Bringing you today’s stories on issues important to Native communities.  NewsClips is a complimentary service of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.  Don’t miss the biggest event in Native Hawaiian community development!  Register now for the 4^th Annual Native Hawaiian Conference from August 30 – September 2 2005 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.  Special scholarships are available.  For conference registration, scholarship forms, and for information and updates on our training workshops and events, please visit our Web site at: www.hawaiiancouncil.org.

July 13, 2005

• In Hawaii, a Chance to Heal, Long Delayed
• OHA seeks high-court action on ceded lands
• Tribal council endorses legal action over business expansion at sacred site
• Foster program helps native Hawaiian kids
• Ruling on bones at Wal-Mart site to be revisited
• Lingle signs affordable-housing bills, promises more
• Anahola Homesteaders Get Training for Technology Jobs
• Storage room is now a tech center/clinic
• Waimanalo explores biodiesel plant
• State's hot job market bypasses Waianae
• Pu’unoa property owners say they’ll farm their land
• Media Briefing on Indian Health Care Improvement Act Reauthorization
• Grant to benefit substance abuse prevention
• Study examines Indian smoking
• Va. Tribal Chiefs Set for Historic Trip
• U. will get $300K to train American Indian teachers Special education
• Sycuan tribe has plans for $55 million in projects
• Sights set on home
• Maryknoll grad proud to join navigator's team
• Maui wetland set for restoration this month
• Japan hooked on hula and the 'ukulele
• Crossroads Theatre for Youth presents Moira's Choice

July 12, 2005

In Hawaii, a Chance to Heal, Long Delayed

By LAWRENCE DOWNES

New York Times

Less than a month after 9/11, with terrorism fears threatening to put jet travel and thus the Hawaiian economy into a death spiral, tourism officials there announced an emergency marketing campaign to promote the state as a place of rest, solace and healing. Anyone who has ever stepped off a plane in Honolulu, trading the brittle staleness of the aircraft cabin for the liquid Hawaiian breeze, warm and heavy with the scent of flowers, knows exactly what they meant.

The selling of Hawaii as a land of gracious welcome works so well because it happens to be true. But for the members of one group, that has always evoked a bitter taste: native Hawaiians, the descendants of Polynesian voyagers who settled the islands in antiquity and lived there in isolation until the late 1700's. Ever since Captain Cook, the native Hawaiian story has been a litany of loss: loss of land and of a way of life, of population through sickness and disease, and of self-determination when United States marines toppled the monarchy in 1893.

Over decades, the islands emerged as a vibrant multiracial society and the proud 50th state. Hawaiian culture - language and art, religion and music - has undergone a profound rebirth since the 1970's. But underneath this modern history remains a deep sense of dispossession among native Hawaiians, who make up about 20 percent of the population.

Into the void has stepped Senator Daniel Akaka, the first native Hawaiian in Congress, who is the lead sponsor of a bill to extend federal recognition to native Hawaiians, giving them the rights of self-government as indigenous people that only American Indians and native Alaskans now enjoy. The Akaka bill has the support of Hawaii's Congressional delegation, the State Legislature and even its Republican governor, Linda Lingle. It will go before the Senate for a vote as soon as next week.

The bill would allow native Hawaiians - defined, in part, as anyone with indigenous ancestors living in the islands before the kingdom fell - to elect a governing body that would negotiate with the federal government over land and other natural resources and assets. There is a lot of money and property at stake, including nearly two million acres of "ceded lands," once owned by the monarchy; hundreds of thousands of acres set aside long ago for Hawaiian homesteaders; and hundreds of millions of dollars in entitlement programs.

Much of what is now the responsibility of two state agencies, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, would become the purview of the new government.

There are many jurisdictional and procedural details to work out, but Mr. Akaka and others insist that the bill precludes radical outcomes.

There would be no cash reparations, no new entitlements, no land grabs and especially no Indian-style casinos, which are a hot topic in Hawaii, one of only two states that outlaw all gambling.

The bill's critics include those who see it as a race-based scheme to balkanize a racial paradise. On the other flank, radical Hawaiian groups say the bill undercuts their real dream: to take the 50th star off the flag and to create a government that does its negotiating with the State Department, not Interior.

Mr. Akaka argues, convincingly, that beyond the bill's practical benefits in streamlining the management of assets and the flow of money, it is a crucial step in a long, slow process of reconciliation. As he sees it, Hawaii's cultural renaissance has exposed the unhealed wound in the native psyche. He has witnessed it in young people, more radical than their elders, as they adopt a tone of uncharacteristic hostility and resentment in sovereignty marches. He has noted a wariness that is at odds with the conciliatory mood struck in 1993, when President Bill Clinton signed a resolution apologizing for the kingdom's overthrow.

Mr. Akaka says his bill offers vital encouragement to a group that makes up a disproportionate share of the islands' poor, sick, homeless and imprisoned, while steering a moderate course between extremes of agitation and apathy.

The spirit of aloha, of gentle welcome, is the direct legacy of native culture and an incalculable gift the Hawaiian people have made to everyone who has ever traveled there - wobbly-legged sailors and missionaries, dogged immigrants and sun-scorched tourists. The Akaka bill, with its first steps at long-deferred Hawaiian self-determination, seems like an obvious thing to give in return, an overdue measure of simple gratitude.

July 9, 2005

OHA seeks high-court action on ceded lands

The state is accused of wrongly annulling its promised payments

By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs wants the state Supreme Court to reinstate a lawsuit that seeks millions of dollars owed under an invalidated state law that had set up a funding formula for the agency.

Attorneys for OHA say the state breached its fiduciary duties by participating in the demise of the 1990 law that calculated OHA's share of revenues from ceded lands, or former monarchy lands.

The state contends OHA has no viable claims.

"We believe that former Gov. Ben Cayetano and former Attorney General Margery Bronster did what was in the best interest of the state of Hawaii, and the claim that because of their conduct OHA is entitled to recover hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars from the state is frivolous," said state Attorney General Mark Bennett.

Under the state Constitution, OHA must get a percentage of the revenues from the former monarchy lands held in trust by the state government.

The legislative and executive branches reached a 1990 settlement agreement that resulted in Act 304, by which OHA would get 20 percent of ceded-lands revenues.

But the Hawaii Supreme Court invalidated Act 304 in September 2001, saying it conflicted with federal law prohibiting the state, which receives federal grant moneys, from diverting airport revenues for non-airport uses.

The state initially argued that the payments to OHA were for rent and did not violate federal laws. But in the summer of 1997, the state agreed to the language in a federal omnibus appropriations bill that said any future payments of airport revenues would be illegal under federal law, in exchange for "forgiveness" of past payments totaling $28 million. It was called the Forgiveness Act, which was passed later that year.

OHA sued the state in July 2003, saying the state should never have agreed to the Forgiveness Act because it breached both the 1990 agreement and its duties owed to OHA under the ceded-lands trust.

The fact that the statute was invalidated means OHA cannot get ceded-lands revenue under the statute, said former Associate Justice Robert Klein, one of three attorneys representing OHA.

Because the state wrongfully invalidated the statute by the actions of the state, "OHA should be able to get damages from the state based on that statute as if it existed today," he said. "But for the state's wrongful conduct, we would have that revenue source."

Deputy Attorney General Dorothy Sellers argued that the state did not have a conflict of interest when it agreed to the Forgiveness Act, because it was representing all five purposes of the trust, including the betterment of native Hawaiians. The only way OHA can sue for damages is if the state's actions violated its duty to manage and dispose of trust assets, she said.

OHA stopped getting payments after Act 304 was invalidated, and it was not until January 2003, shortly after she took office, that Gov. Linda Lingle resumed some payments on an agreement.

OHA continues to receive funding from sources other than the airport fees -- about $9 million to $10 million a year, Sellers said. "Eventually there will have to be a new law, but there isn't one, so we're paying them under an old, invalid law as best we can."

7/7/2005

Tribal council endorses legal action over business expansion at sacred site

Lawsuit against feds gets the go-ahead

Sam Lewin
Native American Times

Following up on their vow, officials with the Hopi Tribe are going to court over a federal decision to allow the use of “reclaimed” water on a sacred site.

Reclaimed water means wastewater.

