After months of accusations, competing temporary restraining orders, court dates, and criminal charges, residents at Pila’a Bay have hammered out an agreement Wednesday that they say will keep a volatile situation from exploding.
Pila’a resident, Joe O’Hagan, still faces criminal charges of third-degree assault and second-degree terroristic threatening, charges filed by his neighbor, Rick Marvin.
Marvin, and O’Hagan, however, have come to an agreement in the civil matter of Marvin’s temporary restraining order against O’Hagan.
A third neighbor, Gordon Wilson, had his temporary restraining order against Marvin dismissed by Judge Trudy Senda in Hanalei District Court on November 26.
All three live within a quarter mile of each other in the Makai section of Pila’a, a somewhat isolated valley south of Kilauea.
“I want my name cleared,” said Rick Marvin emphatically outside the Hanalei Courthouse Wednesday after the settlement was read in court. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep over this.”
“My girls are still afraid of him,” said Marvin’s wife, Amy, of O’Hagan, after court. “It’s a relief. It was a nightmare, and we didn’t know where it was coming from.”
Both Wilson and O’Hagan said they were relieved as well.
“I feel good that I can go anywhere on the beach,” said O’Hagan. “To me, it was all a waste of time.”
“I wanted to be able to walk on the beach, and other people to enjoy the beach as well without being provoked,” said Wilson, whose application for a TRO was dismissed for lack of evidence. “Hopefully they won’t feel threatened by me anymore.”
The problems started after November 26, 2001, when heavy rains caused mud from Pila’a landholder James Pflueger’s property to run into the ocean. State Department of Land and Natural Resources officials found that un-permitted grading and grubbing on Pflueger’s land caused damage to the reef. Pflueger pleaded no contest to three criminal counts of violating the county’s zoning ordinance for un-permitted work on his properties in Kilauea in 2001 and 2002.
The Marvins have a pending lawsuit against Pflueger to recoup expenses to pay for damages to their home and property from the mudslide, said Marvin.
That lawsuit is still pending.
Pflueger faces 14 new felony counts of criminal water pollution for incidents between October 1, 2001, to April 21, 2002. He was arraigned on Thursday, November 28, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Marvins charge that Wilson and O’Hagan are harassing them at the behest of Pflueger, to get them to drop the suit.
Wilson and O’Hagan contend that Marvin is trying to use them to strengthen his case against Pflueger.
While the two groups still accuse each other of lying and using deceit to get money, they will not see each other any more in civil court.
“No more Wednesdays in [Hanalei] court,” said Amy Marvin. “No more lost work.”
The stipulations of the settlement were that O’Hagan would not contact the Marvins for three years, stay out of an area of property whose ownership is disputed by the Marvins and Pflueger, and use a specific entrance gate to the property other than the one used by the Marvins. O’Hagan can use the beach fronting the Marvin property, but he can only walk through the area, not linger there.
The wording still has to be worked out and signed, but both sides agreed to the settlement.
As for the separate use of the gate, Amy Marvin was pleased.
“That’s a huge relief to me. My kids play right there,” she said. “My kids had to hear all this, too.”
But O’Hagan says that the Marvins have no need to worry. He won’t be talking to them again.
“I will never, in my life, talk to Rick Marvin again,” said O’Hagan. “I’m not out to hurt anybody. I never have been.”
O’Hagan also stated outside court that he will not be working near the Marvin property anymore. He used to work on the Huddy Estate, where Wilson currently lives, and will give over his caretaking duties to Wilson.
O’Hagan’s presence on the Huddy Estate caused problems when an unattended fire burned of out control there in August. O’Hagan claimed it was an accident, while the Marvins contended it was intentional.
“I’m not working on the Huddy Estate anymore,” said O’Hagan.
Staff Writer Tom Finnegan may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
