Bringing you today’s stories on issues important to Native communities.  NewsClips is a complimentary service of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.  For information and updates on our training workshops and events, please visit our Web site at: www.hawaiiancouncil.org.

 

CNHA is a national association of Native Hawaiian organizations. Operating an active Public Policy Center, Grants Training Institute, Community Development Consulting Services, and the Hawaiian Way Fund, we unify our members around solutions that embrace the strength of Native culture and knowledge in meeting community challenges. CNHA coordinates the Annual Native Hawaiian Convention in Honolulu every year to bring practitioners, community and policy makers together around issues important to Hawaiians.

 

 

 

 

July 12, 2006

 

 

 

July 12, 2006

 

Alu Like founder championed job benefits

 

Alvin Tong Shim / 1923-2006

 

By Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.com

 

Alvin Tong Shim had a key role in changes that benefited generations of Hawaii government employees and native Hawaiians.

 

The Honolulu attorney helped draft legislation that established health care and pension benefits "that made Hawaii one of the most progressive states in the nation," said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie.

 

"He was an important pioneer who was willing and strong enough to consider new ideas," said U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye. Shim was one of the founders of Alu Like, which "has helped to provide jobs for thousands of native Hawaiian youth and ... became the inspiration for many other native Hawaiian cultural, educational and health programs," Inouye said.

 

Shim, 82, died June 24 in Kuakini Medical Center. He was active throughout his career as a behind-the-scenes leader of the Democrat Party and proponent of native Hawaiian initiatives. He was a mentor for many young people who have entered politics, government and community service, said his son Pono Shim. "My dad's mantra was 'people before power and money.'"

 

Russell Okata, executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, said Shim "was a visionary, he was the guy who brought unions to think on a different plane." As chief attorney for the state House of Representatives in 1959-62, Shim drafted bills that have benefited generations of workers. "He believed wages alone were not enough; he required us to look out for people who retired." Group coverage for workers, such as health insurance or pension plans, was a new idea at that time, Okata said, and is now a benefit that private industry employees as well as public workers take for granted.

 

Shim was in private practice for many years and among his clients were 27 labor unions and trade councils. In 1978, he was influential in drafting the state's no-fault insurance bill.

 

"He was a change agent," said Winona Rubin, Alu Like board chairwoman. She said Shim, a 1941 graduate of Kamehameha Schools, was one of several native Hawaiian leaders who explored ways to meet native Hawaiians' needs for social services and educational programs. Alu Like was launched with a $250,000 federal grant 30 years ago and has assisted more than 100,000 people through several programs.

 

"Alvin was a very clear thinker, there was something positive in everything he did," said Rubin. "As an attorney, he was akamai when it came to negotiating. He was a mentor for many young people in the field."

 

Attorney John Komeiji said, "One of his goals in life, he was trying to develop leaders. He was a philosopher, an idealist, trying to get people to work together. He provided guidance while I was growing up. He was more than a lawyer, he was someone who really cared about Hawaii."

 

David Peters, a lifelong friend, said Shim "was a quiet, background kind of guy. He didn't want to be noted. He just wanted to satisfy a lot of people."

 

Shim was born in Wailuku. He earned a law degree at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and worked there for the federal economic stabilization agency and wage stabilization board.

 

He is survived by wife Kathryn; former wife Marion Heen; sons Neumann, Sri, Pono and Sy; daughters Dari Matsuura and Dana Palama; brother Ronald; stepson Liko Martin; hanai children Alvin, Kehau, Makai and Waipa Parker; 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

 

A service will be held at 2 p.m. next Wednesday at the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. The family requests that people bring typed anecdotes and photographs to share. No flowers.

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Friday, July 7, 2006

 

State: homeless emergency

 

By Mary Vorsino
Advertiser Staff Writer

 

Gov. Linda Lingle issued an emergency proclamation yesterday to help speed up the creation of emergency shelters on the Leeward Coast, where an estimated 4,000 homeless people are sleeping on beaches from Nanakuli to Makua.

 

The proclamation allows the state to waive procurement and permitting rules in setting up the shelters, but it's still unclear when they'll be ready and how many will be needed. The shelters would likely be similar to a temporary shelter set up in a state warehouse in Kaka'ako, which opened in May to more than 300 homeless people, 100 of whom are children.

 

Leeward residents and homeless advocates applauded the move yesterday, saying the homeless situation has reached crisis levels.

 

"It is long overdue. I compliment her for taking the initiative and really recognizing we are beyond a crisis," said Kanani Kaaiawahia-Bulawan, executive director of the Wai'anae Community Outreach Center. "We need to be cautious; like with every urgency, there's the need to be responsible. We need to respond effectively."

 

New urgency was put on the issue last week when the city announced plans to renovate parks on the Leeward Coast. The work will require the parks to close at night, displacing homeless people who stay there.

 

The governor asked Mayor Mufi Hannemann to postpone the work until the shelters were open, but the city said the renovations were past due and could not be put off any longer. Renovations in Wai'anae are set to start in August. Work in Ma'ili, Nanakuli and Kea'au, along with other Leeward Coast parks, will follow in September.

 

The number of homeless people living in Leeward O'ahu has skyrocketed since 2002, with campsites dominating the view along a 16-mile stretch of Wai'anae coastline.

 

RESIDENTS CONCERNED

 

Leeward residents have raised concerns about the situation for months. Last week, more than 400 packed into a meeting room at Wai'anae District Park to discuss the problem with the governor, citing beach-access and health concerns.

 

They also said the policymakers had an obligation to help the homeless, given the dearth of affordable housing statewide.

 

Lingle said then that the situation was something to "be ashamed of," and added in a news release yesterday that she wanted to work with the community, private sector, military and city to "assemble and coordinate the critical pieces we need to provide meaningful short-term and long-term solutions to end homelessness."

 

She also said that the "scope and magnitude" of the problem in Leeward O'ahu is much larger than the situation in Kaka'ako, and "required a broader and more diverse range of facilities, location and services and will involve more organizations."

 

Suzanne Leonida, a member of the Wai'anae Neighborhood Board, said she attended the three-hour meeting with Lingle and heard dozens of suggestions from residents, advocates and the homeless — a signal people wanted to work together to solve the problem. "That's good that she's working on it," Leonida said.

 

But the Wai'anae resident also said there needs to be monitoring of emergency shelters to ensure the safety of those staying there, along with nearby residents. And, she added, the state needs to think about long-term solutions so the homeless housed in the state facilities won't be left high and dry once the shelters are closed.

 

AFFORDABLE RENTALS

 

Mary Oneha, director of quality and performance at the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Center, agreed, saying the homeless problem will never be solved as long as affordable rentals are so hard to find.

 

"I think the problem definitely is big," she said. Oneha added that state officials need to remember that not all homeless people are the same: Many are working; others are members of homeless families with children; and a percentage have mental illnesses and physical disabilities that require more supportive services.

 

In 2005, the medical center served more than 700 homeless people on Leeward beaches, providing food, healthcare and case-management services.

 

"Just having housing is not the answer," Oneha said. "We also need some supports in place just to help them through their daily life."

 

The state has notified service providers on O'ahu about its intent to open the shelters, and is looking for nonprofits to manage operations.

 

Lingle said the state is also assessing what other services and donations nonprofits or faith-based groups are interested in contributing.

 

Utu Langi, program director of the state's Next Step shelter in Kaka'ako, said he's found many of the homeless he serves simply lack housing.

 

"Those will transition real fast," he said, adding that others need psychiatric care or vocational training. "We want to stabilize people."

 

The most important thing the shelter has done, he added, is make connections with homeless people who had before been invisible, sleeping in parks or staying in cars. "What I'm doing is making that initial contact and building a relationship," he said.

 

'A BIGGER PROBLEM'

 

Langi said the shelters in Wai'anae will likely have a similar population to the one in Kaka'ako, with a percentage of working people, families and chronically homeless. As director of the H-5 Project, a charity group, Langi feeds dozens of homeless along the Leeward Coast every Saturday.

 

"Over on the Wai'anae Coast, it's a bigger problem," Langi said.

 

To help guide the state's efforts on the Wai'anae Coast, Lingle also appointed a liaison who will work with private, public and nonprofit entities. Kaulana Park works as the executive assistant to the director at the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

 

"I have chosen Kaulana to manage and coordinate all of these activities and groups, while overseeing the solutions we need implemented to help the homeless living on the Leeward Coast," Lingle said. "The largest communities of DHHL homesteads are on the Leeward Coast, and Kaulana will bring that history ... with him."

 

Before joining the Hawaiian Home Lands Department, Park was manager of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund. He has also been a manager with Bank of America and assistant branch manager of First Hawaiian Bank.