The Arizona Snowbowl, an upscale ski lodge with thousands of rooms, has received permission to pump the water in order to manufacture artificial snow.

The lodge is located in the San Francisco Peaks, an extinct volcano formed more than 3 million years ago. Tribes regard the peaks as sacred, and unsuccessfully lobbied the U.S. Forest Service to reject the plan. The agency balked.

In a unanimous vote, the Hopi Tribal Council has passed a resolution authorizing the pursuit of legal action to protect the peaks. Last month, Chairman Wayne Taylor, Jr. expressed “deep disappointment” with the decision to expand the lodge.

“It is our duty and obligation to protect and preserve the spiritual integrity of Nuvatukyaovi as an afforded right of our First Amendment freedoms and we will never cease our efforts to defend what our beliefs, religious and cultural properties,” he said.

Nuvatukyaovi is the Hopi word for the peaks.

Tribal officials say the council’s resolution gives official sanction to the lawsuit filed on June 30 naming the U.S. Forest Service as a defendant and seeking to overturn the decision regarding the expansion.

Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, who had previously described the recent decision by the U.S. Forest Service as an “attack on our place of worship,” endorsed the ruling.

“This step by the Hopi Tribal Council to pursue legal action shows a continuity of support and unity for the ongoing Snowbowl expansion issue by the tribal government and the religious leaders,” Kuwanwisiwma said. “Their actions are very much appreciated by the Hopi people. It is evident that the same unity that was shown in 1979 exists today on this issue.”

Other tribal leaders have condemned the water project.

“To Native Americans, desecrating the San Francisco Peaks with wastewater is like flushing the Koran down the toilet,” Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., said. “The federal government is ignoring the pleas and wishes of the Native people. We see other people go to war for their way of life, their essence. Here, though, the federal government is ignoring the pleas and wishes of the Native people.”

In addition to that argument, tribal officials protest that artificial snowmaking will have a significant adverse effect on the overall environment of the mountain and watershed, a move that could ultimately affect the condition of an historic property currently in the process of being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Hopis and Navajos are not the only ones that consider the San Francisco Peaks to have religious significance. The Zuni, Tewa, Haulapai, Havasupai, Yavapai-Apache, Yavapai-Prescott, Tonto Apache, White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache, San Juan Southern Pauite, Fort Mcdowell Mohave Apache, and Acoma also maintain a spiritual connection to the site.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Foster program helps native Hawaiian kids

By Mary Vorsino
mvorsino@starbulletin.com

There was a certain relief when the kids grew up, moved out. That part of life -- of motherhood -- was over. A little relaxation was long overdue.

"This is tutu's time now," Martha Carson remembered thinking to herself, not more than a year ago. But in her semiretirement, fate threw Carson into a job at nonprofit Kokua Ohana, which is aimed at recruiting more native Hawaiian foster parents.

Within months she had been persuaded to enroll in foster parenting classes. And before she had even completed them, Carson got a call to take in an emergency caseload: three adolescent native Hawaiian siblings, two girls and a boy.

"I was in shock after I'd said I'd take them," Carson said recently from her home in Waimea, three months after returning the children to their family after a 12-week stay. "They were taken from school and brought to my place of work. They told me, 'We have no clothes. We have no toothbrushes. We have no nothing. What's happening?'"

Carson is one of 12 native Hawaiian foster parents whom Kokua Ohana has recruited on the Big Island since the nonprofit started working with a two-year, $715,536 federal grant in November. Many of the organization's participants never saw themselves as foster parents. They were also never asked in earnest before the nonprofit came along.

The one-of-a-kind organization in the islands, which helps recruits to become licensed foster parents and forms support groups so they will not get too discouraged along the way, has plans to start wide-scale operations on Oahu this summer. In small recruitment efforts on the island earlier in the year, the program netted 12 native Hawaiian foster parents.

The statistics are good news for child welfare advocates here who have long been alarmed about the shortage of native Hawaiian foster parents.

About 53 percent of the state's more than 3,000 foster children are native Hawaiian, while only 36 percent of foster families are, according to state statistics.

The state Department of Human Services has said that about 40 percent of native Hawaiian children are placed in non-native Hawaiian homes, and a 2003 federal review of the department listed the disparity as a big negative.

"We've never made a lot of headway into the Hawaiian communities," said Lyn Kozama, assistant program administrator in the state Department of Human Services' Child Welfare Services Branch. That's where Kokua Ohana comes in, Kozama hopes.

The organization recruits from within native Hawaiian communities and organizations, getting the word out about the program through neighborhood boards, churches and schools.

"When we go, we present the need for more Hawaiian families," said Amanda Masuyama, Kokua Ohana's program coordinator.

She said placing a native Hawaiian foster child in a native Hawaiian home tends to "lessen the trauma that these kids go through" by allowing them to hold on to a "sense of identity."

Kokua Ohana uses the "hui concept" to create support groups for foster parents within the existing organizations, Masuyama said.

"I think a lot of agencies, they recruit and then that's it for them," she said. "Kokua Ohana takes a little bit of a different approach. We're using the community."

The nonprofit is headed by Waimea Kahu Dean Kauka, and some of its first foster parents -- including Carson -- came from his church. Kokua Ohana hopes to recruit 144 native Hawaiian foster parents by the time its grant runs out in 2006.

After a hectic several months with her foster children, Carson has decided to take a short break. But she says she has found a good fit in foster parenting and would take in more children if asked.

"It's not a financial reward," she said, with a laugh, "but the feeling you get from doing something for somebody who needs a kick, it's just awesome."

To contact Kokua Ohana on the Big Island, call their offices at 885-9290. On all other islands, call the organization's toll-free number, 800-396-4262.

Posted on: Saturday, July 9, 2005

Ruling on bones at Wal-Mart site to be revisited

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writer

The O'ahu Island Burial Council has been told it must reconsider a ruling that gave one family greater clout in deciding the fate of more than 60 sets of human remains found on the site of the Ke'eaumoku Street Wal-Mart store.

In its original ruling, the council in December 2004 granted what is called lineal descendant status to the Keana'aina family.

That decision was challenged by Paulette Ka'anohiokalani Kaleikini. Kaleikini's family and other Native Hawaiian families were designated cultural descendants, a status which gives them less say in determining the future of iwi, or bones, on the site.

Based on the challenge, an administrative appeals panel was convened, and the panel's decision became public yesterday.

The two families disagree on how the bones should be reinterred. The dispute has raised questions about how the government should deal with archaeological finds.

The burial council's decision to recognize the Keana'ainas as lineal descendants of all Native Hawaiian burial remains found at the Wal-Mart site went contrary to a recommendation by the staff of the state Historic Preservation Division.

Van Horn Diamond, chairman of the O'ahu Island Burial Council, learned of the decision when called by The Advertiser yesterday. Diamond said he was disappointed by the decision and said he would withhold further comment until he saw the contents of the decision.

Attorneys for both the Keana'ainas and Kaleikini could not be reached for comment late yesterday.

The appeals panel consisted of three members of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, a representative from the Hawai'i Island, Maui and Kaua'i burial councils, and Land Board Chairman Peter Young, who was to vote only in case of a tie. All six other members of the panel, however, signed off on the decision.

The O'ahu council's decision to recognize the Keana'ainas as lineal descendants "was clearly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative and substantial evidence on the whole record," the appeals panel stated.

The Keana'ainas could only specifically identify one burial as being directly or collaterally related to its family, the panel said.

"In this case, the identification of one burial is an insufficient basis to claim known lineal descent status to all Native Hawaiian burials in the four identified Findspots," the panel stated.

Meanwhile, a trial is expected to begin in Circuit Court on July 18 on a lawsuit that alleges human remains unearthed during construction were mishandled. Claims against Wal-Mart were dismissed by a judge but the case is proceeding on claims against the state and city.

The lawsuit was filed by Kaleikini and Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei.

The remains have been stored at the site pending the completion of an investigation by state attorneys into possible damage caused during archaeological work. The O'ahu Island Burial Council has ruled that the iwi will then be buried together on a corner of the store's property.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Posted on: Thursday, July 7, 2005

Lingle signs affordable-housing bills, promises more

Associated Press

Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday said three new laws aimed at helping the homeless and low-income residents were a step in the right direction toward bringing more affordable housing to Hawai'i, but stressed that more needs to be done.

