Dania Laborte felt chicken skin when the announcement came over the plane’s public address system in Spanish that her aircraft was cruising over Mexico.

Laborte, who grew up in Lahaina and has legal status in the U.S. through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, was returning to the country of her birth for the first time in 21 years to fulfill her uncle’s last wishes to return his body to Mexico after his death on Christmas Day 2022. She also hoped to give her grandma, who was losing her vision, one more chance to see her.

“I felt at peace, being able to go back … where the beginning of my life was,” Laborte said. “But even when I went there … I felt like I didn’t belong, because they knew that I wasn’t from there.”

For most of Laborte’s life, Lahaina has been her home. But even as a longtime resident and a DACA recipient, she’s worried about her status as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in January following repeated campaign promises to mass deport immigrants, which he called a priority on Day 1.

Nearly one-third of Lahaina’s population before the August 2023 wildfire came from another country, and their recovery from the blaze has been hampered in some cases by language barriers, housing costs, the decline in work and the lack of access to services reserved for U.S. citizens.

And, despite the fact that Trump’s mass deportation plans never fully materialized during his first term, one Maui immigration attorney who worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee during the former president’s first impeachment trial believes that “people should take him at his word” this time around.

“If he says he’s going to do something, assume he’s going to do it,” said Aparna Patrie, who works with the nonprofit Roots Reborn that is helping Lahaina immigrants recover from the fire. “I don’t understand how people can look at him and say, ‘that’s just bluster.’ … He and everyone under him have had four years to figure out how to be more effective this time around. And most presidents don’t get that luxury.”

ROADBLOCKS TO RECOVERY

Hawai‘i’s location in the Central Pacific and decades-long legacy of plantation agriculture has made it a hub for immigration. Of the 1.45 million people living in the state, about 260,000 (17.8%) were born in another country, above the national average of 14.3%, according to 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

O‘ahu had the highest percentage of foreign-born residents at 19.6%, followed by Maui County at 17.4%. The foreign-born population in Lahaina made up an even larger portion of the community at 30.9% of the roughly 12,000 residents. 

Estimates of the number of undocumented immigrants in Hawai’i are harder to pin down. The 2018 Census Bureau’s American Community Survey put the number at about 41,000 or 3.3% of the population, while the Migration Policy Institute has estimated that there are 51,000 undocumented immigrants, mostly from the Philippines (46%). They also come from Micronesia (18%), China or Hong Kong (7%) and Mexico and Central America (6%). 

Nadine Ortega, executive director of Tagnawa, a grassroots organization dedicated to representing the Filipino community in Lahaina, said undocumented immigrants are known in Tagalog as “tago ng tago,” which means “hide and hide.”

“We’ve got a big undocumented segment of our Filipino community,” Ortega said. “But we don’t talk about that because that’s essentially sort of outing our family members and community members. But I do get a sense though that there’s a fear and concern about the impending administration.”

In September, just over a year after the fire, an undocumented immigrant was detained by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Lahaina, Honolulu Civil Beat reported. Roots Reborn confirmed it was one of their clients but declined to share additional information. 

Patrie told the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative that she represented the client who was picked up in an ICE raid and placed in a detention facility in Honolulu. She also said she was unable to share more details but that the arrest spooked the community.

“We were very surprised to see that they came to Lahaina after the fire,” Patrie said. “It had a huge impact on the community and really set back recovery efforts, because Roots and others have been working so hard since the fire to get immigrants to come forward and accept services.”

Veronica Mendoza, co-founder and executive director of Roots Reborn, said the nonprofit has been trying to build trust within the community. The nonprofit has 12 staff members — five are from Lahaina, including three who lost their homes. 

“Our folks are experiencing a lot of fear, and that’s the biggest obstacles to accessing resources,” Mendoza said. “Our staff … comes from the community itself. So we already have this built-in level of trust with them. There is cultural competency there, we know how to listen and speak and body language and all those things. … Because ultimately, what we want is to ensure they are being taken care of.”

Ortega, who lives on O’ahu and is fluent in Ilokano (one of the most commonly spoken languages of the Philippines) was called in by Roots Reborn to provide translation services. People were overwhelmed, and the federal system didn’t take into account the multigenerational households that many had lived in prior to the fire. This increased their household income bracket and made them ineligible for some assistance.

“It’s so expensive to live here, and we do have to pool resources together in order to survive here,” said Ortega, who was born in the Philippines and moved to Hawai‘i when she was 10. “And when we do do that, then it’s like, we’re ineligible for this?”

Both ICE and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are under the Department of Homeland Security, adding another layer of worry for a wary community.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

A FEMA spokesperson told HJI that the agency “is committed to reducing the barriers people face when accessing our recovery programs, while also ensuring that all disaster survivors receive the assistance for which they qualify for under the law.” The spokesperson pointed out that mixed-status families can still apply for aid if one family member is a citizen, and immigrants who don’t qualify for government assistance are still eligible for aid from community groups.

Community groups like Tagnawa and Roots Reborn have been at the forefront of reaching out to immigrants and measuring the impacts on their communities.

Roots Reborn surveyed 609 people in the community after the fire, including 512 who identified as Hispanic or Latino. Most of the 433 households represented in the survey said they had been renters at the time of the fire (420), and that their rent had gone up from a median of $1,650 pre-fire to $2,000 afterwards, which essentially took the entirety of the median $2,000 monthly income. The majority of people (435 individuals) had one job, but most did not have health or dental insurance.

Tagnawa and the Hawai’i Workers Center surveyed 757 Filipino fire survivors and found that the greatest need after the fire was financial aid (94.7%), followed by food (56.8%), housing (49.7%), household goods (40.7%) and water (38.2%). About 68% said they lived in multigenerational homes before the fire and were now worried about child care and aging family members after the fire forced them to separate. Roughly one-third said they experienced stress and trauma-related symptoms, but only 6% expressed the need for mental health services.

‘WE ARE JUST WAITING FOR WHAT HE SAYS’

When Yolanda thinks of the fire on Aug. 8, 2023, her mind drifts back to the smoke — how dark the sky was as she and her family evacuated their Lahaina home and set out on foot after police blocked off the roads and their cars couldn’t get through. She remembers the sound of her granddaughter crying and the sweater she grabbed to cover herself from the ash and smoke.

“It was like a nightmare, horrible,” Yolanda, who has a green card but asked that only her first name be used to protect her family’s safety, said in an interview in Spanish. “I don’t think we’ll ever forget it.”

Yolanda’s home survived, though another relative’s house did not. Several members of her family also lost their jobs. She’s a woman of faith and believes everything happens for a reason. Her family, she said, grew closer and more mature through the ordeal. But it’s hard for her to explain why so many people died. 

Maui has been Yolanda’s home for more than two decades, and she’s happy here. But lately she’s been listening to the things that President-elect Trump is planning to do, and she’s grown worried for people in the community. So, she’s doing the only thing she knows how to do in tough times. 

“I take refuge in God,” Yolanda said. “God takes control of that. I can’t. I ask God to take care of my children, and I leave everything in his hands.”

Other immigrants in the community also had a sense of apprehension but acceptance that there was little they could do about the future. 

Jose, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, lost his home and two friends in the Lahaina fire. He remembers vividly the burning sensation in the air and called it the most terrible thing he’d ever seen in his life. He moved to another part of the island and said he’s lost roughly half the maintenance work he did before the fire.  

“We work hard here, but we respect (the president’s) decision, what he says,” Jose said in an interview in Spanish. “We are just waiting for what he says, because really, we are unfortunately in a situation where we are illegal. … We can’t do anything else. Maybe as people we have some rights here in this country, but if they have the last word to deport us, we can’t do anything.” 

Even immigrants with legal status like Laborte are worried, given that Trump tried to end DACA during his first term before the U.S. Supreme Court forced the administration to restore it. Laborte had to get special permission to return to Mexico, and even then she left her young son with family on Maui just in case she wasn’t allowed to reenter the country.

Laborte was 5 years old when her family came to Maui to start a new life after losing everything in flash flooding in Chiapas in the late 1990s. In August 2023, they lost everything again when the wildfire destroyed their home. After the fire, Laborte joined Roots Reborn as Patrie’s legal assistant. She recently landed a scholarship with a Department of Justice program that will put her on track to become an immigration lawyer.

She says she wishes people understood that immigrant families like hers came in search of a better life and that they’re not trying to drain the system — in fact, undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes every year but are not eligible for public benefits like U.S. citizens are.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, the offices of Maui Economic Opportunity were packed as dozens of people waited to meet with Mexican Consulate officials who were visiting Maui for the weekend. 

MEO Community Services Director Cassi Yamashita and Enlace Hispano Program Coordinator Sharon Shough said clients have been asking for help getting their documents in order before the new administration takes office. Some are trying to get dual citizenship for their children, while others are seeking help with power of attorneys in case they are separated from their families. 

“Just the unknown is scary, and it’s honestly not only with the immigrants or undocumented individuals — it’s people who are supporting or helping this community as well,” Yamashita said. “They’re fearful of being targeted as well.”

Shough urged residents to keep tabs on the news and to make sure they have ways to contact family members in both the U.S. and their home countries.

“We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen,” Shough said. “We’re prepared for the worst, hoping for the better and the best.”

Shough said the likelihood of Trump’s plans becoming reality “all depends on how the police responds to this,” as the president-elect has said he would use local police forces to help carry out deportations.

Kevin Block, a longtime immigration attorney on Maui and one of the founders of Roots Reborn, said that even though the plans are aimed at those who’ve committed crimes, he’s worried that mass deportations without due process could sweep up U.S. citizens the way one operation did in the 1950s.

