It is not at all clear why
IRONMAN got a rent reduc-
tion it says it never asked for.
In response to recent news
articles, race director Diana
Bertsch on Tuesday told West
Hawaii Today the corporation
she represents did not ask to
have the rent for Kailua Pier
dropped from $60,000 to
$30,000. It was the first time
Bertsch spoke on the subject to
the newspaper after repeated
attempts to reach her for com-
ment failed last week.
“IRONMAN never request-
ed (the reduction),” Bertsch
said. “IRONMAN asked for
clarity on what it was being
charged, and that it be consis-
tent and fair.”
Nevertheless, the state
Board of Land and Natural
Resources on Sept. 25 — with
Bertsch present at the meeting
— signed off on a request draft-
ed by staff of the Division of
Boating and Ocean Recreation
and signed by DOBOR admin-
istrator Ed Underwood, low-
ering the right-of-entry permit
fee from 25 cents per square
foot per day to 12.5 cents.
The request stated that full
rent could put undue hardship
on the race. Bertsch said those
words were Underwood’s —
not IRONMAN’s.
But Underwood’s percep-
tion of the request differs from
Bertsch’s.
“I was not comfortable giv-
ing such a large commercial
company such a reduction in
rent, so I asked staff to inform
IRONMAN that they could go
before the Land Board and jus-
tify their request,” Underwood
wrote to West Hawaii Today
in a text message from Italy,
where he was on vacation.
With Underwood claim-
ing skepticism of any reduc-
tions and IRONMAN saying
it never sought a price break,
it’s not yet clear how or why
the reduction was crafted and
passed in its current form. Or
why the Land Board passed
a similar reduction from the
standard rate structure last
year, also apparently unsolic-
ited by IRONMAN.
The newspaper has initi-
ated a comprehensive public
records request to delve into
the question of how Kailua-
Kona’s signature endurance
event received those reductions
over two years for the four days
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INDEX
VOL. 47, NO. 276
16 PAGES
HAWAII TAKES
ON BOISE STATE
SPORTS, 1B
Professional men begin their swim during the 2014
IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona. It is
not at all clear why IRONMAN got a rent reduction
from $60,000 to $30,000 it says it never asked for.
FILE PHOTO/
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Obama: No more temporary spending bills,
budget deal needed
IN IRONMAN RENT REDUCTION
WASHINGTON
—
President Barack Obama said
Friday he won’t sign another
temporary government fund-
ing bill after the current one
expires Dec. 11, insisting that
congressional Republicans
and Democrats work out a
long-term budget deal with
the White House.
Obama said such a deal
should lift a freeze on the bud-
gets of both the Pentagon and
domestic agencies. Speaking
at a White House news con-
ference, he said he “won’t sign
another shortsighted spending
bill” and asserted that the U.S.
can’t cut its way to prosperity.
On the so-called debt limit,
which needs to be raised above
the current $18.1 trillion cap by
early November, Obama said
he won’t repeat a 2011 negotia-
tion over companion spending
cuts that brought the nation to
the brink of a first-ever default
on its obligations.
“We’re not going back there,”
he said.
Neither position was new or
surprising, but the president’s
statements came after Capitol
Hill was roiled by the resig-
nation of House Speaker John
Boehner, R-Ohio. He decid-
ed to leave Congress after a
revolt among tea party forces
who wanted him to use a tem-
porary spending bill to force
Obama to take away Planned
Parenthood’s federal funding.
The same conservatives gener-
ally opposed lifting tight caps
on spending set by the 2011
BYANDREWTAYLOR
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY BRET YAGER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Two Kona men charged with
robbery after one was arrested
in a stolen truck earlier this
week moved closer to trial
Friday.
Alihilani Joshua Stringert,
28, of Kailua-Kona, waived his
right to a preliminary hearing
before Kona District Court
Judge Margaret
Masunaga
because of a
“potential plea
offer” between
the defense and
prosecution,
said
defense
attorney Dean
Kauka. During
the preliminary
hearing,
the
state would have
had to show it
had
probable
cause to sup-
port charges of
Trial has been set in the case
of a man shot by police officers
earlier this year in downtown
Hilo, but it appears court pro-
ceedings are going anything
but smoothly.
The snag is
a lack of court-
room
inter-
preters in Hilo
who speak the
man’s language,
Bislama.
Hilo Circuit
Judge
Greg
Nakamura on Friday ordered
James Salai to appear for trial
at 9 a.m. Feb. 16, 2016. Salai,
a Vanuatu native, is charged
with two counts each of
first-degree terroristic threat-
ening, first-degree criminal
property damage and sec-
ond-degree criminal property
damage.
The 31-year-old Salai was
shot and critically wounded
just before midnight Feb. 28
Kona robbery
suspects
make court
appearances
Language
barrier
complicating
police-
shooting case
BY GRAHAM MILLDRUM
WEST HAWAII TODAY
BY JOHN BURNETT
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
SEE
IRONMAN
PAGE 7A
SEE
ROBBERY
PAGE 7A
SEE
LANGUAGE
PAGE 7A
SEE
BUDGET
PAGE 7A
QUESTIONS
SURFACE
Stringert
Kaawa
President Barack Obama gestures as he answers question
during a news conference in the State Dining Room of the
White House in Washington, Friday.
PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Salai