The governor promised to "continue to focus on what I believe is the most serious issue facing our state."

"This is a step we needed to take but there's so much more that we need to do," she said during a bill signing outside a rental complex for seniors in Kaka'ako.

The measures include a bill that implements several strategies to bring affordable housing to a state with some of the highest median home prices in the nation. Last month the median resale price of a house was $735,000 on Maui and $593,000 on O'ahu.

The strategies include:

  Creating a Joint Legislative Affordable Housing and Homeless Task Force to conduct hearings and gather more information to develop future solutions to housing in Hawai'i. The task force will focus on identifying state lands for affordable housing and streamlining the permitting, land use and zoning barriers to constructing and rehabilitating affordable housing.

  Increasing the amount of conveyance taxes transferred into the Rental Housing Trust Fund and creating a special grant program funded through the trust fund for developers who build units for families earning less than $20,000 per year.

  Expanding the general excise tax exemption for build-out costs and rental income stream for projects that dedicate at least half of their units for families earning $50,000 per year.

  Expanding the types of developers that may qualify for trust fund money to include corporations, companies and partnerships.

  Allowing developers to obtain approval of a project within 45 days if the project primarily targets housing units for families earning less than $95,000 a year.

The bill also splits the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i into two agencies effective July 1, 2006 — one to administer public housing and the other to finance and develop affordable housing.

House Housing Committee Chairman Michael Kahikina said the bill was "the most important piece of legislation passed this year" to help the homeless and low-income families.

But Lingle said more needs to be done. She said the laws should have included moderate-income families who are also struggling to find affordable housing.

"I don't feel the solutions in these bills recognize the seriousness of the crisis that we face and I don't think they address the broad range of housing that we're lacking in the state," she said.

July 12, 2005

Anahola Homesteaders Get Training for Technology Jobs

Honolulu, HI – The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) has received a $25,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) to support technical training for technology jobs created in Anahola Hawaiian homestead on the island of Kauai.

“Through the support of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, local residents working at the Anahola Technology Center will receive advanced technical training to perform Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) document conversion techniques,” said Robin Puanani Danner, CNHA’s President & CEO. “CAD is an important element in performing the conversion of maps and other documents to electronic formats; it’s a tremendous skill area with high demand.”

Hawaiian Homestead Technology (HHT), a wholly owned subsidiary of CNHA, partners with the Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association to provide document conversion services to government and commercial clients in Hawaii and the mainland. All of HHT’s profits are dedicated to community development support services and CNHA’s Hawaiian Way Fund, with all revenues earned by the community association supporting programs in the Anahola homestead.

“Projects in the homesteads are extremely important in creating viable community-based economies,” said Clyde Nāmu‘o, OHA’s Administrator. “OHA’s grant program is designed to invest funds that further the goals of our communities and the residents that live there.”

CNHA is a national, member-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides support services to organizations serving native communities. Its primary expertise is in community development technical assistance and training, public policy initiatives, and the coordination of events and conferences focused on native community development issues.

For more information on CNHA and its enterprise HHT, call 521.5011 or visit www.hawaiiancouncil.org. For more information on OHA, call 594.1888 or visit www.oha.org.

Posted on: Sunday, July 3, 2005

Storage room is now a tech center/clinic

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

Papakolea residents will mark another milestone in their efforts to improve the education and health of people living in the Hawaiian Homestead community with the blessing and grand opening Tuesday of the new technology and resource facility in their community center.

The $182,000 technology center includes an air-conditioned computer lab, a children's and community reference library and a health clinic.

A lot is packed into the 18- by 64-foot space that had been used as a storage room, according to Puni Kekauoha, president of the Papakolea Community Association, which runs the center.

"We are occupying every square foot now," Kekauoha said. "We now have a storage problem, but it's a really good thing."

The two-story community center is a busy place, with classes covering early education, healthcare and hula. A kupuna program, the Boys and Girls Club of Hawai'i and Safe Haven all work from the center. Church services are held on Sundays.

Kekauoha and other residents formed the nonprofit Papakolea Community Development Corp. and took control of the neighborhood community center from the city in 2002. She said running the center has become a step toward self-determination for Papakolea and its adjacent homeland communities of Kewalo and Kalawahine.

Papakolea Homestead resident Rebekkah Quinlan brings her four children to classes and activities at the center where she volunteers part-time. Her husband makes use of the lomi lomi classes.

Quinlan said in a short time, the activities at the center have been embraced by the community.

"I think they are trying really hard and I can tell it is working because parents are bringing their kids here," she said. "From before, I wouldn't have brought my kids here. Now I feel safer here. They keep it clean and the kids enjoy coming up here. Even my 2-year-old will cry to come up here."

She said a program called Leap Frog, which uses an electronic interactive educational pad, has really helped develop her children's reading skills.

"I see a big difference in my kids," Quinlan said. "When I watch the kids from beginning to now, they are eager and anxious to grab a book and read it. We can actually can let them read for a half hour and they won't care.

"I think it is a great thing that now they are putting in computers with access for kids. It is just awesome."

The new health clinic will be run by Dr. Joy Jurek, the medical director of Ke Ola Mamo, who sees patients at the community center or in the comfort of their home.

The new center was funded through a variety of federal, state and city grants along with private donations.

Papakolea is a 27-acre homestead with 270 homes and about 1,500 residents near the entrance to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

The first community center was built in 1932 along with a health center run by Queen's Hospital, now The Queen's Medical Center. The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands leased the land to the city in 1963 and the present center — including a covered basketball court and a small playground — was built in 1984. In 1999, following a community vision project, residents began developing a plan to manage the center themselves.

Today programs such as lomi lomi classes, senior services and sports teams continue, and more are being planned, including business training, a new community kitchen and TV production training to broadcast center events and meetings.

Reach James Gonser at 535-2431 or jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com. For more information, call 520-8998.

4:36 PM HST Thursday

LATEST NEWS

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) -

Waimanalo explores biodiesel plant

A group of Hawaiian Homestead residents will study the feasibility of building and operating a biodiesel facility in Waimanalo.

The Office of Hawaiian Afffairs gave a $20,000 grant to the Waimanalo Hawaiian Homes Association Na Opio Task Force to conduct a feasibility study for the project and create a business plan. Paul P. Richards, president of WHHA, and Joe Ann U. Sang, treasurer, will co-chair the project. The task force hopes the project will create jobs for the community with minimal land use and little waste.

Biodiesel is fuel made from vegetable oil that can be used in any vehicle with a diesel engine. The fuel has been championed by environmentalists because it has fewer emissions then gasoline, is biodegradable and can be made from the used oil of restaurant deep-fryers. The Waimanalo Hawaian Homes Association's Na Opio Task Force is a working group of homestead residents focused on community development and capacity building in the Waimanalo community.

From the July 8, 2005 print edition

State's hot job market bypasses Waianae

Prabha Natarajan

Pacific Business News

Residents of Oahu's Waianae Coast, contrary to the statewide trend, still find it difficult to find jobs, with unemployment in that community persisting at 10 percent to 15 percent.

That's only a few percentage points lower than it was five years ago, before the start of Hawaii's economic recovery, according to estimates.

The statewide 3 percent unemployment rate -- the lowest in the nation -- has created a job-seekers' market, opening up opportunities to cruise up the career ladder or switch jobs for nearly everybody in the work force.

Not so in Waianae.

Robin Hun, 40, of Makaha says she's been attending at least three to four interviews a month since January and has yet to find a job. The former United Airlines reservations agent is unsure about what more she needs to do to get a job. She wonders if she needs to sell herself better or maybe go back to school and learn to use popular software programs.

Joyce Suckoll, manager of the Waianae office of Oahu WorkLinks, says 15 to 20 people with problems similar to Hun's walk into her job-training, search and employment agency daily.

They represent a cross section of the community -- dislocated workers, homemakers who want to get back into the work force, college graduates, fast-food workers who want better jobs. In Waianae, job opportunities are limited, and a good-paying job is a lifeline in a community in which half the population is dependent on public assistance, according to 2000 census data.

Formerly an agricultural stronghold, Waianae remains rural and impoverished while the rest of Oahu rides tourism, military and real estate booms. The conflict between development and rural values is played out regularly there, where 51 percent of the residents are Native Hawaiians, some of whom continue to resist development. Others have found their subsistence living through agriculture and fishing threatened by development.

