Big Island activist, wife killed

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Tireless Kona environmentalist Jerry Rothstein and his wife, Judith, were among four people killed in a head-on crash Sunday evening on Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway.

Jerry Rothstein, right, a longtime Big Island activist, was killed Sunday with his wife in a car crash. In 2003, he briefed fellow activists before the start of a demonstration at the Hilton Waikoloa Resort. Family photo

Hawai'i County Councilman Angel Pilago, a plaintiff in the Kohanaiki case, said Rothstein pioneered an alliance between Kona environmentalists and Native Hawaiian practitioners. It was a partnership that proved extremely effective in both the courtroom and the political arena in forcing developments to recognize shoreline access rights and other issues that benefit the public, he said.

According to police, Judith Rothstein, 67, was driving a 1990 Toyota four-door station wagon south on the highway shortly before 6:30 p.m. Sunday when it crossed the centerline and collided with a 2004 Saturn four-door sedan about 5.5 miles south of the Waikoloa Beach Resort.

Jerry Rothstein was pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m. at North Hawai'i Community Hospital. The other victims were taken to the Kona Community Hospital, where they were pronounced dead at 11:50 p.m.

Police identified the couple in the Saturn as Ernest Wefelmeyer, 76, and his wife, Gearetta Wefelmeyer, 70, of Minneapolis.

The crash is being investigated.

The Rothsteins lived in Kailua and had two grown children, a daughter in Kona and a son who lives in Israel, friends said.

Judith Rothstein worked at the Kealakekua Public Library and later at the Kailua Public Library, friends said. Jerry Rothstein formerly owned a restaurant in Hilo and also was involved in computer-related businesses in the Kona area, they said.

Jerry Rothstein moved from New York to Hawai'i in 1970. He was a charter member of the Big Island Sierra Club Group and started the "Save Hapuna" initiative, according to the Sierra Club. He was a familiar presence at state and county public hearings, bluntly criticizing decisions he felt were not in the public interest.

Councilwoman Virginia Isbell said she dubbed Rothstein "Mr. Community" because of his activism. He could accurately quote rules, law and court cases to bolster his arguments, and took an interest in an array of causes.

"Jerry was a tireless defender of Hawai'i's shorelines," said Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter.

The PASH lawsuit challenging the $350 million Nansay development at Kohanaiki in North Kona was not his only important legal victory. Rothstein joined in a successful lawsuit to challenge the county zoning code because he believed county officials violated the state Sunshine Law in passing it.

Over the past year he organized protests to pressure the state into demanding back lease rent from the owners of the land under the Hilton Waikoloa Resort because a portion of the resort was built on public property. He also lobbied successfully to block a massive new development at O'oma in Kona.

Just days before his death, Rothstein was pressing state lawmakers to reform the process used to certify where the line is drawn between privately owned land and publicly owned shoreline, and he was planning a strategy to restore an old Hawaiian trail along the Kailua coastline.

"He stood up for principle over monetary considerations," said Douglas Blake, a longtime friend of the Rothsteins. "It's a great loss to our community."

Alliances between Native Hawaiian groups and environmentalists are almost taken for granted on the Big Island today, with both interests routinely collaborating on issues such as astronomy development on Mauna Kea, resort development in coastal areas and military projects such as the construction of new training grounds for the U.S. Army's armored Stryker combat vehicle.

Much of that cooperation has its roots in the partnership formed in the PASH case, Pilago said.

"By bringing this together, that moved Hawai'i Island to the forefront of environmental protection and the perpetuation of cultural practices," Pilago said. "That was a revolutionary step in litigation for resource management in Hawai'i."

Rothstein didn't know when to quit, friends said. Fellow environmental activist Janice Palma-Glennie was in tears after hearing of his death, and said after the initial shock "what I really felt was tired."

"I just realized how exhausted it made me feel to think that Jerry wasn't going to be here, because he did all the work that nobody else wanted to do, and he was so relentless," she said.

Pilago said, "Sometimes I would be embarrassed because he was so aggressive, but that was part of his make-up and nature in that he would not take 'no' in respect to protecting the environment. He would not take 'no,' and he would not bend."

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.