Tow battle ends after junked cars disappear

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer

'Ewa Beach residents accustomed to seeing two abandoned clunkers at the intersection of Fort Weaver Road and Old Fort Weaver Road got a surprise yesterday: After nearly three months, the cars were gone.

Nobody knows who moved them.

Kymberly Pine, who belongs to a group of residents fed up with authorities for taking so long to remove the cars, said a towing company had planned to haul the vehicles to the junk yard yesterday as a public service. But before the company got there, the cars were gone.

Spokesmen for the city and state said they weren't the movers.

The two rusting, vandalized cars had been marked "abandoned vehicle" since February, along with a third derelict car at Geiger Park.

Government officials had some trouble figuring out who owned the land and was therefore obligated to move the cars. The city acknowledged it owns the Geiger Park land and towed off the derelict car there on Wednesday. But it said the state owns the other property.

Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said this week the state would remove the vehicles, but it would take time to complete the paperwork.

Now, none of that matters.

"The irony is that they'll probably end up on a city street," said city spokeswoman Carol Costa.