Hole-ridden tarps and tents dot the Leeward beaches as many find living on the beach easier than dealing with escalating property cost. Drugs, poverty and the grueling hours-long commute to Honolulu are other major factors that bog down the community.

"The unemployed here lack skills," Oahu WorkLinks' Suckoll said. "They all want a job but don't want to train."

She says many of the people she works with say they are high-school graduates, but in testing show a sixth-grade-level competency in math and English.

This lack of educational qualifications prevents them from getting into the construction and trade unions. The Iron Workers Union is one of the few unions that doesn't require a high-school diploma.

"The problem with the other trade unions is that they require a high-school diploma and have rigorous entrance standards that many Waianae residents can't meet," said Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, D-Waianae-Makua. "Even with a high-school diploma many people can't pass the entrance tests. We really need to find a way to connect the construction and other job [sectors] that are booming with the unemployed in Waianae."

To make that link, the Legislature this session gave the Waianae Maritime Academy $50,000 for its programs. The academy, which opened last year, is a training program offered by Leeward Community College at Waianae for entry-level jobs as deck hands and engine-room personnel on ships.

Other organizations such as those in the Building Industry Association are working with the college on training programs.

Oahu WorkLinks offers training and educational opportunities for qualified candidates. It offers core services such as jobs database, workshops on writing resumes and doing interviews, and job referrals.

On top of that it offers two different tracks of help -- one for low-income job seekers and the other for those fired or downsized from their current jobs.

For people in the former category, the agency offers help with education and goes so far as to fund an undergraduate degree with the help of grants. Dislocated workers, on the other hand, can upgrade their skills by going to a computer class.

The most popular fad now is to get a commercial driver's license and certification, said Rolanse Crisafulli, administrator of Oahu Work Links.

In addition to education skills, basic job skills -- working on a computer, grooming, learning to get up and go to work every morning -- are part of the free training offered at Oahu WorkLinks.

"The challenge for us is to match the people with skills and attitude employers are looking for," Crisafulli said. "We just want a person who shows up to work on time, gets along with coworkers, be a team player, be clean and sober."

Many of the agency's clients are asked to attend workshops to ensure they are taught these basic work ethics.

"When you have a spotty work history, don't have a good lifestyle and are not confident in yourself, it's hard to keep a job," Crisafulli said.

At a workshop Oahu WorkLinks organized in Waianae last week, instructor Rodrigo Almosara instructed his class on how to get a job -- and then keep it.

Former United Airlines employee Hun attended the session.

In response to her experience at her last job, Almosara had to instruct her that picking a fight may not be the best way to retain a job.

"If you need to stay in a company, you need to get along with co-workers and supervisors," Almosara said. "You can fight against supervisors, but it's hard to win sometimes."

Some of Almosara's comments were more generic: Don't take your kids to a job fair. Don't wear half-a-dozen jangling gold bracelets for a job interview. No tank tops. Be flexible. Be ready to work anywhere on the island. Don't demand a job only on the Waianae Coast.

"But more needs to be done in terms of job training, that's for sure," lawmaker Shimabukuro said. "We have to make whatever training people need available, especially in rural communities."

pnatarajan@bizjournals.com | 955-8041

July 9, 2005

Pu’unoa property owners say they’ll farm their land

By VALERIE MONSON, Staff Writer

Maui News

WAIKAPU – A crop of Maui residents who own lots in an agricultural subdivision where it’s feared that only mansions will grow, insisted Thursday that they just want to farm, not speculate.

“We see this as a long-term investment, a serious investment,” said Greg Ward, who moved to Maui three years ago and recently paid $1.15 million for a 5-acre parcel in the Pu’unoa subdivision outside of Lahaina. “We want to raise our family here.”

Ward and several others who have purchased lots testified under oath about their sincere intentions as the contested case hearing set by the state Land Use Commission wrapped up at the Waikapu Community Center. The long-simmering dispute pits Kuleana Ku’ikahi, a hui of Native Hawaiian families that live on nearby kuleana lands, against the developers of Pu’unoa, who also have ties to adjoining ag subdivisions where the type of farming activities going on has been questioned for years.

“I see extensive building,” said Maui County Council Member Jo Anne Johnson, speaking about Pu’unoa. “There’s no farming, no crop cultivation, only construction of massive homes.”

It’s now up to hearings officer Casey Jarman to sift through two days of testimonies, exhibits and cross-examinations along with more documents that attorneys from all sides must have filed by mid-September. After that, Jarman will make a recommendation to the Land Use Commission as to whether or not the current and proposed uses of Pu’unoa violate state laws limiting agricultural subdivisions to agricultural uses.

Because of an earlier ruling by the commission, Jarman was told, much to the distress of the Hawaiian families, that she could not consider any related issues, such as availability of water, access and traditional uses. The commission also disallowed any arguments about lack of farming in the other ag subdivisions in the Launiupoko area.

To comply with the various restrictions, Jarman discarded comments from the State Historic Preservation Division. In June 2000, SHPD had urged that a 300-yard setback be established between Pu’unoa and the valley, where the families lived because of the differing lifestyles between the “new wealthy resident” and the rural Hawaiians.

Pu’unoa, with 28 large lots on 230 acres, is the latest ag subdivision to be developed on former Pioneer Mill sugar cane fields that were purchased by investment hui represented by the West Maui Land Co., headed by partners Peter Martin and James Riley.

The developers have been at odds with the Hawaiian families for more than five years in the matter that has been punctuated by protests, lawsuits, restraining orders and general ill will.

Perhaps the most publicized battle over the lands involved the proposed Pu’unoa Village subdivision, a proposed affordable housing project of 256 homes on four of the larger lots. That project twice was turned down by the Maui County Council.

In his testimony before Jarman, Riley acknowledged that there is still hope “to seek some community consensus on what may be done to develop the lots on the lower portion” where the subdivision had been planned. Outside of the meeting, Martin said that developer Kent Smith was not involved this time around, but he offered no other details.

While most of the witnesses Wednesday spoke for Kuleana Ku’ikahi, the individual landowners, who are also parties in the hearing, got their chance Thursday. About a dozen swore they intended to permanently farm the land with no thoughts of selling the large parcels in speculative sales.

A number later detailed their ties to Hawaii to The Maui News.

The new owners include Sandra Braun-Ortega, who was born and raised in Lahaina, as well as Mark Allen, who has a real estate holding company on the Mainland and moved to Lahaina just seven years ago.

Among the other owners are: Anna Scott, who has lived here for 27 years; Chuck Bergson who has lived here for 16 years and has an “antenna farm” at Ulupalakua; Michael Gronmeyer, who owned a second home here for 10 years and has been a full-time resident for about a year; Steve Kikuchi, who moved here from his native California a year ago and has plans to grow coffee on three islands, and Ron Brown, a Kihei resident for 26 years who bought his lot with a couple that spends half of the year at their home in Makena.

That doesn’t mean everyone intends to settle down at Pu’unoa. One landowner, who didn’t attend the meeting, has his property listed for $2.5 million. Brown acknowledged that his partners, too, originally intended to speculate with the Pu’unoa property, but “they fell in love with it” and put their place in Makena up for sale, instead, so they could move to the ag lot.

All the new owners who testified said they either had filed farm plans that were approved by the county’s Planning Department or were in the process of doing so. Bergson hopes to grow coconut palms, Gronmeyer intends to put in a sod farm and Ward has more than 7,000 plants already on his property with 5,000 more coming in.

Braun-Ortega, whose daughter purchased a lot adjoining hers, said having a piece of Pu’unoa was a dream come true.

“I don’t want speculators, either,” she said.

According to the county, the farming plans that have been filed pass muster. In the last two years, the Planning Department has required that any owner seeking to build on an ag lot must file a farm plan that shows the owner will keep 51 percent of the property in agriculture. These farming activities can range from a grove of fruit trees to a pasture for horses. While the county allows the new owners to build their first dwelling without evidence of farming, a permit for a second dwelling is withheld if no farm plan has been filed.

Planning Director Mike Foley said more than 500 farm plans have been approved in the two years since his department adopted the policy. The requirement is being processed as an administrative rule and is not part of the county code, he added.

Laura Thielen, who became director of the state Office of Planning three months ago, said the issue was a county matter.

