“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

By Jane Dahm, Sonia Thosar, Keenan Herman and Maddie Stevens, 5th Grade Students, Daniel Wright Junior School in Lincolnshire, IL

Editor’s note: Litigation to determine who is at fault for the March 14, 2006, Ka Loko Dam breach and the deaths of 8 people is still pending. The state attorney general also has opened a criminal and civil investigation into the matter.

We are a small group of fifth grade students at Daniel Wright Junior School in Lincolnshire, IL, who recently finished reading the novel “The Flood Disaster” by Peg Kehret. This book was about the Johnstown Flood of 1889, which occurred in Pennsylvania. Coincidentally, our teacher, Mrs. Otto, saw an informational broadcast about the Ka Loko Dam on ABC 20/20, which aired March 3, 2007. This program provided us with an opportunity to compare and contrast these two terrible devastating disasters. We have discovered that just like George Wilhelm Hegel said: “What experiences and history teach is this – that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles.”

As a group, we learned that both the flood disaster in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and the dam break in Kauai, Hawaii, were caused by greed of mankind. The South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club of Johnstown made the dam higher to allow more boating. That club was made up of some of the richest people of that time as well as some of the most pompous.

Their desire was to maintain a precious supply of fish. This caused the death of over 2,200 people – the highest number of innocent casualties to perish in one day before 9/11. Just as the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club blocked the spillway with fishing nets, James Pflueger, who owns the Ka Loko Dam, allegedly covered the spillway with dirt, despite being warned not to by Mike Dyer of Kauai. Mr. Pflueger had many people up to the reservoir to jetski and water ski and liked to keep the water level in the reservoir high.

It appears that Mr. Pflueger also wanted to get the annoying county officials who were citing him for illegal grading at the Ka Loko Dam off his back. This was a main priority and it seems he would do anything to achieve his ultimate goal. Mr. Pflueger told Hawaii Reporter and ABC 20/20 that he alledgely gave Kauai Mayor Maryanne Kusaka a $9,000 cash donation.

We discovered that the Hawaii State campaign Spending law says that the most any one individual can donate to a mayoral campaign in Hawaii is $4,000. We are disappointed that according to Mr. Pflueger, Mayor Kusaka accepted the money. The Kauai mayor also ordered her staff to stop inspections at Ka Loko. Her staff inspectors say so in a series of 1997 memos in county files.

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(Source: Hawaii Reporter)