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 4th 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.

 

 

August 24, 2005

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 23, 2005

 

600 Registered for Native Hawaiian Conference

 

Honolulu, HI – More than 600 are registered for Annual Native Hawaiian Conference to be held at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel from August 30 – September 2, 2005.  The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) is coordinating its 4th Native Hawaiian Conference, bringing Native leaders from all across the state together on Native Hawaiian community development issues. In addition, 75 Tribal Leaders will be in attendance from the continent and Alaska to share best practices and the results of the federal self-determination policy that has been in place for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

 

“We are inspired by the gathering of community around Hawaiian issues,” said Robin Danner, CNHA’s President & CEO.  “It truly is a great time to be in Hawaii, to be part of the unity and sharing of not just our challenges, but the incredible work that Native peoples are doing in communities here and abroad.”

 

The 4th Annual Native Hawaiian Conference features several events, including the Hawaiian GRAMMY® Awards Banquet honoring the first nominees to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Best Hawaiian Music Album Category; a luncheon awarding $50,000 in philanthropic gifts to nonprofits featuring a keynote by the Governor Linda Lingle; and a Veterans’ luncheon, entitled Honoring Our Warriors, with a special tribute to Kamehameha Schools graduate and Army 1st Lieutenant Nainoa Hoe.

 

Speakers at the conference number more than 30 over the four-day event, including Dr. Michael Chun, President of Kamehameha Schools; David Cole of Maui Land & Pine Company, Inc.; the Honorable Congressman Ed Case; Rodger Boyd, Deputy Assistant Secretary of HUD; the Honorable Tom Kaulukukui, Chairman of Queen Liliu‘okalani Trust; Eric Enos of Ka‘ala Farms, Inc. and the Honorable Senator Daniel K. Akaka.  More than 15 workshops on a variety of topics are included in the conference schedule as well featuring grant training, elder issues, affordable housing and education legislation, business planning, ocean resources, and a roundtable discussion dedicated to economic development.

 

CNHA is a national, member-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides support services to organizations serving native communities.  CNHA’s 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 about the 4th Annual Native Hawaiian Conference contact the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement at 808.521.5011 (800.709.2642 toll free) or visit www.hawaiiancouncil.org. 

 

 

 

 

August 24, 2005

 

Proposed Akaka Bill changes get federal OK, Lingle says

 

By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

The Bush administration agrees with proposed amendments to a native Hawaiian recognition bill, clearing objections to the measure, Gov. Linda Lingle says.

In a letter written yesterday to all GOP senators, Lingle said, "Agreement has been reached with the administration regarding the four policy concerns they raised about the bill."

Since July 13, Lingle said, the staff of Hawaii's two senators, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and representatives of the White House, Department of Justice, Office of Management and Budget, and the Defense Department have been meeting to come up with a compromise.

Here are the four concerns that Lingle says will be answered with amendments to the bill:

 

The Bush administration, Lingle said, also offered "many valuable suggestions as to how the bill could be clarified and improved" and many of the suggestions will be included in the new version of the bill.

In her letter, Lingle also took a swipe at the bill's critics, saying, "The rhetoric on this bill has ratcheted skyward ... insulting to both the integrity and honesty of Sen. Inouye and Akaka, as well as me and members of my administration.

"I am firmly convinced that many of the bill's opponents are resorting to such tactics because they recognize that their policy arguments are unconvincing and cannot carry the day," she said.

Lingle, Hawaii's first GOP governor since 1959, will also go to Washington next month to lobby fellow Republicans for the bill.

The bill is now scheduled for a vote on whether to force a vote on the measure Sept. 6, when the U.S. Senate reconvenes. The bill is designed to "provide a process for the recognition by the United States of the native Hawaiian governing entity."

If the bill passes, a Congressional Budget Office estimate shows that implementation would cost about $1 million a year for the first few years.

The budget estimate also calculates that it would take three years to accomplish the first step of creating and certifying a roll of adult native Hawaiians who would then vote to establish a native Hawaiian governing council.

The CBO cost estimate was prepared March 25.

"CBO estimates that implementing S. 147 (the Akaka Bill) would cost nearly $1 million annually in fiscal years 2006-2008 and less than $500,000 in each subsequent year," the report stated.

The money would establish a U.S. Office for Native Hawaiian Relations with the federal Department of the Interior. The office would be responsible for developing and overseeing the federal relationship with the native Hawaii governing entity.

"The bill would create a nine-member commission responsible for creating and certifying a roll of adult native Hawaiians," the report said. "Based upon information from the Interior Department, CBO expects that this commission would need three years and three full-time staff members to complete its work."

The CBO report notes that the Akaka Bill "could lead to a new government to represent native Hawaiians."

"The transfer of any land or other assets to this new government, including land now controlled by the state of Hawaii, would be the subject of future negotiations."

If the bill clears the Senate, it would then move to the House.

But a group of 16 Republican critics in the U.S. House have written to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, saying the Akaka Bill "would set a dangerous precedent for our nation."

Arguing that the native Hawaiian governing entity would be "a race-based government exempt from the protections our Constitution affords," the 16 Republicans claimed that it would be impossible to fit native Hawaiians into the constitutional category of American Indians.

"Only people who have long operated as an Indian tribe, live as a separate and distinct community based on their geography and culture, and have a pre-existing political structure can be recognized as a tribe," the 16 House members said.

"Native Hawaiians do not meet this criteria," they added.

Robert Klein, former Hawaii state Supreme Court associate justice, who represents the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in lobbying for the Akaka Bill, says the measure will prevent hundreds of federal programs that benefit native Hawaiians from being struck down as being unconstitutional.

"Our opponents, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian, have no answer to what would happen to these important programs without Akaka," Klein said.

"Without this bill, Hawaii stands to lose the major Hawaiian assets we now enjoy, as well as any further federal health, education and welfare benefits that now flow to our state. That is the urgency and the bill provides the only solution to the demise of those programs," Klein said.

 

 

 

 

August 20, 2005

 

Hundreds rally to support Hawaiian schools accused of discrimination

LOUISE CHU
Associated Press

 

SAN FRANCISCO - About 400 alumni and supporter of Hawaii's Kamehameha Schools rallied in San Francisco on Saturday to protest a recent court ruling that struck down the school's policy of giving admissions preference to students of native Hawaiian ancestry.

 

Donning red and black T-shirts reading "Ku I Ka Pono," or Justice for Hawaiians, the protesters marched past the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, home to the three-judge panel that handed down the ruling.

 

In its 2-1 ruling, the appeals court said on Aug. 2 that the schools' Hawaiians-first admissions policy violates federal anti-discrimination laws.

 

"We will not - we will absolutely not - give up our mission no matter what stands in our way," Dee Jay Mailer, the schools' chief executive officer, told the crowd at the rally. "Kamehameha Schools is a symbol to the Hawaiian people of hope. It is a symbol of native people's heritage and culture and continues to be a tool for native people."

 

The schools have until Tuesday to request a rehearing of the case by the full court. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy identified only as John Doe.

 

The decision struck down a century-old policy established under the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who created a trust now worth $6.2 billion that funds the schools' main campus in Honolulu and other campuses on Maui and the Big Island. The schools, which receive no federal funding, educate 5,000 students each year in grades K-12.