“The rate of growth, the talk of a moratorium or requiring hearings on (the approval of ) subdivisions – all of these ideas have merit and should be discussed, but they are not required in the state law,” said Thielen. “How or when growth should be limited should be discussed at the county level.”

Thielen encouraged those in the audience who want change to take their concerns to county officials.

Valerie Monson can be reached at vmonson@mauinews.com.

7/12/2005 6:22:00 PM

Media Briefing on Indian Health Care Improvement Act Reauthorization

Contact: Jason McCarty of NCAI, 202-466-7767 or 571-236-0057 (cell); Web: http://www.NCAI.org

News Advisory:

What: Media Briefing on Indian Health Care Improvement Act Reauthorization

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), chair, Senate Indian Affairs Committee, recently introduced legislation reauthorizing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA). This legislation makes significant steps toward modernizing the system through which most American Indians and Alaska Natives receive their health care. The disparities tribal communities continue to face must be addressed immediately before another generation of American Indian and Alaska Native people lose their quality of life to debilitating health problems. Life expectancy of Native Americans is nearly six years less than any other race or ethnic group in the United States. Native Americans are 630 percent more likely to die from alcoholism, 650 percent more likely to die from tuberculosis, 318 percent more likely to die from diabetes, and 204 percent more likely to suffer accidental death compared with other groups

When: Thursday, July 14 12:30 p.m. Eastern Standard time

Where: Room 485, Russell Senate Building, Washington D.C.

Speakers: Rachel Joseph, National Steering Committee for the Reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Trudy Anderson, Executive Director, Alaska Native Health Board, Jacqueline Johnson, Executive Director, National Congress of American Indians

Background: Indian Country must have access to modern systems of health care. Since the enactment of the IHCIA in 1976, the health care delivery system in America has evolved and modernized while the American Indian and Alaska Native system of health care has not. Reauthorization of the IHCIA will bring the systems of health care relied upon by American Indians and Alaska Natives into the modern era. The bill makes modern concepts and methods of health care delivery accessible to American Indians and Alaska Natives in the same manner already being enjoyed and considered standard practice by mainstream America. There is a critical need for health promotion and disease prevention activities in Indian Country and provisions of the IHCIA reauthorization would address this need. Disease prevention and health promotion activities elevate the health status at both the individual and community level.

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will be hosting a joint hearing on the IHCIA with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at 2:30 p.m. in the Senate Dirksen Building, room 430 on July 14.

July 07, 2005

Grant to benefit substance abuse prevention

The money will help establish an Adolescent Transitions Program for three West Coast Native American tribes

Nicholas Wilbur
Oregon Daily Emerald

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism gave a five-year, $3.7 million grant to the University’s Child and Family Center to establish an Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP) for three West Coast Native American tribes.

The grant will affect approximately 300 tribal families by providing parenting support services that will help curtail substance abuse in adolescence.

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Klamath Tribe of Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington have volunteered to collaborate with the University’s Child and Family Center principal investigators and faculty.

Co-investigator and Family Center Director of Research Thomas Dishion is the co-author of “Intervening in Adolescent Problem Behavior: A Family-Centered Approach,” where he and Kate Kavanagh summarize 15 years of the Adolescent Transitions Program research and development of an ecological approach to alcohol abuse and other problem behaviors of adolescents, a book review said.

“A lot of outside programs impose their models of parenting on communities,” Dishion said. “But we integrate what we know to work while considering the families’ input, so we can be more culturally sensitive.”

Dishion said that adolescence is a time when parents usually reduce the amount of monitoring and supervision of their kids; “so we’ll support family management skills for early adolescence,” a time when alcohol abuse increases in many families, especially in tribe reservations.

To combat the expected rise in alcohol abuse, the Family Center will travel to each community and provide family check-ups where parents can come to voice their concerns about their children’s behaviors. They will be able to meet one-on-one with psychologists as well as attend group meetings with other parents.

“This is a strength-based model,” Dishion said, “meaning we reinforce what the parents are doing well and recommend things they can improve on.”

Principal Investigator for the grant Alison Boyd-Ball has established a team of Native American psychologists, mental health professionals and advisory boards within each tribe.

July 11, 2005

Study examines Indian smoking

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer

RapidCityJournal.com

RAPID CITY - Ray Winters can remember exactly where he was when he tried his first cigarette.

"I was 9 years old with a group of my friends at a football game," he said.

At 13, Winters, an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, enlisted the help of a friend to buy the pack of cigarettes that began his smoking habit.

The 16-year-old Rapid City Central High School junior, who said he usually lights up to calm himself when anxious or upset, recently started breaking the cigarette habit on his own.

"I'm trying to quit for my grandpa," Winters said.

But whether he succeeds or not in his efforts to quit, the American Indian youth isn't alone.

Dr. Patricia Nez Henderson, 40, conducted a smoking study of Southwest and Northern Plains tribes. Subjects ranged from 15 to 54 years old. The results were alarming, Nez Henderson said.

Smoking rates have escalated to more than half of the teen population for a South Dakota tribe and nearly a third of a Southwest tribe, with cigarettes paving the way to other forms of drugs use. Nez Henderson said she couldn't divulge the specific names of the tribes studied because of privacy issues.

For tribes in the study, most of the smokers also drank alcohol, which matches trends in studies of the general population, according to Nez Henderson, a member of the Navajo, or Dine, tribe.

"Cigarettes are actually the gateway drug, and this is a big problem for youth," she said.

If youths are smoking at a particularly young age, they're more likely to start drinking and using other forms of drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine, Nez Henderson said.

"It only takes three cigarettes for youth to become addicted," she said.

Nez Henderson's work appears in the May 2005 American Journal of Public Health, a national medical journal.

In her study, Nez Henderson found that Indians smoke less per day — 10 cigarettes — compared to the 21 cigarettes smoked by the general population, but the proportion of Indians who smoke is two to three times more than the general population.

"There's some physiological component going on there that we're not able to understand," she said.

The Southwest Indian tribe's general smoking rates for adults hold steady at 10 percent of the population smoking regularly, a low rate compared with the general population.

But 25 percent to 30 percent of the Southwest tribe's youths smoke. The rate increases to more than 50 percent of the South Dakota tribe's young people.

Research also showed that the less time Indian people spent on the reservation, the more likely they are to be smokers. The stress of leaving a network of friends, colleagues and family on the reservation and feelings of isolation triggered smoking, according to the research.

Nez Henderson's study examined such factors as income, education, marital status, ethnic identity, years spent on reservations, gender and age.

In the South Dakota tribe, those who are currently or have been married are more likely to be smokers, which contradicts other studies that found marriage was a factor in quitting smoking.

Their smoking was not determined by whether they identified themselves as traditional Indians, she found. "Ethnic identity had no impact," she said.

Because half of the South Dakota tribe's general population smokes, Nez Henderson recommends more cessation programs to adults and youths. Tribal policies regarding restricted smoking zones should be implemented and enforced, she said.

Money-strapped tribes should also consider adding taxes on sales of tobacco products.

"The bottom line is that tribal communities need to develop prevention programs for youth, cessation programs and finally tribal policy," Nez Henderson said.

Nez Henderson, the first American Indian to graduate from Yale University medical school, was surprised by the high rates of smoking among South Dakotans and especially Indians.

"I became intrigued by the high rates and the impact it was having on the communities in terms of health care and how it affected children in terms of second-hand smoke," she said.

Ray Winters' mother, Stacie Winters, 36, remembers her first cigarette.

In fifth grade, Winters, her sister and friends puffed on a smuggled cigarette more out of curiosity than anything else.

"It tasted nasty. I felt like I had something caught in my throat," Winters said.

It was her first and last cigarette.

"I don't smoke," she said.

Carla Sullivan, 30, began her habit 24 years ago while growing up on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

She came from a family of nonsmokers who disapproved of Sullivan's smoking.

"My mother told me, ‘You're going to support your own habit,'" she said.

Not yet ready to quit, Sullivan acknowledges that her 6-year-old son, James Blevins, has a greater chance of becoming a teen smoker than the general population.

"But it's not like I'm going to allow my son to smoke," she said.