“The whole thing should scare everybody, regardless of what your political affiliations are, even your feelings about immigration,” Block said. “Everyone’s civic rights will be violated if we need to show our papers and prove our citizenship. And if they’re not going to make everybody show their papers, then how are they going to pick the ones that they ask to show their papers? They’re going to have to racially profile people.” 

Earlier this month, Roots Reborn hosted a “know your rights” training for immigrants on Maui.

The four main constitutional amendments that Roots Reborn teaches people are the Fourth Amendment, which gives the person a right to refuse a search unless the person has a warrant signed by a judge, which is different from an ICE warrant, Patrie explained.

They also tell people about the Fifth Amendment, which gives a person the right to remain silent; the Sixth Amendment, which gives a person the right to legal counsel; and the Eighth Amendment, which protects a person from “cruel and unusual punishment” if they are detained.

“Most people don’t know that just because you’re undocumented or you’re an immigrant, does not mean that the constitutional rights don’t apply to you,” Patrie said. 

Roots Reborn said it’s been working to establish a good relationship with the Maui Police Department. The nonprofit doesn’t want immigrants in the community to be afraid of reporting crimes or going to the police if they need help. 

MPD officials were not made available for an interview, but spokesperson Alana Pico issued a statement via email saying “our mission is to serve and protect all community members, regardless of their immigration status.”

The statement continued: “We value the diverse makeup of our community and the relationships we have established with local immigrant advocates, leaders, and organizations. Our approach prioritizes building trust and collaboration with all residents to ensure safety and security for everyone. Should federal administration policies or procedures shift or adjust, the Maui Police Department will remain dedicated to its role as a local law enforcement agency focused on addressing crime and public safety.”

The Maui Police Department is “committed to upholding the constitutional rights of every individual, ensuring that our enforcement actions are impartial and equitable,” the statement added.

Despite the struggles to recover from the fire and the worries over the upcoming administration, Block says it’s not all doom and gloom.

“It is a dark time, but the immigrant community is not paralyzed by fear,” he said.

He said the community is resilient and felt that Hawai’i could weather the storm.

“If anybody finds a way to navigate through the rough waters ahead, it’s going to be us,” Block said. “I’m super hopeful that the core principles of kapu aloha and just the sort of immigrant nature of our history … and the fact that we do feel like we’re not part of the continent gives me the most hope. I’d rather be here trying to figure this out than anyplace else.”

When the Hawaiʻi Department of Education announced plans on Nov. 22 for a $20 million, 47-unit rental housing project for the West Maui educational workforce, it came as a relief to many, but local school officials say it is just a start to meet the great housing need of their employees.

There are 305 employees at the four public schools in West Maui, about a third of whom were displaced from their homes by the deadly wildfire that ravaged Lahaina, killing at least 102 and destroying 2,200 structures on Aug. 8, 2023.

The modular housing complex with one- and two-bedroom units will be built on land near Lahaina Intermediate School, Lahainaluna High School and Princess Nahi’ena’ena Elementary School. It is being funded by the state, with Capital Improvement Program funds that the Department of Education sought through the legislative process and the Major Disaster Fund. The first units are anticipated to be available by July 2025, with full completion expected in the spring of 2026.

Lahaina teachers who lost their homes in the fires and new staff members will have priority. The Department of Education has not yet decided what it will charge for rent, but it likely will be based on an employee’s income. 

Lahainaluna High School principal Richard Carosso said on Tuesday it was difficult before the Lahaina fire to find housing for employees, but afterward it was much worse.

“We know that it’s hard to commute and we know that traffic is getting worse,” he said. “Even rents (in) Central (Maui) have risen since the fire, so I don’t think it’s outlandish to say that this project kind of saved public education for the west side schools.”

Of the 107 staff members who were employed at Lahainaluna High on the day of the fire, more than 100 are still there, Carosso said.

He said the new rental housing project “really is going to guarantee the continuity, the continuation of public education for the four Lahaina schools.”

In the high school’s front office, four of the five staff members lost their homes in the fire, including administrative service assistant Sissy Rogers, who has worked at Lahainaluna for 20 years. She and her family have had to move seven times since the fire, and since April have been living in Mā’alaea.

Rogers says the new development is a “great big deal” for all the employees who work in education in West Maui, including three of her five children. They commute to their schools to work from various parts of the island.

“Out of the four places that we lived, only one home survived,” Rogers said. “This complex coming in … gives us hope that we are going to move back to Lahaina and we’re going to have some place to stay until our homes can get rebuilt because it’s probably going to take several years.” 

Science department head Arica Lynn, who teaches biology at Lahainaluna, also lost her townhome in Kahoma Village in the fire. While she said the new development is a sign of hope for her colleagues, it comes a little late for her family of five.

Lynn and husband Matthew Souza have three small children — 5-year-old Silas, 3-year-old Ayla and 9-month-old Asher. They currently live in a 600-square-foot unit in Ka La’i Ola, a temporary housing development near the Lahaina Civic Center that will house up to 1,500 wildfire survivors for up to 5 years.

Lynn and her family are making significant progress on rebuilding their home — with the pouring of concrete for the foundation scheduled for Jan. 4. She is hopeful the family will be back in their residence by Christmas 2025. 

Lynn was recruited as a teacher from Chicago in 2013 and married her husband six years ago. Her family is grateful for the opportunity they have to live at Ka La’i Ola rent free while they are still paying their mortgage and homeowners association fees for the family home that was destroyed in the fire.

“I’m excited to see that it’s finally here,” Lynn said of the new housing development. “It’s a great start for our beginning teachers.”

She recalled how difficult it was for her to find affordable housing with a teacher’s starting salary when she arrived from the mainland after being recruited.

RJ Arconado is a senior and the student body president at Lahainaluna and he said it is important for the teachers to stay at the school for the sake of the students. More than 80% of the school’s staff are Lahainaluna graduates, according to Carosso.

Arcanado and Lahainaluna senior class treasurer Janice Yabo were part of a student roundtable with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Dec. 6, when he stopped on Maui to tour the temporary King Kamehameha III Elementary School below the Kapalua Airport and Lahainaluna. 

“I think that them wanting to have our voices out there says so much about how much they care about us,” Arcanado said.

Yabo said her thoughts also are with her teachers.

“It’s not just us students who went through a lot, but also the teachers, too,” said Yabo, who lives in Napili and did not lose her home in the fire. “They’re probably talking to other people too, but since they’re adults they have to focus on their work. So, I feel like the teachers are going through the same thing that we’re doing, but we all have different stories, different things that we’re going through.” 

Hawai’i Department of Education Superintendent Keith Hayashi said the housing project is essential for the West Maui schools.

“As I’ve heard very passionately from the principals here in our Lahaina schools, the importance of housing is huge,” Hayashi said. “Our employees were displaced from the disaster and impacts are still being felt. I’ve talked to some teachers, and they shared that they lived minutes away before the fire, but now they’re living an hour-plus away.”

He said by supporting housing, it will help with teacher and staff retention that benefits everyone.

“Most importantly, it’s for our students because they connect well with the teachers who are working with them,” Hayashi said. “They build trust and a sense of the relationship. We want to do our best to keep our Lahainaluna complex teachers here in Lahaina.”

Cardona’s Maui visit marked the 49th state he has visited during his four years as secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. He was engaged with students at recess at King Kamehameha III, with several of them asking for his autograph. His sit-down with the Lunas’ student government members also put a smile on his face.

“I learned a lot about the culture, about the resilience, about the strength of this community,” Cardona said. “I learned how at the federal level we need to continue to not only support, but listen to the needs of our students in our community here. And I have to say, I’m leaving inspired, I’m leaving with a sense of hope, knowing that this community can teach the rest of the country lessons about how to come together, but they continue to need our support and make sure that we’re in it for the long haul.”

He said educational workforce housing is essential to the continued bounce back for Lahaina town.

“Now if I’m a teacher and I have to drive a long distance to come to school to teach here, it may make it difficult for me to do that, I might have to choose another profession,” Cardona said. “But when there’s a district that’s building housing for teachers to make it more likely that the teachers come, that’s going to increase teachers into the profession.”

Maui County’s public access television network Akakū, which provides news coverage of local government and a variety of other community programming and services, already is operating with a lean budget.

But now the nonprofit is battling to prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands in funding from cable company franchise fees, which the state says is due to a decision made by the Federal Communications Commission during Donald Trump’s first term as president.

In August 2019, the FCC issued an order stating cable company costs associated with building and maintaining the INET — a special communications network specifically for non-residential users, such as government agencies and first responders — must be included within the federally capped 5% franchise fees that cable companies pay to governments to use equipment on public property. 

The State of Hawaiʻi and several other governments across the U.S. sued to block the decision, but in 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of the FCC when it came to franchise fees.

Now, before Trump takes office again in January, the Hawaiʻi Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs says it is trying to lock in long-term contracts with its cable providers.

“Given the upcoming change in the federal administration, there is a possibility that the FCC could impose further restrictions and constraints on cable franchising,” Randy Leong, cable television administrator with the department, wrote in a Dec. 5 letter to Akakū CEO and President Jay April. “It was therefore necessary to take decisive action and prepare for imminent impact.”

In November, the state renewed its franchise agreement with Spectrum on Kaua‘i that allowed the company to keep $200,000 or 1% of the gross revenues, whichever is greater, for operation and maintenance of the INET. In turn, the distributions for the department, PBS Hawai‘i and public, educational and governmental access organizations would each be reduced by one-third in 2026.

April is worried the same could happen in Maui County as the state works to hammer out details with Spectrum over a new 15-year contract for operations on Maui, Moloka’i and Lānaʻi. He estimated that under similar terms, Akakū stands to lose $150,000 the first year and about $225,000 annually after that.