 

Retired Santa Clara Superior Court Judge William Fernandez, a Kamehameha alumnus, said Saturday that the court's ruling incorrectly applied laws aimed to protect blacks in the wake of the Civil War, not prevent Native Hawaiians from preserving their heritage.

 

"It is not Congress' intent to apply an anti-slavery statute to a private person who uses her Hawaiian ancestral land to provide education to Hawaiian children," Fernandez told the crowd.

 

A similar rally in Honolulu on Aug. 6 drew more than 10,000 people. Organizer Noelani Jai, of Huntington Beach, Calif., said alumni now living in California, as well as other Hawaiians now living on the mainland, also wanted to voice their support for the schools at the site of the court's ruling.

 

"The decision over Kamehameha has drawn a lot of attention, and we hope to use this attention so that folks can know that ... there are people that have Hawaiian blood and that we're an endangered species. And decisions like this very much impact our ability to survive as a people," Jai said.

 

Many of those who attended the rally Saturday did not attend Kamehameha Schools, but said they were upset over what they considered an attack on Hawaiian heritage.

 

Denise Teraoka, 56, who grew up in Honolulu but now lives in San Francisco, said she didn't qualify for admission to the schools because of her racial identity, but still respected its mission.

 

"We grew up knowing we would never be eligible, but I think a lot of people here are not of Hawaiian blood, but they know it's really important to the native Hawaiian people," Teraoka said.

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Sunday, August 21, 2005

 

Wisconsin tribe faced those same arguments

 

By Charles Wilkinson

 

In 1971, as a young lawyer at the Native American Rights Fund, I was fortunate to represent the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin in its quest to achieve federal recognition.

 

Congress then passed the Menominee Restoration Act in 1973. This was none of my doing — Ada Deer, the dynamic tribal chairwoman, and other tribal leaders made their case brilliantly — but I took away many lessons from that legislative effort and they directly apply to the Akaka bill.

 

This is not because the Menominee and Hawaiians are the same, culturally or historically. The new Hawaiian government will not be a tribe and will not have a reservation. And the Bureau of Indian Affairs will not set foot on the Islands.

 

Hawaiian recognition and Menominee restoration do, however, share something important: They both rest on exactly the same constitutional footing. The arguments raised against Hawaiians, including the claim that a Hawaiian government would be "race-based," were all made against the Menominee.

 

Hawaiians, the Menominee and indigenous people the world over have something else in common. They yearn for their self-determination, their sovereignty. They all exercised it historically, saw it diminished or ripped away, and strive to protect or revive it now.

 

Native sovereignty has always been understood for what it is — a governmental, not racial, classification. The United States made treaties with the Hawaiian kingdom and Mainland tribes because that is how sovereign governments formalize agreements with each other.

 

Worcester v. Georgia (1832), one of Chief Justice John Marshall's greatest opinions, explained the governmental status of Native sovereigns at length.

 

Modern cases have followed suit. Morton v. Mancari (1974) upheld a statute granting a Native hiring preference in the BIA. The court reasoned that the statute was based on the "government-to-government" relationship with tribes, not on race.

 

We can see the parallel in international relations. When the United States makes treaties with Japan, Mexico, or South Africa, we accept those documents not as "race-based" but as agreements between governments.

 

As for the contention that the overthrow "forever extinguished" Hawaiian sovereignty and that therefore Congress cannot now enact the Akaka bill, the leading authority is United States v. Lara, decided by the Supreme Court in 2004. Lara approved a statute that expanded tribal sovereign authority to include criminal jurisdiction over nonmember Indians.

 

In the Lara opinion, the court emphasized Congress' broad constitutional authority over Native affairs and held that this power includes the right to restrict and expand tribal sovereignty. In a helpful formulation, the opinion explained that Congress can define, and redefine, "the metes and bounds of tribal sovereignty."

 

The Lara opinion expressly referred to the Menominee Restoration Act of 1973, which once again recognized the Menominee sovereignty that Congress had previously terminated. Menominee restoration and Hawaiian recognition are directly parallel.

 

In each case, Congress initially recognized the sovereignty of each, then broke off all government-to-government relations; nonetheless, Congress retained the right to resume recognition under its authority to define the "metes and bounds" of Native sovereignty.

 

Lara virtually assures judicial approval of the Akaka bill.

 

The bill holds great promise for Hawaiians. The Menominee and other tribes have made exceptional progress over the past two generations. They have used their self-determination to bring Native-controlled health and education programs, economic development efforts, justice systems, and natural-resource management to their people.

 

State and federal agencies have never been able to determine Native needs and deliver services effectively. Only Native governments can do that. As professor Joseph Kalt of Harvard's Kennedy School put it, "We cannot find a single case of sustained economic development where the tribe is not in the driver's seat. ... The only thing that is working is self-determination, that is, de-facto sovereignty."

 

My every expectation is that the new Hawaiian government will use its self-determination at least as effectively as the Mainland tribes.

 

The rightful recognition of sovereignty, stifled for so long, will unleash all manner of creativity and productivity. Kaho'olawe and the Hawaiian Home Lands will be returned. Officials of the new government and the trustees of the Kamehameha Schools, if they so choose, will have the chance to create a relationship that will protect the school's historic admissions preference as a governmental, not racial, policy. Social and economic problems will be addressed by those most able to do so.

 

Other possibilities are legion.

 

The Akaka bill has been politically difficult — proposals by dispossessed peoples always are — but it is legally and constitutionally easy. Once it passes, much hard work will lie ahead. Nonetheless, modern Native governments have made self-determination a reality in the U.S. Mainland, Canada and New Zealand and have been accepted as permanent and productive institutions by those nations.

 

Native Hawaiians and the state of Hawai'i can justifiably set their sights high and craft a system that will inspire all who love justice the world over.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday August 23, 2005

 

OHA poll shows strong community support of Akaka Bill

 

By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, bolstered by new business and labor support and an opinion poll released yesterday, is ramping up efforts to get the U.S. Senate to pass a native Hawaiian sovereignty bill.

Also yesterday, opponents and supporters of the Akaka Bill squared off in the first of two forums to debate the measure.

The push for the long-stalled bill continued yesterday with a morning rally at Iolani Palace of more than 100 supporters, including representatives of the University of Hawaii, the AFL-CIO, Chaminade University, First Hawaiian Bank, Hawaii Metal Recycling, Maui Land & Pine, Royal Contracting and Stanford Carr Development Corp.

The Senate is scheduled to vote Sept. 6 on a motion that would stop opponents from delaying a vote on the bill, formally called the Native Hawaiian Recognition Act of 2005. The bill would start the process of recognizing and forming a native Hawaiian government entity to negotiate with state and federal governments. If Akaka gets 60 votes to halt the delays, the Senate could vote on the bill next month.

Haunani Apoliona, OHA chairwoman, announced the results of the poll that showed 68 percent of those surveyed support the bill, 17 percent do not support it and 15 percent refused to answer or had no opinion.

The statewide poll was taken Aug. 15-18 by Ward Research, a local public opinion firm. OHA paid for the poll of 401 randomly selected Hawaii residents, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

According to the poll, the strongest support comes from younger residents, with 76 percent of those age 18-34 supporting the Akaka Bill, while only 55 percent of those 55 and older supported the proposal.

