Source: Maui Time, Maui News, Best of Maui, Maui Activities

Maui%20County
SPECIAL BONUS LC WATCH: ‘Find Another Island’
The LC smashes an attempt to liberalize the county’s dancing rules

by By Anthony Pignataro

April 12, 2007

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” These are the words Dante

inscribed over the gates of Hell in his Divine Comedy, but they might

as well appear at the door into the Maui County Liquor Commission’s

hearing room. In my decade covering local government in Hawai`i and

California, I have never seen an appointed body act so arrogantly and

show such utter contempt towards citizens who dared take time off from

work to speak at a public hearing as the Liquor Commission did during

its Apr. 11 meeting.


At issue was a petition containing 84 signatures submitted by a group

calling itself Maui Dance Advocates. The petition asked the commission

to change its rules governing dancing, which currently prohibit all

dancing in an establishment except on specially designated dance

floors. Specifically, the group wanted an actual definition of dancing

placed in the rules—there is not one there now, despite the rules which

govern where “dancing” can take place—and an allowance for “moderate”

upper-body movement anywhere in an establishment.


Ten members of the public showed up at the hearing, which is about 10

more than usually appear. Of them, four signed up to speak during the

public testimony portion of the hearing.


Steve La Fleur, who identified himself as a professional dancer and

wore a black t-shirt saying “Back the Booty”—the meaning of which was

undoubtedly lost on the commissioners, whose average age has got to be

55—said he found it “offensive” that numerous establishments had told

him to stop dancing when he was just moving his upper body to the

music.


When La Fleur’s three minutes were up, Commissioner Blackie Gadarian

told him he didn’t believe him, questioned his motives and ultimately

said, “If you feel you’re being persecuted, find another island.”


Commissioner Ron McOmber also jumped into the act, badgering La Fleur

in an attempt to get him to name the establishments that had allegedly

told him to stop dancing. “We’d like to talk to them,” McOmber told La

Fleur, who ultimately said he couldn’t remember their names.


Jonathan Starr—himself a member of the Maui Planning Commission—later

stood and gave his own personal opinion that he didn’t think regulating

dancing “should be the business of this body.” The commissioners were

silent on that, but when Starr added that in his view prohibiting

dancing was a constitutional issue—freedom of expression, anyone?—the

commissioners seemed both clueless and outraged.


“Explain that to me,” McOmber demanded, to which Starr responded that

he didn’t feel it appropriate to make it easy for someone to sue the

County of Maui.


Commissioner Todd Lawson, who rarely speaks at hearings, was the only

member of the panel to show even the slightest sympathy towards the

dance advocates. Pointing out that his fellow commissioners weren’t

even familiar with the law they were refusing to change, he said it

might be a good idea to hold a public hearing on the notion of putting

an actual, legal definition of dancing into the rules.


His idea died in a miserable silence.


After the members of the public had spoken, McOmber pointed out that

the testimony the commission heard “has all been one-sided,” as though

that were the fault of Maui Dance Advocates. (He and his fellow

commissioners seemed to ignore Department of Liquor Control Director

Franklyn Silva’s admission that Maui Dance Advocates had “followed the

rules” in submitting a rule-change petition.)


In fact, McOmber complained so loudly about who had spoken that Penny

Kikuchi—general manager and limited partner of Moose McGillycuddy’s in

Kihei—agreed to speak on the issue. The commissioners then grilled her

on whether she’d ever invoked the name of the Liquor Commission when

telling customers to stop dancing (she admitted she had). This went on

for a few minutes before Gadarian tired of it and sneered, “Can we get

a motion or something?”


Commissioner Curt Morimoto was only too happy to do that. Questioning

the legitimacy of the petition by pointing out that it carried 84

signatures but just four people signed up to speak at the hearing—he

refused to allow Maui Dance Advocates to defend itself—Morimoto said he

saw no problem with the rule as it stood, which was on the books for

“safety” reasons. Then he made a motion to reject the petition and end

the matter entirely.


The commissioners approved it without any opposition. MTW