“It would stretch us so thin that our services would be impacted,” April said. “We operate effectively with a minimum amount of money. Cutting into us is cutting into muscle — we have no fat.” 

Cable franchise and other fees that benefit public access organizations usually add 5 to 8% to each subscriber’s monthly bill and annually yield hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for local governments across the country.

In Hawai‘i, the 5% in franchise fees are divided between its four public-educational-governmental access stations, including Akakū (3%), PBS Hawai’i (1%) and the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (1%), according to April and the state. The exact distribution is up to the department director. 

Akakū brings in just under $1.5 million in revenue each year, with 80% coming from franchise fees and 20% from production, April said. This also includes contracts to broadcast public meetings for government bodies like the Maui County Council. Of the funding it receives from franchise fees, Akakū allocates 25% to its education partners, the University of Hawai’i Maui College and the state Department of Education on Maui.

In 2023, Akakū received just over $1.45 million in access operating fees and $139,149 in capital fees, according to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Akakū Holdings also owns a commercial center that it purchased in 2007 along Dairy Road in Kahului that includes Akakū’s offices and studios, but April said the revenue the property generates mostly goes toward maintenance and is not used on the nonprofit side. 

Now, it’s possible a significant part of that funding will instead go to the INET special communications network, which with certain exceptions includes the communications networks for schools, libraries and higher-learning institutions; public safety agencies such as fire, police and civil defense; and other state and county government agencies.  

Leong said INET is even more crucial now as remote work in both government and the private sector increases and residents use online government resources more often.

“Each of these trends highlights the critical need to preserve a robust and extensive INET, at the expense, if necessary, to PEG (public, educational and governmental) services,” Leong wrote.

Akakū is a PEG service, with three main channels serving more than 53,000 Spectrum Cable homes in Maui County, as well as a non-commercial talk-radio station, KAKU 88.5 FM. The nonprofit is often the only entity broadcasting community and government meetings on location on Maui, Moloka‘i and Lānaʻi. It also airs community-submitted videos and covers live, local events such as elections, and hosts in-person seminars on current issues or figures in the community as part of its monthly program, “Akakū Upstairs.”

April said Akakū also provided vital coverage during and after the 2023 Maui wildfires and daily updates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Akakū also trains community members and local nonprofits in using media.

“It’s all about community, so when you take this away … you not only diminish the community but you diminish the voice of the community,” April said. “This is a place where anyone can come here and talk story. It’s a beacon of free speech.” 

April says he does not accept the state’s explanation that the franchise renewal has to follow the federal decision. He said the state isn’t trying hard enough to protect funding and if Spectrum receives an agreement in Maui County similar to that on Kaua‘i, Akakū is prepared to fight the decision in court. 

“We’re going to have to use whatever means necessary to protect our interests,” April said.

Leong explained that given the 2019 FCC order and the return of the Trump administration to office, the state wanted certainty in how the INET contributions would be calculated for the next 15 years with Spectrum. He said it was “an issue that could not be avoided.”

Rebecca Lieberman, state government affairs director at Charter Communications, which operates the Spectrum brand, said the company has waited years for a more permanent agreement. 

The company has two franchises in Maui County — one for Lahaina and one for the rest of Maui as well as Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i. The franchises were granted to Charter’s predecessor in 1999 but expired in 2013.

A few years later in 2016, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, the franchise holder at the time, merged into Charter. Hampered by the 2019 federal changes and the pandemic that started in 2020, Charter has been operating under a series of short-term renewals since then, Lieberman said.

Meanwhile, competitor Hawaiian Telcom has secured a new franchise to offer cable to Maui residents, she said.  

Charter services more than 465,000 customers in Hawai’i and has a workforce of more than 1,110. According to Lieberman, Charter operates the only institutional network in Maui County on behalf of the state, which includes hundreds of miles of fiber optic installations that serve schools, libraries, government buildings and police and fire stations. In 2023, Charter paid more than $2 million in franchise fees from Maui County operations to Akakū, PBS and the state.

“We hope to reach an agreement that meets cable-related community news and interests on Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i,” Lieberman told the department during a public hearing broadcast by Akakū at UH-Maui on Dec. 9. “This agreement will need to comply with and take into account the rapidly changing marketplace for video services in which Charter operates. Moreover, we will need to ensure parity with Hawaiian Telcom’s initial franchise in Maui County to ensure neither provider is unfairly disadvantaged.” 

Akakū staff and community members, including Maui state Sen. Angus McKelvey, showed up to speak in favor of funding Akakū’s public programming during the hearing. McKelvey said Akakū is one of the few places providing “true, non-commercial content creation and access.”

“The internet doesn’t provide that anymore. … All of these providers inherently are commercially driven now,” said McKelvey, whose district includes parts of South and West Maui. “You don’t get enough clicks or subscribes, you don’t get enough views, you’re not going to be able to create revenue to stay valid and get your message out.

“And what happens is people sensationalize and twist things, and after the fire, we had all of these content creators driven by commercial needs putting out so much misinformation, it was ridiculous. Akakū, on the other hand, strove to create clear content and communication for the community.”

Akakū currently runs a “skeleton crew” that once numbered 23 but is now down to 12, and April said “any dime I lose means I have to cut something,” though it’s unclear whether that means jobs, services or closing one of the station’s critical offices.

Today is the last day to submit public testimony on Spectrum’s application. Written comments can be submitted by 4:30 p.m. via email to cabletv@dcca.hawaii.gov; via fax to (808) 586-2625; or via mail to the Cable Television Division, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 541, Honolulu, HI 96809.

The department did not have a timeline for a decision as of Tuesday.

KĪHEI — For nearly three decades, Oregon has been home for former Baldwin High wrestler Guy Takahashi and former Baldwin coach Frank Johnson.

But in their return to the 55th annual Garner Ivey Maui Invitational Wrestling Tournament Friday and Saturday in Kīhei, the Maui County family they left about three decades ago embraced them in familiar fashion.

Takahashi, a 1990 Baldwin High School graduate, brought 27 wrestlers from the Forest Grove High School teams he coaches in Oregon. His teams won both the boys and girls titles over the weekend and his daughter earned the tournament’s namesake award.

“This is the first time Forest Grove High School has ever came, any team, to Hawai’i,” said Takahashi, who previously coached fro 27 years at Century Hills High School in Hillsboro, Ore. “So it’s very special for this group of kids.”

Johnson, Baldwin’s wrestling coach for four years in the mid-1990s, was at the meet in large part to recruit wrestlers to the program he coaches at Linfield University in McMinnville, Ore.

“This is my first time coming back to this meet as a coach,” Johnson said, adding that while at Baldwin, “I remember hosting this meet.”

Both also came with their immediate families to Maui.

Johnson’s son Josh coaches on Takahashi’s staff and Tammy Johnson, Josh’s mom and Frank’s wife, is the statistician for the Forest Grove High School teams and teaches at the school.

Guy Takahashi was a three-time NAIA all-American at Pacific University in Forest Grove from 1992-96 and Frank Johnson was head coach at Pacific later from 1997 to 2002. Johnson has coached high school teams in Kennewick, Wash.; Forest Grove; and Valor Christian in Highlands Ranch, Colo. He then coached at Warner Pacific University from 2014 to 2021, and is now in his second season at Linfield.

Johnson loved what he saw as he watched from just behind the perimeter of the mats as the championship session ran Saturday afternoon at the South Maui Community Gymnasium. Johnson hopes to build his team with some of the talent he watched Friday and Saturday in South Maui.

“I mean, we want good kids,” he said. “And I, in particular, I want kids from Hawai’i on my team.”

The family feeling was everywhere in the packed gym on Saturday. Takahashi said the trip that began Wednesday and ends today was the first time on an airplane for several of his wrestlers. They did hard workouts on Wednesday and Thursday, running with teammates on their backs up and down ‘Īao Valley State Park on Wednesday and on the beach from Mā‘alaea to Kīhei on Friday.

“For me, it’s just coming home and having them experience the culture,” Guy Takahashi said. “To me, it’s nothing about the wrestling and I tell them that the whole time. That’s why most of my kids are up in weight classes because I just want them to enjoy, learn on the mats. Off the mats, let these kids learn the culture, about people, the love, the aloha, and all that. Wrestling is secondary on this trip.”

Kailea Takahashi, a Forest Grove senior, won the girls 130-pound title Saturday with her dad in her corner and mom Vallie and older sister Makaila, a wrestler and soccer player at Pacific, rooting from the stands. The Takahashi family visits Maui every summer to see relatives, but this was Kailea Takahashi’s first trip here for wrestling. Her father brought his Century High School team five times.

“He said they have good girls, they’re all tough, it’s a totally different style than Oregon,” Kailea said of what her dad told her to expect on the mat. “I totally agree with that, these girls here are tough and it’s not what I’m used to.”

Kailea Takahashi won the Garner Ivey Award for girls in the event — the plaque is presented to a senior wrestler who has the characteristics of Garner Ivey, the deceased legendary Baldwin coach who espoused commitment, integrity, passion, character, respect and excellence.

“I love being back home, it’s very comforting,” Kailea Takahashi said. “I feel just way more relaxed and it’s a good place to be when you can go to the beach whenever you want and it’s always sunny.” 

Mikah Labuanan, a Kamehameha Maui senior who is a three-time state champion, won the Ivey Award and most outstanding wrestler at 150 pounds and above for boys.

Labuanan pinned Anakin Hayes of Lahainaluna 3:37 into the boys 150-pound final. Labuanan has won 126-, 132- and 144-pound state titles in his first three seasons and can become the first Maui Interscholastic League boy wrestler to win four state crowns this year.

