Tag: aloun farms

September 9, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Judge throws out plea deal for Aloun Farms owners

A federal judge is throwing out a plea deal for the owners of a major Hawaii farm who had pleaded guilty to exploiting 44 imported laborers from Thailand.

Chief U.S. District Susan Oki Mollway this morning rejected the agreement because Alec and Mike Sou disputed some of the facts in the human trafficking case.

The brothers, who operated Aloun Farms on Oahu, must now enter a new plea.

Prosecutors threaten to bring additional charges against the Sous should they choose to go to trial.

They had faced up to five years in prison under the agreement that was thrown out.

The Sous admitted to violations of the U.S. agricultural guest worker program, but they deny withholding passports and threatening deportation.

They could have faced up to five years imprisonment at today’s sentencing. The brothers’ maximum sentence was agreed on when they pleaded guilty to the crimes in January.

But the Sous asked for a lighter sentence with little or no jail time based in part on the idea that their farm is too valuable to the islands’ food supply to let it go untended.

The Sous admit to violations of the U.S. agricultural guest worker program, but they deny withholding the worker’s passports and threatening deportation.

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July 20, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Vegtables 1 Comment

Aloun Farm owners deny threats

The sentencing hearing for the owners of Aloun Farms on forced-labor charges will continue in September because brothers Alec and Mike Sou refused to admit to committing acts to which they had pleaded guilty in January.

Alec Souphone Sou, president and general manager of the Ewa farm, is facing 46 to 57 months in prison for conspiring to commit forced labor in connection with the importation of 44 farmworkers from Thailand in 2004, according to federal sentencing guidelines.

Mike Mankone Sou, vice president and operations manager, is facing 41 to 51 months in prison for the same crime.

The sentencing guidelines are based on a number of factors, including the seriousness of the crime and a defendant’s actions and criminal history. Alec Sou has a higher prison range because he has prior DUI convictions.

The guidelines are also advisory, and U.S. Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway could sentence the brothers to prison terms outside the recommended range.

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September 2, 2009 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

There’s something about Ho’opili – Honolulu Weekly


Proposed ‘Ewa development defies snap judgments

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVuo4R3tE4g[/youtube]

Kevin O’Leary
Sep 2, 2009

Last Friday’s daylong meeting of the State Land Use Commission, to rule on a petition by mega-developer D.R. Horton-Schuler to change the current zoning on 1,500 acres of prime ‘Ewa farmland from agriculture to mixed-use residential and commercial, was anything but boring.

Here’s Kioni Dudley, intervenor in the case, whom some have called the leader of the opposition: “In the beginning, over two years ago, this was just a gut feeling I had.” Now, it is more than a feeling, as Mr. Dudley–and everyone else with a sore gut over the proposed zone change–has picked up some unexpected allies, in the form of at least three State agencies and several local politicians.

Listen to Bryan Yee of the Attorney General’s office, speaking for the State Office of Planning: “We now know that if the petition [for the zoning change] goes through, H-I will be a parking lot from Waiawa to Makakilo. And the petitioner (Schuler) isn’t proposing any solutions.”

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August 29, 2009 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

State land use panel rejects plan for 12,000 homes on Ewa farms – Starbulletin.com

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State land use panel rejects plan for 12,000 homes on Ewa farms

By Susan Essoyan

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 29, 2009

In a rare move, the state Land Use Commission rejected yesterday a developer’s push to urbanize 1,500 acres of prime agricultural land in Ewa to create a new community of nearly 12,000 homes.

The commission voted 5-3 to declare the petition by D.R. Horton-Schuler Division "deficient," saying the developer had not followed the rules by spelling out an incremental development plan for its Ho’opili project. But it said Horton could fix its petition and try again.

"Hallelujah!" Kioni Dudley, president of Friends of Makakilo and leader of the opposition, declared after the vote. "It’s a great victory. It’s a victory for the aina. I hope the setback to the developer is permanent."

Dudley had some powerful support at yesterday’s hearing, including the state Office of Planning, which argued forcefully against the project, and the heads of the state Transportation and Agriculture departments. The commissioners also heard hours of testimony from members of the public, most of them pleading to keep the land growing fruits and vegetables for local consumption.

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August 28, 2009 General Ag News and Notes, Vegtables Post a Comment

Three Men Charged in Human Trafficking Conspiracy for Exploiting Thai Farm Workers in Hawaii

Three Men Charged in Human Trafficking Conspiracy for Exploiting Thai Farm Workers in Hawaii

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Justice Department announced the indictment of Alec Souphone Sou and Mike Mankone Sou, owners of Aloun Farm in Hawaii, and Thai labor recruiter William Khoo late yesterday for engaging in a conspiracy to commit forced labor and visa fraud. The charges arise from the defendants’ alleged scheme to coerce the labor and services of Thai nationals brought by the defendants to Hawaii to work under the federal agricultural guest worker program. Both Sou defendants are also charged with conspiring to commit document servitude.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. If convicted, Alec and Mike Sou each face maximum sentences of 15 years in prison and William Khoo faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

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August 24, 2009 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Ho’opili – The Real Facts about That Ag Land | Hawaii Political Info

By Kioni Dudley

Ho’opili is a 12,000 house project by DR Horton that will fill the entire area makai of the freeway between Waipahu and Kapolei, the area now occupied by Aloun Farms and Jefts Farms. To get an idea of the size of Ho’opili, one could put all of Waikiki, Ala Moana shopping center, and downtown Honolulu into its 1555 acres.