"The Akaka Bill is the start of a long road to reconciliation," Apoliona said. "It also has a practical impact in this age of lawsuits, as a shield to protect programs that serve native Hawaiians and benefit the entire state."

The poll also asked if Hawaiians should be given federal recognition even if, as critics say, native Hawaiians are a race rather than an indigenous group. Only 9 percent agreed that native Hawaiians should not be given recognition because of race, while 80 percent said race should not be the basis for denying federal recognition, Apoliona said.

William Burgess, an attorney who has filed lawsuits attacking the constitutionality of both OHA and the state Hawaiian Home Lands Department, said he doubted the poll's validity.

"This is the same shibai they used in their 2003 poll," Burgess said, adding that a group opposing the bill took its own poll this summer showing residents opposing the measure.

"The Akaka Bill would allow anyone with an ancestor who was indigenous to form their own separate government. Do you think that is right?" he said.

Asked about the large number of businesses and community groups supporting the Akaka Bill, Burgess said, "It sounds like a lot of people who may have a vested interest in keeping Hawaiians in a state of dependency."

Another critic of the bill, Hawaiian activist Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele, said yesterday's rally did not change his mind, either.

"What we have to do is go back to square one. Basically, it means we have to educate the people as to what our options are," Kanahele said.

But Gov. Linda Lingle, who plans to go back to Washington, D.C., to lobby for the bill next month, said she is encouraged by the poll and support.

"We'll be sending a letter to all of the Republican members of the Senate, again, with some of the latest information from here at home, and I suppose this kind of a poll would be helpful," Lingle said.

At the forum taped yesterday in Manoa and later broadcast on KHON-TV and KHET, Bruce Fein, a constitutional attorney and bill opponent, repeated his call that the bill be put up for a vote in Hawaii before Congress acts on it. "Why would the Hawaiian people not want to be given the opportunity to choose?" Fein said.

State Attorney General Mark Bennett responded, saying Fein and other Akaka Bill opponents were calling for a vote to delay action in Congress.

Also participating in the forum was Kaleikoa Kaeo, spokesman for Hui Pu, a group formed to oppose the bill, and a sovereignty group called NOA (Not of America). Kaeo said federal recognition is not needed because Hawaiians are already recognized through treaties the kingdom had with the United States and with other countries.

"We are real people with a real history," Kaeo said.

A free forum will be held today at the Japanese Cultural Center, 2454 S. Beretania St., from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring Bennett, Fein, native Hawaiian journalist and filmmaker Anne Keala Kelly, and OHA attorney Robert Klein, who also participated in yesterday's forum.

Also, at 7 p.m. next Tuesday on KITV, OHA will broadcast a one-hour special on the bill.

Akaka, who spoke at yesterday's rally, said he thinks he has the votes needed to end the debate and win a floor vote on the bill. "I would prefer that we move on and take the vote immediately, but as you know, other things can happen," he said.

 

 

 

 

Posted: Thursday, Aug 18, 2005 - 05:16:13 am HST

 

Council backs Kamehameha Schools

 

By Lester Chang - The Garden Island

 

Kamehameha School's long-standing admission policy giving preference to Native Hawaiians should remain intact, and federal judges should reverse a decision finding the policy discriminatory.

Kaua‘i County Council took that united stand in approving on Wednesday a resolution asking state Attorney General Mark Bennett to call for the reversal of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision this month that Kamehameha Schools policy is discriminatory.

Council members, who met during a meeting at the historic County Building, said the action they took was the right thing to do because Hawaiians have become dispossessed and lost since the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy.

They also said they felt keeping the policy intact would enable Native Hawaiian children to become better educated so they can lead more full lives.

"In my mind, I just saw this as history, heritage, culture, roots and lifestyle," said council chairman Kaipo Asing, who is part-Hawaiian.

He and council vice-chairman James Kunane Tokioka, who also is part-Hawaiian, introduced the resolution, which councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, who is of Japanese ancestry, said was timely and needed.

The resolution is nonbonding, and only expresses the wish of the council on a matter.

The measure was sent to Bennett, Gov. Linda Lingle and Mayor Bryan Baptiste.

Kamehameha Schools intends to file a petition to have the federal court rehear the case, Donna Aana-Nakahara, coordinator of Kamehameha Schools Kaua‘i Regional Resource Center, told the council.

If that effort fails, they will ask the United States Supreme Court to review the case and "reverse the decision of the 9th Circuit," Aana-Nakahara said.

The resolution noted Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, "with great wisdom, bequeath the lands she inherited as the great-granddaughter and last royal descendent of Kamehameha the Great as a perpetual endowment for the establishment and support of Kamehameha Schools."

Asing and Tokioka said the federal government's 1993 Apology Bill acknowledged U.S. troops invaded a sovereign Hawaiian nation a hundred years earlier, and noted social and economic changes since then have devastated the Hawaiian people.

Against this "backdrop of loss and dispossession, the mission of Kamehameha Schools becomes vital," the council members wrote.

The United States has set indigenous people apart from the populace, alluding to Native Americans, and have accorded them a "different status because of the dispossessions and losses they suffered, as America became the country that it is," Asing and Tokioka wrote.

As the United States has treated such recognition as lawful and political, and not unlawful discrimination, government leaders should view Kamehameha Schools' admission policy in the same light, the council members said.

Yukimura said the news of the court decision stunned people. "I think all of us were dismayed by the news:" she said, and people across the state want that decision reversed.

The decision doesn't just affect Hawaiians, but every resident, as the Hawaiian culture is celebrated by all, she said.

In explaining his support for the resolution, councilman Jay Furfaro said chieftains recognize the need to "coexist" with the spread of western influence in Hawai‘i.

In recognition of that fact, the Hawaiian flag, its colors and configuration, was made to reflect the power of the ancient monarchy and the influences of the British and French empires, Furfaro said.

The flag bears the symbol of the Union Jack of the British Empire, eight bars representing the eight main Hawaiian Islands and the sequential colors of blue, red and white, the color sequence found in the national flag of France, Furfaro said.

The drafters of the 1993 Apology Bill recognized the need for U.S. reconciliation with the Hawaiian people, and understood the special relationship between Hawai‘i and the federal government as it relates to the statehood act of 1959, Furfaro said.

That act recognizes the special responsibility the United States has to its indigenous people, including Hawaiians, and reinforces the need for Kamehameha Schools student admission preference for Native Hawaiians, Furfaro said.

Councilwoman Shaylene Carvalho, a career lawyer and a retired deputy prosecuting attorney for Kaua‘i County, said "Kamehameha Schools has provided many, many opportunities for Native Hawaiian people."

Keeping the admission policy intact will work for the betterment of future Native Hawaiian children and help perpetuate the culture, she said.

Carvalho said she herself attended Kamehameha Schools for a time, and her daughter graduated from a Kamehameha preschool programs. That exposure has enriched both their lives, Carvalho indicated.

She said the federal judges are wrong if they think the school excludes non-Hawaiians. Students have Hawaiian blood, but they are part-haole and are of Japanese, Chinese and Filipino ethnicity, she said.

The court decision suggests the federal judges didn't understand that Congress has funded programs principally for the Hawaiians for many years, she said.

Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro said that if he could, he would encourage the judges to come to Hawai‘i and "see the culture."

