The Kaua`i County Council is accustomed to some unhappy feedback, but one member of the public gave more than the usual Thursday night. Donald Kagawa, 57, a homeless Vietnam-era veteran and former attorney, currently camped out in front of the
The Kaua`i County Council is accustomed to some unhappy feedback, but one
member of the public gave more than the usual Thursday night.
Donald
Kagawa, 57, a homeless Vietnam-era veteran and former attorney, currently
camped out in front of the Historic County Building in Lihu’e where the council
conducts its weekly meetings, was ejected from the council meeting chambers
after cursing county clerk Peter Nakamura.
Kagawa was commenting out loud
on the action in front of him as the meeting progressed when Nakamura asked him
to leave.
Kagawa physically resisted initial attempts to remove him but was
finally persuaded to leave by Councilman Kaipo Asing.
Despite the uproar
and the interruption to the proceedings, county officials decided not to call
police. The meeting resumed without further interruption.
Kagawa was out
front on the county building steps, expressing his opinions about county
officials, when the meeting ended more than two hours later.
A county
official, who requested anonymity, said that although Kagawa had testified
before the council in the past, Thursday’s unsolicited, obscenity-laced
outburst was a first.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at
245-3681 (ext. 252) and dwilken@pulitzer.net
