Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
A fisherman has asked the City Council to look into "a deplorable situation" at Black Point Road where, he says, residents are taking away "the heritage of the people of Hawaii to use all beaches and seashores without undue interference."
The fisherman, Jack Matsuo, … also has asked the Bishop Estate to clarify legal points and explain its policies concern- ing parking of cars and access to the shore areas near Black Point Road.
Black Point separates Kahala Beach from Diamond Head beach and is a … fishing ground favored by night fishermen casting for ulua.
A portion of Black Point Road is public and another portion is owned by the Bishop Estate, or at least claimed by the Estate, which has posted "Private Road" signs.
Residents of the area say they don’t object to fishermen but they do object to cars blocking driveways; to unknown persons slamming car doors at 2 a.m.; to use of privately owned areas as lavatories; to cartons of empty beer bottles and cans along the roadway; and — in one instance — to the shooting off of a shotgun.
Matsuo says many of the objectional actions are not by fishermen, but by "some tenants, (and) friends of residents."
He also questions whether the City should maintain street lights in an area which now has "Private Road" signs put up by the Bishop Estate and Black Point Association. And, he says, many of the renting situations "are illegal, and constitute a major factor in aggravating the parking problems on the private portion of Black Point Road."
Matsuo wrote a … letter to the Bishop Estate. His letter said in part:
… "We are of the opinion that the right to fish at Black Point is a hereditary right, and not a privilege that can be extended or revoked by … a group of individuals.
"This will become, if it is not now, an Islandwide problem and I respectfully submit that you gentlemen will have the endless gratitude of the people of Hawaii, and more important, our posterity, if you will make certain that King Kamehameha’s edict that the beaches should be available to all the people of Hawaii is never violated where Bishop Estate land is concerned."
