Council member, residents protest new Kalaupapa hiking tours

MOLOKAʻI (HawaiiNewsNow) – More than 20 Molokaʻi residents protested the restart of tours to Kalaupapa on Thursday morning, as the National Park Service launched a new hiking tour to the site where people with Hansen’s disease were once banished from society.

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Maui County police were dispatched and said there were no arrests.

The group included longtime activist Walter Ritte and Maui County Council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who said she shut a gate to the trail.

“Everyone was behind me. I stood in front and then I just, I grabbed the gate and I just shut it. I said no,” Rawlins-Fernandez said.

“I can’t stand aside and watch as federal agencies just walk all over my community,” she added.

After some discussion, the tour continued. The group said there were 12 people on the tour, including a National Park Service ranger and Kalaupapa National Historical Park Superintendent Nancy Holman.

Holman has previously said the new hiking tours have been in the works for years.

“We are excited to offer visitors an opportunity to learn about and be inspired by Kalaupapa,” she had said in a statement.

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The park superintendent had also previously said the hiking tour is geared toward Molokaʻi residents. A request for comment sent Thursday had not been returned as of publication.

The Kalaupapa tours were briefly suspended following the death of patient Meli Watanuki, whose company was the only permitted commercial tour operator.

The twice-weekly, $20 hiking hiking tours take visitors along a steep trail down to Kalaupapa and are held on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Ritte vowed to return to the start of Saturday’s tour.

“I don’t know exactly what we’re going to do, but we’re not going to allow them to rough shod their projects over the island of Molokaʻi,” Ritte said.

“We were worried about the negative impacts, not only on Kalaupapa, but on Molokaʻi in general,” he added.

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