CHILD ENDANGERMENT THREAT ENRAGES SUPERFERRY PROTESTORS
Honolulu Advertiser - September 30, 2007
Children with boogie boards and surfboards who jumped into Nawiliwili Harbor on Kaua`i to confront the Hawai`i Superferry last month prompted warnings by the Lingle administration that parents could be subject to child welfare investigations if it happens again.
The administration said the warnings, along with a list of more than a dozen possible criminal charges for illegal protests, are to inform parents of the consequences of violating federal security zones when the Superferry returns....
But rather than diffuse tensions on Kaua`i, the warnings of potential child welfare investigations in particular have led to an emotional backlash....
"It's unprecedented that they've used child protective services as a political weapon, especially one to censor people, to censor their right to speak, to censor their right to protest," said Andrea Brower, an activist in Anahola who was among the protesters who went into the harbor to block the ferry.
"It's pretty telling how far the Lingle administration is willing to go to ensure that these private business owners get their way."
Keone Kealoha, director of Malama Kaua`i, said that warnings seem to be at the root of the administration's response to the protests.
"It just seems, again, that they are escalating the consequences instead of listening to the concerns," he said....
State Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua`i, Ni`ihau), called the prospect of child welfare investigations "unnecessarily heavy-handed."
"To use the threat of such action to enforce a political decision is just wrong," Hooser said....