In fact, her son may eventually influence her to stop. "He wants me to quit," Sullivan said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.

washingtonpost.com

Va. Tribal Chiefs Set for Historic Trip

By Carol Morello
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 10, 2005; C06

Stephen Adkins and Ken Adams will board a plane to England this week on a journey that has been almost four centuries in the making.

The chiefs of two of Virginia's eight Indian tribes are part of a small delegation coordinating plans with British officials to commemorate the English explorers who established the first permanent settlement in America at Jamestown in 1607.

In all that time, no Virginia Indian has ever made an official visit to Britain, which signed a formal peace treaty with the tribes in 1677.

Until now.

The chiefs consider it not only a historic first but a trip of reconciliation long overdue.

"It represents the closing of a circle that has been incomplete for the last 398 years," said Adkins, chief of the Chickahominy tribe, which witnessed the arrival of the colonists. "It's a reconciliation between England and the indigenous peoples of Virginia, an acknowledgment that Jamestown would not have existed, and could not have existed, without a relationship between the settlers and Virginia's indigenous peoples."

Adkins and Adams, who is chief of the Upper Mattaponi tribe, will be joined on the week-long trip by several members of the federal commission charged with planning activities for Jamestown's 400th anniversary. Adkins is also a member of the commission.

For Virginia's tribes, inclusion in the planning is a marked departure from previous anniversaries and a signpost of acceptance. They are hoping their participation in the events will have lasting benefits, including support in their push for federal recognition of their tribal status.

Many British people are unaware of Jamestown, said H. Edward Mann, executive director of the federal commission.

"Ask them where America started, and they will say Massachusetts," said Mann, who also will be on the trip, which starts Friday. "Though they know about Pocahontas, they assume she lived in Plymouth."

A visit to the cemetery where Pocahontas is buried, in Gravesend, is on the itinerary.

"The story wouldn't be whole if we didn't have a Virginia Indian representative on this trip," said Rebecca Casson, executive director of the Jamestown 2007 British Committee. "It's an educational opportunity, to set the record straight and communicate their story to the British public in their own words."

In addition to the ceremony at Gravesend, the delegation is expected to attend a reception in Parliament's Astor Room, named after Nancy Astor, who was originally from Danville, Va., and was the first woman elected to Parliament. Officials in Kent County, England, where many of the original settlers came from, also are planning ceremonies, Casson said.

Adkins believes the attention to the perspective of Virginia Indians in planning the Jamestown 2007 events reflects a change in attitude toward people who lost their land to the colonists and almost lost their identity when the state's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 recognized only two races in Virginia -- black and white. Objections last year from Virginia's tribal leaders led officials to change the name of the Jamestown anniversary activities from a celebration to a commemoration.

"I see parallels between where we are today and the end of 400 years of exile for the Jews in the Old Testament," Adkins said. "Birth certificates have been changed to reflect our true identity. And now Great Britain is recognizing us, as a nation, by inviting us to come. Things are shifting. I believe the historical slights we have endured will be erased. Our time has come."

Adkins and Adams said they hope to establish ties that encourage tourism, student exchanges and trade, including the marketing of Indian crafts in Britain.

But for many Virginia Indians, the official trip to England is most important for its symbolic value.

"This will be the first time since the time of Pocahontas that tribal dignitaries have visited Great Britain," said Reggie Tupponce, president of the Virginia Indian Tribal Alliance for Life, a group formed to lobby for federal recognition. "If that isn't monumental, I don't know what is."

Tupponce said many of Virginia's tribes, which have fewer than 4,000 members, expect the visit to foster healing for past injustices.

"Every day of my life, I live with what happened from 1607 to the 1700s," said Tupponce, who is a member of the Upper Mattaponi tribe. "To see that the British are inviting us to come over there and are interested in sharing our portion of that history, I think it shows some healing is going on. Some people think it's all over and done with. For our people, it's not over and done with."

Despite such sentiments, the chiefs say they are not embarking on a guilt trip.

"There are regrets on both sides," Adams said. "Of course, we probably regret it more than they do. However, we have to deal with the here and now. This gives us opportunities to develop relations we can be proud of, that are helpful to Indians."

Casson said the British Committee is also hoping a new relationship will grow from the visit of the two chiefs.

"We're sensitive to the fact there is history we can't forget about," she said. "What's important is that we forevermore respect each other."

July 4, 2005

U. will get $300K to train American Indian teachers Special education

The federal grant aims to boost the math and reading scores of American Indian students

By Shinika A. Sykes
The Salt Lake Tribune

Salt Lake Tribune The University of Utah is getting more than $300,000 to train American Indian teachers.

The money - part of a four-year, $1 million-plus total grant for Indian education at the U. - will be used to prepare students from Intermountain West tribes as special-education teachers in their communities, according to Bryan McKinley Brayboy, an assistant professor in the U. department of education.

"The goal is to have special-education teachers serve as a conduit between mainstream teachers and American Indian students," Brayboy said. "These teachers don't see Indian children as having a deficiency, but a different way of learning in the classroom."

Brayboy pointed to results from the recent Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, which showed more than half of the state's American Indian high school students failed the math section. The new crop of teachers will focus on boosting these students' performance in reading and math.

"Contrary to what people say, kids can't do math if they're unable to read well."

In Friday's statement announcing the grant, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said the money shows that the Bush administration is not only "asking for excellence" in education, but also is providing the "tools to create it."

Young children need highly qualified teachers in the earliest grades so they are "better prepared in the challenging fields of math and science," said Spellings. "No Child Left Behind means exactly that. We want to open up new worlds of opportunity for Indian families and communities."

Spellings did not refer to the current stalemate between her office and Utah lawmakers over the federal requirements under the NCLB law. Utah wants to replace the law's accountability system with one of its own.

Brayboy - noting that he has not closely followed the state's NCLB rebellion - said Utah's American Indian children are not "faring well" in school.

"We're thrilled about the grant," he said. "It's good for Utah."

sykes@sltrib.com

July 9, 2005

Sycuan tribe has plans for $55 million in projects

UNION-TRIBUNE

SYCUAN INDIAN RESERVATION – The Sycuan Indian band yesterday announced four capital projects totaling $55 million that it says will make things better and safer for its members, casino patrons and neighbors of the El Cajon-area reservation.

The projects, in order of targeted completion, are:

 Widening Dehesa road to add two turning lanes near the entrance to Sycuan Casino. The $3.5 million project is scheduled to be finished in August, according to a news release.

 Construction of a two-mile waterline connecting the Sycuan reservation to an existing Padre Dam Municipal Water District pipeline. The $2.2 million project is intended to supply water to 17 homes under construction on the reservation but also will give the tribe's Dehesa neighbors an alternative to ground wells that are high in nitrates. No completion date was given.

 Construction of a $40 million, 2,000-space parking garage. The project is slated to begin in November and be done by fall 2006, tribal officials said.

 Planned construction of a $10 million fire and public safety complex on the reservation. No timetable was offered, but Sycuan says its fire services would extend to the communities of Dehesa Valley, Harbison Canyon, Alpine, Jamul and Rancho San Diego.

"These construction projects originated with guest convenience, safety and easier accessibility in mind," tribal Chairman Danny Tucker said in a statement issued with the news release. "The improvements will not only benefit our tribal residents but will also benefit our guests visiting the Sycuan Resort & Casino and our neighbors who live in the Dehesa Valley."

Thursday, July 7, 2005 8:46 AM HST

Sights set on home

Hawaiian sailors conclude 2,000-mile journey

by Carolyn Lucas

West Hawaii Today
clucas@westhawaiitoday.com

When the Big Island saw them last, they were a crew of strangers -- 15 men from different walks of life -- eager to embark on a 2,000-mile voyage around the Hawaiian Islands.

How ambitious they seemed aboard the Hokualakai, or "guiding star." They spoke about way-finding and the Hawaiian language. Their goal, they said, was to reconnect with their culture.

A month later, the crew is like ohana. Their voyage is expected to end this weekend on Oahu, where Hokualakai will be dry docked at the Marine Education Training Center.

"The camaraderie and the experience as a whole was awesome," said Kaimana Barcarse, a watch captain. "It was a commitment to go out there, into the elements with nothing around. We grew, gained confidence and trusted each other with our lives."

Hokualakai was built with a federally funded grant from the Native Hawaiian Education Act. Owned by Aha Punana Leo, it serves as a classroom equipped with e-mail, Internet, water-tight compartments, single side band radio and a foam construction core for buoyancy.

