Welcome to paradise, now go to hell!
And of course you recall three months ago, at the very beginning of the northern hemisphere’s summer, when the County of Honolulu awarded the beach concession long held by Waikiki’s famous Beachboys to an outfit called Dive Oahu.
Oh there was much rage emanating from every corner of the globe. The Beachboys are iconic, the very lifeblood of the Waikiki. The owner of Dive Oahu, Brian Benton, was not from the island which caused an understandable rift. You can read about it here but it last night, in a wild twist, the man’s house burned down.
And let’s turn to Honolulu’s Star-Advertiser for more!
Honolulu police have opened an investigation into a fire at the Kailua home of the owner of the company that recently took over the Waikiki Beach concessions, even as the Honolulu Fire Department is unable to determine the cause.
HFD said it received the fire alarm for a home on Iliaina Street at 6:08 p.m. Friday. When the first responders arrived a minute later they found flames to the two-story home fully involved.
Nine units and 34 HFD personnel responded to the alarm and got the flames under control by 6:26 p.m., and fully extinguished by 8:01 p.m. No one was injured in the fire.
HFD fire investigators were at the home today and estimated the fire’s damage at $800,000 to the structure and $400,000 to its contents. The investigators, however, were not able to determine the cause of the fire and closed the case after classifying the cause as “undetermined.”
HFD Capt. Carlton Yamada says undetermined means the investigators analyzed all possible causes but there was insufficient evidence to identify any one specific cause. He said undetermined also means there was insufficient evidence to eliminate other potential causes. He said the department can reopen the case if new information becomes available.
The Iliaina Street home belongs to Brian Benton, the owner of Dive Oahu Inc. The company is the vendor for two Waikiki Beach concessions after submitting the lowest bid to the city.
Benton or his company manager did not respond to requests for comment.
Dive Oahu didn’t take over the concessions immediately after the city awarded the company two five-year contracts in April. One of the other previous vendors, Star-Beachboys Inc., sued to prevent the city from installing Dive Oahu. Star-Beachboys moved out in May after a state judge denied the previous vendor’s request for temporary restraining order.
The story is… intense! And do you think Mr. Benton is packing what’s left of his bags in order to get on the first flight out or do you think his backbone is steeled?
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Right! Ignore politics and let polluting republicans get elected, erode epa protections, and befoul your beach with oil spills and algae bloom! Don’t worry about politics, surfer! BRILLIANT!!!!
This is being a troll about surfing, not surfing.
Every house on kailua beach has cameras. If this happened at 6pm it is very unlikely this is arson. more likely insurance scam and sympathy move.
Just won a coveted contract, gonna make more money despite lowest bid against a gnarly local contingent and you think hes trying to cause him self more grief?? Who’s gonna believe that bullshit spin bru??
He has already shown that he has no conscience. The question is whether he is a sociopath or a psychopath. this is where obama vacationed, there are cameras everywhere and a marine corps base at one end of the beach. time will tell
Night before the primary elections = story will be buried in the news. Real pros.
Maybe he set da fiyah himself
Tom Wolfe – Bonfire of the Wavestorms?
I disagree. But won’t go into the huge list of reasons here. Suffice to say; burying one’s head in the sand is, rather foolish esp. when the sand itself is under attack. ( apols for muddled metaphors)
Insurance will settle, new beach services guy will have more to deal with going forward.
The island is a spiders web of entitled interests, corruption and shadow unwritten rules. As a visiting haole, I learned a few dark lessons of local society. The indigenous people have been fucked, they know it, and every power struggle has layers of nuance. Something Sophie should have been advised about petitioning the parks.
Don’t worry about Sophia, the clan she in with will get their way… knowing people in high places is quite useful.
Just watch!
Someone’s going to walk up to his house at 6 p.m. in the evening when people are getting home from work and it’s still light outside and try and torch the guy’s house, it seems a pretty unlikely scenario.
sympathy move
Dude burnt it down himself so he could fix it up and at the same time put blame on and get protection from the BBs
evidence?
It would have been more grammatically correct to say ‘for myriad reasons’.
Myriad is both noun and adjective, and no one cares.
Let me go softly into my grave.
Don gets us up to speed…worth watching!
More food for thought!
About fucking time the Hawaiians put some teeth to their bark…..everyone’s a tough guy till you shoot thier kid in the face😘
Guess he knows a hot deal when he sees it.
https://www.instagram.com/p…
Food for thought!
Looks like he may have busted down the ( fire ) door ? Bad Business ?
Do your homework?…you mean pay off the tugs!
Prison indeed!
Move along… nothing here…gezzz!
This is the standard for doing business in a lawless society. Hawaii just is blatten about the way things are carried out. Know too many stories all ending the same….. corruption in the land of the free….I mean fee!