|
about 20 people present. And because of the number of people it generated a violation
<br />notice that said “Looks like you’re having large gatherings, stop doing that,” sort of
<br />thing; and they then denied that, and that was pretty much the end of that.
<br />When this application came in, we looked at that violation notice and also at the way the
<br />business was advertised as a full service home and felt that they were not in compliance
<br />with the original understanding, that they would not have viewings.
<br />When it went to the Kailua Village Design Commission, my staff reported to me that they
<br />seemed pretty credible that they were not having viewing. So I asked, we have a new
<br />inspector in Kona so I asked her to do a follow-up, and she did contact all of the
<br />neighboring businesses. And they all reported that they’ve never seen anything that
<br />looked like funeral services, wake services being conducted there, that they’d see, you
<br />know, people going, cars occasionally going in-and-out, people going in-and-out, but not
<br />any kind of a large gathering like you might have at, if you people here, you know, are
<br />familiar with, say Dodo Mortuary and other kinds of funeral homes that do have these
<br />wake services.
<br />So that, and then we also checked published obituaries. Because, typically, when you
<br />have public services, it’ll say on it, you know, services to be held at Borthwick Mortuary,
<br />7 p.m., you know, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday night; and we didn’t find any evidence of
<br />that sort of thing. So that being said we have to withdraw any claim that the way they’re
<br />operating is in violation of their understanding on the parking requirements.
<br />WATANABE:Thank you. I guess you wanted to make some testimony; and if
<br />you do, I need to have you state your name and address for the record, please.
<br />P. BRUMBAUGH: My name is Penny Brumbaugh. My address is 76-6278 Kokoolua
<br />Place, Kailua-Kona. I am one of the owners of A Hui Hou Funeral Home. And when the
<br />issue of the parking came up, the one thing that we just kept reiterating is that we are full
<br />service facility. We are full service in reference to full services to our families. We do
<br />everything that they need us to do, to whatever extent that might be, all the way down to
<br />getting a gallon of milk if that’s what they need to help them get through this. We go to
<br />their homes, we take care of their services if it’s, I mean, if it’s more convenient for them,
<br />for us to come to their home to take care of the arrangements, that’s what we do, or they
<br />may come into the funeral home. And a lot of times we go to their homes ‘cause they’re
<br />more comfortable there. But we receive the body into our funeral home, we bathe, we
<br />prep, we embalm, we take care of everything, casketing, if we’re sending off island, send
<br />them off-island from there. Everything is done in that building with the exception of
<br />cremation. We have an area inside the building, and the whole public can even see it,
<br />that we could put the retort, that we could do the cremation there too; and that would
<br />make us fully independent from our competitors. At this time, we’re not. We’re totally
<br />upon the discretion and the willingness of our competitors to work with us; and it’s not a
<br />very easy situation for us that way. And we want the opportunity to do everything for a
<br />family, to have total control of what goes on with the remains of a loved one, and this
<br />would give us that opportunity to do it.
<br />EXHIBIT D
<br />13
<br />
<br />
|