These are “prime” agricultural soils, classified as A and B soils by the UH Land Study. How special are A and B lands? There is not one acre of A land on the entire Big Island. Molokai has a small amount of A land, but no B soils. There are no A or B soils at all on Lanai, Kaho’olawe, or Ni’ihau.

Much of Oahu’s A and B lands have already been covered over by Mililani, Waipio, Waikele, Village Park, Royal Kunia, ‘Ewa, and Kapolei. We must save what is left.

I have been quoted as saying that this is the best farmland in the state. I stand corrected by Dr. Goro Uehara, Professor of Soil Science at the University of Hawaii who has studied soils in many different countries. He says this is the best farmland in the world. 

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August 17, 2009 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

All eyes Ewa – Hawaii Editorials – Starbulletin.com

All eyes Ewa

 

Ho’opili’s developer extols the master-planned project’s virtues

By Mike Jones

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 16, 2009

There’s unfortunately been some misinformation about Ho’opili — O’ahu’s first fully-integrated, transit-oriented, job-generating, "traditional" community that puts homes near jobs, schools, shopping and parks. Let me take this opportunity to set the record straight and to share some information I believe Oahu’s residents will be happy to hear.

It’s about more than just homes.

Ho’opili — which means "coming together" in Hawaiian — does propose building 11,750 new homes (which is a lower density than called for in the Ewa Development Plan) to be built over the next 20 to 25 years. While other Oahu developments are planned, Ho’opili will be the only community that will provide a significant number of affordable and competitively-priced homes in the area.

But Ho’opili is more than a bedroom community.

The real innovation of Ho’opili is that it will create thousands of new jobs in the area, which allows people to live where they work, thus helping to keep cars off the road.

Visionary, long-term planning pays off.

Back in the 1970s, Campbell Estate and the city created a vision for a second urban core on O’ahu — the new "Second City" — to help ease the pressure on growth in Honolulu. This was one of the most visionary land-use decisions in Hawaii’s history.

Other major efforts now underway to complete the Second City include the build-out of downtown Kapolei, the UH-West Oahu campus, the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ retail center and residential development. Ho’opili helps complete that vision, providing homes and jobs to make the dream of a Second City a reality.

Perhaps the most critical part of the Ewa Development Plan is not only did the city indicate where growth should occur, it wisely planned for where growth should not happen. The Ewa Development Plan, and Ho’opili’s fit within it, is an open space "protection plan," limiting growth to certain areas.

Farming will continue at Ho’opili for years.

Currently, the site is being used on an interim basis for diversified agriculture. Accordingly, tenants were provided meaningful and substantial concessions at the outset given the temporary nature of their use.

The tenants’ transition from the Ho’opili lands does not need to occur overnight, but should be ratable to accommodate the 20-year-plus build-out. When the time does come many years from now, we will work closely with the farmers in their relocation efforts to provide a smooth transition.

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August 17, 2009 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Specter of development looms over farm land – Hawaii Editorials – Starbulletin.com

 

Specter of development looms over farm land

By Cynthia Oi

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 16, 2009

The Aloun Farms stall is the second shoppers encounter upon arriving at the farmers market at Kapiolani Community College.

The first spot is reserved for the coffee kiosk, the market operator’s nod to caffeine fixes people might need before plunging into a swarm of food gatherers literally bumping elbows with tour-bused visitors so early in the day.

Aloun’s is one of about a dozen stands that sells an assortment of fruits and vegetables that vary with the season.

Summer delivers an abundance of melons, most of them common, but from time to time, an exotic yield from a test crop will appear, samples set out for keen market watchers to taste.

In winter, purple, red, yellow and orange potatoes arrive, some of them also pilot runs to determine what types will grow best in the rich soil of the Ewa Plain.

Judging from the wealth of foods at that small booth — cabbages, bananas, beans, green and sweet round onions, broccoli, corn, pumpkins and squash — just about anything will flourish there.

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August 12, 2009 General Ag News and Notes 1 Comment

Developer plans 12,000 homes on ‘the best ag land’ on Oahu – Hawaii News – Starbulletin.com

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM

A proposal for building 12,000 homes on what is described as the best agricultural land on Oahu goes back before the state Land Use Commission tomorrow.

 

Development Map
Development Map
D.R. Horton-Schuler Division is planning a development known as Ho’opili on 1,500 acres makai of the H-1 freeway, between Waipahu and Kapolei, and is petitioning the state to change the land’s designation from agricultural to urban use. The developer, which has been presenting its case over several months, expects to wrap up its arguments tomorrow, and the opposition will soon get its turn at bat.

"This is the highest-producing agricultural land in the state, which we’re going to need for our future survival," said Kioni Dudley, president of the Friends of Makakilo, who heads the opposition as an intervener in the Land Use Commission case. "Even without Ho’opili, 33,000 homes have already been zoned and are ready to be built in the Leeward area. The traffic that Ho’opili is going to cause is going to be like a parking lot. There’s no way to solve that problem even with rail."

The Ho’opili project calls for creating a community the size of Hawaii Kai or Mililani to complete the build-out of the Kapolei-Ewa area as the "Second City." Although the land is designated agricultural by the state, it falls within the urban growth boundary of the city’s Ewa Development Plan, and the city rail transit project is slated to run through the community.

The land is now used for farming by three tenants, including Aloun Farms, which provides a substantial amount of the local supply of crops, including sweet corn, beans, melons, pumpkin and lettuce. Bob Bruhl, vice president of development for Horton-Schuler, said the project will be built over 20 years and that "farming can continue during the incremental build-out of Ho’opili."

Developer plans 12,000 homes on ‘the best ag land’ on Oahu – Hawaii News – Starbulletin.com