Posted on: Saturday, August 4, 2001

Residents say police drug flight rules vague

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Citizens complained yesterday that proposed rules governing police actions during marijuana surveillance flights are unclear.

The Hawai'i County Council required the police to draft rules and conduct hearings as a prerequisite to accepting federal grants to help pay for overtime and helicopter costs for drug enforcement operations.

During a hearing yesterday in Hilo, County Councilman Curtis Tyler III of Kona complained that the draft rules are inadequate and that they should have been posted on the Police Department's Web site as he had urged. "I am very disappointed that did not happen," Tyler said.

Jerry Rothstein of Kona, who has spent 30 years trying to get county officials to decriminalize marijuana use and cultivation, said the hearing was not legal because public notification procedures were not followed.

He called for a second draft and further hearings in Kona, Waimea, Puna and Ka'u as well as in Hilo.

Henry Ross of North Kohala, who said he does not use or grow marijuana, complained the rules are vague and lack specific definitions.

The rules do not need council or police commission approval. They need only be filed with the county clerk.

In a side show, the hearing was suspended for about 20 minutes after a fight erupted outside the meeting room between three of the island's leading marijuana advocates: Roger Christie, Aaron Anderson and Dwight Kondo. The men said the fight stemmed from a longstanding "personal dispute" unrelated to the hearing.