 

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Saturday, July 8, 2006

 

State is weighing 'Camp Hope' site for homeless shelter

 

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer

WAI'ANAE — The state is considering a number of potential sites on the Wai'anae Coast for emergency homeless shelters, including land next to the Wai'anae Boat Harbor once proposed for the controversial "Camp Hope" shelter, an official said yesterday. Graphic courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser

 

"It's a prospect. Right now I'm looking at all lands available," said Kaulana Park, designated by Gov. Linda Lingle as the point man for dealing with the growing homelessness problem on the Wai'anae Coast.

 

Other possibilities include property behind the Makaha Marketplace and numerous sites controlled by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Park said.

 

"Actually, at DHHL, about 75 percent of our lands in O'ahu are located out in the Leeward Coast," Park said. "A large majority of our people are out there."

 

In 2003, a grass-roots coalition proposed erecting a homeless shelter called "Camp Hope" on five acres of undeveloped land next to the Wai'anae Boat Harbor.

 

But when the idea was brought up at a public meeting that year, residents loudly rejected the plan.

 

Now, with the number of homeless people here more than triple what it was in 2002, and hundreds of illegal homeless campsites covering 16 miles of beaches from Kahe Beach Park to Keawa'ula Bay, some residents are ready to try any solution.

 

Meanwhile, some area homeless people were taking a wait-and-see attitude.

 

"We don't know for sure what's happening," said Colin "Small Boy" Valentine Kahui, a homeless camper at Ma'ili Beach Park. "I don't know if I'd go to a shelter. It depends. I'm not going to jump in there without knowing the house rules."

 

Nearby, Teresa Kaio, 42, sat in the shade of a tent with her 2-year-old grandson, Ua Tui Kaio.

 

"This might be good," she said of the emergency shelter plan. "But why are they just now doing it? This has been going on for years."

 

Kaio lived in Kalihi, she said. But when the rent went up, she got in trouble with the manager and was evicted. For two months she's lived on Ma'ili Beach with her grandson. If it wasn't for the kindness of church groups that feed her, she'd be destitute, she said.

 

"I don't have income. I don't even have food stamps. I don't have anything," she said. "Right now, all I've got is God."

 

"We've heard it all before," said Rick Chaves, who is staying at Ma'ili Beach Park with his companion, Elliejo Kahu.

 

"In December we were living at Pearl Ridge Towers," said Chaves, 45, who said he had watched the homeless population on the beach double in the past few months. "We came here in January. The rent went from $1,200 to $1,600 a month, just like that."

 

Park said the scope of the problem will call for a broader range of facilities and services than are offered at the Next Step shelter set up by the state in Kaka'ako after the city closed Ala Moana Beach Park to homeless people.

 

Park also said shelters are only part of the answer.

 

"There's going to be more to it than shelters," he said. "We've got to be solutions-driven. We've got to make things happen now. You have to have some kind of component where we can help the homeless by getting them back into society — not just to care and shelter them, but to help motivate them to better their lives."

 

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

July 6, 2006

 

OHA reaches agreement on new cultural center

 

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs enters talks with the agency that oversees development in Kakaako

 

By Nina Wu
nwu@starbulletin.com

 

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has taken another step forward in its proposal to build headquarters and a cultural center on 5.2 acres on the Kakaako waterfront.

 

Members of the state Hawaii Community Development Authority agreed yesterday to enter a six-month exclusive negotiation period with OHA to lease the site for the complex.

 

"We're very excited," said OHA administrator Clyde Namuo. "A six-month exclusive with HCDA is good news."

 

Namuo said the agreement would allow OHA to start an environmental impact study for the project, which is expected to include a 30,000-square-foot headquarters building and a 30,000-square-foot cultural center.

 

Preliminary plans unveiled a year ago included a three-level office complex, along with an outdoor performance area, food court, 180-stall parking lot, canoe hale, imu, taro patches and facilities for hula and the Hawaiian martial art of lua.

 

Last year, the project's projected price was $32 million, though construction costs have likely gone up since then, he said.

 

OHA hopes it would be able to put the project out to bid within two years, with at least 18 months needed for construction.

 

Namuo said before the HCDA board yesterday that he envisioned a cultural center that flowed into Kakaako Waterfront Park, with a portion of the canal covered up.

 

Eventually, OHA might go back to HCDA to seek a variance for the height restrictions, which are now at 45 feet high, because the center might be built on a mound.

 

Namuo emphasized that the center would be open and accessible to the public, though design plans are still preliminary. The cultural center would house exhibits open to the public.

 

"We would see the role of the cultural center as bringing the culture to all the people of Hawaii," he said. "This building is not just devoted to Hawaiians. This is a building for the entire community."

 

The project could be funded either by selling bonds, or drawing from OHA's $400 million portfolio, though the former option would be more likely, he said.

 

OHA might also seek funding through the state Legislature. But Namuo said OHA won't wait for legislative action to move forward with the project.

 

OHA currently leases office space at 711 Kapiolani Blvd., and has been searching for permanent headquarters for several years.

 

The property, referred to by HCDA as "Lot 1," sits on ceded lands next to the ocean, makai of the University of Hawaii's proposed cancer research center.

 

Because the site is on ceded lands, OHA may request a rent-free lease, while still paying common area maintenance fees. But the details of the lease terms would still need to be worked out and approved by the HCDA.

 

Daniel Dinell, executive director of HCDA, estimated the agency pays about $100,000 a year in collective ceded land payments in Kakaako.

 

Rosette Steel Hawaii LLC occupies half of the 70,000-square-foot warehouse that now sits on the site, with a a lease that expires in January. The other warehouse area is occupied by Next Step, a new homeless shelter on a month-to-month lease until March.

 

"OHA, with the waterfront, provided a nice bookend," said HCDA's executive director Daniel Dinell. "It's good to have a use that's compatible with the public use of the park. Now OHA is taking the lead in providing that cultural amenity."

 

 

 

 

July 9, 2006

 

Homestead awards end long wait for lucky few

 

One Hawaiian homestead is awarded to a woman 57 years after her father applied

 

By Alexandre Da Silva
adasilva@starbulletin.com

 

The line for a homestead was so long for Aloysius Lincoln that he never saw the end of it.

 

But yesterday, 57 years after the former Honolulu Gas Co. employee applied for a lease, his daughter claimed the lease awarded for the second phase of a Department of Hawaiian Home Lands project in Kapolei. Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Star Bulletin: Dennis Oda

 

"Unfortunately, he died two years ago. He was 87," said Frances Segundo, 60, who was a baby when her father signed up for the program. "However, his legacy goes on, because this award is for our ohana, our family."

 

About 2,000 people showed up yesterday morning at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall, where the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands awarded 250 lots in Phase 2 and Phase 3 of in their Kaupe'a project in Kapolei.

 

The 52-acre subdivision has 326 lots, 76 of which were awarded in November 2005.

 

Segundo, a clerk at Maui Community College, said her cousin, Naira Martin, would live in the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house with her daughter, but there would always be room for another relative.

 

"I'm free from the rent, which is going to be over with," said Martin, 56. The $2,000 she pays each month for rent will now go toward her mortgage. "When the whole family comes from the mainland, Louisiana, they will stay with me. It's a very good feeling."

 

Gov. Linda Lingle, who was present for yesterday's selection meeting, said the latest awards would help the state's shortage of affordable rentals as new homeowners are able to free up rental homes and apartments.

 

"Those units now become available for the general public," Lingle said. "It is better for the entire community."

 

Yesterday's crowd was a fraction of the nearly 20,000 native Hawaiians currently on the homestead waiting list, about half of which are on Oahu, said Lloyd Yonenaka, a spokesman for the Hawaiian Home Lands Department.

 

Even though more than 1,200 leases have been given out since 2003, the department's waiting list keeps growing, at a pace of about 100 people a month, Yonenaka said.

 

To qualify, applicants must have at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood and be pre-approved to afford one of the five Kaupe'a models, which range between $238,600 and $296,100 in lots averaging 5,000 square feet. The lease rent for the land under their homes is $1 per year.

 

The first phase of the Kaupe'a project is expected to be completed by the end of the year, while Phase 2 and Phase 3 should be done in the first and second quarters of 2007, according to the department.

 

As she signed documents for her new lease yesterday, Vivian Perreira, 71, said she would vacate her Maili home in Waianae -- where she lives with husband, Alfred, her son and his two children -- sometime next year. Perreira said her youngest son, 47-year-old Prince, a refuse truck driver for Rolloffs Hawaii Inc., had to co-sign her application because her Social Security earnings weren't enough for a loan.

 

After waiting 48 years for her name to be called, Perreira, now in a wheelchair, will lease a four-bedroom home on a corner lot in Kapolei.

 

"I signed up when I was 23," she said. "I almost gave up, but I left my name on for so long."

 

The federal government set up the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act in 1921, eventually reserving 200,000 acres statewide to benefit native Hawaiians. But development of land to provide homes has been slow, and many families have been on the waiting list for decades.