Once they understand how it worked, the judges would surely change their decision, knowing that the school policy would immensely help Nave Hawaiian children, including many who need financial help, Kaneshiro said.

Tokioka said many people have talked with him about the court's decision and that they are in "total support of the structure of the school and its admission policy."

The court ruling affects not only the school, but could, some day, threaten funding to the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, two agencies serving Hawaiians across the state.

Tokioka said his participation in a program at Kamehameha Schools in 1972 profoundly affected his life, gave him a deeper appreciation of his Hawaiian roots. While there, he leaned how to make a nose flute, an instrument of the ancient Hawaiians.

Asing said keeping the admission's policy intact means educational opportunities for Hawaiians so they can "lead lives as full as possible."

Aana-Nakahara said Native Hawaiian children need every break that comes their way, and keeping the admission policy intact will help.

"Many Native Hawaiians look to Kamehameha Schools as a way by which to obtain an education and to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage," she said.

She noted Native Hawaiian families have some of the highest poverty rates in the state and are twice as likely to be headed by a single parent, Native Hawaiian children in public schools have the lowest test scores, and Native Hawaiian youngsters have the highest rates of drug and alcohol abuse in the state.

·  Lester Chang, staff writer, 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@ kauaipubco.com.

 

 

 

 

August 22, 2005

 

Advertiser Staff

 

Graves Panel Member Named

 

Colin Kippen, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council, has been appointed to a federal review committee that advises on how the federal native burials law is carried out.

 

Kippen, formerly senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs under Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, also served as deputy administrator of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and chief tribal judge of the Suquamish tribe in Washington.

 

The committee reviews disputes that arise under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Kippen succeeds Vera Metcalf, whose term recently expired, and joins six other members: Garrick Bailey, Willie Jones, Dan L. Monroe, Lee Staples, Vincas P. Steponaitis and Rosita Worl.

 

NAGPRA was enacted in 1990 to address the rights of lineal descendants, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony with which they are affiliated.

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Thursday, August 18, 2005

 

Student art, Hawaiian legends mix at museum’s new science center

 

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Education Writer

 

A black-lit tunnel in the Bishop Museum's new Science Learning Center will not only teach visitors about the kumulipo, it also will demonstrate how students interpret the Hawaiian creation chant.

 

Students have been gathering since Friday to decorate the 160-foot Hawaiian Origins Tunnel with artwork they created last school year, affixing fluorescent fauna and flora to the walls and creating a native environment.

 

The tunnel is part of the $17 million center scheduled to open in November. As visitors walk through it, they will hear chanting from the kumulipo as they see how students visualize the legends about the creation of the Hawaiian Islands and its ocean life and forests.

 

On Tuesday, students from Jarrett Middle School were on duty. Dole Middle School, Hakipu'u Learning Center, Halau Lokahi and 'Aiea Intermediate also participated in the project, which was coordinated by Perdita Ross, a Florida-based artist who did another installation at Bishop Museum when she lived in Hawai'i 12 years ago.

 

But these will not be the only students who will contribute to the tunnel, which is meant to be a continually evolving installation, said Kunane Wooten, who prepares exhibits for the museum.

 

Involving students in hands-on projects is important to the museum. This particular project enables teachers to inject some culture into the students' art assignments and gives students a sense of ownership in the exhibit.

 

"They can actually come down here and say, 'I designed that,' " Wooten said. "It gives them the sense that they belong to something much larger."

 

About 75 art students from Jarrett contributed to the tunnel, although not all of them were able to help with the installation. Art teacher Linda Oszajca said the project gave public-school students something they don't normally get to experience.

 

"It was the opportunity for them to do something real, something that will be right out there in the public," she said.

 

Said Anya Sangchan, 14: "It was really fun knowing that you're doing something and people are going to see it."

 

Shasta Yamada, also 14, is not an art student, but came to help with the installation with her mother, who is Jarrett's Parent Community Networking Center coordinator. For Yamada, hanging the artwork and painting the walls was a fun way to spend some of her vacation.

 

"I can hang out with my friends and help out and have fun all at the same time," she said.

 

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

August 23, 2005

 

Groups get state grants sooner

 

Lingle says the better economy means more timely release of funds

 

By B.J. Reyes
bjreyes@starbulletin.com

The state's improved financial condition has allowed the governor's office to release funds for various programs in a more timely manner, Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday.

In announcing $745,000 in state grants to seven organizations for arts and education programs, Lingle noted that the funds became available at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, and she was pleased to be able to release the money before the end of the first fiscal quarter.

"We're in a much different position than we were when we came here," she said.

The state Department of Budget and Finance has predicted a budget surplus of about $473 million for the current fiscal year.

Lingle has in the past been criticized by Democrats for withholding money for various programs. Most of the funds that had been withheld were for anti-drug programs approved by the Legislature in 2003.

Administration officials have defended the practice, saying they were simply being fiscally responsible and scrutinizing all programs to ensure that state money was being spent appropriately.

Lingle said her administration will continue to closely evaluate all appropriations, but added that the state's improved economy gives her more discretion in releasing funds.

"Yes, it's more fun to be able to make certain that groups that perform good services for the community get their money," Lingle said. "But when I see that we're in a difficult financial situation, then I have to make the tough decision and say, 'I'm sorry, we just can't do it,' or 'We can't do it at this time,' or 'We can't do it at the level that was voted on by the Legislature.'"

Organizations Receiving Grants Yesterday

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Saturday, August 20, 2005

 

Kawananakoa seeks transfer of artifacts

 

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

 

Two groups — including one headed by Abigail Kawananakoa, an heiress of the Campbell Estate who is descended from Hawaiian royalty — are filing a federal lawsuit demanding that a Native Hawaiian organization return 83 lots of priceless Hawaiian artifacts to Bishop Museum so that they can be properly returned to their rightful claimants.

 

Kawananakoa is president of Na Lei Alii Kawananakoa, which, along with the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, submitted the suit at the federal courthouse yesterday. The two groups also submitted a request for a court order seeking the return.

 

The suit is over a long-standing dispute over artifacts recovered at the Kawaihae Caves on the Big Island in 1905. Known as the Forbes Caves collection, the objects include a female figure carved of wood; two stick 'aumakua; and gourds decorated with human teeth.

 

Bishop Museum lent those items for a year to Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei in 2000, according to the suit.

 

But Hui Malama did not return the items, has refused to do so and apparently buried them in the Kawaihae Cave complex, exposing them to environmental harm and thieves, the suit said.

 

The lawsuit said the items were wrongfully obtained from the museum under a previous administration in violation of the federal Native Hawaiian Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The law establishes a process for museums to return cultural items to groups that include Native Hawaiian organizations.

 

"Hui Malama hijacked an important part of Hawai'i's cultural past in a manner that should shock the conscience of this court," the two groups said in documents supporting their request that the items be returned to the museum. The groups are represented by Honolulu attorney George Van Buren.

 

The suit is against the museum and Hui Malama, a nonprofit group formed for the care of burial remains and associated objects.

 

But the museum's current president, William Y. Brown, issued a statement yesterday indicating that the institution sympathizes with the two groups.

 

"We agree with the plaintiffs that the Kawaihae repatriation has not been completed and is not final," he said. "We strongly believe that these objects should be recovered and made secure from harm. Once that is done, consultation should continue among all recognized claimants in a manner that is respectful to them all.