“I just remember to love the process, come into the (wrestling) room grateful every day because this is my senior year and although there will be more wrestling in the future through college — being in high school is very special, so I just come into the room every day grateful for the opportunity to wrestle, to be in this position and be around my friends,” Labuanan said.

Jona Dudoit, a Moloka’i High School junior, won the 120-pound title and was named the outstanding boys wrestler in the below 150-pound category. Dudoit was second to Lānaʻi state champion Diesel Del Rosario in the 120 class in this meet in each of the last two seasons. Del Rosario is now wrestling collegiately at Southern Oregon University.

“That felt good to me,” Dudoit said. “I put in a lot of work in the offseason and I don’t know, it’s coming. It’s coming. … I learned from Diesel: Don’t give up, never give up. Just keep pushing.”

Baldwin senior Jahlia Miguel is a two-time state champion with college wrestling in her sights — she won her fourth Ivey title on Saturday, at 170 with an 8-0 win over Baldwin teammate Shiloh Kamaka. Miguel, who spoke with several college coaches in attendance, including Johnson, has clearly taken on a leadership role this season.

“Being a leader is a lot,” said Miguel, who plans to study biochemistry on a pre-medicine track in college. “I try my best to have kids look up to me and follow in my footsteps, but I just want people younger than me to do even better than me. … I want to go to college and take my family far.”

Forest Grove won each of the team titles, scoring 229 points to easily outdistance second-place King Kekaulike (159) in the boys team race. Kamehameha Maui (133) was fourth among the boys, Baldwin (129) fifth, Lahainaluna (125.5) sixth, Maui High and Moloka’i (116.5) tied for seventh, Kūlanihāko’i (67) was 10th, Lānaʻi (35.5) 11th, Hana (12.5) 12th and Maui Prep (4) was 14th.

In the girls team race, Forest Grove edged Baldwin 134-132.5 for the title. Kamehameha Maui (120) was third, Moloka’i (66) fifth, King Kekaulike (59) sixth, Lahainaluna (54) seventh, Kūlanihāko’i (49) eighth, Hana (49) ninth, Maui High (48.5) 10th and Lānaʻi (7) was 12th.

The most outstanding wrestler awards for girls went to Kierra Holokai of Kamehameha Maui for 130 pounds and below, and Kennedy Blanton of Forest Grove for 135 and above.  

HJI’s “Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.

In 1998, the $20 million Maui Ocean Center, the only privately owned aquarium in Hawaiʻi, opened with a mission that continues to this day of conservation and stewardship of marine life.

Its current website, under the heading “Mālama (Stewardship),” says all animals under its care have been collected under a special permit with the state Division of Aquatic Resources.

But the nonprofit For the Fishes, which conducts courtesy reviews of fish-taking permits for the state, said it has found that the Maui Ocean Center has repeatedly violated these annual permits over the years, and that the state has allowed them to do so with minimal consequences.

For the Fishes Director Rene Umberger said the nonprofit’s compliance review of the ocean center’s 2022-23 special activity permit determined there were 91 instances of improper collection from the ocean, including 11 the state also identified. The collected wildlife also experienced a mortality rate of more than 50% within a year of capture, she said.

But instead of the Division of Aquatic Resources cracking down on the center — and addressing the 118 recommendations made by the nonprofit to deal with the collection issues — the state agency in June renewed the ocean center’s permit. And, it did so with more favorable conditions, Umberger said.

This year’s permit more than doubled the allowable fish collection to 1,381 — the largest permit of its kind in the state — after a one-year gap in renewal during 2023-24, which the Division of Aquatic Resources attributed to a backlog.

The permit also included a new “opportunistic collection” clause that allows Maui Ocean Center to collect non-regulated marine life without prior permission and seek approval afterward. These activities would otherwise be illegal, according to the Division of Aquatic Resources.

The Division of Aquatic Resources explained in a recent email that the permit needed to be more “realistic to the needs of a large public aquarium,” and that opportunistic collections empower Maui Ocean Center to build its life-like displays while still providing the agency with the ability to provide oversight.

But Inga Gibson, the former director of the Humane Society of the United States, says this relaxed regulation sets a “dangerous precedent” for other Hawaiʻi aquariums within the division’s jurisdiction.

Both Umberger and Gibson argue that opportunistic collections can be exploited as a loophole to bypass longstanding violations. And both have said the agency is “bending over backwards to give the Maui Ocean Center a pass.”

The aquarium and the state both say this isn’t the case, although they both agree there have been some issues with collecting marine animals over the years.

“As the state rules regarding ocean animal welfare evolve, sometimes drastically, we have been working directly with the DLNR and the Department of Aquatic Resources to improve communication, close gaps, and address missteps,” said Maui Ocean Center Marketing Director Mark Matthews.

He said with guidance from the ocean center’s cultural advisor, Dane Maxwell, a comprehensive plan has been enacted to address and improve its processes to ensure actions are culturally appropriate and sustainable, leading to the renewal of the aquarium’s special activity permit this year.

THE START: ALLEGATIONS OF A RUSHED OPENING

Umberger claims a pattern of the state letting Maui Ocean Center off the hook dates to the 1998 opening of the aquarium, which is owned by Israeli corporation Coral World International.

The Maui Ocean Center’s website says entrepreneur and philanthropist Morris Khan, who in the 1970s recognized that fragile marine ecosystems needed protection, partnered with renowned reef biologist David Fridman to create Coral World — which has evolved into an international operation with marine parks worldwide, including on Maui.

In a 2009 email, Bradley Tarr, a former curator at the Maui Ocean Center, wrote that the rush to open the aquarium resulted in significant mortality of the collected marine life.

“The MOC was in such a hurry to meet its opening date that the paint from the larger tanks barely had time to dry before organisms were placed in them,” he said in his email to Robin Newbold, a former colleague of Umberger who had asked for background on the damaged reefs closest to the aquarium.

Tarr’s email continues: “Many large coral colonies died initially and were discarded at the seawall of the (Mā’alaea) harbor; very depressing. The same fate for fishes; large trash cans full of fishes were put back on the Boston Whaler and dumped at sea. Clearly there was a toxicity issue causing the mass mortality.”

Tarr also said in that email he was concerned about the over-collecting of marine life, and was instructed to fabricate reports about those collections.

“As curator, I was responsible for documenting all collections, including date, location, type, method and quantity,” Tarr said. “Although the total collection of fishes and corals far exceeded the total amount allowed by the permit, ownership and upper management instructed me to revise the annual report to meet full compliance.”

In the email, Tarr attributed the aquarium’s over-collection to a “disrespect for the terms and conditions of the scientific collection permit issued by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.” He subsequently reported these infractions to the department and left the aquarium. Tarr did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The Maui Ocean Center’s present-day general manager, Tapani Vuori, who came on board in 2002, said Thursday that he does not know if Tarr’s accounts are true, but if they are, the onus was on Tarr, not on him or the current leadership at Maui Ocean Center.

Matthews, who also joined Maui Ocean Center years after the alleged incidents, said it’s irrelevant to conflate them with Maui Ocean Center’s current practices.

“It sounds like if something happened, it was addressed and then it was repaired, and now we’re on the other side of that,” Matthews said in an interview Thursday.

Regardless, Tarr’s letter to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has shaped the aquarium’s collection permit for the past two decades by accelerating the terms and conditions put in place for future special activity permits for aquariums in Hawai’i.

In a Nov. 15 email to the Hawaiʻi Journalism Initiative, the Division of Aquatic Resources said as a result of that letter the Maui Ocean Center’s permits became “the most restrictive and required the most notification and oversight of any permit in the state.”

The division also says it has had to update and change aquarium permits over the years to find a balance that allows it to strictly oversee large educational aquarium facilities while providing enough flexibility to the aquariums to be able to function. The division says its philosophy on evaluating fish collections is to find the best outcome for the state and protect aquatic resources to a practical degree, as outlined in Hawai’i Revised Statues Chapter 343.

But Umberger said the division is bending over backward to enable the aquarium to be in compliance with the permits. She provided a separate email obtained via a public records request, in which the state suggested “revisions” be made to comply with the 2022-23 special activity permit. An April email from the Division of Aquatic Resources advised Maui Ocean Center curator Chris Keller to revise the annual collection report, providing justifications for unauthorized collections to ensure compliance.

The email reads: “If you cannot find any mention of these red highlighted ones on any of the spreadsheets, can you provide the reason for why they were collected — e.g. it could be collection error — you thought those species were listed on the request spreadsheet, or you thought those amount or life-stages were listed on the request spreadsheet — or I’m not sure if some were accepted as donations from other institutions — i.e. you weren’t planning on collecting but they opportunistically became available through a donation?”

To spur the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees aquatic resources, to act on collection violations namely in the pet aquarium trade, a group of conservationists that includes Umberger petitioned in October for a review of the regulatory framework. They urged the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to clarify its authority to prohibit commercial aquarium collection statewide and deny permits for such activities.

For the Fishes also is calling for the immediate revoking of the Maui Ocean Center’s special activity permit and a review by the state board, warning that without stronger oversight, the future of Maui’s reefs could be at greater risk.

THE PERMITS: COLLECTION VIOLATIONS

Since January 2022, For The Fishes has provided feedback on 12 special activity permits related to “aquarium purposes” for the Department of Land and Natural Resources. While some of its feedback is integrated into new permits, the issuance of a permit is not contingent upon approval by the nonprofit, the Division of Aquatic Resources said.

