In December 1994, Annette Niles was convicted on 23 counts of cruelty to animals. Niles is manager of the Perreira Ranch, which operates on 4,800 acres of state-owned land at Ma`alaea, Maui. Her sentencing was scheduled for January 26, 1995. Identical charges against her father were dropped against her father, Stephen Perreira, when Judge Boyd Mossman granted a defense motion for a verdict of acquittal. Perreira, Mossman agreed, was too infirm to be held responsible for the operations of his ranch.
Blaming the Victim
On December 12, 1994 — five days after the trial began — Meyer M. Ueoka, attorney for Niles and Perreira, wrote Keith Ahue, then chairman of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, asking that the state’s lease to Perreira Ranch be cancelled. The letter was in response to the Notice of Default that the state Division of Land Management had sent to Perreira in October. (For details, see the January 1995 edition of Environment Hawai`i containing articles “[url=/members_archives/archives_more.php?id=1039_0_29_0_C]Poor Management, Inhumane Conditions On State Lands Used by Ranch, Dairies[/url]”, “[url=/members_archives/archives_more.php?id=1042_0_29_0_C]The DLNR: Silent Accomplice in Heinous Crimes” (Editorial)[/url], and [url=/members_archives/archives_more.php?id=1041_0_29_0_C]”On Inspecting the Perreira Ranch[/url].”)
In the letter, Ueoka lays responsibility for the suffering of any animals at the ranch at the door of the state. Before the lease was issued (February 1993), Ueoka wrote, “the Lessee did not face problems, if any, such as cutting of fence. Since the lease was entered into, the Lessee had been beset with overwhelming problems; such as, vandalism an harassment, cutting of fences, destroying of the gage, cutting of waterline, and tampering of water trough. The latest is the spraying of hazardous materials, toxins, which we learned about in April of 1994. Meanwhile, many cattle had died, and Stephen Perreira and Annette Niles have been charged with 25 counts of cruelty to animals [at the Ma`alaea ranch]…” Ueoka goes on to quote at length language in the lease that prohibits the lessee (i.e., Perreira and Niles) from releasing any hazardous materials.
The state itself, Ueoka appears to argue, violated that lease provision by using the herbicides Garlon and Roundup in its efforts to “restore the Na Ala Hele (sic), a historic trail from Ma`alaea to Lahaina.” (The trail evidently referred to is the Old Lahaina Pali Trail, which cuts through ranch land at the upper elevations.)
The spraying occurred, Ueoka states, in May, June, and September 1993. In December 1993, Kimo Niles (Annette’s husband) “discovered about four dead animals… True, the particular area did not have grass nor water, but water was provided at the water trough and there was nothing to prevent the cattle from going up the hill and to the pasture where grass was plentiful.” (Testimony at trial indicated that the closest water was almost two miles away from where dying cattle were found by the Humane Society in September 1993.)
In September 1993, a veterinarian hired by the Perreiras killed a sickly cow and took tissue and blood samples, Ueoka writes. No evidence of poisoning was found, he says, but adds that the veterinarian concluded that “the cattle did not die of starvation or because of a lack of water.”
In short, Ueoka writes, “Action by the state in spraying hazardous material has made it impossible for the Lessee to carry on its cattle raising business. Over 25 heads of cattle had died and is closer to 50. The operation of spraying hazardous material has clearly interfered with the intent and purpose of the Lease. The Lessee has been damaged by the actions of the state.”
To resolve the problem, Ueoka proposed that the lease be cancelled and that, among other things, “the state provide other state land situate in the upcountry area away from public view at a reasonable rent.” In addition, he suggests that 16 acres at Kula that are now under month-to-month revocable permit to Niles should be leased to Niles “at a reasonable lease rent.”
Ueoka closed his letter with a threat: “If we are successful in the criminal trial, and I believe that we will be, we are going to pursue this matter further on the basis of abuse of process. Sometimes I wonder whether or not the civil rights of the Lessee has been invaded.”
‘Qualified Bidders’
The state’s response to Ueoka has been to propose that the Board of Land and Natural Resources cancel the lease, contingent upon the ranch paying certain penalties. According to Maui land agent Phil Ohta, Perreira was to be asked, at the Land Board meeting of January 27, to pay for fencing around the Lahaina Pali Trail and for use of the property after the lease has been terminated (it will take some weeks, or longer, for all the cattle to be removed from the leased area). Should the penalties not be paid, the ranch will be found in default of the lease and the state will seek recourse by cashing in the property bond posted by Perreira and Niles, Ohta added.
As to Ueoka’s proposal that the state give Niles a long-term lease for the Kula property now occupied under month-to-month revocable permit, Ohta said that that 16-acre property is now on a DLNR list of lands to be put up to public auction later this year. Despite Niles’ conviction on the animal-cruelty charges, she would not be disqualified from bidding at the auction, Ohta said, adding that state law only bans those who have been found in default or who have prematurely terminated their leases with the state. Thus, Perreira — acquitted of the animal cruelty charges — could not bid on any lease for another five years because the to-be-cancelled lease is in his name. Niles — convicted on the same counts — is still an eminently qualified bidder, in the eyes of the state.
SLAPP Suits
Days before writing his December 12 letter to the state, Ueoka had filed suit, on behalf of Perreira and Niles, against the Maui Humane Society, Maui County, and two individuals. The basis of the suit was a raid by the Humane Society made in June 1992 at the Perreira Ranch feedlot in Pu`unene. Cruelty charges brought as a result of that raid were dropped when it turned out that no proper search warrant existed.
A year ago, when Niles and Perreira were fighting to keep people off a public road that crossed through their leased land, Niles similarly threatened to sue an individual who wished to use the road to obtain access to Forest Reserve lands mauka of the ranch. In a letter dated January 24, 1994 to Peter Connally, Niles stated that the road was “very treacherous and dangerous.” In addition, “your allegations insinuating that Annette Niles has been getting away because she is the niece of Elmer F. Cravalho [former mayor of Maui] and has had his assistance, and that Kimo Niles, husband of Annette Niles, ‘has been in court several times for terroristic threatening for people trespassing on his land.’ These allegations are false. Please expect a lawsuit for slander.”
Within weeks, Peter Connally had died.
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 5, Number 8 February 1995
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