On May 29, Hokualakai set sail at Radio Bay in Hilo and visited Napoopoo, Keauhou, Lahaina and Hanalei. The crew collected salt water from the four corners of the Big Island and at each channel crossed. That water will be used to bless a canoe for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Hokualakai is undergoing sea trials, which determines how the canoe sails as well as identifies and fixes any potential problems.

"Overall, both the boat and the crew performed well. It was a very rewarding trip for me, in terms of sailing with my crew and seeing them grow," said Capt. Chad Kalepa Baybayan. "They learned to live together in a small space and were very considerate. It was extraordinary watching them put others first and rise above their limitations. The lessons learned here will help them become better fathers, sons and men."

The 56-foot, double-hulled canoe was guided by professional and amateur navigators who steer without instruments or charts, but rather by using the natural signs revealed in the winds, waves and stars. All the commands were given in Hawaiian, but sometimes they were whispered in English to those who aren't fluent.

"The islands were found easily and the course set and followed was to the tee. Still, way-finding was a challenge," Barcarse said. "The boat moves 24/7 and there is no auto pilot. You must give good instructions to the next shift so that they can hold a line. If you miss a degree, it makes a difference 100 miles later. Luckily, we had a great captain to help us navigate Hokualakai and hit those targets."

Last month, Hokualakai sailed in tandem with Hokulea, the Polynesian Voyaging Society's canoe, from Hanalei Bay, stopping overnight in the western lee of Nihoa Island and again at Mokumanamana. A team of Hawaiian cultural experts, led by Big Island cultural educator Pua Kanahele, joined the voyage and Kupueu Pae Moku members conducted ceremonies on both islands.

Barcarse witnessed the full moon Mahealani rising over Mokumanamana as chanting from the cultural group echoed on the island.

"There was nervous anticipation sailing through the night with only a handful of stars to guide you," he said. "Upon hearing the chanting, a sense of wonderment overcame me. It was humbling knowing we sailed the path of our ancestors. I learned not to take things for granted."

Baybayan described the visit to the archaeological structures on Mokumanamana as a moving experience. The upright stones placed by early Polynesian on the island's spine were clearly visible from Hokualakai.

"It was like you were in some kind of sacred presence," he said.

During the voyage, Barcarse wrote a chant which provides a road map to the islands. The crew sang it after landing parties conducted their traditional ceremonies.

"This is just the beginning," Baybayan said. "Endless possibilities lie in the horizon. I am confident that these men will keep looking to the horizon, not just rest in the water."

Posted on: Thursday, July 7, 2005

Maryknoll grad proud to join navigator's team

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Education Writer

Months of research about the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule'a have earned Maryknoll High School graduate Denise Kobashikawa a spot on navigator Nainoa Thompson's Ka Puna Keiki team of teenagers who are paddling around the state to earn money for the Children's Justice Fund.

Kobashikawa, who has been paddling and sailing since she was 8 years old, picked Hokule'a as the subject for her required senior project at Maryknoll.

Her project so impressed Thompson that he included her among the teens joining him as he paddles along the coasts of all the Hawaiian islands. He also gave the commencement address at her graduation.

Another highlight was a ride on Hokule'a during the filming of an Eddie Aikau documentary.

She said the experience was exhilarating. "In a sailing canoe, you are very close to the water. It's a good experience and it's a good feeling," Kobashikawa said.

She was thrilled to escort the crew of the Hokule'a's initial voyage as they sailed into Kailua Bay on a recent Save Kailua Day event.

"It was just really beautiful and the day was so pretty," she said. "It's never so calm, but we were lucky that day."

In addition to creating a scale model of Hokule'a using balsa wood, Kobashikawa also did extensive research for an oral presentation in an attempt to discover whether the success of Hoku-le'a's voyages depended on its crew's knowledge of Hawaiian history.

Through her studies she has learned that "the really important thing is to save the environment and really perpetuate the Hawaiian culture," she said.

"That has really opened my eyes as to what we need to do as the next generation to take care of this place that's Hawai'i."

Kobashikawa plans to study pharmacy at the University of Southern California before returning to Hawai'i.

But before she leaves, she will finish the statewide paddle with a trip to Kaua'i and Ni'ihau.

Who helped you? Kateri Inglis, her mentor for the project. "I had her as a teacher for English as a junior and I really enjoyed her class and I thought it was really inspiring and became a better writer."

Advice: Kobashikawa said her work has taught her that "we need to appreciate where we live and who we are."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.

July 8, 2005

Maui wetland set for restoration this month

Advertiser Staff

KAHULUI, Maui — A project aimed at restoring a wetland within Makena State Park will begin this month under a partnership between the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and a neighboring homeowners association.

The 3-acre pond is one of three wetlands within the South Maui park and is significant as a potential habitat for endangered Hawaiian coots and Hawaiian stilts. The birds have limited access to feed and nest on the pond because it is covered by a dense growth of kiawe trees.

Under a restoration plan proposed by the North Pu'u Ola'i Wetland Management Association, the kiawe will be removed at the pond and thinned out along the coastal dune. DLNR staff members have done initial archaeology surveys and will do more once the kiawe is removed.

The association was formed by adjoining landowners and will be assisted by community groups. Private financing will pay for maintenance.

Native vegetation will be planted along the edges of the pond to invite waterbirds, and a chain-link fence will help keep predators out.

The project will enhance views from the park, officials said, and signs will be installed offering information about the wetland and its avian visitors.

The effort is part of the state's Curator Program, a joint effort of the DLNR's Historic Preservation Division and Parks Division to encourage community involvement in the care and management of historic and cultural sites on state-owned properties. The state has 11 curator agreements across Hawai'i.

Posted on: Monday, July 11, 2005

Japan hooked on hula and the 'ukulele

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

When kumu hula Aloha Dalire first went to Japan in 1990 to teach her art, she could reach maybe 100 students. Now she estimates that number at 2,000.

While the Japanese love of hula is decades old, local hula instructors and tourism officials say the number of enthusiasts is at its highest point yet. In addition, the number of Japanese visitors who come to Hawai'i specifically for hula instruction is growing.

Guitars and 'ukulele welcomed more Japanese hula dancers this weekend as they competed in the Hula Ho'olauna Aloha festival, which drew 29 Japanese and five Hawai'i halau. The dancers who performed at Ala Moana Center Saturday and at the Royal Hawaiian Coconut Grove yesterday came to be judged by the masters, to show their skill and to learn more about the art.

Some 400 people participated in the festival as competitors or in exhibition performances. When the festival began four years ago, it drew 78, said Ryokichi Tamaki, senior vice president for marketing contract for JALPAK, one of the sponsors of the competition.

An estimated 400,000 people in Japan are involved with hula. Traveling across the Pacific to be at the heart of the Hawaiian culture they emulate and embrace, these Japanese are drawn to the rhythm and sway of the dance and have spread the hula throughout their country while enhancing a cultural exchange that is also good for businesses.

They also want to learn about Hawaiian culture, history, protocol, hula dress and more. People are learning the Hawaiian language in Japan, taking up the 'ukulele, and singing Hawaiian songs and chants, said kumu hula Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett. Halau are everywhere and many are affiliated with local teachers.

"Over there in the last 10 years the push and the popularity has tripled," said Hewett, Ho'olauna Aloha competition adviser who also teaches hula in Japan. "It's like everybody is wearing aloha shirts. Everybody is wearing mu'u."

Tamaki said his company and other sponsors hope to increase tourism here by giving support to competitions that create lasting relationships between Japan and Hawai'i dancers. The cultural exchange would benefit each group in the long run and encourage more travel between the Pacific islands, he said.

"We like to invest our money into the Hawaiian culture and the Japanese culture getting together," he said.

With established kumu hula taking the dance to Japan, the people there are learning an authentic style, said Dalire, whose halau has won numerous awards in competition, including several Miss Aloha Hula titles.

A strict traditionalist, Dalire said she is comfortable knowing Japan students are learning from Hawaiian teachers such as Johnny Lum Ho, Ray Fonseca, Sonny Ching and others.

"I teach them exactly like I do my halau here and in California," she said. "So much so, I can rest assured and hold my head up high when my Japanese students perform. I'm very proud of them."