In March of 2024, For The Fishes began its review of the Maui Ocean Center’s compliance with its 2022-23 permit by analyzing the aquarium’s 2022-23 collection report and obtaining related emails through public records requests. The nonprofit concluded there were 91 instances of improper collection: 34 unauthorized species, 41 excessive quantities of certain species, and 16 fish collected at unauthorized life stages. These alleged infractions constituted 35% of the collections made during this period.

The state had flagged just 11 violations (taking seven blacklisted species of regulated organisms: redlip parrotfish, stareye parrotfish, bullethead parrotfish, palenose parrotfish, blacktip shark and two bluefin trevally; and taking unauthorized amounts of species of regulated organisms: two manybar goatfish and two blacktip reef sharks). 

For the Fishes sent its findings to the state. In an email dated April 24, the state’s coordinator of Special Activity Permits, aquatic biologist Catherine Gewecke, responded by thanking For The Fishes for flagging “issues with the data” and saying it had addressed the “mistakes” with Maui Ocean Center.

On Aug. 13, the state issued the ocean center a notice of permit violation, characterizing all of Maui Ocean Center’s 11 official violations as “mis-collections” attributed to “human error.” It did not cite Maui Ocean Center for any of the infractions alleged by For the Fishes.

The Division of Aquatic Resources said it addressed these 11 mistakes by integrating additional clarifying language into the permit conditions and updated existing conditions for the Maui Ocean Center’s 2024-2025 renewal. The division said the remaining 80 potential violations flagged by For the Fishes were for non-regulated organisms, which “would not require a permit in themselves.”

For the Fishes argues that collecting unauthorized fish went against the terms of the permit, which makes these collections illegal per Hawaii Administrative Rules: “When the Maui Ocean Center collects marine animals not specifically authorized under the special activity permit, those collections are illegal, regardless of whether they involve ‘regulated’ species,” Umberger said.

Matthews said the nonprofit misrepresented the number of violations, which “is unfortunate and disappointing.” He said to remedy its “small number of unintentional mis-collections,” the center has implemented corrective measures that include additional training about how to identify the species and age of fish.

After the Maui Ocean Center’s latest special activity permit was issued, Umberger said she adopted a more vigilant approach to assess the collection report under the aquarium’s permit in 2021. She said that report revealed an even greater number of unauthorized takings, 500 violations, accounting for 62% of all ocean collections that year.

Her analysis concluded the aquarium illegally took 224 fish across 41 unauthorized species, exceeded collection limits by 264, and captured 12 fish at unauthorized life stages.

The documents confirm a pattern by the Maui Ocean Center of a “total disregard for the terms and conditions” of its permits and “appalling mortality rates that go hand in hand with their complete disrespect for the animals under their care,” Umberger said.

THE DATA: HIGH MORTALITY RATES

Unlike fish collection, there are no regulatory limits on animal mortality at the Maui Ocean Center. The aquarium has acknowledged, however, that its mortality rates exceed the norm.

In a “Potential Permit Violation List” document Maui Ocean Center sent earlier this year to the Division of Aquatic Resources in response to mitigating mortalities, the aquarium estimated that the normal mortality rate for animals collected for public aquariums is between 20% and 30% within a year, and that it’s usually related to transport.

The Maui Ocean Center reported its animal mortality rate was double that from 2021-2023, and the animals were transported only short distances and not flown in planes.

While a “standard” mortality rate is up for debate and still being defined by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Matthews of the Maui Ocean Center said the typical mortality rate often bandied around is 43%. Over the last two permit years, the aquarium’s mortality was still higher than that.

The reported mortality rates for fish and invertebrates within the first year of collection was 68% in 2021-22 and 58% in 2022-23. Most deaths occurred within a month of capture and were not attributed to transport, according to the aquarium.

The 700 newly collected animals that perished from 2021 to 2023 died of various causes, including age, predation, failing to eat in captivity and contracting bacterial infections or parasitic infections shortly after arrival, the collection reports said.

Matthews said some fish that died had arrived injured or sick. For instance, a blacktip reef shark labeled as “dead on arrival” had been treated in Maui Ocean Center’s quarantine area for an ulua fishing hook injury that ultimately led to its death two weeks later.

Vuori said the mortality rate figure misrepresents the nuances of the aquarium because “dead on arrival” had been the only animal-death designation in the Division of Aquatic Resources identification methodology up until 2023.

“Presented at face value, it looks like 50% just died through our mishandling,” Vuori said. “We are working with the state to calibrate this so it’s a more accurate representation of what is actually happening. It should be available for the public to see and, ultimately, the public needs to decide what is acceptable for them.”

But Umberger suspects that many of the mortality cases stem from poor husbandry. She suggested that the aquarium may lack motivation to protect fish that are collected for free and without the risk of penalties.

Collection reports show the Maui Ocean Center also continually collects a multitude of fish species despite a well-documented history of mortality in captivity.

Among the unique species in this category are spotted boxfish. The square-bodied, slow-moving fish rely on specific reef habitats to thrive. According to For the Fishes, they should not be collected due to their complex dietary needs and sensitivity to water conditions. 

Records show that out of the 11 spotted boxfish collected in 2021–22 — nine over the permitted limit — seven died, two were returned to the sea sick, and one had missing data. Despite a zero percent success rate, the next year four more boxfish were collected from Māʻalaea, two without authorization. None survived.

Nudibranchs, often called “sea slugs,” also are known to fare poorly in captivity but are not listed as a restricted species in the permit. Matthews says, because of their ability to serve as “entry points” for many people, the “awe and wonder attached,” significance of nudibranchs in the ecosystem and education possibilities are worth the collection. In 2022-2023, all but one nudibranch — collected by the Maui Ocean Center to be put on display — died.

“The team is well aware of the challenges associated with certain species,” said Maui Ocean Center curator Chris Keller in an email. “However, these decisions are made in consultation with marine biologists, veterinarians, and specialists to weigh the benefits of education, research, and conservation against the challenges of their care.”

For species known to have higher mortality rates, the ocean center implements “specialized care protocols, including acclimation procedures, advanced tank setups, and monitoring to improve survival outcomes,” This method contributes to a broader understanding and potential improvements in husbandry practices globally, Keller said.

“While mortality for some species is higher, the larger program’s conservation and educational value remain significant,” he said.

Matthews said For the Fishes’ opinion of its husbandry’s quality is “willfully negligent and harmful.”

He touted the aquarium’s highly skilled, educated and experienced staff, saying some have double master’s degrees in marine biology and others have been in the field for more than 30 years.

“It is important to note that we are talking about the mortality of a small number of fish introduced within their first year,” Matthews said. “We have over 84 exhibits … and over 2,000 animals of over 240 species that thrive under our care.”

THE FUTURE: WILL FISH COLLECTION PRACTICES CHANGE?

Umberger has wrestled with the state to curb commercial fish collectors for over a decade.

Fish collectors in Hawaiʻi used to be the third-largest aquarium supplier in the nation. But that began to change when Umberger lobbied for fish extraction regulations that led to strict Maui County ordinances being passed in 2010 and 2011. This all but ended the aquarium fish trade in Maui Nui.

But Umberger wanted to expand the prohibition to all of Hawaiʻi. In 2014, she was documenting fish collection underwater on the Big Island when a fish-collector pulled the air regulator from her mouth at 50 feet deep. This incident led to her being the plaintiff in a successful lawsuit against the state that initially lost in lower courts. The Supreme Court in 2017 ordered a stop to the commercial collection of aquarium fish in Hawaiʻi pending an environmental review.

Compared to the larger fish trade, Umberger acknowledges that the Maui Ocean Center’s yearly collection numbers are relatively small. However, she believes the focus should be on protecting Maui’s rapidly degrading coastal ecosystems, which are threatened by concentrated fish collections on the same reefs. 

According to the latest collection report, about 46% of the fish lack locational data, making it difficult to assess the full impact. Among the remaining fish, Māʻalaea Bay, the nearest to the Maui Ocean Center, was the most common collection site, accounting for 22% of all specimens.

“What I noticed from the spreadsheet was how heavily they were hitting certain places,” Umberger said. “That’s where the impact would be most significant.”

The Maui Ocean Center, which is visited by about 400,000 people each year, said it also cares about ecological consequences. It hosts numerous educational events each year, is heavily involved in islandwide conservancy and rehabilitation efforts, and employs Maui residents, many of whom are passionate about marine conservation, sustainability and advocacy. 

This year, it was voted the 7th best aquarium in the country by USA Today readers.

But Umberger said the high mortality rates contradict Maui Ocean Center’s position as a conservation hub. And both Umberger and Gibson have criticized the way the Maui Ocean Center presents information, with Umberger adding it would be a shame that the Maui aquarium could potentially fracture its public trust.

The Maui Ocean Center points out that it does return some species, saying online that some fish may not be on display “due to constant rotation of animals back to the ocean.”

Umberger and Gibson say that is misleading. For example, the species listed on the same page as the online disclaimer saw a combined mortality of 53% within a year of capture, with only two animals being returned to the ocean from 2022 to 2023. The prior permit year saw 14 individual fish returned to the ocean, while 548 died after collection.

Since it opened 26 years ago, the aquarium has never had to make collection data accessible to the general public. And in 2017, Vuori told The Maui News that the ocean center returned more than half of the fish it collected, but declined to share raw numbers. Vuori said Thursday that he may have “misspoken” at the time.

But Keller, in an email to the Hawaiʻi Journalism Initiative days earlier, said Vuori’s 2017 statement was accurate at the time, and said that operational goals and collection strategies have since evolved in response to research, conservation priorities and resource management.

The recent small number of animals returned to the sea reflect the aquarium’s current “conservation realities,” Keller said. He cited risks of releasing unhealthy fish into wild populations and strict regulations in how frequently animals can be released.