 

Last month the state Supreme Court ruled that 2,700 native Hawaiians can seek monetary damages in a lawsuit against the state for its alleged mismanagement of the Hawaiian Home Lands program.

 

Not everyone who came yesterday had a happy story to share. Homes went to 250 families, but 750 people qualified for lots, which are awarded on the basis of seniority. People who have qualified and waited the longest are the next in line for a home.

 

Lee Kogler, 54, who has been researching her genealogy for more than 20 years, had to leave without a lease after arriving at 7 a.m. with her husband, daughter, grandson and two sons.

 

Kogler turned in her paperwork in 1991. But after marrying and moving to New York, Kogler's application was returned, with the department saying she needed to show the Hawaiian lineage on her father's side. Finally, in 1994, Kogler combed through the bound volumes of records at the state Archives, where she found a Census Bureau report listing her grandmother, Hannah Kaulia, at age 19, living in the house of her father, Samuel, a master carpenter.

 

Kogler, who is number 7,954 on the wait list for Oahu, said she would never quit trying for a lease.

 

"It's not a sad day," Kogler said, citing plans by the department to award another 300 lots in Kapolei in October. "I'm still with hope. I've waited a long time for this, and I'm not going to give up."

 

 

 

 

July 6, 2006

 

AFN looks to world for development ideas

 

QUALITY OF LIFE: Forum features ways to boost rural economy.

 

By ALEX deMARBAN

Anchorage Daily News

 

Native leaders are drawing on the experience of international business experts to bring rural Alaska into the global economy.

 

The effort pivots on a forum that began Thursday in Anchorage and continues today.

 

On Thursday, prominent speakers included world-renowned economist Hernando DeSoto of Peru, venture capitalists, a top-level director from Wal-Mart, plus a prominent mix of politicians, chief executives and influential state and federal bureaucrats.

 

The Leadership Forum, sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives, is part brainstorming session, part networking event, organizers said.

 

By bringing Outside ideas to Alaska, AFN hopes to spark innovation that encourages investment and creates jobs throughout Alaska without forsaking cultural traditions like subsistence-based lifestyles, said Julie Kitka, AFN president.

 

"The whole concept of shared prosperity and not leaving any corner of Alaska behind is very important to us," she said.

 

In several break-out panels, more than 300 participants discussed how to make telecommunication services like high-speed Web available everywhere in rural Alaska, Kitka said.

 

Other important topics include lowering the cost of energy in the Bush, providing job training and education for a bubble of young Natives entering the economy, and possibly creating a free-trade zone such as the one in Dubai, a member of the United Arab Emirates.

 

The unprecedented Dubai Outsource Zone, as it's called, eliminates taxes to encourage global outsourcing companies to move to the region, according to its Web site.

 

AFN will pursue state and federal legislation to make the best ideas reality, Kitka said.

 

Compared to urban Alaska, village residents enjoy fewer jobs, less educational opportunities, lower incomes and higher reliance on state and federal assistance, studies have shown.

 

The chasm is growing, said AFN co-chair Tim Towarak.

 

High energy prices have forced many people to flee the Bush for cheaper living in Anchorage and other cities, he said. The forum may help correct that disparity, he said, by offering job-producing ideas and entrepreneurial incentives.

 

"It's a learning exchange between rural Alaska and urban businesses," said Towarak, a resident of Unalakleet in Western Alaska and chief executive for Bering Strait Native Corp., the Native regional corporation for the Bering Strait region.

 

Thirty-five years after the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act was enacted, many Natives are still learning how to tap into the value of the regional and village corporations that federal law created, he said.

 

A popular panel, scheduled to continue today, will help village corporations and tribal leaders understand the federal 8(a) program that awards Native corporations no-bid government contracts, he said.

 

The controversial Small Business Administration program has awarded multimillion-dollar contracts to many Native corporations. The program has been under fire because of its success, he said, a recent federal report found the SBA hasn't properly monitored it.

 

Still, village corporations and Native business owners hope to take advantage of it, he said.

 

Another helpful seminar, also set for today, will focus on the Alaska Marketplace, Towarak said. Created two years ago after the last Leadership Forum, the marketplace is a contest that seeks unique business ideas from the Bush.

 

Modeled after the World Bank's Development Marketplace, it uses corporate donations to award thousands of dollars in seed money to rural innovators.

 

Proposals for businesses planning to provide such services as cultural tourism and alternative fuels shared more than $500,000 in April.

 

AFN plans to continue the contest, Towarak said.

 

Keynote speaker DeSoto, a prize-winning economist studying Third World economies, appeared Thursday on a large video screen from Lima, Peru.

 

He told more than 300 people that rural communities must agree if and how they plan to retain cultural values before growing businesses.

 

Consensus is critical, he said.

 

That's the take-home message for Willie Kasayulie, a resident of Akiachak in Southwest Alaska.

 

A board member of Calista Corp. and AFN's tribal representative, Kasayulie said residents in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta need to agree before economic development can proceed, whether it's developing new mines or providing cheap fuel.

 

"I intend to carry the message back to the villages," he said.

 

The forum continues from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Hotel Captain Cook.

 

 

 

 

July 11, 2006

 

Hawaii Credit Unions Awarded Federal Funds Announces Akaka

 

Washington, D.C. - National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Chairman JoAnn Johnson met with Senator Daniel K. Akaka today to discuss financial literacy and provide a list of grantees receiving a total of $16,097 from its Community Development Revolving Loan Fund.

 

“I greatly value my working relationship with Chairman Johnson and the NCUA.  These grants will help credit unions in Hawaii better meet the financial service needs of their members,” said Senator Akaka.

 

The following credit unions are being awarded:

 

 

NCUA’s grant program provides low-income designated credit unions the opportunity to obtain loans and technical assistance grants to improve and enhance services to its members.

 

As a leading financial literacy advocate, Senator Akaka works towards improving access to mainstream financial services so that more individuals can benefit from lower-cost opportunities at credit unions and banks.  The Senate Finance Committee reported out a provision from his bill, S. 324, the Taxpayer Abuse Prevention Act, in the S. 1321, the Telephone Excise Tax Repeal Act, that authorizes a grant program to link tax preparation services for low-and moderate income families with the opening of a bank or credit union account.  Without a bank or credit union account, taxpayers lose millions of dollars for check cashing fees or refund anticipation loans.  With a bank or credit union account, they can have their refund directly deposited into their account.

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Friday, July 7, 2006

 

OHA won't buy KGMB after all

 

By Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer

 

A day after two of its committees agreed to pursue buying local television station KGMB, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' Board of Trustees voted to abandon the deal.

 

Yesterday, the board decided 4-2 against acquiring the local CBS affiliate as members expressed concerns about the financial risks.

 

Trustees, including Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona, also questioned whether the Federal Communications Commission would allow a quasi-government entity such as OHA to acquire a television station.

 

"In my experience since 2000, when OHA got involved in some sort of business, it failed," said trustee Donald Cataluna. "This could be the biggest failure."

 

Two OHA committees had voted 4-1 on Wednesday to appropriate $50,000 to conduct due diligence in considering the acquisition of the station.

 

"I'm sorry we didn't have more time to really discuss this opportunity," trustee Oswald Stender said. "But let's move on. My heart is not broken."

 

Besides Stender, trustee Rowena Akana voted in favor of exploring a bid for KGMB. Voting in opposition were trustees Linda Dela Cruz, John Waihe'e IV, Apoliona and Cataluna.

 

Station owner Emmis Communications Corp. of Indianapolis put KGMB up for sale last year when it announced that it was getting out of the television business. Emmis sold sister station KHON-TV earlier this year to California-based Montecito Broadcast Group and has said it plans to complete the sale of KGMB by the end of the year.

 

Emmis spokeswoman Jodi Wright did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

 

Stender said OHA's interest in KGMB was largely as an investment and not as a means to communicate a pro-Hawaiian message.

 

OHA was founded in 1978 and its mission is to help Hawaiians. It receives annual ceded lands revenue, which will total $15 million this fiscal year.

 

Stender, who was briefed on KGMB's financial situation, said Emmis was asking about $40 million for the station, which generates about $3.2 million in income a year.

 

He noted that two Mainland investment groups had offered to buy KGMB for $22 million to $25 million but both bids were rejected.

 

Dela Cruz said OHA's money could be better spent on projects that directly benefit its Hawaiian constituents. Dela Cruz complained that she has had trouble getting OHA's lending program to issue small loans to members of her community.

 

Local attorney Chris Conybeare, vice chairman of the Ho-nolulu Media Council, said he's not surprised that OHA is abandoning its bid for KGMB.

 

As a government entity, OHA faced little or no prospect of gaining approval from the FCC, he said. If OHA were to make a passive investment or were to finance the purchase of the station by a separate entity, the deal would come under close scrutiny by the FCC.

