A Garden Island breaking news email alert says -
He had bypass surgery at Queen's Medical Center on June 13. He was released from the hospital on Friday, flying back to Kauai on Saturday. He is survived by his wife Annette and four children. County officials and family members were gathering at Wilcox Memorial Hospital earlier this evening.The Advertiser has a story that has been expanding through the evening.
Succession
Under the County Charter, Section 7.06, the council will select one of its members to serve as mayor until a new mayor is elected in the coming mid-term general election. Whoever is elected mayor in the general election will serve only for the remainder of Mayor Baptiste's term.
The resulting vacant council seat will be filled as provided in Section 3.05 of the Charter. "In the event a vacancy occurs in the council, the remaining members of the council shall appoint a successor with the required qualifications to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term."
Presently, the mayor's administrative assistant, Gary Heu, is serving as mayor pro-tem.
The Advertiser has published a statement from the mayor's office -
Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste passed away today. Paramedics were called to his home where they attempted to resuscitate him following an apparent cardiac arrest. The Mayor was transported to Wilcox Hospital, where he was pronounced dead late this afternoon.
The Mayor had heart bypass surgery on June 13 at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu. He was released from Queens on June 20 and had returned to Kauai on the evening of June 21. He was resting comfortably at home when the incident occurred.
The Mayor's Administrative Assistant, Gary Heu, is serving as Mayor pro-tem, and has been in contact with Kaua'i's elected officials. He will meet with county officials on Monday, to determine the appropriate course of action in accordance with the county charter.
Mayor Baptiste was 52 years old. He leaves wife Annette and four children: Brandon, Heather, Lauren and Preston.
No further information will be released this evening. The Mayor's family requests privacy during this difficult time.
14 comments:
That is sad. How tragic for his wife and children.
It's a shame. Nice enough fellow even if not an effective leader. hard to believe he was only 52. He looked decades older with his poor health.
Wonder how our seven dwarves will replace him. My money is on Kaipo as he'll just be a compromise caretaker. Mel and SIC are not popular . Kouchi might make a play if he can get Kaipo and the 2 Opozos behind him.
Jay is probably the most competant but doubt he really wants to quit his day job. Bynum isn't up to it and it would be hard to imagine anyone would back Ms. Yukimura to take the job back.
Bryan gave all he had. He cared about Kauai with all his heart. It is a sad day for each and everyone of us.
Jay quit his day job some time ago. He is certainly the most competent.
Bryan will be missed. He truly cared about and for the "silent" ones who trusted him as a leader who would guide Kauai safely through the unfamiliar waters of change.
When the fruit is ripe- it falls from the tree and is gathered into the loving arms of Ke Akua who, alone, knew when that moment is nigh.
Warmest aloha to Bryan's family.
is=was
too late at night for proper grammar.
The smart money is on Mel.
He will have Shalene and his own vote - and the others will be divided.
smart money maybe, but he's dumber than a rock.
2 votes isn't enough. You'd need 4. Bynum, Yukimura and Furfaro can't stand that self important blowhard. They'd elect Kaipo first.
6/22/08 10:23 PM said:
"Wonder how our seven dwarves will replace him. My money is on Kaipo as he'll just be a compromise caretaker. Mel and SIC are not popular . Kouchi might make a play if he can get Kaipo and the 2 Opozos behind him."
Are you suggesting another popularity contest? We've been down that road before and it ain't pretty. Mel, Shay and Kaipo are the only ones that not connected to special interests. We need a change in leadership that can turn this county around. JoAnn, Ron and Jay all have agendas. Tim simply has no clue what is going on. We need a true election, not another popularity contest.
Kaipo is very much part of the old boy system. He may not be employed by a plantation or developer, but he's never missed a chance to featherbed for old time interests at the expense of the public.
Mel should not be in government with his history of poor judgement when he was a police officer. Not to mention he's not bright enough to even understand Federal rules re a recreational bike path.
Shay -- blech. The people that work with her can't stand her from what I hear. Just what we need, the Red Queen in charge.
Tim -- not up to it.
Kouchi -- another of questionable character
That leaves Kaipo who's wanted the job for decades (but can't handle it). Or Jay, who's the brightest of the bunch.
I admit I took the Andy Parx assessment 6 years ago and voted for the guy that would do nothing over the guy that would do a lot "but 20% would be creamed off the top by his friends". Who knows just how bad our choices will be this go around.
rumor is the 7 are really fighting it out today with lots of animosity.
What a pack of turds if that's true. Brian isn't even buried yet and the jackals are fighting over the spoils.
You gotta figure at least 3 of them want the job. Maybe 5.
Kaipo, Kouchi, Rabozo -- 100%
Furfaro -- probably
Yukimura???
Bynum -- doubt it.
Shay? She might just be smart enough to figure Prosecutor is the job for a pit bull, not Mayor.
What is sad about Bryan's death, is his health care, and his self care. What's sad is no one supported him in loosing weight, exercising, eating healthy and eating less.
We need leaders that will lead by example, not from the grave.
We should find out who Bryan's physicians were, and let people know to seek help elswhere if you want to live longer than Bryan.
Diabetes is preventable!
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