Keller said the online disclaimer about the “constant rotation of animals back to the ocean” is intended to reflect the aquarium’s philosophy of managing its collection responsibly and sustainably, but “may require refinement to better align public perception with current practices.”

After 43 years of serving at just about every level in the Hawaii Department of Education on Maui, from elementary physical education teacher to high school principal to interim complex area superintendent, Jamie Yap is just about done.

“Well, I’m excited to graduate from Maui High and move on,” Yap said from his Maui High School principal’s office on Tuesday.

At age 68, Yap is retiring at the end of the calendar year, with his last day with students on Dec. 20. He will leave the school with an impressive legacy. 

During his tenure that began in 2017 at Maui High School, two buildings were completed: the $5 million weight training room and wrestling room that opened in 2022 behind the Izumi “Shine” Matsui Athletic Center and the $15 million Harrison and Helen Miyahira STEM Center adjacent to the main office that opened in August.

Yap said he thought he would retire several times before now, including when he wrapped up 27 years as principal at Maui Waena Intermediate School in 2016. But he was asked by the state Department of Education to be the interim principal at Maui High in January 2017 and he quickly fell in love with the job. When COVID-19 struck, he felt a responsibility to see the school through the pandemic. 

In December 2021, he was named interim complex area superintendent for the Baldwin-King Kekaulike-Maui High area, but returned as the Maui High principal six months later. He served as president of the Maui Interscholastic League from 2020-22 and was instrumental in leading the league back to the playing fields after the pandemic.

Under Yap’s watch, Maui High acquired a $10 million donation from an anonymous alumni donor in April that was put into an endowment to ensure the future of the Maui High School Foundation that funds, among several other things, $1,000 scholarships annually for 20 graduates.

This year, the school also started an academic plan that includes five academies: freshmen academy, for all 9th-graders as they choose their path for the next three years; IET Academy (Industrial, Engineering, Technology); Arts, Media & Business Academy; Service & Sustainability Academy; and HELPS Academy (Health, Education, Law & Public Safety).

Yap won’t completely leave. He accepted a position for six months on a trial basis to be a part-time fundraiser for the Maui High School Foundation in order to support the kids and their programs.

“Love doing that,” he said. “So I’m going to do that for six months to see if it works, if we actually can make that happen. If it does, I think great. Other than that, it’ll just be helping the wife and doing stuff around the house.”

The night of Aug. 8, 2023, perhaps best sums up the respect Yap commands from his staff and community. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen and Desire Sides, a 1986 Maui High graduate and the area superintendent of the Baldwin-King Kekaulike-Kulanihako’i complex, notified him that the Maui High gym was needed as a shelter for the fire survivors.

Yap sprang into action, calling on his faculty, staff and other employees of the Department of Education to help with the Lahainaluna High School boarders who were on their way to the shelter in school busses after escaping the fire. 

Many responded and stayed all night, as it became the most-crowded shelter in Maui County with an estimated 2,000 evacuees arriving on the first night.

“When we were needed to be a shelter, he called me and I said, ‘Yep, sure, I can help,’ “ Maui High math teacher and swim coach Reid Yamamoto said. “Twenty minutes later, he says: ‘I need you now.’ And I brushed my teeth and I was there.”

Yap was the main coordinator at the shelter, assigning his staff tasks they didn’t usually do, including driving pickup trucks filled with bottled water, cots and blankets; directing traffic in the school parking lot; serving donated food; and showing evacuees where they could find cots and blankets.

“That just shows how much the faculty respects him,” Yamamoto said. “If they could, then they came out to help. We knew he wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important. You’ve got to help out your boss in whatever way you can.”

Another person who answered the call late that night was Ty Ogasawara, who will take over Yap’s spot at Maui High in January. Ogasawara, a 44-year-old graduate of Baldwin High School and the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, was a vice principal at Maui High from 2014-2019 before becoming principal at Pukalani Elementary.

“Big shoes to fill, I think is definitely apt in this situation,” Ogasawara said.

While he added he was nervous and excited, he said he has a confidence knowing that Yap has “really teed it up for us” and is feeling a responsibility to continue the progress.

“It’s on us,” Ogasawara said. “… He really set that legacy of things, that Saber legacy, what we leave behind and how we leave a place. I hope, I really hope that I am worthy to really take Maui High to the next step and really to make this the best place to go to school.”

Yap will be missed by seemingly all of the Maui High ʻohana. Saber junior Aika Swanson won the 200-yard freestyle state title in February at the Kīhei Aquatic Center. Yap was there to congratulate her.

“He was a very good principal, great at his job and I remember he would come to our swim meets … and he was like the only staff (member) that came besides our coaches, which was something we appreciated a lot,” Swanson said at swim practice on Tuesday. “He always offered as much support as he could and paid attention to swimming at Maui High and it was great. He brought a very optimistic presence to the room.”

Hawaiʻi State Department of Education Superintendent Keith Hayashi said he will miss an old friend with whom he attend school-level administrator training in the 1990s.

“He was among the neighbor island ‘jocks’ – the athletic coaches,” Hayashi said in a text message on Thursday. “Jamie’s all about students and supporting kids. And he excels at finding the right people on his team to make things happen – again, in support of students. 

“With Jamie retiring, what I’ll miss is having someone I can call and ask what he thinks about something, knowing that he’ll give me a totally frank, unbiased opinion. He doesn’t hold back, but it comes from a good place. I wish Jamie and his family all the best.”

Tia Joaquin has worked at Maui High for 31 years and has seen several principals come and go. She started as an English teacher, then became the curriculum coordinator and is now the academy coordinator.

“Mr. Yap has been a great mentor; I’ve learned a lot of leadership skills working with him and understanding the budget part of the DOE,” Joaquin said. “He meets with players, attends as many sporting events that he can, meets with coaches. His mantra has always been family first so if anyone has things happening, it’s always been family first, then work.”

Kerry Wasano, Maui High’s band director for 27 years, has worked for five principals. It was Yap who helped acquire the funds to expand the band room to more than double its size, he said.

“He was invested from the start,” Wasano said. “…We were kind of just floating around for a while, and then when Mr. Yap came, he kind of shook the bag. … He knows how to get people behind him. I think that was the biggest thing.”

Yap, who was athletic director at his alma mater St. Anthony High School from 1979-81, also has an affinity for sports, especially track and field, and cross country.

Maui High athletic director Mike Ban, who leans on Yap’s experience to help coordinate three Maui Interscholastic League sports — softball, track and field, and cross country — said he will miss breakfast brainstorming sessions with Yap that began before COVID and were resurrected after things got back to normal.

“He loves Saber sports,” Ban said. “It’s always great to have your boss or your principal be at our athletic events, whether it be a cheerleading championship, air rifle, swimming, football.

“And it’s always nice to have someone there to share ideas, brainstorm, talk about things, talk about possible solutions. … Like everybody else, I’m really going to miss him.”

A Maui nonprofit’s plan to expand its preschool facilities and host more events at a historic residence is getting opposition from some Wailuku residents who are concerned about losing even more of the island’s history in the wake of the Lahaina wildfire. 

Imua Family Services, a nonprofit geared toward children of all abilities, hosts educational activities and community events at Imua Discovery Garden, a 5.6-acre property on Main Street in Wailuku that’s located in a designated historic district, one of three in Maui County — the August 2023 wildfire destroyed most of the structures in the other two.

Now, the nonprofit wants to turn a former Wailuku Sugar Company manager’s home built in 1936 into a central gathering space and transitional housing for employees of the organization and preschool. It also plans to convert a garage for preschool space and build additional facilities that include an 18,000-square-foot play space with bridges and slides, a 2,300-square-foot preschool building and two water features. 

The proposed plans were considered Thursday at a meeting of the Maui County Cultural Resources Commission.

“This is literally the last historic district other than Lahaina,” said Ke‘eaumoku Kapu, a longtime Lahaina resident and chairman of the commission. “I know times will change. My fear is on whether or not this will diminish the historic character of that town.”

Wailuku’s neighborhoods weave together a mix of Native Hawaiian and colonial history, with places like ‘Īao Valley, the setting for Kamehameha I’s 1790 victory over Maui forces; Ka‘ahumanu Church, which was built in 1832 on the site of a heiau and named for the Hana-born queen; and traces of Hawai‘i’s sugar plantation days that include the manager’s residence in the nonprofit’s plan.

The area designated as Maui County Historic District 3 includes roughly 20 buildings along Main and South High streets. Special uses are allowed in the district, including day care centers and preschools, but they need permission from the commission.

The property where Imua Family Services hosts its programs is located next to the Maui Historical Society, with an entrance at Koeli Street. Historic buildings on the lot include the Wailuku plantation manager’s house, garage and tennis courts also built in 1936, as well as a pool built in 1992 and the Kama Ditch and an aqueduct that both pre-date 1878, according to Planning Department documents.

Known as the Yokouchi Family Estate, it was once home to the Yokouchi ‘ohana and was formerly rented out to local nonprofits for events.

Imua currently hosts three events annually at the property: the Imua Butterfly Festival in May, the Keiki Halloween Festival in October and a two-day Keiki Holiday Festival in December. The nonprofit said it would also consider additional events but set a maximum of eight per calendar year. The events range in attendance from 800 to 1,000 people. 

Imua also runs a preschool in Kahului and some of its biggest events are at separate venues, such as Paddle Imua, its benefit canoe race, and Camp Imua, a weeklong recreational camp for youth with cognitive or developmental disabilities.

While praising the work of Imua Family Services, some Wailuku residents at the meeting said they are worried the changes will impact their neighborhood with large events that would jam traffic and be better suited for venues like the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

About 20 people testified at the commission’s meeting, with opinions split between Imua staff and families who supported the project and Wailuku residents who said they didn’t know about Imua’s proposal and raised concerns over the notice of violation that the county issued to the nonprofit on July 11 for using the property as a preschool, art gallery, commercial office and event venue in a historic district.