 

"This whole idea of a state agency owning a television station didn't wash," Conybeare said. "I just didn't think that it was an idea that would have proceeded very far.

 

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

July 10, 2006

 

Four Agencies Team up to Assess Hawaii’s Dependence on Oil, Akaka Announces

 

Washington, D.C. - A joint-effort initiated by Senator Daniel K. Akaka is underway to assess Hawaii’s dependence on oil and the technical and economic feasibility of oil alternatives.  Four federal and state agencies are working together to accomplish this necessary assessment including: United States Department of Energy, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, and Hawaii Energy Policy Forum.

 

Senator Akaka is responsible for including authorization for this analysis in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. 

 

“While recent events have shown the entire country is at risk due to our dependence on oil, dependence in Hawaii is even more pronounced.  We must assess this dependence and evaluate oil alternatives such as renewable energy such as solar, wind and biofuels, liquefied natural gas and advanced energy storage options including hydrogen,” stated Senator Akaka.

 

“I am pleased with the spirit of collaboration between federal and state agencies for taking on this task and their willingness to integrate previous individual work.  I look forward to seeing the findings of this assessment which I am confident will have implications for Hawaii as well as the nation.  The findings will have an important role in shaping my efforts in defining an energy agenda beneficial to Hawaii.”

 

The principals agreeing to take on this task have committed to making use of prior work and to finalize their analysis by the end of March 2007.  The agencies caution that, given the time and funding available, the final report will have three types of outcomes depending upon the available information.  The first will be one in which the analysis will lead to conclusions and recommendations for which no further intensive analysis is required.  The second will be a set of conclusions and recommendations, coupled with additional recommendations for additional technical evaluation and gap analysis.  The third outcome will be in areas where sufficiently reliable information is lacking.  Recommendations in this latter will focus on activities that federal and state policy makers can act upon in the future.

 

Recently, Senator Akaka announced that a Senate Committee approved a $1 million ethanol demonstration project in Hawaii.  He secured the funds in the Department of the Interior Appropriations Bill, under the Environmental Protection Agency.  The bill is pending full Senate action and Senate-House conference proceedings.  As an Energy Committee conferee, Senator Akaka enlarged the scope of the ethanol provision and secured its inclusion in the final version of the bill.

 

Senator Akaka is a senior member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on National Parks. 

 

 

 

 

July 10, 2006

 

HUD releases block grants for tribal housing

 

By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian

 

Tribal housing authorities around the country began receiving letters Friday from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, notifying them that hundreds of millions of dollars in housing block grants would be released following a federal judge's ruling.

 

“They're trying to get the funding out as quick as they can,” said Marty Shuravloff, chairman of the National American Indian Housing Council. “I'm just relieved we've got to the point that the funds have been released. It would be very detrimental to the tribes whose funds were being withheld to not receive those services.”

 

The block grant dispute began after the Fort Peck Housing Authority, an agency of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Montana, filed suit against HUD for unfair block grant appropriations.

 

U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch of Colorado agreed in a May 25 ruling.

 

Matsch said HUD's interpretation of a federal statute was unreasonable, resulting in haphazard funding allocations “with reductions to some tribes and windfalls to others - based on factors that are not related to tribal housing needs.”

 

HUD responded to the court ruling by deciding to withhold all undistributed 2006 block grant funds to nearly 200 tribes around the country. HUD Assistant Secretary Orlando Cabrera had warned tribes the Fort Peck case could affect current, past and future block grants awarded under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996.

 

But Matsch ruled otherwise in a June 30 amendment to his earlier decision. The court order, he said, “does not extend beyond Fort Peck Housing Authority.”

 

“This action was not certified as a class action,” Matsch wrote, “because other Indian tribes are not parties in this case and have had no opportunity to take a position with respect to the Š rule as it affects them.”

 

Consequently, Cabrera began notifying tribes this week that his department would resume processing the 2006 Indian Housing Block Grant awards “effective immediately.”

 

Tribal leaders and National American Indian Housing Council representatives earlier had implored U.S. senators and HUD officials to ensure that $300 million - about half of all 2006 Native American Housing Block Grant funds - would be delivered to 189 tribes.

 

Block grants comprise the bulk of the money used by tribal housing programs.

 

Reporter Jodi Rave can be reached at 523-5299 or at jodi.rave@lee.net

 

 

 

 

July 12, 2006

 

Vietnam POW Coffee enters U.S. Senate race

 

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Government Writer

 

Jerry Coffee, a decorated U.S. Navy pilot who spent seven years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, announced yesterday he will run in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser

 

Coffee, 72, a motivational speaker and MidWeek columnist who lives in 'Aiea Heights, said his background and his perspective on terrorism and national security would give voters an alternative to the winner of the Democratic primary between U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka and U.S. Rep. Ed Case.

 

"We face an implacable enemy who is totally dedicated to our death and the annihilation of our country and our way of life and the values of Western civilization as we know them today," Coffee said at a morning news conference at the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials near the state Capitol. "In my mind, too many people just don't get it yet. And the direness of the situation needs to be articulated in ways that people understand the alternatives.

 

"And the fact of the matter is there aren't any alternatives. We must win this war."

 

Gov. Linda Lingle, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona and other prominent Republicans appeared at Coffee's announcement, indicating he has the full support of the state GOP. But his late entry into the race and his lack of political experience raise doubts about whether he can compete against Akaka or Case.

 

Coffee came close to upsetting state Rep. Blake Oshiro, D-33rd (Halawa, 'Aiea, Pearlridge), in a House race in 2004, but has no other campaign experience to prepare him for a statewide race.

 

But Coffee is a nationally recognized speaker with contacts in the influential veterans' community. He told reporters yesterday that U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a former Vietnam POW, may appear with him in the Islands in August. Coffee said he is scheduled to meet with McCain next week in Washington, D.C., before he leaves with his wife on a monthlong humanitarian trip to Africa.

 

Neal Milner, a political science professor at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, said Coffee is not well-known statewide and will have the disadvantage of campaigning in a traditionally Democratic state. "But he's feisty. He'll campaign hard and he'll certainly bring a conservative voice," Milner said.

 

Case and a spokeswoman for Akaka's campaign recognized Coffee's military service yesterday. Coffee's reconnaissance jet was shot down by enemy fire in North Vietnam in 1966 and he was held and tortured until his release in 1973. He was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and other decorations and retired from the Navy as a captain.

 

"Jerry is an inspiration to many, including me," Case said. "He would be a worthy opponent in the general election."

 

But Case said he did not believe Coffee would have much influence on independent or Republican voters who may choose to vote in the Democratic primary. "Voters that want change, which is most voters, will have a first bite at the apple in my primary on Sept. 23, and I believe they are going to take that bite," he said.

 

Elisa Yadao, Akaka's campaign spokeswoman, said, "Captain Coffee has a distinguished record of service to our nation and to our state but the Akaka campaign will reserve any further comment on his candidacy at this time. Our efforts are currently fully focused on the primary election."

 

Coffee has been critical of a Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill that has been supported by Akaka, Case, Lingle and most of Hawai'i's political establishment. He said yesterday that the bill, which would recognize Hawaiians as indigenous people with the right to form their own government, could lead to the creation of two states within Hawai'i.

 

Coffee said his campaign also would touch on such issues as preventing crime and drug abuse, improving education and using nuclear power as an energy source.

 

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

July 5, 2006

 

Rooted in Good Health

 

Hawaiian plants are gaining wider recognition in treating health problems.

 

By Craig DeSilva

http://www.islandscene.com/Article.aspx?id=2877

 

Sean Chun drives up the steep and winding road to Koke'e State Park on Kaua'i. Along the way, he passes a forest of lush native plants on one side and expansive views of Waimea Valley on the other. Chun pulls to the side of the road. Tourists ahead take pictures at the scenic point overlooking the valley. But Chun is more interested in a scrawny plant that catches his eye along a patch of dirt.

 

The plant looks like any other weed. But for Chun, it holds high significance. It's the 'uhaloa, a native plant Hawaiians used to cure sore throats. "Eighty to 85 percent of medicines are derived from plants," says Chun, an ethnobotanist at Kaua'i Community College.

 

I tell him I woke up that morning with a scratchy throat. Chun bends down and pulls out the roots. He cleans off the dirt and scrapes the skin with a pocket knife, revealing the plant's flesh. "Chew on it, but don't eat it. Just swallow your saliva," he instructs. After a few minutes, my throat feels better. "You can boil it and gargle the water. People also use it for asthma," he says.

 

Chun is a practitioner of la'au lapa'au, a traditional form of healing using Hawaiian plants and herbs. Native Hawaiians believed illnesses were brought by supernatural forces, so healing involved strict protocols that included prayer during the picking, preparing and administering of the herbs. Prayer continues to be an important part of la'au lapa'au today. "I ask ke akua (gods) to put this to use," says Chun, as he gathers more plants. "Traditionally, a lot of the gods were the kino lau, or body forms, of the plants. So you need to pay respect."

