Doris Duke's daughter sues over state's claim to trail

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

The adopted daughter of the late tobacco heiress Doris Duke has gone to federal court to challenge the state's claim that it owns an old Hawaiian trail that traverses her Big Island property.

Chandi Duke Heffner and her company, Keawe'ula LLC, are asking the court to stop the state Board of Land and Natural Resources from enforcing its order that Heffner allow public access through her property using the trail, or ala loa, that crosses her 166 acres in north Kohala.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, is the latest development in a 5-year-old dispute between Heffner and the state stemming from improvements she made to a jeep trail on conservation land without getting a state permit.

The suit says that the state assessed fines for the violation and required Heffner to get an "after-the-fact" permit. In granting the permit last month, the land board added conditions, including a rule that she work with the state on mapping the location of the trail and provide public access.

Because state officials then told Heffner that failure to give the trail to the state would mean further fines, the state is guilty of extortion, said Heffner's attorney Bruce Lamon.

"In order to get our permit we have to give the state the trail across our land," Lamon said. Lamon said that the trail is privately owned.

Curt Cottrell, manager of the state Na Ala Hele trails program, countered by citing a state law indicating that trails in existence before 1892 are deemed public property.

"We're saying we owned the trail before you owned the property," Cottrell said.

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.