Lianne Malapit grew up on Koeli Street and learned all the secret doors and closets in the plantation manager’s house as a kid. She said Imua’s changing plans and lack of communication have created distrust between the organization and residents. 

“Once you open the Pandora’s box and say ‘OK, you can have a special event,’ then there is no limit to what can evolve in 5, 10 years from now,” Malapit said. “And then we would have lost this opportunity to have kept Maui, Maui. So this is our only chance. You can’t turn back time. You can’t get it back once it’s gone.” 

But families whose students attend Imua’s preschool say their services are needed more than ever. Margaret Pulver’s son was diagnosed with autism just after he turned 3 years old. She said 10 child care programs denied them entry because they were full or didn’t have the resources to support her son. So she was relieved when Imua Family Services opened up more spaces for preschool students and her son jumped off the waitlist and into the program.

“Taking away one of the only inclusive preschool programs on this island not only hurts the students that are currently enrolled but also continues to support the systemic inequities and discrimination that exists on this island,” Pulver said. “And while these neighbors claim they support children, their actions do not support those words coming out of their mouths.”

Dean Wong, who’s been the executive director of Imua Family Services for 14 years, said it’s getting more difficult to find open spaces in early childhood education programs, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 wildfire that destroyed “a very vital district” for child care and preschools. 

“Children in the most critical development of their life, which is birth through age 5 … they need outdoor places where they can attach themselves to the ‘āina and be nurtured in natural spaces and outdoor places,” Wong told the commission on Thursday. “For so long in our island recently, we have disregarded the needs of our children.”

After O’ahu, Maui County has the second-highest median rates for infant and child care programs in Hawai’i, according to a 2023 study by the state Department of Human Services. A 2023 report by the Washington, D.C.-based First Five Years Fund found that 68% of Hawai’i residents live in a “child care desert,” with federal and state early learning opportunities serving close to 9,000 families, or 9% of children ages 0-5. The high cost and limited supply of quality early childhood education opportunities “have created serious challenges,” especially given that parents for 61% of children in this age group are in the workforce.

Wong said Imua Family Services has simplified its initial plans after hearing concerns, and that the proposal is not about large-scale events for the entire community, but about “having a place that children and families can access for their personal growth, their development, their ability to connect with each other as families and with each other as children.” The Imua Discovery Garden aims to offer hands-on activities and experiences that include an alpaca shelter built in 2023 and a butterfly enclosure added in 2024.

He pointed out that outdoor spaces were among the only places for families to connect during the pandemic. 

“I really do apologize if there are neighbors and community who feel like we haven’t been transparent in this,” Wong said. “I feel like this has been our message from the very beginning, and I feel like we’ve tried our best to reach out.”

Hōkūao Pellegrino, the longtime head of Hui o Nā Wai ‘Ehā, which has advocated for returning water to the streams in the central valley following decades of diversions by sugar companies, pointed out that the history that people are concerned about was tied to the plantations and never served the community in the way that Imua Family Services has. He said it was fitting for Imua Family Services to be located in the same community where a Hawaiian language immersion school, Pūnana Leo o Maui, also was born.

“I believe that this opportunity to have community, students, ‘ohana being in this space that has always been a private space is really an opportunity but a win-win not only for the Wailuku community but for the Maui community,” Pellegrino said. 

The commission deferred a decision on the plan to give Imua Family Services time to do more community outreach and to get comments from the State Historic Preservation Division.

The Seabury Hall boys basketball team has been extremely close to its first Heide & Cook/HHSAA Division II state title for each of the last two seasons.

In the last two games they have played, the Spartans have vanquished the two teams that have taken them out of the last three state tournaments, beating Kohala 71-40 on Friday at the Erdman Athletic Center and Hawaii Baptist Academy 63-37 on Saturday.

Seabury Hall lost a heartbreaking 49-45 overtime decision to Kohala in the state championship game earlier this year. They also lost to Hawaii Baptist Academy 63-62 in the 2023 state quarterfinals — Seabury Hall won its next two games to finish fifth in the state — and also fell to the Eagles by 15 points in the state quarterfinals in 2022.

One game into the Maui Interscholastic League season, the Spartans are 8-1 so far overall this year, 1-0 in MIL play — their only loss was by nine points to Corona Santiago High School, a school of more than 3,700 students in Corona, Calif., that is ranked 11th in their state by MaxPreps.com.

“I feel like we’re heading in the right direction,” Seabury Hall coach Scott Prather said after the win over HBA on Saturday. “I’m not really happy with the way we played today just because we have a high standard of what I expect out of them.”

The Spartans’ 8-1 mark includes two wins over King Kekaulike and one over Maui High, both MIL Division I programs.

Prather clearly has high expectations for this version of the Spartans — they have three players listed at 6-foot-5 in Bromo Dorn, Keahi Sjostrand and Soren Moog, all seniors. Junior point guard Sebastian Peterson matched Dorn for game-high scoring honors on Saturday with 25 points.

“We’ve got some really good leadership this year, again,” Prather said. “We have some really talented offensive players, we have some really dedicated defensive players, but we’re still learning how to play with each other to the best of our abilities and to maximize each other’s skill sets. Like I said to the boys: ‘This is just one step in the right direction, we still have to take many more steps to be where we want to be.’ ”

Dorn was a first team Division II all-state selection by scoringlive.com last season and was the MIL D-II Player of the Year in voting by the league’s coaches. He is focused on a state title as a senior.

“As good as any team, as good as any team I’ve ever played for, man, I love my teammates, love my coaches,” Dorn said. “I mean, this is the team for sure.”

Dorn enjoys being part of a team that has 11 of 16 players on the roster listed at 6 feet or taller.

“It definitely helps a lot being on a team this big,” Dorn said. “It just like frees me up to play outside, too, and I can play inside. Rebounding is a lot easier, just being big, it helps a lot.”

Dorn, who is averaging 29.4 points per game according to scoringlive.com, remembers the 2024 state championship game and said it is fueling the Spartans this season.

“It’s driving us a lot, of course, we will never forget that, but just use it as fuel to push this year,” Dorn said. “Hopefully we get to the same position, but different result this time.”

Peterson said the veteran Spartans — there are six seniors on the roster and four starters are seniors — can be special this season. Their size is simply something that Peterson has never played with because Sjostrand and Dorn have each added a few inches in height since last season.

“I love it, it’s really easy to find open people, like when I’m driving in the paint it’s easy because I have shooters outside like Bromo and Keahi and then finding Soren in the post down low, it’s really easy to get buckets down there,” Peterson said. “We’re having so much fun. Practices are intense, too. Practicing hard in practice makes games way easier and more fun for us.”

While Dorn and Peterson both appear bound for college basketball, Sjostrand said this season will be his last on the basketball court.

“Every game we focus on energy and defense,” Sjostrand said. “As long as we’re playing defense, we believe we can score with anybody. We can score as much points as we need to win, but we just need to play defense and stop the other team.”

The question of who is the best team on Maui was discussed a lot among those in the gym on Saturday. 

The answer to that question and perhaps who will win the D-II state title may be the same answer — Seabury Hall. It’s definitely early, but the Spartans beat two of their nemeses in their last two games and perhaps exorcised some small demons in the process.

“That’s what we’re trying to be, but we can’t say until the end of the season, probably,” Sjostrand said of who’s the best team on Maui. “We know how hard we have to work, we know it’s going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, but we’re willing to do it this year and we believe we have the team to do it.”

Seabury Hall certainly caught the eye of HBA coach Kellen Kaneshiro.

“They’re a very impressive team,” Kaneshiro said. “… Bromo is an unbelievable player and he was on our radar since he was a freshman. To see him grow and blossom into the player he is now is testament to how hard he has worked. I expect a lot of big things from not only him, but this team as well. Sebastian Peterson, great guard, great shooter, they have a lot of guys, not just those guys. … They’re going to do a lot.”

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VOLLEYBALL: Inoue’s remarkable career ends for Chaminade in NCAA second round

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King Kekaulike High School graduate Nanna Inoue’s stellar college volleyball career ended in Chaminade University’s four-set loss to San Francisco State in the second round of the NCAA Division II tournament on Friday in Pomona, Calif.

Inoue, the 2019 MIL Division I Player of the Year as a libero, started her career at Odessa Junior College in Texas during the pandemic and later played at Tyler Junior College in Texas. She did not intend to play college volleyball entering her senior season, but after graduating from King Kekaulike in three years, several college opportunities came her way. 

Inoue’s career ended for the 28-5 Silverswords on a night she had four assists and 19 digs. She was an Academic All-Pacific West Conference each of the last three years.

HJI’s “Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.

As Vili Toluta’u watched a group of Maui Rugby Union players practice for their upcoming trip to the Global Youth Sevens Tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, he thought back to his youth.

Toluta’u, a Baldwin High School graduate who works for T.J. Gomes Trucking, was a four-time rugby All-American at Central Washington University, a four-year Major League Rugby player who won the championship with the Seattle Seawolves in 2018 and was named most valuable player of the game, and was a member of the United States men’s national rugby union team team, the USA Eagles, in 2018.

“I wish I had this kind of opportunity when I was their age as well, but luckily it worked out for me,” the 30-year-old Toluta’u said Tuesday at Maui Lani Regional Park. “But for these guys, trying to open their eyes, what they’re working up to, they’ve got to realize that they’re going to a country that their first sport is rugby, so they better step up their game.”