 

A po'okela (master of Hawaiian herbal medicine) would select a student and spend a lifetime teaching and passing down the knowledge. Healing practices were often closely guarded and kept in the family. But during the 1980s, kupuna (elder) healers realized there was a shortage of young practitioners to carry on their traditions. So many now pass their knowledge to those interested in alternative forms of healing.

 

Chun became interested in medicinal herbs as a Hawaiian studies student at the University of Hawai'i. He also learns from Levon Ohai, considered a master of la'au lapa'au on Kaua'i. Chun grows medicinal plants at home and uses them for himself and those who are interested. "You can always practice your culture, but you also have to live it," he says. "It's a lifestyle."

 

Chun walks around a 10-acre enclosure in Koke'e that is managed by the Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources to propagate native plants. He points to the ko'oko'olau, used as a medicinal tea. "People think of Hawaiian medicine as a last resort," he says. "But if you use it wisely, it can also be used as a good preventive treatment and cure."

 

There's been a renewed interest in la'au lapa'au, along with other forms of traditional healing such as lomilomi (massage) and ho'oponopono (spiritual cleansing using dispute resolution). There are community classes and workshops about Hawaiian healing. And books now document this once oral tradition. Doctors at Hawaiian health care clinics, particularly on the Neighbor Islands and in rural areas, offer traditional healing to patients looking for alternatives to Western medicine.

 

"It's no longer on the fringes," says Nanette Judd, Ph.D., of the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine. "It's more recognized. There's a place for traditional Hawaiian healing in today's modern medical world."

 

Judd, who did her research on la'au lapa'au, is a program director in the medical school's new Department of Native Hawaiian Health. It's the first academic department devoted to the health care needs of Native Hawaiians. The medical school also established the Department of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, where researchers study the pharmaceutical benefits of Hawaiian plants.

 

Judd says traditional healing should not take the place of Western medicine. Patients should see their doctors and discuss alternative medicines they may be taking so it doesn't adversely affect prescription medication. "We want to educate our physicians to make them aware of traditional healing, so patients can feel comfortable talking about it with their doctor," she says.

 

The medical school's facilities in Kaka'ako have images of native plants etched on the windows. The campus also has a Native Hawaiian garden with medicinal plants. "The garden pays tribute to Native Hawaiians, their beliefs, values, and the importance of Hawaiian medicinal plants today. It embodies the blending of Native Hawaiian and Western healing at the medical school. There are 125 medical schools across the U.S. and Canada, and we're the only one to do this. That's what makes us unique," says Judd.

 

Chun would like to see more people turn to Hawaiian practices to improve their health. But he warns patients should not turn to Hawaiian medicine for a quick fix. He says la'au lapa'au should be used in keeping with Hawaiian traditions. "It's not just taking two pills and call me in the morning. It should be used correctly with the right cultural knowledge," he says.

 

 

 

 

July 6, 2006

 

UND: INMED loses federal funds

 

Cuts mean loss of four staff, tutor support, programs

 

By Lisa Gibson

Herald Staff Writer

 

UND's Indians Into Medicine Program will lose almost $1.4 million because of a recent budget-cutting decision by Congress.

 

Congress decided to decrease funding for Title VII, a government program that funds health programs for disadvantaged students. This fund made up almost half of INMED's budget.

 

INMED had entered into a three-year grant under Title VII. Only one year had passed and now the funding will be cut.

 

INMED will lose four staff members, student tutor support and many summer programs.

 

"The reductions will be worked out this coming year," said Gene Delorme, INMED director.

 

INMED is dedicated to identifying, recruiting and retaining students into medical careers by providing classes in physics, biology and chemistry to which the students otherwise would not have access.

 

Pathway is a program that helps students with the transition to college life. This program is among those that will have to be cut. Also on the list is a program that prepares students for their medical school admissions tests.

 

Delorme said he has been told that the reason for the cut is that the government has to spend its money on other priorities. Those priorities include the war in Iraq and hurricane damages.

 

"Half of my staff will be eliminated," he said, noticeably upset. "We have empty positions that will not be filled."

 

While many other institutions across the country will be affected by the cut, not all colleges and universities will lose their funding, according to Delorme. Historically black colleges and universities will retain funding.

 

"Funding for the rest of us will be eliminated," Delorme said.

 

"It's a very significant change when you lose 48 percent of your budget," he said. "We found out about the loss of funds officially in February, even though the rumors were out in December."

 

The University of Minnesota will also be affected by the cut. It has turned out more than 100 Indian doctors since 1990.

 

Dr. Ed Haller, a now retired faculty member in Duluth who started recruiting Indians into the medical school, called the federal budget cut "unconscionable."

 

"The people who have been here have been role models and an inspiration to students," Haller said. "I remember one student who said he had been told that he should be a truck driver. That sort of thing just brings tears to your eyes."

 

Medical school Dean Deborah Powell said university officials hope to redirect enough money to restore at least half of the cut funds. The school is lobbying Minnesota's congressional delegation to try to get funding restored next year.

 

Powell said the program is the reason that 17 of the 200 students who start medical school on the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses this fall are American Indian. Those students, from across the country, are drawn by the opportunity to work on reservations, study with Indian doctors and take classes dealing with issues such as medicine and traditional healing practices.

 

"To provide the best health care to patients, be they Caucasian or Somali or Hmong or American Indian, one has to understand their culture and beliefs," Powell said. "We have to have students who come from those cultures."

 

Delorme said the grants from Title VII include the words, "Dependent on Congressional Funding." The funding program has been around for more than 20 years, according to Delorme.

 

He made it clear that Title VII itself was not eliminated, the funding was simply significantly decreased.

 

But decreased funding may not be permanent. Congress decides on the budget again every year.

 

"I have heard there have been attempts by Congress to increase funding next year," Delorme said.

 

 

 

 

Lawsuit challenges Hawaiian land rules

 

A man wants the Hawaiian Homes Commission to be put in charge

 

By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

 

HILO » Patrick Kahawaiolaa doesn't want to destroy the system that awards leases to native Hawaiians, but he does want to destroy the controlling Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

 

He thinks the Hawaiian Homes Commission can run the land system without a department, and doing so would end injustices he believes exist.

 

There's a small chance that he may upend both the department and the system. He's basing a federal lawsuit against the department on racial grounds, that non-Hawaiians are barred from Hawaiian Homes leases.

 

Deputy Attorney General Clayton Lee Crowell opposes that suit brought by Kahawaiolaa, 61, a retired postal worker, and five others.

 

The law prohibits Hawaiians from trying to protect the rights of non-Hawaiians, Crowell said. In legal language, Kahawaiolaa and the others don't have "standing," he said.

 

U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway already ruled against Kahawaiolaa. But there is no certainty about a pending appeal until a ruling comes from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

 

The Kahawaiolaa suit can be compared to two other recent Hawaiian cases.

 

Kamehameha Schools argued to the 9th Circuit Court last month that special treatment for Hawaiians is right at that private institution, but Kahawaiolaa argues special treatment is wrong for Hawaiian Homes beneficiaries.

 

While about 2,700 Hawaiians learned last week that the state Supreme Court is letting them sue for being excluded from Hawaiian Homes land, Kahawaiolaa's group already had land. They want other benefits that they believe old laws grant them.

 

For example, up to 2003, Kahawaiolaa reduced his monthly mortgage payments to the department, believing the 1920 Hawaiian Homes law allowed him to pay 2 percent interest instead of 8 3/4 charged by the department. The department evicted him and the others in 2003.

 

Crowell said Kahawaiolaa simply isn't reading the old laws correctly.

 

Kahawaiolaa also complains in the suit that another group of Hawaiians at nearby King's Landing got special treatment, being allowed to remain on department land after illegally "squatting" there instead of getting a lease as others do.

 

Kahawaiolaa's sense of injustice goes back to 1958 when, as a 13-year-old boy, he watched a department employee insult his father.

 

During six years in the Navy, Kahawaiolaa learned that nothing got done without the right paperwork.

 

In 32 years as a postal worker, many of the years as a union representative, he learned he needed records to make changes. Thus he developed his present reliance on reading those old laws.

 

At 390 pounds, he's also not the scared 13-year-old of 1958. "I'm a hell of a lot more boisterous," he said.

 

But could his lawsuit end Hawaiian Homes leases to Hawaiians only? "I don't think that will happen," he answers. "I don't worry about that."

 

 

 

 

Posted: July 07, 2006

 

Shuravloff continues to meet national housing challenges

 

by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today

 

WASHINGTON - Marty Shuravloff got into Indian housing the hard way, beginning a long tenure as executive director of Kodiak Island Housing Authority in 1996, the year the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act redefined Indian housing authorities.

