Counties are another collectable that certain hamscovet. There is a regular net in the evening out of Australia that isjust for county hunters and a major network of county hunters inthe USA. A primary net frequency for county hunters is 14.336 USB in themainland US, and there is also county hunting on CW.
They are usually not too excitedabout Honolulu County, but the other three counties areconsiderably harder to get. There are four official counties inHawaii:Honolulu,Kauai,Maui andHawaii.
It is sometimes said that each of the five major islands of Hawaiiare counties. This is not true. Kauai is Kauai county. The Big Island[Hawaii] is Hawaii county. Oahu is Honolulu County. But both Molokai and Mauiare Maui county.
French Frigate Shoals through Kure Island [KH7K],but minus Midway Island [KH4], are part of theCounty of Honolulu. Talk about a BIG county! Hawaii County andthe Island of Hawaii is such a large island it has been used as a"miniature continent" to test computerized weathermodeling programs.
The inhabited islands relate to counties as follows:
So Maui County reaches out and encompasses itsneighbor island to the West, Molokai. It is on the very specialisland of Molokai, on a tiny peninsula of land, isolated on threesides by Pacific Ocean and on the South by an imposing cliff, virtuallyanother island, that we search for county number five.
Most of this inaccessable land is just above sea level and locatedin Grid BL11me. It is bounded roughly by 157 degrees west to 156 degrees55 minutes west; and 21 degrees 11 minutes north to about 21 degrees12.5 minutes north. Its only major town is centered on 156 degrees59 minutes west and 21 degrees 11.5 minutes north.
A mythical(?) fifth Hawaii county has been the subject of hamradio folk lore for some time, allegedly one of the rarestof the 3076 counties in theUnited States for county hunters, hams who collect contacts withUS Counties. In fact, a fifth Hawaii county certainly did existat one time.
NOTE: The following is from an interview with Dr.Joseph R. Morgan of the Geography Department of the Universityof Hawaii at Manoa. You can be assured any mistakes are mine, ashe is an expert on the subject of political geography in Hawaii:
CalledKalawao County, Hawaii's fifth county includedthe peninsula of Kalaupapa on the north side of the island ofMolokai and a portion of the steep cliff face overlooking this area,and perhaps a bit of the land near the top of East end of the cliffs. Thedistrict/county lines continue to the east through very rough country andeventually back down to the Pacific.
This area was set aside very early on, in the 1880's, as acolony for sufferers ofHansen's Disease, Leprosy. It iswhere Father Damien (now Blessed Damien) worked. It wascreated as a county along with the other four Hawaii counties in1905. It unusual in that it was administeredas a separate County by the Department of Health. Thus ithas had special status from its creation.
Several decades ago the old county lines became districtlines, and this political area was absorbed into Maui county asone of its new judicial districts. An authoritative map publishedin 1983 already clearly shows the old county lines as districtlines and as part of Maui County. So this fifth county does notseem to exist today, at least not in terms of political geography.
Prior to its conversion to a judicial district in Maui county, it wasperhaps the rarest county in the United States for countyhunters. Population in that area had dwindled to few hundred atmost. The area at the top of the cliffs was pasture land. Thedistrict line scims along just below the edge of the cliff. Oldermaps the UHM library map collection show the county clearly and seem toconfirm that the older county lines are exactly the same as the moderndistrict lines.
Population of Counties and Islands -- Hawaii: 1900-1990County 1990 1980 1970 1960 1950 1940 1930 1920 1910 1900Kalawao 130 144 172 279 340 446 605 667 785 1,177Inhabited IslandsIsland 1990 1980 1970 1960 1950 1940 1930 1920 1910 1900Molokai 6,717 6,049 5,261 5,023 5,280 5,340 5,032 1,784 1,791 2,504
This would appear to close the book on Kalawao as a modern daycounty.But nothing is quite as settled as it seems. The countyhunters still count Kalawao County as a sought after prizeand perhaps with considerable justification as the following Emaildemonstrates:
Looks likeKalawao has special arrangements from thevery beginning. The other four were set up as true counties. TheDepartment of Health ran Kalawao County with the only officerbeing the sheriff.
I couldn't find anything that directly confirmed that Kalawaowas not still a county. I tried to find information thatindicated that the people of Kalawao voted in the Maui elections,but the info was not clear enough with the geography to make anyconclusions. It was clear that Kalawao does not have most of thepowers of the other four counties.
What I did find is that the biggest problem causing confusionmay be the terminology the state uses. I came across threedistinct references that show that in spite of whatever it'sspecial situation, the state still calls Kalawao a county.
The actual reference said "As a county it has only the powers especially conferred by sections 326-34 to 326-38,Hawaii Revised Statues. None of the provisions of the Hawaii Revised Statues regarding counties is deemed to be applicable to Kalawao. The County of Kalawao is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health. It is governed by the laws and rules relating to the Department and the care and treatment of persons with Hansen's disease."
So I ended up with a bottom line that in most of its functionsKalawao is not like the other counties, but that the state stillinsists on calling it a county - that might be for lack of analternative terminology. With that problem, it is hard for me togo to the county hunter groups and say "hey this is not acounty" when the state still insists on calling it a countyin it's documents.
Recent Population of Maui County and
Subdivisions Molokai and Kalawao District
County 1980 1990 1995
Maui County 70,991 100,504 115,163
Molokai 5,905 6,587 6,745
Kalawao 144 130 93
The Board of Health, established under section 26-13, Hawaii RevisedStatutes, serves as an advisory panel to the Director of Health. TheBoard consists of eleven members, appointed by the Governor with theadvice and consent of the Senate, and the Director of Human Servicesas an ex officio nonvoting member. The appointed members include atleast one resident of each county, including the county of Kalawao.
The County of Kalawao consists of that portion of the island ofMolokai known as Kalaupapa, Kalawao, and Waikolu, commonly known asthe Kalaupapa Settlement. As a county it has only the powersespecially conferred by sections 326-34 to 326-38, Hawaii RevisedStatutes. None of the provisions of the Hawaii Revised Statutesregarding counties is deemed to be applicable to Kalawao. The Countyof Kalawao is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health. Itis governed by the laws and rules relating to the Department and thecare and treatment of persons with Hansen's disease.
Sheriff. The Sheriff is the only county officer of Kalawao. TheSheriff is generally a resident of the county appointed by theDepartment of Health.
NOTE: Good maps of Molokai include "Map of Molokai and Lanai,fourth edition, by James A. Bier" published by the University ofHawaii Press and available at the UH Bookstore; and USGS Maps: Molokai1:62,500 and East Molokai 1:25,000 and West Molokai 1:25,000. Bothof these latter two show the Kalawao district lines and great topodetail of the area. Most of Kalaupapa is on theEast Molokai 1:25,000 map.
There are day tours of Kalaupapa, but stay overnight is restrictedand requires special permissions. Flights into the area are availablefrom Island Air which has flights from Molokaiand from Honolulu once or twice a day.
Here is one of the main reference web sites of the countyhunters:
Final Note: Perhaps the most important factis County Hunters consider Kalawao a county and list five countiesfor Hawaii.
09/99