 

"We appreciate the frustration of the plaintiffs, and hope that this case can be resolved quickly."

 

Edward Halealoha Ayau, Hui Malama spokesman, would not comment because he had not read the lawsuit.

 

But Guy Kaulukukui, a former museum employee who oversaw the claims to the artifacts under the federal statute, said the institution complied with "the letter and spirit of the law" in releasing the artifacts to Hui Malama. He said if the museum chose to defend its actions, it would prevail.

 

"I don't know that it will attempt to defend itself very well, given that the landscape has changed," he said.

 

When it received the artifacts, Hui Malama was one of four groups recognized as a claimants under the federal law. Currently, there are 13 others, including the two filing the lawsuit.

 

The suit said a review committee, an advisory board to the Department of Interior, twice found that the process of identifying the correct claimants had not been completed.

 

"We have tried every way possible to resolve this matter other than going to court," Kawananakoa said in a statement yesterday. "However, the refusal of Hui Malama to comply with the loan agreement, the review committee's two decisions and the law left us with no choice."

 

La'akea Suganuma, president of the Royal Hawaiian Academy, said in a statement they're not sure the artifacts are in a cave. "Even if they are, we are very concerned about their condition. It is certain that they have been subjected to deterioration and attack by insects for 5 1/2 years," he said.

 

The lawsuit and the request for an injunction were submitted to a receptacle at the federal courthouse, which was closed yesterday. The papers will be formally filed on Monday.

 

A hearing date on the request for the court order will be set after the documents are filed.

 

Advertiser staff writer Gordon Y.K. Pang contributed to this report. Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.

 

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

August 19, 2005

 

FLC to offer American Indians master's degree

 

By Shane Benjamin
Herald Staff Writer

 

Fort Lewis College and the University of Northern Colorado will collaborate to offer a master's degree in American Indian academic leadership.

 

Together, the schools have landed an $873,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Indian Education for the program. The money will pay for American Indian teachers in the Four Corners who want to advance their education to become a principal or an administrator in elementary- and secondary-education systems, said Farren Webb, an administrator in Fort Lewis' Education Outreach Office.

 

Fort Lewis will recruit teachers for the program. Only teachers with a minimum of two years teaching experience are eligible. And only Ute Mountain Utes, Southern Utes and Navajos are allowed into the program. UNC and other agencies will recruit and mentor students from the Denver area.

 

"The grant will allow Fort Lewis College graduates from the three tribes who wish to become school administrators to pursue that degree program while staying in the Four Corners," Webb said in a news release.

 

Increasing the number of native school administrators boosts opportunities for native teachers and provides a better education for native students, Webb said. "It just makes the kids feel more at home."

 

Boosting the number of minority school administrators can be difficult in large, urban areas, Webb said, but on reservations, where 99 percent of the students are native, it is easy.

 

UNC will offer the graduate course using distance-learning methods and face-to-face teaching. Fort Lewis will act as the liaison to the students locally. The school also will set up an 800 number, which students can call for classes or assistance.

 

Webb hopes to recruit 20 to 30 teachers. He anticipates most will be Navajo because it is the largest tribe, and there are more Navajo teachers looking to move into administrative positions.

 

The grant will provide scholarships to students and pay their travel expenses.

 

For more information, call Linda Vogel at (970) 351-2119 or Webb at 247-7016.

 

Reach Staff Writer Shane Benjamin here .

 

 

 

 

Posted: August 12, 2005

 

Modern-day warrior society

 

by: Jean Johnson / Indian Country Today

 

Native American Rights Fund celebrates 35 years

Building a better America for everyone

Part one

BOULDER, Colo. - Are you looking for a modern-day warrior society? Try the Native American Rights Fund's 13 attorneys, support staff, board of directors, the national Indian legal defense fund and, most recently, the Tribal Supreme Court Project that NARF was asked to lead.

Gone are the days when, with the smoke of early-morning fires at their backs, warriors leveled arrows at invading marauders who had an untamed lust for possession. Instead, this phalanx of contemporary men and women warriors at NARF take their stands in law libraries, around the sleek lines of conference tables and, finally, before the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States.

In a low, unassuming voice projecting a quiet dignity to be reckoned with, NARF Executive Director John Echohawk, J.D., stated, ''We are building a better America for everyone - Indian and non-Indian.''

But it wasn't always this way. When NARF came into being 35 years ago in 1970, as Echohawk put it, ''The very existence of Indian tribes in America was at stake. Would the federal policy of terminating Indian tribes altogether prevail, or could the tribes adapt to become viable sovereign governments in modern-day America, using their strong legal foundation in American law?''

The timing was auspicious. The era was ripe for change. Inspired by the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegregated schools in 1954, blacks staged protests over civil rights. Distraught by the war in Vietman and bored by middle-American culture (or lack thereof), the counterculture and political left rose up against its own parents, challenging the very ethics in place in the nation. Mainstream middle-classers coming of age in the late '60s went on to embrace the civil rights movement, become champions of environmental and healthy living reforms and, of course, look toward the nations within to see how they could support what was up in Indian country.

It turns out that although there was plenty of demoralization and dissolution that had come about through 100 years of cultural dislocation, those coming of age in Indian country felt the same winds brush their faces that were sweeping across America. Indeed, some, like Echohawk, poised right on the cusp of progressive change.

''When I was a senior in high school, I decided to study law and started on that path. So after I graduated, I enrolled at the University of New Mexico and earned a B.A. in government.''

The year was 1967, when as an expression of the signs of the times and part of Johnson's ''war on poverty,'' the federal government took the unprecedented step of offering graduate scholarships to American Indian law students. ''The school the government picked to administer the program happened to be the University of New Mexico, and I applied. So I was in the first class of Native American law students with federally funded scholarships. The idea was to get some professionals among Native Americans, since at that time we had only a handful of doctors and lawyers.''

Echohawk and seven others received scholarships - and proceeded down a path that has had radical implications for Indian country.

''To their credit, the U&M law faculty put together one of the first Indian law courses, and that's where we started discovering that we had this strong legal foundation for things none of us knew about. Of course, we all had a general idea that things weren't right; but not the specifics. It was a real eye-opener.''

The following year, another batch of Indian law students started through law school. ''They came away with the same impressions we had. And the year after there was another group,'' Echohawk said. ''By then we had enough critical mass to form the Native American Law Student Association, a group based on the realization that we had this strong legal foundation that we could build on for the future of our tribes.''

It was 1970 when Echohawk graduated from law school, and he didn't let any grass grow under his feet. NARF was born the same year, and he was on the ground floor. ''The federal government was still in the mentality of terminating tribes, but that began changing as we started bringing these cases.

''Also in 1970, Nixon became the first president to officially embrace the idea of Indian self-determination and reject termination. Still, it took time; I think many people in 1970 just couldn't believe the treaties were still applicable and the tribes could exercise sovereign authority.''

He added that another aspect of the ''war on poverty'' that ensued during the 1970s ''dealt with the provision of legal services to poor people by the federal government. They realized that millions had no legal representation because they couldn't afford a lawyer.''

Legal aid services were established around the country, and ''some of the brightest students coming out of law school ended up on reservations. There, they basically stumbled onto the area of Indian law on their own. They realized the potential - all these unrepresented clients - and ended up collaborating with those of us coming out of the U&M program,'' said Echohawk. ''I had a summer job with these folks. It was a way to connect what was going on in the field with what we had studied in the formal setting.''