 

With block grants they could tailor for tribal needs, tribal housing programs that had offered public housing could now become ''strictly Indian,'' but not everyone knew for sure how that would work. Not everyone was sure how the so-called Section 184 housing loan guarantee program would go over. Though NAHASDA has since proved its worth as a housing program for one of the country's most under-housed populations, back then not everyone was sure how a lot of things would work out, or if they would work out at all in some cases.

 

''There were just no answers on any of those things,'' Shuravloff said, describing 1996 as ''a learning year for me, to say the very least.''

 

A look at his track record says a little more. He learned well enough to earn three Department of Housing and Urban Development Best Practice awards for the Rental Assistance Program for Students, the Family Investment Center and the Creating Jobs in Building Maintenance Programs. A HUD Apprenticeship and Training Program, the first in Alaska certified by the Department of Labor, brought an Outstanding Leadership Award in Economic Development. For the Leisnoi Village-enrolled member, a number of awards and positions within the state of Alaska ensued, extending his skills to the realms of finance and corporate governance.

 

But as far as the member housing authorities of the National American Indian Housing Council are concerned, his best move may have been a simple decision to remain on the sidelines as a bitter dispute evolved in Indian country over data sets of the U.S. Census and their consequences for HUD funding. It was an easy decision for Shuravloff, because the Kodiak Island Housing Authority made out just about as well under either data set. By staying out of the fray, however, he made no enemies over the issue that has divided parts of Indian country since 2003. And so he emerged in 2006 as a potential unifier, elected to chair NAIHC at one of the most challenging stages of its 32-year history.

 

Following his testimony at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on housing June 28 and an NAIHC media conference afterward, Shuravloff outlined the three priorities that will shape the council's future.

 

At the top of his list is the reauthorization of NAHASDA, which expires as an ongoing statute in 2007. The issue before NAIHC, as Indian country's premier Washington presence on housing, is whether to advocate for a simple reauthorization - a comparatively sure thing to get through Congress - or to use the occasion to address tribal concerns with the statute as it stands.

 

Among these legislative and regulatory concerns that could be dealt with in a reauthorized NAHASDA are improvements in data collection and reporting under the federal Program Assessment Rating Tool, the scores on which can drive program funding or derail it; reserve accounts as a NAHASDA-eligible activity; fair market rents, as opposed to a 30 percent-of-income ceiling on rents at NAHASDA units; and a handful of other items that might inspire congressional debate. The risk is that full debate on NAHASDA might delay, or even postpone, reauthorization. An internal NAIHC study, to be finalized in December, will identify the many issues around reauthorization as a guide to a final NAIHC decision.

 

Those census data sets mentioned above are another priority. The U.S. Census of 1990 and of 2000 differ in that the first permitted only single-race identification as American Indian or Alaska Native. The second included a multiple-race category, as in ''AIAN alone and in combination with other racial groups.''

 

For exhaustively complex reasons, the difference has a bearing on the HUD formula for arriving at Indian Housing Block Grant amounts. HUD opted for the multiple-race data set as part of its formula for calculating Indian Housing Block Grants, arguing for it as ''the most inclusive definition of AIAN persons,'' under which ''no such persons are excluded'' from IHBG eligibility. In addition, HUD states in testimony before Congress, ''The increase in the number of people who identify as AIAN [in data sets drawn from the 2000 Census] - regardless of whether they are AIAN alone or AIAN in combination with other racial groups - is used for very limited purposes in the IHBG formula.'' HUD runs its calculations for each tribal housing authority according to both the 1990 and 2000 data sets, and awards the grant that turns out higher.

 

Nonetheless, Shuvraloff said, some tribes get more and some get less under single- or mixed-race formulas, leading to serious disagreement as HUD funding has dwindled against inflation. ''This has been a divisive issue for Indian country since 2003,'' he added, when HUD began using the 2000 data set.

 

An NAIHC task force on the different data sets will put its conclusions to a vote of the council membership in December, Shuvraloff said.

 

Finally, Shuvraloff hopes to help re-establish the NAIHC training and technical assistance programs that have been threatened by a decline in federal appropriations, due in large part to a disagreement with HUD over past expenditures. In brief, HUD maintains that NAIHC has ''undisbursed'' and ''unobligated'' funds - in a word, ''carryover'' - from 2004 through 2006. NAIHC insists these ''in the pipeline'' funds have been spent but not billed to HUD for reimbursement, largely because of ''the many administrative delays in NAIHC's work contract with HUD,'' according to Shuvraloff's remarks at the June 28 hearing. In other words, NAIHC argues that it has incurred the cost of HUD-approved activities without being reimbursed.

 

The impasse has influenced a federal budget approved in the House of Representatives, proposing only $990,000 for NAIHC's technical assistance and training programs in fiscal year 2007. Unless the Senate boosts that appropriation, Shuvraloff testified June 28, ''the NAIHC will close its doors in or around January of 2007.''

 

NAIHC will continue to approach Congress for a more robust technical assistance and training appropriation; and through Rodger Boyd, deputy assistant secretary at the department's Office of Native American Programs, it will continue to pursue the difference between ''undisbursed'' and ''unreimbursed'' funds.

 

''I think Rodger tries to do the right thing,'' Shuvraloff said. ''And I would hope we'll be able to sit down and figure out the right thing.''

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Thursday, July 6, 2006

 

OUR SCHOOLS | KEKAHA ELEMENTARY

Strong support helps Kekaha school

 

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

 

KEKAHA, Kaua'i — The blessing for Kekaha Elementary School is a campus filled with mature trees that provide shade in the unyielding West Kaua'i sun, but that does little to help classrooms that become baking hot during the warmer months of the year. Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser: Jan Tenbruggencate

 

"We'd really like to air-condition the campus," said principal Carol Shikada.

 

But outside the heat, the little school in the former sugar town is a near-perfect community school, she said, It is small enough that teachers know all their students. And it has a strong community supporting its mission.

 

"I don't think that I've ever seen a school with this much support," she said.

 

Businesses donate cash, local groups and the Pacific Missile Range Facility have installed playground equipment and a sprinkler system, and there's a strong school-community council, she said. "People who have graduated from here come and ask, 'What do you need?' "

 

The school also benefits from retired teachers who come back and work part time, or who volunteer to work with the kids, she said.

 

A key feature of the educational experience at Kekaha is that students requiring special help are placed in small groups for more individualized attention. "What works here is small-group instruction, but it takes more staffing," Shikada said.

 

Kekaha's student count has been dropping in recent years, but that will change in two years when Waimea Canyon School in the neighboring community switches from serving elementary and middle grades, and becomes a pure middle school. At that point, the K-6 Kekaha campus will lose its sixth grade but will begin sharing the former Waimea Canyon elementary students with 'Ele'ele Elementary School. A growing Hawaiian Home Lands housing area also will add to the student count.

 

 

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

July 7, 2006

 

Yakamas want people to walk their way to better health

 

By JANE GARGAS

YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

 

No officers. No dues. No minutes.

 

Just stepping out.

 

That's the 100 Mile Club, and it's got people on the move.

 

Like Maxine Lame Bull of Toppenish and her daughter, Lorna Lame Bull-Vivette of Wapato.

 

Maxine and Lorna enjoy participating in a number of activities in tandem — shopping, dropping off their recycling, eating in restaurants and watching sporting events (with 10 athletic grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, Maxine has plenty of games to attend.)

 

Now the pair has added another dimension to their togetherness with the 100 Mile Club.

 

That's 100 miles of walking, part of a health initiative embarked upon by the Yakama Nation in Toppenish.

 

The tribe has launched the program to inspire American Indians — and others — to walk their way to better health.

 

Coordinated by the Yakama Nation Diabetes Program, the idea is simple: Encourage people to walk or run 100 miles over a 12-week span.

 

"We're promoting physical fitness," says Cathy Carl, a community advocate at the Yakama Indian Health Clinic. "Our primary focus is on Native Americans, but anyone can join."

 

Nor does everyone have to travel the entire 100 miles. People older than 62 become full-fledged club members by walking 50 miles, as do youngsters 12 and younger.

 

"I think it's one of the best programs the tribe has ever done," says Lorna, who is 52. "It gives you a healthy lifestyle."

 

The program began here in 2000, fashioned after one the Indian Health Service piloted in Albuquerque, N.M.

 

Maxine joined a year later, and had no trouble putting on the miles. Even though at age 72 she qualifies for doing just 50 miles, she never logs less than 100. During the last session, she walked 135.

 

"She always does more than me," says Lorna, who began walking in the program three years ago.

 

Her mother sets a brisk clip. A six-year cancer survivor, Maxine takes her health seriously, which is one reason she takes a two-mile walk nearly every day.

 

On weekends, she and Lorna join up to walk together.

