LIHU‘E — Moloa‘a resident Mike Kruska stood on the lawn in front of the Historic County Building on Friday, holding a sign that read “BANKRUPT. NO PENSION 4 YOU.”
He cheered back at the long line of cars streaming up and down Rice Street, his voice almost getting lost in the constant honking of supporters in their vehicles. He explained it was anticipated consequences from the stimulus checks that brought him to the second “Walk For Our Rights Kaua‘i” event.
“There are a lot of negative consequences because of the lockdown,” Kruska said in between the noises from the street. “But I’ve been protesting the government bailouts since ’08. COVID is just the pin that popped the bubble.”
Kruska was one of about 150 people who were waving signs and milling around Rice Street near the county building on Friday, joining the “Walk for Our Rights Kaua‘i” event.
Some were there in protest of vaccines, others in protest of government mandates. Some residents spread the message of Native Hawaiian sovereignty and others were focused on finances. But everyone was walking together.
Four Kaua‘i resident organizers started the movement — Levana Lomma, Misty Cluett, Sarah Schroeder and Daniel Hashimoto — and had about 35 people show up on their first event. Three weeks later, that number has swelled.
Organizers say current state and county emergency orders, including the stay-at-home order and mandated masks, are oppressive, and are asking the lockdown be lifted and citizens be allowed to move freely and go back to work.
“There is no conclusive evidence that the stay-at-home order has had any impact on the number of cases on the island,” organizers said in a press release about the event. “It is the 230-year-old bedrock of this nation and the birthright of every human on Kaua‘i to be free to pursue a life of liberty guaranteed to them through unalienable, God-given rights.”
Kaua‘i resident Steve Yoder was wandering through the rally on Friday as well, but as a private citizen and not in his official capacity as a representative of the Kaua‘i Republican Party.
“This is the first time that I know of in history where we are quarantining the healthy along with the sick,” Yoder said, explaining his visitor-based, tour-guide business has been so impacted he doesn’t expect to be starting it back up again. He said: “I don’t know what I’ll do next.”
The number of active cases of COVID-19 remains at zero on Kaua‘i, and statewide the Department of Health reported Friday there have been 619 cases since Feb. 28, with 16 virus-related deaths in Hawai‘i.
Organizers of “Walk For Our Rights Kaua‘i” said they’ll be holding regular demonstrations, every Friday at 11 a.m. at the Historic County Building in Lihu‘e, until the Kauai stay-at-home order is lifted.
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Jessica Else, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.