The rest is history. NARF has enjoyed 35 years of success and, in the process, has changed the lives of Indian people. Echohawk has been there the entire time.

''We've been real fortunate to work on these issues of importance to Indian country. There are a lot of people out there that need help. We have a lot of work to do and will keep doing it as long as we can generate the support we need,'' Echohawk said.

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Friday, August 19, 2005

 

Nonprofit leaders win $10K awards

 

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

 

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i, the co-founder of an organization that publishes the stories of Hawai'i, the chief administrator of Moloka'i General Hospital and the head of a group that encourages sustainable economic development each won $10,000 yesterday for their work leading their nonprofit organizations.

 

They each received Ho'okele — or "steersman" — Awards from the Hawai'i Community Foundation and the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, which for the past four years have acknowledged the work of the non-profit sector.

 

But the award comes with a catch: The winners cannot use it for their organization and must instead spend it only on their "professional development and personal renewal."

 

One winner, Vanessa Chong, executive director of the ACLU of Hawai'i, suddenly found herself unusually uncomfortable speaking in front of a crowd.

 

"You can't shut us up when it comes to our organizations," said Chong, who has run Hawai'i's ACLU chapter since 1984. "But all of the honorees seemed to feel awkward having the spotlight turned personally on them. I could feel my face being hot and it was difficult for me to speak. I know it's because we are so unaccustomed to having the spotlight on us personally."

 

And that's the point of each year's Ho'okele Awards.

 

"The award recognizes these wonderful community leaders that have been giving to all of us for most of their lives and taking little in return," said Kelvin H. Taketa, president and CEO of the Hawai'i Community Foundation. "By providing this $10,000 award and insisting that they use it for their personal renewal and any professional renewal, we're really just saying 'thank you' and hoping that they'll continue their good work."

 

But it turns out that most of the winners end up finding a way to use the money also to help someone else, Taketa said.

 

"Some of the people have used the money for things they couldn't have done otherwise, like family vacations," Taketa said. "One of the recipients in the past used the money to pay for carpentry tools so they could help build a house on their family homestead with his son. We really hope that they do something for themselves. But almost to a person, they end up doing something for someone else. It's the constitutional characteristic of these people that they'll find a way to have the gift go beyond themselves."

 

Each winner also receives a miniature koa paddle to represent the way they guide their organizations, like the steersman of a canoe. The other three winners are:

 

 

 

 

The winners must "work for an organization that has limited means to pursue professional and personal development," according to the Hawai'i Community Foundation.

 

Most of the winners, such as Chong, said they have no idea how they'll spend their $10,000.

 

"I've been given a rare opportunity and I know that what I'll end up doing is going to be an adventure," she said. "Whatever the experience that I choose to take, my goal is for that adventure to be one that results in stretching myself beyond where I am now — and to be able to bring something back to the work that I do."

 

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

2005-08-19

 

Buck says tribe, state should return to March land swap offer

 

by JIM CASEY

 

PORT ANGELES -- The shortest course to resolving the Tse-whit-zen controversy is returning to a land swap legislators offered to the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe in March, state Rep. Jim Buck said Thursday

 

Furthermore, the state law regarding historic cemeteries -- which the tribe cited in its suit seeking reburial of ancestors at the former Hood Canal Bridge graving yard -- specifically excludes Native Americans, according to the District 24 Republican legislator from Joyce.

 

And the state Department of Transportation cannot cede the 22.5-acre site to the tribe without the consent of the Legislature, Buck said, citing an attorney general's opinion.

 

``I don't think it's a racial thing,'' he said.

 

``It's a legal construct-type thing.

 

``The attorney general's opinion clearly shows that there are some limits to what can be done.''

 

Tribe not commenting

 

John Miller, executive director of the tribe, said, ``On the advice of counsel, members of the tribal business committee -- the elected officials -- are not commenting on the court case or negotiations with the state.''

 

In the meantime, parties to the controversy -- the tribe, labor leaders, and city, state and federal officials -- are expected to meet Monday or Tuesday to continue negotiating the impasse.

Included in discussions will be whether concrete anchors for the Hood Canal Bridge can be built on the shoreward side of the site.

 

Because the shore is fill land, the tribe has indicated it has no objection to building anchors there.

 

Next week's meeting with Tim Thompson, the negotiator who has moderated discussions since graving yard construction halted last December, was spurred by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, whose congressional district includes Jefferson and Clallam counties.

 

Thompson is a former aide to Dicks.

 

``I understand that labor leaders and some City Council people have been told by Norm that they had to get back to the table,'' Buck said.

 

 

 

 

August 21, 2005

 

Resemblance is real

 

The Kane brothers share looks, hobbies, exposure and praise

 

By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

Brothers Emmit and Micah Kane look and sound alike, enjoy the same hobbies, and have the same zip code.

And when asked if people often confuse the two of them, they even share the same answer: "All the time."

"It happens in the stores, it happens everywhere," says Micah, state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands director.

"Oh yeah, it happens a lot," agrees Emmit, Honolulu Fire Department captain.

Emmit, 40, has received encouraging shouts of "good job on Hawaiian Homes," and "go get um Hawaiians," intended for his brother. Micah, 36, has accepted kudos from people complimenting all the hard work "you guys" are doing, only to realize they are referring to firefighters.

The brothers aren't bothered by the confusion, which started two years ago when Emmit started performing spokesman duties for HFD.

The public was already familiar with Micah after he became executive director of the Hawaii Republican Party in 1999, then chairman, then Linda Lingle's campaign chairman and now a member of the governor's Cabinet.

So when Emmit started appearing on television as HFD spokesman, "People think I'm moonlighting as a fireman," Micah said.

The brothers were close, growing up in Kailua, and share more than looks.

Emmit and Micah both went to Northern California colleges after graduating from Kamehameha School, worked on their MBAs at the University of Hawaii together, and have the same hobbies. They live less than a quarter-mile apart in Kaneohe, making it easy for the families to get together.

Micah said he and his brother have the same speech patterns, so they even sound the same.

Emmit describes Micah as passionate, while Micah says Emmit is the calmer of the two.

Micah says he always struggled in school, while academics came easy for Emmit. He says his older brother helped him pass the accounting and finance requirements of his MBA.

Emmit deflects his brother's praise.

"Like everything, we did together. So it was a group effort," Emmit said.

 

 

 

 

Sunday, August 21, 2005

 

Brother Noland’s book offers reminders of aloha spirit

 

By Nancy Arcayna
narcayna@starbulletin.com

People have been asking for years if the aloha spirit is dead and gone. Brother Noland Conjugacion would definitely say no.

But he does believe it could use some revitalization.

"People just need to be reminded," Conjugacion said. "We are all born with it but slowly get reconditioned."

Children have an abundance of the aloha spirit and don't even know it, he said. Keeping it alive is the hard part.

Conjugacion, better known for his long musical career as Brother Noland, does his part with a new book, "The Lessons of Aloha: Stories of the Human Spirit," a collection of inspirational stories. Each has a moral or a lesson, as told by local people in their own words.

"In all of the emotion, there was humor," Conjugacion said.

