Lawyers for a deaf 10-year-old Kaua'i boy whose father — also the boy's sign-language interpreter — was barred from sitting in the dugout during a statewide baseball tournament in July have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice alleging PONY baseball officials violated the boy's rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The complaint, filed Monday with the Department of Justice in Washington, asks the agency to investigate the claim that PONY officials discriminated against Justin "Pono" Tokioka on the basis of his disability. It also asks that the youth sports league be made to stop its alleged discrimination against Justin and other hearing-impaired individuals and to adopt or change written policies to ensure the PONY league will permit interpreters to provide services in the dugout and elsewhere to provide effective communication with players.

National-level PONY League officials could not be reached yesterday to comment on the complaint. Gwen Earll, the league's state director, said the issue is still under discussion and proposed rule changes may be submitted again to the national PONY office in hopes of resolving the matter.

Earll said the issue never came up until the state tournament and caught state PONY officials off guard. The national rules limit the number of coaches in the dugout to no more than three. The issue of allowing Justin's father to sit in the dugout surfaced at the state tournament in Hilo the night before play was set to begin.

Earll said the Lihu'e team was offered the option of allowing the father to remain in the dugout if he was counted as one of three coaches, but the team turned down that option. The father was allowed to sit within a roped-off area next to the dugout so he could relay communications to his son, who was playing second base.

At a news conference yesterday, the boy's parents, Beth and James Tokioka, said the complaint was filed on their son's behalf by attorneys for the National Association of the Deaf only after PONY League officials voted 4-1 in October against a proposed rule change that would have resolved the issue.

Marc Charmatz, who filed the complaint, said the Department of Justice is the lead agency in sorting out ADA complaints. He said the department has a number of options, including filing a lawsuit on the boy's behalf, recommending that the two sides take the matter to arbitration or negotiating a settlement.

"Here, it appears the parents did everything to resolve the issue short of filing a complaint," Charmatz said.

He said he believes that the issue "goes to the core" of the Americans With Disabilities Act and that the Department of Justice will act promptly on the complaint.

James Tokioka said that during the state tournament, a brick wall separated him from the coaches inside the dugout and he had to look around the wall to see the coaches and could hear only a portion of the instructions they were giving to the other players. He estimated that he could get no closer than 20 feet to the coaches and that Justin was on the field at least 15 yards away. Tokioka said it was virtually impossible for him to simultaneously relay coaching instructions to his son via sign language.

"I talked to six of the eight coaches whose teams played in the tournament and not one of them had a problem with my being allowed in the dugout," Tokioka said.

Beth Tokioka said her husband was able to remain in the Lihu'e team's dugout throughout the season and island playoffs and it became an issue only at the state tournament.

"I liken it to a child who wears glasses being asked not to wear glasses during the tournament," she said. "We want PONY to acknowledge they made a mistake and to change the rules."

James Tokioka said reports of what happened to him and his son have spread worldwide and a not a day goes by that he doesn't get an e-mail from someone encouraging him to continue fighting for the change. "We're not gonna give up until we get what's right, until we get what's pono (justice) for Pono," he said.

Both Hawai'i's U.S. Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka released statements yesterday in support of Tokioka.

Inouye said he was "surprised and disappointed" by PONY baseball's treatment of Tokioka. "Providing reasonable accommodations for those with special needs — in this case, allowing a sign-language interpreter in a baseball dugout — is the policy for our nation," Inouye said. "I wholeheartedly support the Tokioka family in their quest for fair treatment."

Akaka called Tokioka a "true warrior" and said: "We've come a long way, but as Pono can tell you, we have more to go. I hope this particular situation can be resolved amicably, because there can be no argument to support the decision to deny Pono and his teammates his right to play ball."

The Kaua'i and Hawai'i county councils and the Honolulu City Council are considering resolutions that call for organizations found to be in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act to be barred from using county park facilities.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.