For the week of May 14 - 20, 2003

Former Express
reporter killed in
Maui accident

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Kevin Wiser, a former Mountain Express reporter, died Sunday, May 4, on the Hawaiian island of Maui when waves swept him from a rocky outcropping at a popular tourist site.

Wiser, 41, covered Blaine County government and agriculture from November 1998 to August 2000. He was passionate about the outdoors, recreation, drug and alcohol prevention and the symbolic verve of Idaho’s riparian corridors. In 2000, he moved to Grass Valley, Calif., where he worked for The Union, a daily newspaper.

Mountain Express employees were sad to hear the news of Wiser’s passing.

"He went too soon. It was a tragic accident, but yet the way he went was not surprising," said Mountain Express photographer Willy Cook. "It’s the way he lived life. He played soccer hard. He played tennis hard. He rode his motorcycle fast. He liked the thrill of life."

The details of Wiser’s accident were reported May 5 by The Union.

According to Maui Police Sgt. Max Kincaid, Wiser got too close to the Nakalele blowhole on Maui’s North Shore and drowned after he was swept into the ocean.

A blowhole is the result of the ocean wearing away the shore below a shoreline lava shelf. With each wave, water is forced through a hole in the shelf, resulting in an eruption of water similar to a geyser. High tide and strong surf result in the most dramatic eruptions, but are also the most dangerous. Those are the conditions Wiser faced May 4.

Kincaid said Wiser was standing on the ocean side of the hole and "got captured by the wave." He tried to swim away but was caught by another wave, Kincaid said.

Wiser was with his girlfriend, who was viewing the blowhole from a safe distance.

The Maui Fire Department, which got a call at 1:30 p.m., recovered the body 45 minutes later, 100 yards offshore at Nakalele Point. Assistant Fire Chief Greg Chong Kee said the fire helicopter and a rescue unit brought Wiser’s body to shore.

The son of Lyman and Romona Wiser of Ogden, Utah, Wiser attended Grandview Elementary School in Ogden and became an Eagle Scout. He graduated from Ogden High School and Weber State University, where he majored in English and communications.

Wiser, though quiet and reserved, developed several strong friendships in the Wood River Valley, primarily among his coworkers.

"Kevin was a young man who gave an old lady a lot of good time," said long-time Ketchum resident and Express employee Betty Bell.

Express graphics designer Gavin McNeil, who frequently played tennis with Wiser, remembered the reporter’s fierce competitive nature.

"He was the most competitive person I ever met," McNeil said. "He would kill himself before he’d lose a point."

Cook remembered that Wiser did not easily fit the traditional journalistic mold, though he received numerous accolades from the Idaho Press Club for his work.

"He struggled with the confines of journalism," Cook said. "He had a lovely way of drawing the reader into a story by depicting the scene with all of his senses. From his first arrival on the scene, he’d be sniffing. He’d be tasting.

"That sensory palate of tastes and descriptions—perhaps his writing didn’t fit the confines of traditional journalism, but it was fun and effective."

Former Express ad sales manager Mary Gibson remembered the quiet, peaceful Wiser.

"I think Kevin was a kind and gentle person, with a mischievous side to him," she said.

In 2000, Wiser went to The Union, where he covered county politics, mental health and education. He was an avid skier and mountain climber, and he loved to ride his 1995 Suzuki Intruder 800 motorcycle on scenic rural roads.

Before becoming a reporter, Wiser worked as a model and a waiter. Because of that, pointed out The Union staff members, he was always a heavy tipper. He was also a poet, a storyteller and an outdoorsman.

According to The Union, unpredictable winter weather in Hawaii has caused a series of deaths and rescues of tourists in recent weeks. On the west coast of the big island of Hawaii on Friday, May 9, rescue crews pulled two scuba divers to safety from heavy wave surge off Old Kona Airport.

Three weeks ago, a massive flash flood swept away a man and his daughter without warning as they hiked above the pools of Ohe’o in the Haleakala National Park.

At the opposite end of the island from Nakalele Point, thousands travel each year to the area, often called the Seven Sacred Pools. But few are aware of the dangers of flash floods on the stream.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.