Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2004
Kailua man fined $50K for filling bay lagoon
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAILUA — A businessman who has spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to help improve the environment along Kapa'a Quarry Road has admitted guilt to illegally dumping 80 cubic yards of dirt into a lagoon he owns on Kane'ohe Bay.
However, John King, owner of All Pool and Spa, was allowed Monday to enter a deferred acceptance of guilty plea, which means he will have the opportunity to have his record cleared of the Class C felony charge after three years. He is still obliged to pay a $50,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community work.
The charge was brought by the newly formed Environmental Crimes Unit in the state Attorney General's office. Since its creation in February the unit has brought six indictments against polluters, including five class C felony charges.
King partially filled the lagoon in 2002 when he was building a home for his son on Kane'ohe Bay Drive. He had applied for a permit to partially fill a lagoon on the property but later withdrew the permit request.
The lagoon is near the foundation of the house. King said he took steps to prevent erosion in one corner of the lagoon, but did not implement the plan for which he sought the permit.
"Basically what I did was wrong and I knew it was wrong but I sure as heck didn't know it was a felony," King said. "What I basically did was take dirt from one place in my yard and put it in another place and because when the tide comes in the water touches that dirt, they charged me with polluting."
Some felt that the criminal charge was unfair, especially since he took responsibility for his action under a civil complaint, paying a $20,000 fine to the state Department of Health.
Although the Health Department and the Attorney General's office found fault with King's action, during negotiations on the charge neither agency required that the dirt be removed from the lagoon.
Deputy Attorney General Kathleen Ho said King was charged because he knew he was in violation when he placed the fill in the lagoon.
"The facts revealed that he applied for a permit, withdrew his permit (request) and in spite of being warned on two separate occasions in writing by the Department of Health that he should not perform his work ... he proceeded to fill in his lagoon," Ho said, adding that the Attorney General's office wants to send a clear message to polluters.
The message is "we will vigorously enforce crimes against the environment," Ho said.
Kailua resident Shannon Wood, who has lobbied for stronger laws against polluters and illegal dumpers, said charging King with a felony was overkill.
"It was killing a gnat with an atomic bomb," Wood said, adding that the amount of dirt King dumped was small compared to what others have done and she doubts the bay was harmed.
"Then there's the fact that others have been given the opportunity to be legal and John has not and yet they're not asking him to remove what he did because everybody agrees it was necessary," she said.
Jim Wood, Kailua Neighborhood Board member and Shannon Wood's husband, said King is a model citizen that has contributed thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to the cleanup and clearing along Kapa'a Quarry Road. He has adopted a section of the road to clear and has opened the view plane to Mount Olomana, using his crew of workers, Wood said.
Once the area was cleared he sponsored maintenance work by inmates from the Women's Community Correctional Center by purchasing 20 weed trimmers and buying them lunch every time they come out, Wood said.
King raised $15,000 to hire police officers to patrol the road and arrest illegal dumpers, Wood said. He personally offered a reward of $2,500 for any information leading to the conviction of a dumper.
"He tries to handle his affairs in an upright sort of fashion and it seems like he's getting the same sort of treatment as if he'd been a scofflaw all his life," Wood said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
