Pearl City residents feel betrayed on sex offender issue

By James Gonser
Advertiser Central Bureau

PEARL CITY — A legislative decision Tuesday to leave a state-run juvenile sex offender treatment center in Pearl City for at least another year has prompted outcry from residents who want the operation moved.

The state House Health Committee, unable to reach consensus that another site was preferable to Pearl City, deferred a resolution that recommended moving the center to the Kahi Mohala psychiatric hospital in 'Ewa.

Some legislators have suggested that the decision should be referred back to the state Department of Health or the Cayetano administration.

The legislative deferral Tuesday and its consequences have provoked charges that Gov. Ben Cayetano broke a promise to move the site.

"My feeling is the governor reneged on what he told the residents this past summer," said Pearl City Neighborhood Board chairman Albert Fukushima.

"Everybody knows that legislators won't commit to moving the center if residents in their own areas are against it. Three appropriate sites were found, and now the governor is changing his mind."

Cayetano said Wednesday that he never promised the center's operations would be moved.

"I promised the residents of Pearl City that we would request funding and come up with alternative sites for the treatment center within two years," he said. "We did that and provided lawmakers and the community with three options.

"I made very clear to the residents that they would have to go and lobby legislators for the alternative site, because lawmakers determine where the center will be located by deciding whether or not to fund a site.

"I did not betray anyone. The state has lived up to its commitment to the residents."

A search for a new site came after Pearl City residents strongly opposed the presence of the sex treatment center, which opened in December. A private consultant earlier this year recommended three possible sites: Kahi Mohala, Wahiawa near Kemo'o Farm and Kalaeloa.

The facility treats boys ages 12 to 17 who are not classified as sexual predators or violent sexual offenders, but have had sexual relations with family members. It is locked and monitored, but some residents are concerned because it is within a half-mile of Momilani Elementary and Pearl City High.

State health officials said they needed to open the Pearl City center to meet a deadline set by the 1994 Felix consent decree, a U.S. District Court order that requires the state to improve mental-health services for students with special needs.