Posted on 05/12/2005 8:05:58 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) -- The state has evicted a Maui woman from a lava tube she has lived in for the last three years. Karen Mayfield, 50, has pleaded innocent to three misdemeanor charges for illegal camping, disturbing a geological feature and littering. Her trial is scheduled to start May 31.
Mayfield said she isn't allowed to stay in the lava tube while her court case is pending.
"I really miss it out there," she said. "I really prefer living an alternate lifestyle where I can hear the wind blow and see the stars at night."
Earlier this week, her attorney argued that Mayfield had a right to privacy, even though the lava tube is on state land.
Defense attorney David Cain presented photos of the lava tube in the Ahiihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve. The cave-like dwelling had furnishings such as a table, bed with canopy and butane camping stove.
"Anywhere you live, you have some reasonable expectation of privacy," he said.
But Circuit Judge Joel August ruled Monday that officers with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources didn't need a search warrant before entering the lava tube on Dec. 10.
"It is no different than a defendant who lives out on an open beach," he said. "It's still public land where everybody can go, including a law enforcement officer."
Mayfield said she has lived in condominiums and houses and held jobs during her 24 years in Hawaii, but "over the years I have gotten closer and closer to the land."
Outside the courtroom, Cain likened Mayfield to a modern-day John Muir or Henry David Thoreau.
"During their time, a lot of people said they were kooky, especially Thoreau, and now his writings are looked at in high school classes," Cain said.
Pakololo?
Oh, it's Karen Thoreau
She chooses to live on property that doesn't belong to her and she expects privacy?
Hawaii is a "blue" state... just surprised the court is not adjusting by using the lava tube as the court venue.
I don't know how many lava tubes are in Hawaii, but I recall going thru one on the Big Island at the national park... pretty neat formation.
Yeah, I got yer lava tube right heeeah.
Thanks, don't mind if I do.
But seriously, this woman needs to be taken out of this cave for her own good. She would not be safe there indefinitely.
Years ago I knew a similar brain-case in Honolulu who lived in a cave up on the east side of Manoa Valley. I would see her scavenging fruits from the neighborhood yards, and would occasionally have a conversation with her. She always had a tale to tell, but usually she would just talk about her life's project: compiling a Sanskrit-Lakota Dictionary. That has always remained with me since as the pinnacle of useless endeavor. She showed it to me once. It had thousands of entries. But I doubt she ever found a publisher.
Anyway, one day I saw her and she was all beat up, black and blue, bruised and scratched. Some local toughs had come across her cave (or had heard about it) and beat the bejeessess out of her. She apparently had some sympathetic person who had offered her shelter in a home, and swore she would never go back to the cave.
Eventually, this woman on Maui would meet the same fate.
People need to exercise some reasonable common sense in the interest of their own survival.
Pull the fingers out of your ears, and you'll hear the wind howling in your empty skull.
We just can't get any good press in this state...
"I really prefer living an alternate lifestyle where I can hear the wind blow and see the stars at night."
This tagline is for sale on eBay.
I had an employee once who was completely, utterly, totally consumed with his one goal in life: to create a fireproof pipe organ.
Apparently, and at least in his alleged mind, those tubes are a fire hazard, so I guess there's a reason for all those stories we hear about old European cathedrals just spontaneously bursting into flames.
It's the pipe organ!
What an interesting comment on current High School educations. Thoreau is not 'read', but 'looked at'.
I worked with a guy who was building a rocket ship to go to Mars.
I always suspected he was a closet serial killer. He was also allergic to bathing.
LOL, common sense prevails in our courts (for a change).
"I really prefer living an alternate lifestyle where I can hear the wind blow and see the stars at night."
I'm not sure all of this idealistic lifestyle is entirely chemical free.
Well, really, who among us hasn't done this?
I know, I know, that doesn't make it "OK", but...really.
Just my opinion, but I'd rather wait and see if Pele evicts her from the tube.
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