Rally fetes Nanakuli teen killed by drunken driver

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Dozens of advocates against drunken driving, including Ken Nishimura, right, held signs Friday and waved to passing motorists during a rally in Nanakuli against impaired driving.

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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Dozens of advocates against drunken driving, including Ken Nishimura, right, held signs Friday and waved to passing motorists during a rally in Nanakuli against impaired driving.

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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Ed Werner, left, and wife Paula held the urn of their son, Kaulana, who was killed seven years ago by a drunken driver.

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Rally honors Nanakuli teen killed by drunken driver

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A place will be set at Christmas dinner for Kaulana Werner, a 19-year-old Nanakuli teen, just as it has been at every holiday at the Werner home.

But he isn’t coming home for Christmas. A 26-year-old woman driving drunk and speeding on Farrington Highway struck and killed him April 24, 2016, as he crossed the highway near his Nanakuli house.

However, Werner’s parents made sure he was present at Friday’s rally against drunken driving and violence at Nanakuli Beach Park, not just in spirit, but that his physical remains kept in an urn were with them.

“Victims came before and victims came after Kaulana,” Ed Werner said. “I’ve been bringing him over the past seven years to the West side. We still got him.”

He said his son was not just the captain of his Kamehameha Schools varsity football team, but a good, contributing member of the community, volunteering at events for special-needs kids, who ran to his arms whenever they saw him, and the like.

“He even saved a tourist at Nanakuli Beach Park,” Werner said. “That’s the legacy he leaves in our hearts and minds.”

Members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Honolulu Police Department, the Department of Transportation, Walkwise Hawaii, the Nanakuli High School football team, school students and others were all part of the event.

Werner said the message to the entire state of Hawaii, not just the West side, is about bringing aloha and not violence or road rage.

“Local style, so much parties going on,” he said. “It’s all about being responsible. We get one big problem when they get behind the wheel.”

It’s about being a hero by volunteering to be a designated driver, not driving while under the influence of alcohol or prescription or illegal drugs.

It’s also a strong message of zero tolerance, Werner said.

He hopes that the DOT will adopt his idea to say “Kaulana was killed by a drunk driver” on its electronic billboards on freeways and highways, and that people will heed the message.

“We lost our son,” Werner said. “We don’t want anybody else hurt like how we’ve been going through for seven years.”