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LC%20Watch
The LC Five

March 16, 2006

It’s that time again! Time to fill vacancies on the Maui County Liquor Commission and Board of Adjudication!



We’ve got a great crop of applicants this year, including both old faces and some new ones as well. There are five this year because Edwin Vila never showed up to the Liquor Commission seat he got appointed to last year (there’s also going to have to be a sixth applicant to take Lance Collins’ now-vacated seat on the Adjudication Board, but no word on who he or she might be). All the following are still subject to County Council approval, but let’s get to it:







Liquor Commission



RON MCOMBER: My job’s going to be a lot easier now that this guy’s back in the LC. He spent five extremely colorful years on the LC’s Adjudication Board (2000-2005) shaking his head dismissively at licensees hauled up on charges of serving minors or drunks, so it’ll be fun to watch him in the mellower Liquor Commission setting.







EDWIN “KEN” YOKOUCHI: Another Adjudication Board vet, Ken’s spent the last two years as vice chairman of that panel. Part of the famous Yokouchi clan on Maui, Ken kills bugs for a living as a Terminix branch manager.







ARSENE “BLACKIE” GADARIAN: Yes, this is Blackie from Blackie’s Machine Shop in Lahaina. Fresh off five years on the Maui County Board of Ethics, Blackie is just a straight shooter. “I have no friends in the County government,” he wrote on his application. “I have no vested interests. I do not belong to civic or professional groups. I will be unbiased.”







Adjudication Board



DONALD FUJII: Another LC vet, this time from the Liquor Commission, where he spent the last year as chairman. “Having retired as a government employee with over twenty-five years of service, I am familiar with most of the county’s operations and the need for volunteers who provide the public’s perspectives,” he offered on his official application.







GLENN KUNITAKE: A veteran of two county boards—Kula Agricultural Park and the Board of Variance and Appeals—Kunitake wants a third. A banker by trade, he’s also a member of the Wailuku Main Street Association and Mental Health Kokua.



-Anthony Pignataro