 

"It's nice to keep each other company," Lorna says.

 

Plus, it's a family affair. Aunts, uncles, grandchildren — they've all gotten involved. Lorna's two sons, Tommy Grover and Will Vivette, often jog during the sessions.

 

Lorna's sister, Debbie Selam, and Debbie's son, Aaron, also are serious participants in the club.

 

Because the tribe's diabetes program sponsors the effort, diabetics are the natural target group. But Carl points out that anyone can improve his or her health by walking.

 

"Exercise has a huge impact on blood sugar," says Carl, who is one of the club's walkers. She says physical activity also lowers blood pressure and cholesterol.

 

And Maxine confirms that her cholesterol count has plummeted.

 

Stress levels and weight are two other areas notably reduced by exercise, Carl says.

 

Lorna's a believer: "Walking gets me motivated."

 

For the diabetic, the benefits can be even more dramatic, Carl notes.

 

"An exercise like walking can reduce the chances of getting complications from diabetes," she says.

 

One reason the Yakamas are emphasizing the health aspects of walking is the increased incidence of diabetes among American Indian populations, Carl says.

 

For those who find the goal of 100 miles somewhat daunting, there's an ease-into-it alternative. The tribe offers monthly walks at the Yakama Nation RV Park in Toppenish.

 

More than 350 people have participated in the informal events; people can drop in between 7 to 10 a.m. to walk and have their blood sugar tested. The next walk will be either July 18 or July 25.

 

The 100-mile clubbers include several seniors who, like Maxine, spurn the suggested 50 miles, and do much more. Carl cites the example of a man in his mid-70s who jogged and ran 400 miles during one 12-week session.

 

Maxine keeps increasing her totals, too, whether it's walking in the frigid days of winter — "Oh, yes, we walk in the snow" — or the current heat wave.

 

But, in the evening, "I'm ready to sit in my chair," she admits.

 

However, Lorna isn't buying that.

 

"My mom says she's going to walk 'til she drops."

 

 

 

 

7/5/2006

 

Report looks at the power of Indian businesses

 

Billions in receipts, Oklahoma high on list

 

OKLAHOMA CITY OK
Native American Times

 

A new report on the economic power of Native business owners reveals that American Indian and Alaska Native-owned firms had receipts of $26.9 billion.

 

The censes bureau study looks at figures from 2002 and shows that Oklahoma tops the chart in several categories, including states with the highest number of companies owned by tribal members. There were 17,097 Native-run businesses in the state, second only to California’s 38,125. The national total is 201,387. Texas, New York and Florida rounded out the top five.

 

Oklahoma’s Indian companies represent just over eight-percent of the state’s total businesses.

 

The city with the most Indian-owned firms is New York, with Los Angeles second and the New Mexico town of Gallup ranking third.

 

The survey defined American Indian- and Alaska native-owned businesses as firms in which Natives own 51 percent or more of the stock or equity of the business.

 

Other information from the report:

 

-Nearly 3-in-10 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms operated in construction and other services (such as personal services, and repair and maintenance).

 

-Almost 1-in-8 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms had paid employees. These 24,498 businesses employed more than 191,270 people and generated revenues of nearly $22 billion, or about $897,489 per firm.

 

-There were 3,631 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more. These firms accounted for 1.8 percent of the total number of American Indian- and Alaska native-owned firms and more than 64 percent of their total receipts.

 

-There were 178 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms with 100 employees or more, generating nearly $5.3 billion in gross receipts (24 percent of the total revenue for American Indian- and Alaska native-owned employer firms).

 

-American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses with no paid employees numbered 176,889 with receipts of $4.9 billion. Average receipts of these businesses were $27,623 per firm.

 

 

 

 

July 7, 2006

 

Never-ending Voyage of Hokule'a

 

An epic journey of cultural renewal set sail when Hokule'a completed its historic trip to Tahiti

 

Story by Gary T. Kubota

gkubota@starbulletin.com

 

MAKAHA surfer Richard "Buffalo" Keaulana was amazed when he heard drums beating a welcome and saw the pulsing movement of thousands of people along the shore as he rode on the Hawaii voyaging canoe Hokule'a into Papeete, Tahiti.

 

"I never thought there would be that many people. The whole coast was covered with brown-skin people with no shirts, hitting the drums and chanting," recalled Keaulana, 71.

 

"It was unreal."

 

Thirty years after the historic 2,400-mile journey south, the reverberations of the first voyage are still being felt, contributing to a renaissance in canoe-building and pride in Pacific island cultures.

 

The success of the Hokule'a supported the assertion that by using way-finding methods, Pacific islanders could sail thousands of miles to distant shores centuries before Westerners had developed the chronometer and other modern instruments that enabled them to make accurate long-distance voyages.

 

The arrival of the Hokule'a crew in Tahiti paid homage to the intelligence and courage of their ancient seafaring ancestors and let loose a wellspring of cultural pride and creativity.

 

Before the crew touched the shores of Papeete, more than 60 songs had been written about the historic trip, in a contest promoted by a Tahitian radio station.

 

More songs and dances as well as sculptures and paintings about the Hokule'a have followed, inspiring creativity in the native arts of Pacific islanders.

 

During a decade of turmoil and change in the 1970s, the Hokule'a emerged to become a symbol of a renewed Hawaiian culture. Crew member Nainoa Thompson, who eventually became the first native Hawaiian navigator in modern history to sail to Tahiti from Hawaii, recalled that prior to the 1970s, teaching Hawaiian culture was not a priority in the educational system, and as a child, his grandmother was beaten by a teacher for speaking the Hawaiian language.

 

But he said in the 1970s there was a turnaround. Native Hawaiians developed native language immersion schools and ethnic studies programs at the University of Hawaii.

 

A group of Hawaiians who were promoting native values about caring for the land were arrested for trespassing while trying to stop the military bombing on the island of Kahoolawe.

 

"Ultimately, Kahoolawe island changed from enormous abuse to enormous healing," Thompson said.

 

The voyaging canoe helped heal the wounds of the dethroned native culture.

 

"Hokule'a was arguably a driver of change," Thompson said.

 

"There is nothing more debilitating and crushing to any child than to have them grow up thinking they're second-rate. If you ask me what's the greatest contribution of Hokule'a, it's restoring pride."

 

Thompson said in the process of rediscovering their ancestry, crew members have sailed 110,000 nautical miles in the Pacific -- equivalent to circumnavigating the world more than four times.

 

In sailing over the largest ocean in the world, they have come to realize the immense achievement of early Polynesian migration.

 

"We've explored a nation on Earth bigger than Russia," he said. "Arguably in their time, our ancestors were the greatest explorers on Earth."

 

To the untrained eye, the Pacific Ocean can seem an endless monotonous expanse dotted with tiny islands and atolls, but to Pacific islanders with a voyaging tradition, the ocean was a moving seascape with different winds, currents and tides that could aid them in their journey.

 

The sun, moon, stars and the birds also helped as guides.

 

At night during spring, the Hokule'a used the Southern Cross to tack toward Tahiti.

 

When dawn came and there were no stars visible, the sun rising from the east served as a directional finder to maintain a course.

 

At noon, when the sun was too high to determine east or west, the bow was kept at the same angle against the waves as had been noted earlier in the day.

 

The Southern Cross rose higher in the sky as the crew traveled toward Tahiti, and land-based birds who fished at first light guided them to the island.

 

Thompson said that while the achievements of Polynesians were not taught in the 1960s, they are being taught to this generation of students.

 

As a result of their travels, native Hawaiians have found they can speak to and understand Polynesians living thousands of miles apart from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) off the coast of Chile to Aotearoa (New Zealand).

 

"Hokule'a reunited a memory of an ancestral family," he said.

 

The vessel has not only taken Hawaiians on a voyage confirming their ancestral roots, but also carried the medium for awakening cultural pride and interest among other Pacific islanders.

 

In the Voyage of Rediscovery from 1985 to 1987, the Hokule'a retraced migration routes with stops in Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Tuamotus, Aotearoa, Tonga and Samoa and raised interest in constructing double-hulled voyaging vessels.

 

What began as one voyaging canoe has multiplied into more than 11, including several built in Hawaii.

 

The Polynesian Voyaging Society also taught way-finding navigation to indigenous peoples from other Pacific islands.

 

The trip gave some crew members the resolve to reach out and do something greater with their lives.

 

Inspired by the voyage and society founder Tommy Holmes, Keaulana helped begin an annual canoe-surfing competition at Makaha beach.

 

Chad Baybayan, who sailed on a later crew and also became a navigator, said his Hokule'a experience gave him the discipline he needed to obtain a master's degree in education.

 

He is now in charge of a division of a Hawaiian language immersion program in Hilo.

 

"The experience with Hokule'a is the kind of education you cannot get at a university -- real-life education," he said. "You find ways of studying and reading to make you better."

