As of Monday, close to 100 cars were still waiting to be towed away from the site of the old Kekaha Sugar Company mill. That the cars are still there is not due to a lack of effort, said Lihu‘e-based
As of Monday, close to 100 cars were still waiting to be towed away from the site of the old Kekaha Sugar Company mill.
That the cars are still there is not due to a lack of effort, said Lihu‘e-based attorney Jonathan Chun, a representative of the new owners of both the Kekaha Sugar and Lihue Plantation mill sites.
Chun said the cars, trucks and vans had been dumped there after having been stripped of any valuable parts.
The abandoned vehicles have been steadily accumulating for a year, according to area residents.
After the center area became filled with cars, dumping began on the periphery of the mill site as well.
“We’ve contracted the job out, but the (representative) of the company (Kauai Road-side Service & Towing) has not signed the contract yet,” Chun said.
“We’ve been waiting since Wednesday,” he said.
Cresento Tangonan, owner of Kauai Roadside Service & Towing, said he would sign the contract Monday.
Chun confirmed Tangonan signed his contract Monday afternoon.
Tangonan said he was under the impression other paper work still needed to be completed.
Tangonan said the removal of the cars plus whatever spare parts, would take at least two days once the job started.
He said the amount of time he’ll have to spend removing the cars depends on how many vehicles Abe’s Auto Recyclers Inc. can handle at one time at the Puhi Metals Recycling Center in Puhi.
Kekaha resident Romang Tumbaga Peake, who has documented the local scene with a series of photographs, has called the site an “eye sore,” and “hazardous,” and said residents are waiting anxiously for the removal of the cars.
“OK, the cannibalized cars have been numbered. Does it mean they will be hauled away by number? Kekaha residents hope so,” she told The Garden Island.
Chun represents owners of the Seattle-based company who recently purchased the former Kekaha Sugar mill and Lihue Plantation mill sites from leaders of what’s left of Amfac.
He said if community members are concerned about the dumping of cars there, they could help prevent future dumping incidents through vigilance. Chun said earlier that owners of Pacific Funds had no definitive plans for the site.
Once the cars are removed from the Kekaha site, they will be crushed and sent off-island for recycling.
- Andy Gross, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or agross@pulitzer.net.