The Maui Rugby Union is sending a team to one of the most prestigious U18 tournaments in the world — it is certainly the most important trip the club has ever sent a team to, according to club officials. The Global Youth Sevens Tournament will run from Dec. 13-15 and the Maui contingent is set to leave next week Tuesday.

The team consists of 13 boys from the Central Maui area. Another player, 16-year-old Maui High School junior Ulalei Pulu, will play for Belmont Shore, a girls team from Long Beach, Calif., that is going to the event. Pulu is making her second straight trip to the tournament with Belmont Shore. 

“It’s an incredible experience and I know it’s going to help them in the future to learn more about rugby, because we’ve always heard about New Zealand and the New Zealand All Blacks,” said Maui Rugby Union president and coach Siua Lolohea, who had an extensive rugby playing career. “And now you’re going there.”

Sio Filikitonga, a 16-year-old Maui High sophomore who has been playing rugby since he was 5, is excited to be going on the trip. He is also a football player for the Sabers.

“Very excited to go see the competition out there and learn different things and see new things,” Filikitonga said. “Rugby helps (football) a lot with form tackling, just knowing to run the ball and stay active.”

Filikitonga said the trip will be an opportunity to show what Maui rugby is all about. This team has made several trips to Mainland tournaments, but this is the first international event.

“Our islands are small, people like to doubt us, and we just want to go in and show people that we can compete with everybody else,” Filikitonga said. “We’re not just stuck over here.”

Team member Ma’ake Lolohea, a 15-year-old Maui High sophomore and Siua Lolohea’s son who has been playing the game since he was 3, has never been to New Zealand. The Maui team is made up of 15- and 16-year-olds, while most of the competition will be 17-18.

“I wouldn’t say they’re any different from Mainland teams, just the competitiveness is bigger,” Ma’ake Lolohea said of what he expects to see in the tournament. “We can learn a lot, more passing and tackling, just how much different it is playing U18 and how it is in New Zealand. It’s going to be pretty fun to see how much of a different level they are compared to us, just how much different it is.”

The Maui Rugby Union started in 2007 under the guidance of Jack Breen, who handed over the reigns of the organization to Siua Lolohea two years ago. One large part of Breen’s original mission was to help Maui players get to college on rugby scholarships — over the years, he lost count on how many Mauians have gone on to play the sport in college, but said it is more than 50.

“Heck, we’ve had dozens of kids reach All-American level in college,” Breen said. 

The club currently has about 80 active players, mostly from Central Maui and South Maui, as it recovers from being slowed down by the pandemic and the Lahaina wildfire. 

It has had as many as three club teams in Maui Interscholastic League schools, including boys and girls clubs at Lahainaluna and a girls club at Maui High, in a program that started three years ago. Since the Lahaina wildfire, the Lahainaluna clubs have gone dormant, but there is still a girls club team at Maui High.

Adrienne Pulu, the Maui Rugby Union treasurer, a girls coach and Ulalei’s mother, is hopeful that the club team route can lead to rugby becoming an MIL sport. MIL surfing also was born through the club route.

“That’s my hope is to become an MIL sport, but baby steps, we’re hoping to get more traction with the club route,” Pulu said. “We hope to revive the Lahainaluna club … they had good numbers, we had a couple scrimmages here, but then after the fire there was some interest, but we just couldn’t pick it back up yet.”

The Pulus went to the same event last year when Ulalei played for Belmont Shore. Ulalei Pulu is one of 10 members of the Maui High club team and she will have that team in mind as she travels to New Zealand.

“I think it’s cool to represent my school because rugby is not big out here and to show them that I have competition, that I can compete with them is very cool, and a great way to represent Hawai’i,” the 5-foot-3 Ulalei Pulu said.

Ulalei Pulu said the sport has strengthened her relationship with her mom and she appreciates what the adults are doing to make this trip possible. Lolohea said most of the funding for the trip is being provided by Ulupalakua Ranch owners Pardee and Sumner Erdman, both of whom are large rugby boosters who sponsor an annual tournament on Maui. To keep expenses down, the Maui contingent will stay in a church.

Ulalei Pulu is grateful for the people making it happen, including her own mother.

“It strengthens our relationship as a mother and daughter,” Ulalei Pulu said. “There’s some times she just understands what I’m going through more than I do.”

Toluta’u, the greatest Maui rugby player ever, is happy to see the opportunity arrive for this group. Toluta’u routinely shows up at Maui Rugby Union practice to work out, coach and mentor the youngsters in the same shoes he used to be in. The 69-year-old Breen also shows up to practice often as well and he was running the Maui boys going on the trip through their paces on Monday. Neither will make this trip, however.

“There’s a lot of opportunities and blessings might come their way.” Toluta’u said. “So, they’ll see what they have to get up to, to get there.”

Sekonaia “Kona” Takafua, who lost his 39-year-old wife and 7-year-old son in the 2023 Lahaina fire, now is under investigation for the shooting murder of a competitive surfer, according to court documents and Maui Police Commission reports.

Shawn Lewis was found with a gunshot wound on Sept. 15 near the intersection of Honoapiʻilani Highway and Waiolu Place in Waikapū, and later was pronounced dead at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Four days after the shooting, Maui police arrested Takafua for an unrelated firearms offense. But in Second Circuit Court documents, Takafua was named as being under investigation for Lewis’ death.

Maui police investigators have not released any information about a possible motive for the shooting or if the two men knew each other. Takafua was a Lahaina resident when he lost multiple family members in the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire.

Takafua’s family members said he was at work when the fire took place and could not reach his family due to a gas station explosion near the family home, according to Alaska news station KTUU. His wife’s parents, Faʻaso Tone and Maluifonua Tone, were also killed in the fire. All four were reportedly found in a burned-out car near their home.

Lewis, who was known as “Bigfoot” by the local surfing community because of his partially amputated left leg, lived in Honokōwai at the time of the fire, according to the property manager, but had moved to Wailuku a few months ago.

In 2021, Lewis represented Hawaiʻi in the International Surfing Association’s World Para Surfing Championships.

A report given to Maui Police Commission members on Oct. 23 said police dispatch was notified at 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 15 about a vehicle accident by an automated iPhone crash detection alert from the area. Dispatch also received information the male driver of the vehicle was having convulsions.

“Initially, it was called in as a single motor vehicle accident,” Maui Police Department Assistant Chief Reid Pursley told the police commissioners. “Upon arrival, officers found that the driver was a 42-year-old male who had sustained a gunshot wound. Apparently, it caused him to lose control of the vehicle and crash.”

Responding police found a red minivan on the shoulder of Honoapiʻilani Highway where a bystander was pressing a shirt on the neck of the male driver to control bleeding. The victim was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead about an hour and a half later on Sept. 16.

Police recovered two shell casings at the crash site. Investigators also obtained surveillance footage of the incident from the guard shack of Maui Tropical Plantation which showed a blue 2019 Hyundai Sonata that was identified as the vehicle driven by the suspected shooter.

According to police commission reports, the suspect vehicle was recovered and impounded on Sept. 19 and “further investigation identified a suspect.” 

A court document stated Takafua was arrested four days after the shooting for unrelated firearms offenses, which stemmed from an April 4 incident during which Maui police were called to check on a grey BMW sedan blocking an area along Kaae Road in Wailuku. When police arrived, officers found Takafua and another man asleep in the vehicle.

Because officers observed marijuana and other drug paraphernalia in plain view in the sedan, the vehicle was seized and towed to the Kīhei police station. Takafua, who had initially been arrested for auto theft, was released after police confirmed the vehicle was not stolen.

Upon searching the vehicle, police found a loaded .45 caliber handgun with no serial number, described as a “ghost gun,” along with more .45 caliber ammunition found in a black backpack, and two 9mm bullets in the front seat, according to court documents.

When the guns and ammunition were found, Maui police attempted to recontact Takafua and his passenger, Deeshann Tabion McCormack, but court documents stated their whereabouts were “currently unknown.”

On Sept. 20, police rearrested Takafua and prosecutors later charged him with five firearms offenses, including carrying a loaded firearm on a public highway, a place to keep ammunition, a place to keep a firearm, receivership of a firearm with no serial number, and ownership of an automatic firearm with prohibited detachable ammunition magazines.

Circuit Court documents filed by Maui County prosecutors and Takafua’s defense attorney indicate that while he had been charged with the April firearms offenses, he also was being formally investigated for homicide charges involving the shooting death of Lewis.

Prosecutors said Takafua was “unaware that police were able to determine that he was the murderer 4 days after the drive-by shooting.”

While arguing for the court to continue to hold Takafua on high bail in the firearms case, Deputy Prosecutor Ronson Ibarra stated that Takafua “is now fully aware that he will likely be facing a murder charge in the near future which shows that there is a serious risk he will flee to avoid justice.”

Takafua’s defense attorney, Michael Sweetwater, also confirmed the murder charge in court documents filed Nov. 4 that stated that when his client went to court in the firearms case, it was “unbeknownst” to him he was the “suspect in a murder investigation.”

Sweetwater said in court documents that “. . . absent the state’s bald assertion of a murder investigation, Defendant has no knowledge of any murder.”

Sweetwater also said Takafua was currently unemployed after having worked “two full-time jobs in security.”

Police set bail in the firearms case at $1 million but a judge reduced that to $100,000 on Nov. 21. Takafua remains in custody. A jury trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 25.

CORRECTION: Shooting victim Shawn Lewis was living in Honokōwai at the time of the fire and in Wailuku at the time of the shooting. A previous version of the story incorrectly stated that he was living on Front Street at the time of the fire based on information provided to the writer. Rod Antone apologizes for the error.

*Rod Antone is a contributing freelance writer for the Hawai’i Journalism Initiative.