reservoir part-owner Mary Lucas Trust, KICO is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the reservoir. The trust owns a third of the reservoir. Pflueger, who is also a beneficiary of the trust, owns the rest.

Hitch, in response, said, "Any allegation that lack of maintenance was the reason the dam failed is both false and misleading."

The Ka Loko Dam breached in the early morning of March 14, sweeping away seven people downstream. Three bodies have been found, but four are still missing.

"Kilauea Irrigation should be responsible for answers to how much water was seeping out of Ka Loko for a number of years," Rosa said. "And the state regulatory agency that's supposed to inspect the dam should have known that this was seeping.

"I don't believe the state knew where the dam was" before the breach, he added.

Yesterday, state investigators, including Attorney General Mark Bennett, went to Ka Loko to find the spillway, which allows water to flow out of the reservoir before reaching the height of the dam, thus preventing overflow.

But Pflueger, Rosa, and Rosa's brother and fellow Pflueger employee Marshall Rosa say they didn't even know what a spillway was before the breach and saw no concrete in the area.

"Nobody even knew there was a such thing called a spillway," Marshall Rosa said. "We're not dam keepers or engineers. We're yard men."

They never touched the dam, they said.

"Jimmy Pflueger supposedly had built everything up over 10 feet and blocked the spillway," Gordon Rosa said. "How can they say we blocked the spillway when the engineers, civil defense, and the state don't know where the ... thing is."

He added that claims that the dam overflowed are a farce, since he inspected Ka Loko the afternoon before the dam breach and the water level was relatively normal.

Hitch and other Kauai residents have said they remember the spillway.

In a March 21 statement to the Star-Bulletin, Hitch said: "Ka Loko had a spillway. It overflowed a couple of times."

But Hitch, who along with former KICO owner C. Brewer & Co. is represented by attorney Alan Kugel, would not comment on the spillway yesterday.

Hitch has also disputed the low water level in the reservoir the evening before the breach, saying that, by looking at the level of vegetation along the rim, "it's quite clear it overflowed."

Hitch and Allan Rietow, who was responsible for the reservoir for much of the 1980s, have described the spillway as 25 feet across, with a concrete patch where the spillway met the road, about 50 feet from the breach. In that location, albizia trees leave just a 5-foot gap, and there's no concrete.

The Rosas and Pflueger say they have no idea what Hitch and Rietow are talking about, and urge anyone to find the spillway.

"And if you know where it was, and if it's here, there, wherever, we have the modern equipment, go dig 'em up," Marshall Rosa said. "Probe it, poke it."

Hitch, meanwhile, said he's been cooperating with the attorney general, adding that he's never done anything that contributed to the dam failure.

"KICO's very existence is dependent on the Ka Loko reservoir and dam," he said. "We never would have done anything to jeopardize the dam."

Pflueger said he's been getting an unfair shake on Kauai since 2001, when work he did on his makai property caused a mudslide to wash into the Pilaa Bay. He admits to doing the work, but said, "I paid my dues, I paid my fines."

"I went to Ala Moana Park picking up cigarette butts for 450 hours straight, no (days) off" as part of his community service for pleading guilty to grading violations, Pflueger said. "I did it with my head held high because I did" the work for an elderly neighbor who couldn't get to his beach home.

He's also paid millions in fines and pleaded guilty to 10 other felony charges relating to the work.

Pflueger also wanted to quash rumors that he or his men diverted any streams in mauka lands. Those rumors are completely untrue, he said, adding, "If you find anyone who knows I diverted streams, let me know and I'll come running."

Pflueger said he's even extended an invitation to Bruce Fehring to come up and inspect Ka Loko himself. Fehring lost three relatives and four friends when nearly half a billion gallons of water swept two homes off his property downstream from Ka Loko.

"It was a natural disaster and I feel for the guy Fehring," he said.

But Pflueger insisted he wasn't to blame, no matter what his neighbors say. Speaking of his reputation among fellow Kauai residents, he said, "None of them look me in the eye and tell me the truth."