Aloha implies love, respect and all the values of a good education, he said, but living with aloha is not easy. "We live in a very selfish, egotistical world, cluttered with money, politics and religion. We live in a world with lots of expectations."

"The world is colorful," he added. "Anybody can talk a mean talk. I'm just thankful that I had mentors to help me down the path. It's all about the message, the good vibe. There is so much that we can share."

So many people out there are just dangling -- from the Catholic priests to the addicts on "ice," he said. "We tend to become disconnected as humans and don't know how to coexist."

One of the main reasons he wrote his book, he said, is to help readers understand how important it is to keep these stories alive.

"There is nothing like a good story ... they provide a wealth of knowledge. Whatever you are trying to teach can be done in a story. Before TV and radio, that is all we had to entertain ourselves."

He also felt it provided an avenue, aside from his music, to reach out. Recently, he has also placed much emphasis on being involved in children's programs at Palama Settlement, the Boys and Girls Club, Kamehameha Schools and the YWCA.

The book includes an array of stories based on lessons divided into seven sections: lessons within, lessons of the community, land, marketplace, arts, teamwork and Kalaupapa. The recently expanded hardcover version includes 48 stories, accompanied by Shuzo Uemoto's photos, that teach the value of helping others, how prejudgments can be reckless and how racial prejudice hurts oneself.

Among the storytellers are those who have dealt with tragedies or addiction, executives who give back to the community, artists who learned family lessons, kapuna who share wisdom and the tales of the residents of Kalaupapa.

Mary Scott Lau, executive director of Women in Need, encourages women to take control of their own lives. "I'm sorry you have bad mothers," she wrote. "But you need to break the cycle." Kelly Hill, director of Sisters Offering Support, shares her story of prostitution and her road to recovery. Ed Fukuda talks about his daily visits to a convalescent home to spend time with his father, who has Alzheimer's disease. And Mary Lou Kekuewa talks about her alcohol addiction and the pain it caused her family.

No story in the book is longer than three pages, photos are abundant and the print is large -- all Conjugacion's requirements, who said those are all attributes that would entice him to read.

As a youngster, he recalled being placed on time out with a dictionary and Bible when he misbehaved. "I would close my eyes and point to a word or scripture and read it."

He learned a lot from this practice of absorbing small bits of information and used the technique in his book: Each story is accompanied by boxed tidbits of information. Some boxes include quotes from the storyteller, others a minibiography.

In Fukuda's story, for example, the little bit of information reads, in part: "After graduating from Hilo High School in 1952, he worked for 20 years as a mechanic and gas attendant at his father's service station. Then, 35 years ago, he and his wife Judy founded Kandi's Drive Inn. Today his daughter, his only child, operates the drive-in, and his son-in-law operates the service station. Meanwhile, Ed keeps his father connected to the family by visiting him every day at the nursing home."

Conjugacion firmly believes that every action or situation is life has a lesson of aloha. "Along my journey, I've come across so many situations and moments that were turning points in my life. I continue to live as a child with an old soul in my body. Everything I live and express, I was taught. I'm just continuing the spirit of aloha."

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Thursday, August 18, 2005

 

Brushfires rob landscape of its native flavor

 

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

 

In less than a week the fire-blackened ridges above Nanakuli Valley will sprout pale green tentacles of grass — infant shoots growing rapidly among the charred corpses of the parent plants.

 

This is not an example of Mother Nature replenishing native flora, said Pauline Sato, O'ahu program director for the Nature Conservancy.

 

"Those are invasive species," she said. "Weeds."

 

As the fires burn again and again, the weeds encroach farther into the native forests higher on the ridge, permanently displacing them and forever changing the character of O'ahu's landscape.

 

The non-native plants are invigorated by fire, Sato said, growing back dense and healthy after the blaze and serving as excellent fuel for the next burn.

 

Native plants exposed to fire simply die, she said.

 

It's not just plants. Hawaiian short-eared owls, or pueo, would have been living in the areas where the fire burned this week.

 

"Hopefully they are all right," Sato said. "There were some in the area, but they can fly away."

 

On Monday, conservationists watched nervously as the flames licked at the Nanakuli Forest Reserve, inching closer to three of the four wild native gardenias in the state. On Monday night that part of the fire seemed contained, and the conservationists took a tentative breath. It was premature.

 

On Tuesday, the ridge area where the gardenias grow burned.

 

"We think they were consumed by the fire," Sato said of the three gardenias there.

 

The fourth wild gardenia grows farther up the ridge, on the Nature Conservancy's Honouliuli Forest Preserve. Offspring plants have been cultivated from seeds from the wild plants, but unless conservationists find something near-miraculous when the burn cools enough for them to explore the blackened areas of Nanakuli Forest Reserve on foot, the Honouliuli gardenia stands as the last wild version of the plant.

 

Pat Costales, O'ahu branch manager for the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Division of Forestry and Wildlife, said the perimeter of the fire overlapped the area where the native plants grow, and what he saw Tuesday during a helicopter tour did not look promising.

 

"I saw a lot of blackened forests," he said.

 

Sato explored the opposite side of the ridge yesterday and said she was shocked by the number of burned areas that have stained the mountainside this fire season.

 

She said those areas and the area where the gardenias once bloomed are likely to be overtaken by guinea grass, a common invasive species.

 

The weed, which can reach 7 feet in height, was introduced in the mid-1800s as a failed experiment at developing a food source for cattle.

 

"It spreads up the mountain and grows in thick, and nothing else can grow there," she said.

 

Native trees, including lama and sandalwood trees, were killed in the fires, she said. The individual plants were not the last of their kind, but the forest community in which they grow is rare.

 

"That type of native Hawaiian dry forest is rare all over the island," she said.

 

Wayne F. Ching, state protection forester for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said removing the forests affect other aspects of the environment as well.

 

Without the plants to hold it in place, soil along the mountainside poses a hazard to humans and to ocean life.

 

"For example," he said, "right after a fire we had in Waikoloa (on the Big Island), the wind picked up and created a dust storm like something right out of the Sahara desert.

 

"Then, three days later, we had a storm with a lot of rain, and that caused runoff into the ocean. You can imagine what that does to the reef."

 

Landslides and rockslides also are more likely to occur on denuded areas, he said.

 

Leslie Au, a toxicologist with the state Department of Health, said those who have allergies or other respiratory disorders can suffer increased difficulties during and after a fire.

 

"During the fire, people with pre-existing conditions are going to be aggravated," he said. "Not just allergies but other conditions, including emphysema and others with decreased lung capacity."

 

After the fire, he said, the breathing problems may persist as the bare soil blows away.

 

"Bacteria live in the soil," he said. "Fungus and mildew. For people with allergies, it is like someone just opened a pollen field upwind."

 

Ching, the state protection forester, said he hopes Leeward residents will remain vigilant in protecting their property from fire damage, including clearing an area 30 feet out from the property line, and making sure there is space between homes and wilderness areas that allow firefighters to move in and take a stand.

 

Sato, from the Nature Conservancy, said she hopes homeowners on the Leeward side will help hold the line against invasive species by growing more native plants that thrive in dry environments, such as pili and kawelu grasses, and 'ilie'e, a native plumbago.

 

Reach Karen Blakeman at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

August 22, 2005 6:00 am

 

CITIZEN-TIMES.com

 

Book shares wisdom of tribe’s elders

 

By Jill Ingram
STAFF WRITER

 

CHEROKEE — A project that focuses on Cherokee elders may help preserve the community’s culture.

