It was a trip of a lifetime for Karen Brodi and her fiancé Lars. The pair had spent the day sightseeing and soaking up the West Maui sun. Hoping to catch a glimpse of a celebrity, they ate lunch at the famous Hula Noodle restaurant and planned on taking a tour of the Thorcon plant later in the day. With a few hours to kill, the couple decided to hop in one of the public ATVs and explore some of the trails throughout the beautiful Lahaina preservation zone. That’s when their trip took a turn for the worse.
The couple soon found themselves stuck in the mud at the bottom of a ravine. Worse, Lars had badly sprained his ankle trying to dig out the wheels of their Manimal ATV. Karen had no idea where they were, which made it hard for rescuers to find them. Emergency drones were dispatched, but authorities told Karen it could be hours before they were located. Just then, she heard what dozens of other troubled tourists have heard in their time of need, the whirring sound of an electric motor.
“All of a sudden this really old lady wearing a ranger uniform pulls up on a tricked out mobility scooter,” Karen says. “I didn’t know what to think, and was just kind of staring at her, when she got up and unwound some cable from a winch mounted on the front. She asked if I could wrap it around the front axle while she chained her scooter to a tree. The next thing you know we had the ATV out of the mud and Lars in a splint she made out of sticks. She gave us both a bottle of water and told me to follow her because she knew a short-cut to the main road. We both thanked her and asked her name. She said it was no trouble and that it was her job; she was Junior Ranger Malie.”
Karen and Lars are officially the 35th and 36th tourist treated or rescued by Malie Kahiko, Lahaina’s oldest Junior Ranger. The 109-year-old star of the reality program Malie’s List is many times older than the preservation zone itself, but says being part of the Junior Ranger program helps her feel young. “They thought I was crazy when I showed up, and told me the program was for kids. I told them that I was a kid at heart and that they didn’t have anything about age listed anywhere, so they’d just have to deputize me.”
Started a year after the preservation zone expansion in 2031, the Junior Ranger program was designed to teach children about: the wonders of nature, the importance of protecting fragile areas, and to cultivate a sense of stewardship in the next generation of wildlife advocates. Despite the age difference between Malie and her other Junior Rangers, she says she feels right at home at their weekly meetings. “I just love the energy of the kids and the look in their eyes when I tell them about the people I helped that week,” Kahiko says.
There’s no doubt that Malie has become an attraction herself, with many tourists wanting to get a picture with the elderly ranger, but admiration for her is not shared by everyone. Compliance Liaison to the Mayor’s Office Elizabeth Stonegate calls the idea of a 109-year-old Junior Ranger, “silly” and says Malie has no business patrolling the preservation zone.
“To be perfectly honest it’s ridiculous. Mrs. Kahiko has no formal training, and didn’t work as a first responder when she was young enough to be useful. I for one don’t think it’s cute or inspiring that an ancient woman, no longer capable of walking from her couch to the kitchen, is cruising around out there. She’s a liability just waiting to happen! Instead of putting herself in dangerous situations, I believe Malie would better serve her family by finding an appropriate care facility and getting her affairs in order. She has reached that special age in life where it is important to acknowledge how close to death you are, and do everything you can to make your passing easier for your family, not pulling people out of the mud, or administering emergency first aid. She has obviously motored on well past her freshness date and needs to stop her antics.”
Undeterred by Stonegate’s criticism, Malie says she has the full support of her family and has no plans to give up her ranger uniform. “I’m not surprised that someone like Elizabeth Stonegate doesn’t get it. When that woman came out of her mother’s womb she started complaining that her swaddling cloth wasn’t designer made. What she and a few others don’t understand is that you are never too old to lend a hand. My scooter Betty has an electric winch, a spare battery, satellite phone, a water pouch, and all the medical supplies I need to handle almost any situation. Sure, I’m a little bit older than the other rangers, but I’m not too old to help when I can. That’s what the aloha spirit is all about! As long as I’m able, I’ll be out there lending a hand or a wheel to whoever needs it.”
