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INDEX
VOL. 47, NO. 181
20 PAGES
NO UPSETS
AFTER DAY ONE
AT WIMBLEDON
SPORTS, 1B
Ige’s potential veto list spares GET
surcharge, medical marijuana dispensaries
BY NANCY COOK LAUER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
SEE
VETOES
PAGE 6A
Citing safety concerns,
University of Hawaii kept
the road to Mauna Kea’s
summit closed above
the 9,200-foot eleva-
tion Monday as workers
searched for signs of dam-
age following last week’s
Thirty Meter Telescope
protest.
UH officially closed the
8.5 miles of road it man-
ages above Hale Pohaku
to non-essential vehicles
Wednesday evening after
TMT opponents used
large rocks taken from the
mountainside and stone
altars to block workers
who were trying to reach
the construction site near
the mountain’s summit.
Dan Meisenzahl, a UH
spokesman, said crews
were conducting an assess-
ment of the roadway for
damage and nearby slopes
for potential rock falls.
Protesters
helped
remove the obstacles,
which included four rock
walls and two ahu, late
last week following the
non-violent demonstra-
tion that led to 12 arrests.
Meisenzahl estimated they
covered 2 to 3 miles; a few
rocks might still be in the
path.
It remained unclear
when the road or the
Mauna
Kea
Visitor
Information Station, locat-
ed just below the closed
section, will be reopened.
UH closed the small visitor
center Thursday morning.
“Obviously, our goal is
to get it open as soon as
possible,” Meisenzahl said,
referring to the road.
The
road’s
4-mile
unpaved section needs to
be graded first. That takes
about eight hours to com-
plete but could happen
today, he said.
Trucks carrying water
also need to get up the
road as soon as possible
to support the observato-
ries atop the mountain, he
said.
With the visitor center
closed, UH also planned
Monday to lock and later
remove portable toilets
on the back side of the
building.
TMT protesters, who
have been camped on state
land across the road from
the visitor center since late
March, have used those
facilities in addition to the
main restrooms, which are
also closed.
The nearest restrooms
are located at Mauna Kea
Recreation Area about 13
miles away.
Meisenzahl attributed
the visitor center closure
to the facility not having
enough resources to “han-
dle the capacity it’s been
handling for the past cou-
ple months.”
“We just don’t have
enough staff and resourc-
es to handle the current
demand on the facility,” he
said. “That includes water
use and porta-potties.”
Mountain trails remain
open.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@
hawaiitribune-herald.com.
BY TOM CALLIS
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
Mauna Kea summit road remains closed
A ranger puts out a road closed sign last
Thursday afternoon near the visitors center on
Mauna Kea.
HOLLYN JOHNSON/
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD FILE
PHOTO
WORKERS CONTINUE TO SEARCH FOR DAMAGE TO ROADWAY
LEFT: Josiah the Extrordinaire, aka Josiah Bunde, 12, performs a magic show at Kealakekua Public Library on Saturday, part of the Summer Reading
Program; RIGHT: Young audience members are mesmerized by the magic.
LAURA SHIMABUKU/
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Hawaii County now has
an opportunity to add a
half-cent local surcharge
to the 4 percent state gen-
eral excise tax, thanks to
Gov. David Ige’s notice
Monday that he will not
veto a bill that includes
the other counties along
with Honolulu’s GET
extension for its contro-
versial rail project.
Other bills that survived
Ige’s veto pen include the
establishment of medi-
cal marijuana dispensa-
ries, education, parental
visitation and housing
protections for medical
marijuana users, increas-
ing the low-income tax
credit, providing insur-
ance protection for autism
patients and requiring
performance evaluations
and making it easier to
fire the chief elections
officer.
Ige listed eight bills he is
considering vetoing. They
include changing the defi-
nition of promoting pros-
titution to sex trafficking,
allowing University of
Hawaii graduate assis-
tants to unionize, repeal-
ing the ethanol tax credit
and clarifying the order
of succession to the lieu-
tenant governor’s office.
His possible veto of the
sex trafficking bill would
leave Hawaii as the only
state in the nation that
doesn’t have a law against
sex trafficking. Ige said
he’s concerned about
unintended consequences
and he hopes a better bill
will pass next year.
Ige had until Monday to
put out his list of poten-
tial vetoes. The inclusion
on the potential veto list
doesn’t necessarily mean
they’ll be vetoed, but it
puts proponents and
opponents on notice
about his concerns. He
has until July 14 to sign,
