Resort owner sues to block dairy farm
LIHUE » The owner of a Kauai resort has filed a lawsuit to stop the development of a proposed dairy farm on a nearby property.
Progress on Hawaii Dairy Farms should cease until developers prove it won’t negatively affect the surrounding environment, said the lawsuit filed Thursday by Kawailoa Development in Circuit Court in Lihue.
Kawailoa owns the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa and the Poipu Bay Golf Course. It’s the closest landowner to parcels where Hawaii Dairy Farms wants to place 1,800 milking cows on 582 acres, the Garden Island newspaper reported Tuesday.
Kawailoa says its business, recreational, environmental and aesthetic interests would be adversely affected by the farm, its wastewater treatment unit and its effluent ponds.
Hawaii Dairy Farms spokeswoman Amy Hennessey called the lawsuit "deeply disappointing" and a "malicious attack on local food by commercial resort interests."
Female visitor from Texas drowns off Maui
A visitor drowned off Maui’s Kaanapali shoreline Monday, according to police.
Patrice Smith, 67, of Denton, Texas, was found unconscious floating face down in the ocean about 25 feet from shore.
Police said officers received the emergency call at 9:22 a.m., asking for help at the Mahina Resort.
Smith was pulled out of the water, and CPR was applied until emergency medical personnel arrived, police said. She was transported in critical condition to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