 

The project, “Cherokee Elders: Our Greatest Generation,” is an oversized book of photographs and memories of the elders.

 

It is a sort of yearbook of Eastern Band members age 70 and older. Entries from about 350 elders are divided into categories such as school memories, fair memories, sports memories and more.

 

From a section about traditions that should be passed down, elder Lou Belle Payne contributed this: “I believe that each of us should be proud of our heritage. When I was a small child, they told me I was part Cherokee Indian and I felt real proud. I studied the natural herbal remedies that the earth had to offer. We grew our vegetables and lived off the land.

 

“I believe my Indian roots was the key to my survival — live simple.”

 

Principal Chief Michell Hicks said he conceived of the book as something elders could pass down.

 

“I wanted the elders to be able to hand down some encouragement for the younger generations coming along,” Hicks said. He’ll distribute the books to elders personally at events in August and September.

 

The tribe loses the experience of the elders each time one of them dies, Hicks said.

 

“I want to try to capture a small piece of that,” he said.

 

For instance, many of the school memories focus on experiences at the boarding schools that Cherokee children used to attend off the Qualla Boundary, the tribe’s land.

 

The books were designed by the Goss Agency in Asheville, who for the past year has worked with the tribe on promotions. The first edition of 1,000 copies is at the printers, said Matt Levin, Goss art director.

 

Originally, the idea was that everyone who contributed to the book would get a copy.

 

But initial interest has been so great among others that Levin is researching the cost of a larger, second edition.

 

“We’ve had a ton of requests already,” Hicks said.

 

Proceeds from sales would go toward senior services, said Annette Clapsaddle, an assistant to Hicks. Institutions such as the tribe’s schools, museum, senior center and library will receive books from the first edition.

 

The book is 9 x 12 inches and printed on high-quality paper. The layout echoes that of a yearbook, with some pages dedicated to rows of contemporary face shots of contributors. There are also old photos, Cherokee symbols and some words printed in Cherokee.

 

The chief’s office collected submissions by sending a questionnaire to the elders and in some cases sending tribal employees out for interviews. A photographer shot the elders’ pictures during an elders’ event.

 

The layout and design echo the overall print campaign Goss has developed for the tribe to promote attractions such as the Oconaluftee Indian Village, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the production “Unto These Hills.”

 

Some of the entries are humorous, such as one about boarding school from Frank J. Taylor Sr.:

 

“When we were going to dinner we would ride horses across the Oconaluftee River back to school. While going across the river, Richard “Geet” Crowe fell off of his horse and fell in the river. He was frozen by the time we got back to the dining hall.”

 

According to Barbara Duncan, education director at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the project is valuable in preserving Cherokee culture.

 

“It’s another way for youth and the elders to connect, and that’s essential for the culture to survive,” Duncan said.

 

 

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.

 

 

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE THIRD CIRCUIT STATE OF HAWAII SUMMONS TO DEFENDANTS KAIAMA (k); HAO (w), also known as HAO KELA; LAUKAIEIE (w), also known as LAUKAIEIE KUIKAHI; SAMUEL K. PAAHAO; MRS. KINI OLEPAU; EMMA GABRIEL HITCHCOCK; Z. PAAKIKI (k); J.N. KANALULU; their respective heirs or assigns; DOE DEFENDANTS 1-20; and ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that Plaintiff, THOMAS K. LALAKEA, has filed a complaint in the Third Circuit Court, State of Hawaii, CIVIL NO. 05-1-0222, to partition and quiet title to the portion of Apana 1 of Land Commission Award 7872 to KAIAMA, situate at Kukuihaele, Hamakua, Hawaii, containing an area of 1.300 acres, more or less, within TMK (3) 4-8-007-010. YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear in the courtroom of the Honorable Greg K. Nakamura, Judge of the Third Circuit Court, on September 16, 2005 at 8:00 A.M., or to file an answer or other pleading and serve it before said day upon Plaintiff's attorney, Philip J. Leas, whose address is Cades Schutte LLP, Suite 1200, 1000 Bishop Street, Honolulu, HI 96813. If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the Com-plaint. DATED: Hilo, Hawai i, July 18, 2005. C. OKAWA CLERK, THIRD CIRCUIT COURT (Hon. Adv.: Aug. 3, 10, 17, 24, 2005) (A-162283) Posted on 8/3/2005

 

 

 

 

SUMMONS CIVIL NO. 05-1-0178(3) IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SECOND CIRCUIT STATE OF HAWAII TO: HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KULA (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAIWI; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAMEHAME (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF WILLIAM RINGER; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF WILLIAM RINGER, JR.; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF MELE KAHEWAHEWANUI (w); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF MARY SYLVA, aka MARY KEANU; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KEALOHA (w); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAHOOKANO (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAMAHA (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAPULE; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KALAUAO (w), aka KALAOAO (w); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF PAELE; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KALAWAIA KAUWAI (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF TERUBBABEL KAAUWAI (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KA-PAHI (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KEONIANA (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAUWAHINE, aka KAMAHINE (w) or KAWAHINE (w); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KEKUHINE (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF MAOMAO; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF J. LANI (k), aka JOHN LANI; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KANOHOHAOLE, aka KANOHOHAOLE AINA (w); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF MANUELA LANI (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAELEMAKULE LANI; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAHOLOKAI MAOMAO; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KALIULA KALANITHOOKAHA; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KEALA MAOMAO; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KALIULA (k) aka KALIIULA (k) and LIIULA (k); HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KAALOA, aka S. KAALOA; HEIRS OR ASSIGNS OF KALOPA; 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 HALE MUA PROPERTIES, a Hawaii limited liability company, claims fee simple ownership of all of the following real property: (a) LCA 3432 to Kula, 3.530 acres, more or less; (b) LCA 2426 to Kaiwi, 55/100 acres, more or less; (c) LCA 2447 to Kaawa, 1-58/100 acres, more or less; (d) LCA 2572 to Naheana, 16/100 acres, more or less; (e) LCA 3275-T to Kahookano, 6.80 acres; (f) LCA 3275-U to Kaiolani; (g) LCA 3327 to Naialaolao, 2.360 acres, more or less; (h) LCA 3374 to Paele, 1-74/100 acres, more or less; (i) LCA 3436 to Kapahi, 13-7/100 acres, more or less; (j) LCA 3437 to Kaliiula, 6.700 acres, more or less; (k) LCA 3441 to Kapaula, 8.600 acres, more or less; (l) LCA 3444 to Kalopa, 1-40/100 acres, more or less; all of which real property is located in Wailuku or Waiehu, Maui, Hawaii and all of which parcels are portions of Tax Map Key 3-3-02-1(2) YOU ARE HEREBY FURTHER NOTIFIED that Plaintiff HALE MUA PROPERTIES, a Hawaii limited liability company, 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 14th day of September, 2005, at 8:30 a.m., or to file an answer or other pleading and serve it before said day upon Plaintiff's 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, July 25, 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 Attorney for Plaintiff HALE MUA PROPERTIES, a Hawaii limited liability company (Hon. Adv.: July 28; Aug. 4, 11, 18, 2005) (193456) Posted on 7/28/2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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