Former mayor will again seek office
Harry Kim, a former two-term Hawaii County mayor who also directed the county Civil Defense Agency, said Monday that he would run for mayor.
Kim said he was motivated in part by the state’s interest in fast-tracking geothermal exploration. The state Environmental Council voted in May to exempt noninvasive geothermal exploration from environmental review but rejected an exemption for drilling after a personal appeal by Kim on behalf of Hawaii County residents concerned about health, safety and environmental protection.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed a bill into law in April that allows geothermal resources exploration and geothermal development in all state land use districts and conservation zones and eliminates geothermal subzone requirements, which the state hopes will streamline the regulatory process. The state and counties say geothermal development will help lessen the state’s reliance on imported oil.
"The issue that makes me go back is the element of what we in government are doing," Kim said. "And in this case the catalyst was the geothermal issue."
Kim, 72, would face Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi and Hawaii County Council Chairman Dominic Yagong. Kenoi was an aide to Kim.
"It was probably the hardest job decision I’ve made in my life," Kim said of another campaign.
Kim served as mayor from 2000 to 2008.
Construction unions endorse Carlisle
Three construction unions have placed their support behind Mayor Peter Carlisle in his bid for re-election.
Among those endorsing Carlisle on Monday were the Hawaii Carpenters Union, the Hawaii Masons Union and the Hawaii Sheet Metal Workers Union.
"These unions were instrumental in helping me get elected as mayor, and they’re also instrumental in the job creation and transit-oriented development opportunities that are inherent to the rail project," Carlisle said in a statement.
Carlisle won a special election for the mayor’s seat in 2010 to fill the remaining two years left in the term of former Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who resigned in order to run for governor.
In this year’s re-election bid, Carlisle faces, among others, former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell and former Gov. Ben Cayetano. Caldwell has collected a bulk of the endorsements from government workers unions.
12-year-old boy who died in fall is identified
Maui police have identified the 12-year-old San Diego visitor who died Sunday when he fell about 300 feet from a lookout near Hana as Cristian Lopez.
Witnesses told police that the boy was with his family as they parked their rental vehicle at a lookout on the Keanae side of Honomanu Bay near mile marker 14.75 on Hana Highway.
The victim quickly exited the vehicle and ran toward the dirt hill at the lookout. According to witnesses, the boy’s mother, Tanya Lopez, left the vehicle after her son and called out to him, but he continued running and suddenly disappeared over the edge.
He fell 300 to 350 feet. The accident occurred at 10:41 a.m.
Police and fire personnel, responding at 10:42 a.m., retrieved the victim from the ocean. The boy was brought to shore and transported by paramedics to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where he died.
He had sustained massive head trauma.
State deems Kauai wildfire 70% contained
Fire crews are close to containing a large wildfire on Kauai.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources reported Monday that 70 percent of the fire on Milolii Ridge was contained. The fire is in the Na Pali-Kona Forest Reserve six miles southwest of Kokee State Park.
County firefighters put a fire break around the 200-acre perimeter and were working on hot spots, according to a DLNR news release. About 50 state personnel continued to battle the wildfire.
The Milolii Ridge Trail remained closed.
The fire was reported to DLNR on May 28. So far an estimated $200,000 has been spent to battle the blaze, DLNR said.
