Musings: Demented

Koko and I returned to our old haunts for a walk this morning, an excursion prompted by running into my former neighbor Andy at Sen. Hooser’s campaign kickoff last Sunday.

It was the first time we’d seen each other since I moved, and we said, in near unison, “I’ve missed you!” with Andy asking whether I’d run into anyone on my new walking route who was intellectually stimulating.

Fact is, I haven’t run into anyone to walk with in the mornings, intellectually stimulating or otherwise, and Koko hasn’t met anyone who gives her head rubs and dog biscuits, so we agreed to get together sometimes and share a walk and talk, which we did on this hot and muggy morning.

I’ve been feeling a bit homesick for my old neighborhood, so it was nice to see the mountains from that particular perspective again, and to meander along the grassy shoulder of a country road nearly devoid of traffic. But mostly, it was great to chat with Andy, and our conversation ran the gamut before settling on a topic that seems to be on the minds of many: What’s happened to Kaipo?

We were referring, of course, to Council Chairman Kaipo Asing, who has been exhibiting behavior that seems uncharacteristic for a man long viewed as Mr. Aloha.

I didn’t attend last Wednesday’s council meeting, or watch it on Hoike, so I can’t say if Andy Parx’s recent blog post portraying him as Captain Queeg is accurate, although it was entertaining, in a tragic-comic sort of way.

But I have witnessed some dramatic changes in Kaipo’s behavior since I first saw him in action on the County Council 22 years ago. At that time, Kaipo was a true maverick and a darling of the anti-development crowd. He ran one-man, low-cost campaigns, and rather than hold sign, he blew kisses to motorists. Even though he was usually on the losing side of Council votes, he was gracious and warm to his colleagues and politely attentive to members of the public who came to testify. I always thought of him as kind, and he was very open with me as a reporter.

Then came the big sell-out. Kaipo wanted to develop land overlooking Alekoko (Menehune) Fishpond, and his plans required Council approval. They went along, and after that, so did he, either voting with the majority or casting a vote in opposition without comment. It seemed to me he’d lost his fire, and even though he was subdued, he was still gracious and polite.

In more recent years, however, he’s become increasingly dictatorial, secretive, aggressive, rambling and abrupt. While he did lead the charge against illegal vacation rentals on the North Shore, and has taken other actions that harken back to the old Kaipo, his personality has changed.

My neighbor Andy shared the story of a friend we have in common who has been a longtime Kaipo supporter. But she swore she’d never vote for him again after he treated her and others very rudely when they came to testify on some matter.

“Kaipo never used to be like that,” Andy said. “What happened?”

I suggested that perhaps it’s the onset of dementia, and relayed the story of a friend whose mother, a sweet, accommodating, well-mannered, 70-year-old Midwesterner, has become increasingly aggressive, antagonistic and argumentative. She’s extremely critical and easily irritated, to the point of getting quarreling with guests at dinner parties.

Her account prompted me to ask, incredulously, “Your Mom is doing that?” because, like Kaipo’s snapping, it seemed so out of character.

My friend believes her mother is suffering from Sundowner’s syndrome because she seems to get more confused and irritable as the day wears on.

And I’ve watched a good friend of mine, who is now 76, go through dramatic personality changes that have caused him to become irritable, fixated on certain ideas, delusion and forgetful. His son took him to a doctor, who issued a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s related dementia.

I’m not a doctor or a psychologist, so I don’t know if that’s what’s happening to Kaipo. But he is 73 years old {correx: he's 79 this year], and it’s a very common condition associated with aging:

About 13% of Americans over the age of 65 have Alzheimer's and half of those over age 85 will develop Alzheimer's -- or a closely related dementia. 

Health analysts estimate that in just five years the number of Americans with Alzheimer's will jump to 7.7 million and by 2050 the number is projected to more than double to 16 million.

It’s something to consider, and perhaps it will prompt us to look upon the recent spectacle of the County Council meetings with a bit more compassion. After all, we baby boomers could be next.

On a bizarrely related note, Ian Lind had an interesting post yesterday about the current status of the Superferries and the link between Adm. Tom Fargo — the former Superferry President and CEO — and Sago Systems, the vendor of a suicide bomber detection system for the state’s harbor passenger terminals. My, those HSF guys do have their fingers in an awful lot of pies.

Ian also reveals that the Department of Homeland Security, which funded the detection system nixed DOT’s request for unmanned aerial vehicles and infrared sensors, noting:

Apparently the Harbor Police wanted their own Predator drones, which could have been deployed against Superferry protesters.

Now that’s really demented.

And for those who have asked several times in the comments section of a recent post on the planning commission’s reversal of vacation rental permits that were denied, with more reversals set to come: “So when IS the next meeting?” the answer is 9 .m. Tuesday, July 28. You can check out the agenda here.