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Workers have removed an altar built two years ago where a shoreline path is being constructed in Wailua, Kauai.
Workers removed the ahu (altar) Wednesday because it was in the middle of where 10-foot-long concrete, removable sections will be used to build the path along Wailua Beach.
The $1.9 million project started in January and is expected to be completed in June. Workers are still conducting excavation work at the site.
James Alalem said he watched workers Wednesday morning as they removed the stone ahu that was built two years ago. "It’s not supposed to be touched," Alalem said.
Police officers were at the site as workers moved the ahu several feet from its original spot on Wailua Beach.
Last month, police arrested Alalem and Ray Catania for obstructing the project after they stood in front of the ahu and allegedly refused to move from the site. Alalem had said they were defending their religious practices and preventing desecration of the beach.
Alalem and Catania are scheduled to appear in Kauai Circuit Court on Wednesday to be arraigned on the misdemeanor offense.
Kauai County spokeswoman Beth Tokioka said the county recently contacted an associate of Alalem’s and requested that he remove the ahu. Tokioka said an archaeological study conducted in 2011 by Cultural Surveys Hawaii did not find any historic artifacts of cultural significance at the site.
