Mourning the passing of a familiar palm tree landmark on Kainui Drive

Dear Editor,

All good things must come to an end.

Sad to say, the coconut palm tree on Kainui Drive that everyone knows and uses as a landmark was chopped down the other day.

Over the past 13 years, my family and I have tried to come up with a plan that would make the tree safe for walkers, joggers, bicycles and baby strollers.

Over the course of time, we’ve trimmed it, staked it and even tried to turn it so it would grow away from the direction of the bike path. We always said that we would do everything in our power to keep it until it became a liability issue for everyone.

Unfortunately for the community and us, our worse nightmares came true.

My husband and I were on Kauai enjoying a mini staycation when our daughter-in-law called and said someone ran into the palm tree. There was a person on a bike who crossed from one side of Kainalu Drive to the other side. When that happened, a car took the turn a little too short, and the bike rider was blinded by the lights and ran right into the tree.

Thank goodness the person is fine. They received some cuts, bruises and swelling. It could have been worse and they could have fallen in the road with oncoming traffic.

Needless to say, after much discussion we came to the consensus that the tree finally needed to go for everyone’s safety. Much to the dismay of our family and neighbors, we chopped the tree down on Sunday after the great win by the Washington Redskins.

We always have enjoyed the stories on how people used the tree as a direction finder, map location, or just knowing they were going the right way. Sorry to say that a landmark is gone.

But look on the brighter side of things: With the new paint color on our house, you can now tell people to turn at the big seafoam green house!

With the tree now gone, we kindly ask if all drivers would obey the speed limit and take great care, as there are joggers, bikers, walkers and small children who live and enjoy the serenity and beauty of the Kainui Drive “duck lane.”

Chris Sargent
Kailua