Japanese tourists spend about $240 a day in Hawai'i, said Kiyoko Tanji, general manager of Hawai'i Tourism Japan, a marketing contractor for the state. Tanji estimated that the number of hula fans in Japan is 300,000 to 400,000.

"They are important because they make a trip to Hawai'i at least once a year to take hula lessons or attend hula competitions," she said. "They're also important because they shop for hula-related items, which tend to be rather expensive if you purchase them in Japan."

BIG GRASS SHACK

Miyuki Seto, a freelance writer for the Japanese hula magazine Hula Le'a, said she thinks the number of people involved with hula in Japan could be more than 400,000. Hula lessons there range from $100 to $250 a month, she said.

The dance has inspired many businesses in Japan that are found in Hawai'i, including Hawaiian jewelry, Hawaiian-style dress shops, hula implement stores and costume companies, Seto said.

Hewett, who has been teaching in Japan since 1990, said that on his first trip there he would conduct three to four workshops a day with each attracting about 100 students.

Today, Hewett said, he has changed his approach to teaching and now works with eight halau, each having about 200 students. Hula has gotten so popular in Japan that people recognize him at airports and restaurants, Hewett said.

"I think they value the beauty of the hula," he said. "I think more than any other culture in the world the Japanese really value the aesthetic beauty."

ALL THINGS HAWAIIAN

The students are drawn to the dance by the music and flowing motions but they also want the exercise and to learn more about the culture, said Rie Iwanaga, a Japan resident and student of kumu hula Rich Pedrina of Kane'ohe.

"I used to think that all you need is your feeling, not a special skill, to dance hula," said Iwanaga, 43. "It wasn't so at all."

Iwanaga, who has taken lessons for three years, said she realized that a dancer must understand the song and language and learn more about the culture to dance well. So she studies with Pedrina, who has translated Hawaiian books to help his students study the hula.

Pedrina, 40, said he recently opened a halau in Japan and that the decision forced him to focus on his business plan and address values and criticisms about selling out the culture. The amount of money he could make had a lot to do with his decision, he said, but so did the Japanese students' desire to learn, a love of travel and a wish to promote and expand his style of dancing.

"I can understand when people say we are selling out," Pedrina said. "It was the hardest thing for me to accept. But what had made me think differently is when I go to Japan my halau benefits. It's not just me."

Japanese student Chieko Kobayashi, 50, said learning the hula has stirred a desire to learn more about about things Hawaiian, including the language, the 'ukulele and Hawaiian quilting. But it is the dance that captures her emotionally.

"Dancing makes me feel I can be just my soul, nothing else," Kobayashi said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.

June 29, 2005

Crossroads Theatre for Youth presents Moira's Choice

(PRESS RELEASE) Nine months since its inception, Crossroads Theatre for Youth (CTY) continues to provide live theater and educational programs to American Samoa's children, teenagers, parents, teachers and individuals with three original plays.

CTY's latest offering, "Moira's Choice," highlights tensions of traditional parenting beliefs and the realities faced by the Territory's youth. Moira's Choice made its debut for a group of cohort teachers yesterday.

The often complex world of a young 16-year-old girl seeking approval among her peers while trying to secure a relationship with a popular football player becomes overwhelming for Moira. Parental conflict, internal family tensions and a father that forbids normal teenage relationships replacing it with expected traditional home duties are all a part of her reality.

Moira's loyalty to the two worlds she lives challenges her love for her boyfriend, her mother and the fear of a controlling father set-in-his-old-ways, reveals the issues faced by young people who, if unsupported and unheard, seek permanent solutions that ultimately change the lives of families and friends forever.

Following the huge debut success of "Silent Cries" (originally named "If Only You Believed"), CTY local productions are destined to enlighten and bring awareness to many social issues faced by island youth with its message being delivered from the stage rather than a pulpit or a lectern.

A 12th grader said, "When I saw the show..I felt like somebody finally listenedI'm being heard for the first time." A school teacher said CTY did a "great job" and added that the "program (CTY) should have been established years ago." A high school principal said that the presentation "not only challenged our students but also conveyed a powerful messagethat they are an integral part of our community and that they are valued treasures of our cultures."

CTY presents a unique selection in its original plays for a range of age groups and the social issues that are incorporated into the stories by the territory's emerging young playwrights that are employed by CTY. CTY is happy to assist you in determining which plays are the most appropriate for your children or group.

CTY is a project of Intersections Inc. in Nu'uuli and is funded by the U.S. Administration for Native Americans and its Community Transformation through the Arts program. For more information, visit CTY Web site at <http://www.ctyweb.org> or call 699 5316.

In an effort to increase the usefulness of this service to our subscribers, CNHA is now including a section for Quiet Title Notices at the end of each NewsClips.

CIVIL NO. 05-1-0199(3) 92-0786(1) IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SECOND CIRCUIT STATE OF HAWAII TO: KANUI; MARAEA WAIKOLOA; JOBE L.K. WAIKOLOA; NUA WAIKOLOA aka NUA WAIKOLOA BURNS; PAUL WAIKOLOA BURNS; HELEN WAIKOLOA; RUBY KILOHANA MORSE; MARIA C. MORSE KELIINOI; THOMAS I. MULVIHILL; DAVID KUPAU; JOBE LONOIKAMAKAHIKI WAIKOLOA; MATHIAS WAIKOLOA; EMMA WAIKOLOA; BERNARD WAIKOLOA; JACOB KAUAUKIU WAIKOLOA; JAMES KAUAKANILEHUA WAIKOLOA, WAIKOLOA aka M.W. WAIKOLOA aka NIHOE WAIKOLOA; HELEN IOPA aka HELEN TILTON aka HELEN IOPA PARKER; LEANDER TILTON; MARIA A. TILTON; THOMAS TILTON; HELEN PARKER aka HELEN KAPIOLANI PARKER HAYSELDON; CLEMENT PARKER; GEORGE PARKER; ENIA PARKER VESTA PARKER; ELLEN MAE PARKER; EVA NITTA PARKER; ELLEN LANA LEI PARKER; JULIA KAUAKEA WAIKOLOA aka Mrs. D. KUPAU; THEORDORE DAVID KUPAU; VIOLET KUULEI KUPAU; ALPHONSE HENRY KUPAU; ROSE KUPAU; MAHOE JOHN WAIKOLOA; AGNES WAIKOLOA; DOES 1 through 100, and all other persons or corporations unknown claiming any right, title estate, lien or interest in the real property described in Plaintiff's Complaint adverse to Plaintiff's ownership and TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that Plaintiff GERALD GROSSMAN claims fee simple ownership, together with others, to: All of Land Commission Award 5507, Apana 1 to Kanui, Royal Patent 3343, at Kahape, Uaoa, Hamakualoa, Maui, Hawaii, Tax Key 2-8-04-7(2). YOU ARE HEREBY FURTHER NOTIFIED that Plaintiff GERALD GROSSMAN has filed a Complaint to Quiet Title in the Second Circuit Court, Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, requesting that title to the above-described real property be determined quieted as to any and all adverse claims not presented and/or adjudicated in this action. YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear in the courtroom of the Honorable Joseph E. Cardoza, Judge of the above-entitled Court, Hoapili Hale, 2145 Main Street, Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, on Wednesday, the 24th day of August, 2005, at 8:30 a.m., or to file an answer or other pleading and serve it before said day upon Plaintiffs' counsel, TOM C. LEUTENEKER, Carlsmith Ball LLP, 2200 Main Street, Suite 400, Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, 96793, to show cause, if any you have, why the prayer of said Complaint should not be granted. Unless you file an answer before the time aforesaid or appear at the Second Circuit Court, Wailuku, County of Maui, State of Hawaii, at the time and place aforesaid, your default will be recorded, and said Complaint will be taken as confessed and a judgment by default will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint. DATED: Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, June 29, 2005. C. CASIL CLERK OF THE ABOVE ENTITLED COURT CARLSMITH BALL LLP TOM C. LEUTENEKER 721-0 2200 Main Street, Suite 400 Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii 96793 Telephone No. 808.242.4535 Fax No. 808.244-4974 Attorney for Plaintiff (Hon. Adv.: July 6, 13, 20, 27, 2005) (A-121460) Posted on 7/6/2005

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