FIREFIGHTER WANTS JOB BACK, DENIES DRUG USE

A veteran Hawaii County firefighter has been fired for alleged cocaine use,
according to county documents.

Dyson R. Arakaki failed a random drug test conducted Jan. 23 and was
terminated effective Feb. 11, according to a letter Deputy Chief Desmond
Wery wrote to him.

Arakaki, 38, is appealing his dismissal.

"I didn't do anything wrong," he said. "I got nothing to hide."

Arakaki previously tested positive for an illegal drug, Wery wrote in his
letter.

Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira said he cannot reveal what drug showed up in
Arakaki's earlier positive test.

An initial drug violation triggers a suspension of up to 8.4 days, according
the county's contract with the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association.

A second positive test for drugs or alcohol will result in termination -
unless the fire chief decides to give the employee one more chance.

"Our position is zero-tolerance," Oliveira said of the new policy he
implemented upon becoming chief a year ago.

"We're holding to our guns as far as the termination goes," he said. "We
feel we owe it to the community to have public - service professionals
functioning at 100 percent, 100 percent of the time."

Unlike their counterparts elsewhere in Hawaii, Big Island firefighters serve
a dual role as paramedics.

Arakaki said he was fired less than a week before his 13th anniversary with
the department. The son of retired Assistant Chief Garfield Arakaki, he
worked as a firefighter/paramedic at Hilo's Kawailani Street station.

On the advice of his private attorney, Arakaki declined further comment.

Attorney Brian De Lima said the testing process did not confirm with state
law, nullifying the results.

"We stand by our appeal," De Lima said. "Our position is there is no
positive tests."

He declined to say what was done improperly.

"We intend to bring up these facts at the hearing in front of the (Hawaii
County Civil Service) Commission," De Lima said.

The commission is scheduled to hear Arakaki's appeal during its 9:30 a.m.
meeting Tuesday at the Civil Service Department located in the county's new
Hilo office building.

Arakaki provided a urine sample to Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii Inc. -
the company the county pays to do its drug testing - shortly before closing
time, De Lima wrote to the commission on his client's behalf.

That timing "may have resulted in less than accurate efforts and as such,
the incorrect result," De Lima added.

Bill Watkins, Clinical Laboratories' compliance officer, said the analysis
is done a day or so after the sample is received.

"The time a sample is given has nothing to do with the accuracy of the
test," he said.

The sample Arakaki provided was analyzed twice and each test produced the
same positive result, Oliveira said.

Oliveira added this is the first time a firefighter has failed a drug test
since he became chief.

Two firefighters previously tested positive twice for illegal drugs, former
Chief Edward Bumatay told the Tribune - Herald in 1999. One was fired and
the other was still on active duty at the time, he said.

Also in 1999, the county started allowing firefighters to keep their job
after tampering with a drug test or refusing to take one.

Hawaii's three other counties kept the termination clause in the same
contract they had with the firefighters' union.