 

Thompson said the society is now teaching traditional way-finding to high school students, the next generation of ocean navigators.

 

"They're younger than the voyaging canoe," he said.

 

He said that when teaching he keeps in mind his own experiences as a student, and feels blessed to have known leaders of the Hokule'a -- society founders Herb Kane, Ben Finney and the late Tommy Holmes, navigator Mau Piailug of Satawal, Micronesia, and his own late father, Myron, who served as a president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

 

"The most valuable thing to me is not finding the island. It was the journey of being among these extraordinary pioneers, people who went against the grain of society, took risks and took chances," Thompson said.

 

"It was the mind of science and spirit of culture coming together with a beautiful vision of the canoe."

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Sunday, July 9, 2006

 

Marsh transfer in holding pattern

 

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser staff writer

 

The state is moving to take ownership of city-owned land in Kawai Nui Marsh, possibly clearing the way for work to begin on a long-stalled $5 million bird habitat restoration project in the 830-acre wetland. But the city isn't ready to go along with the deal just yet. Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser: Rebecca Breyer

 

The Department of Land and Natural Resources will propose this week that the state accept ownership of the land while the city continues to be responsible for flood-control measures in the marsh, Peter Young, chairman of the state Land Board, said yesterday.

 

If an agreement is reached, money could quickly begin flowing on a project to bring water, birds and native vegetation back to large portions of the marsh, which has been filling in slowly for hundreds of years as a result of human activity, supporters said.

 

However, city officials said they have not reached an agreement on the crucial question of flood control, which has kept the restoration project on hold for years.

 

"If we transfer the land to the state, then all the responsibilities go with it," said Laverne Higa, city director of facility maintenance. "There's still more discussion that needs to be done."

 

Even so, Young's announcement that the Land Board will take up the ownership issue was welcomed at yesterday's Ulupo Heiau Ho'ike, an annual celebration held at the Ulupo Heiau in Kailua to showcase the culture, history and environmental resources of the marsh.

 

"It's great news," said Hawaiian naturalist Chuck "Doc" Burrows, who for years has led efforts to restore portions of the marsh and several Hawaiian heiau in the area. "We'll be able to move forward with our efforts to protect the ecological and cultural resources of Kawai Nui."

 

The restoration project, first proposed eight years ago, focuses on about 40 acres behind Castle Medical Center and along Maunawili Stream. Graphic courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser

 

The state and Army Corps of Engineers have partnered on a plan to restore 11 dried-out ponds with water diverted from the stream and the use of new photovoltaic-powered wells, but the work has foundered because the city owned several pieces of land in the project area and no one wanted responsibility for flood control, especially in the wake of a devastating New Year's flood in 1988 that damaged hundreds of homes in the nearby Kailua neighborhood of Coconut Grove.

 

Young said the city is responsible for all flood-control measures, even if the state owns it. "We are relying on a correspondence from the Army Corps of Engineers that specifically says the city would be looked upon for continued repair, maintenance and operation of flood control," Young said.

 

Higa disagreed: "That's exactly what they proposed in a bill at the Legislature this year, but the Legislature didn't pass it. If they want the land, they've got to accept the responsibility that goes with it."

 

The restoration of the ponds and bird habitat is just one of many ongoing efforts to preserve, restore and turn the marsh into a valuable community resource, Burrows said. Other projects include development of a Kawai Nui Gateway park on the Kalaheo side of the marsh and efforts to establish a cultural learning center inside the marsh.

 

"In the marsh, everything is connected. When I'm here, I feel a spiritual connection to the land and my ancestors," said Pua Hinano, a Native Hawaiian artist who yesterday was painting a watercolor sketch of the heiau while sitting in the shade of a large monkeypod tree. "We all need to do more to protect this treasure because we're all the beneficiaries of it."

 

Five thousand years ago, all of the area, including what's now Kailua town, was still a large ocean bay. When a sand bar formed along what is now Kailua Beach, access to the ocean was cut off and the bay gradually began to fill up.

 

"Even just a century ago, there was still a lot of open, flowing water in the marsh," said Bob Bourke, a specialist in coastal and watershed assessments and restoration for the Oceanit engineering firm.

 

Today, there's still a lot of water, but much of it lies under a layer of plants that is thick enough to stand on, he said.

 

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

July 5, 2006

 

Drama in the classroom, a big boost in confidence for teens

 

Intersections --the non-profit organization that administers Crossroads Theatre for Youth (CTY)-- in partnership with the Department of Education (DOE) and the American Samoa Coalition for Teen Pregnancy Prevention (ASCTPP) has created a summer program for 6th to 7th graders that combines lessons in performance with awareness of teen pregnancy.Photo courtesy of the Crossroads Theater for Youth

 

Founder and Executive Director of Intersections, Moelili’a Seui, says that drama provides a big boost to the confidence of the students and helps them better understand social issues that affect Samoan youth.

 

“With the high rate of teen pregnancy in the past school year, this is a big collaboration with the Coalition and DOE using drama to deeply explore youth and health issues, particularly teen pregnancy. Music and dance always play an important role in connecting children to being Samoan,” said Seui. “We had guest speakers that came in and talk about the community service role of young people or ola tautua o le tama ma le teine Samoa. The partnership is excellent and we’re looking forward to another successful Theatrefest.”

 

Most recently, CTY’s inaugural Theatrefest presented a short play called “A Walk In Our Shoes” performed by its Junior Company, the teen acting group, at the Convention Center in Utulei and in an encore presentation last month at ASCC.

 

This summer’s Theatrefest is entitled: “To be Young and Samoan.” This end of the summer performance, according to Seui, will allow the young people a chance to express themselves in contemporary learning while developing a strong sense of identity as Samoan students.

 

The 34 students that were selected for the summer program have been learning a variety of performance styles since June 12th from the CTY staff, its Junior Company and two Pava’ia’i Elementary teachers –Kato Fuimaono and Shute Tautu– who say they are amazed at the transformation of the often-timid students.

 

“In such a short time this summer I already see a big change and a big difference in our students through their participation in improvisation and movement,” said Fuimaono, who teaches 8th grade History. “The big boost in confidence is so noticeable as I see them actively participate in their respective acting groups with so much passion and enthusiasm and at the same time digging deep for words and language to accurately convey their thoughts. It’s truly amazing.”

 

According to Mr. Tautu, using drama in the classroom truly is reaching out to children and the community.“This program is a wonderful model for development of not just stage performance, but also development of clear speech, stage vocal projection, character development and mime and experimental movement,” said Mr. Tautu, a Samoan Studies instructor. “So many of my students have been transformed into new students and that includes a new outlook in learning and participation, and more importantly, in paying attention and focusing on what is being taught.”

 

Fiafia Leatimua, health educator for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition presented information about teen pregnancy and shared with the children that American Samoa is the 2nd highest in teen pregnancy in the Pacific. “There were 11-year old girls that gave birth in 1996 and 2003,” said Mr. Leatimua. “I am glad to have the opportunity to bring awareness to kids at an early age to break the misconception that they have about teen pregnancy. They had a chance to explore how teen pregnancy affects the development of both the teenager and the baby. It was amazing to see how they took ownership of the community when they discovered the impact of teen pregnancy on the family and the community.”

 

That transformation has come through loud and clear through the words of some of the summer program participants:

 

“This program has helped me to understand how teen pregnancy can affect my future.” – Afiafi Faiai, 13, Pavaiai

 

“It changed my attitude towards learning. I participate more now and keep it fun,” – Molly Asifoa, 13, Aoloau

 

“This program has changed my life because it helped me to have the courage to speak and share my ideas and not be ashamed.”

– Sione Ma’u, 13, Pavaiai

 

“This program has helped me to take away my shyness and face my fears. I look forward to facing the future.” – Jackie Te’o, 13, Faleniu

 

“I learned a lot about teamwork and respecting each other’s ideas.” – Colleen Vou, 12, Mapusaga

 

CTY’s off island partnership with Honolulu Theatre for Youth has Mr. Daniel A. Kelin, II back on island to offer more training to local theatre staff as well as the students. He says summer drama program puts an emphasis on partnership, creativity, teamwork, and high energy for all involved. “It’s a magical experience for children and staff alike because they come away with changed perspectives not only on their ability to develop theater, but also on relating to and enriching others in all areas of life, and in this case, in the classroom,” said Kelin.

 

The summer program will end with a performance on July 25th and with the partnership of DOE and the Coalition for Teen Pregnancy, Intersections and CTY are utilizing its interactive educational plays and theatre exercises for drama therapy to guide young people through awareness of teen pregnancy.

 

“It’s learning by doing and coordinating by collaborating for both students and staff,” said Seui. “Through the process of this summer drama program they learn to translate their skills and talents into a valid invitation to the kids to fly on the wings of their collective creativity. This requires them not only to discern the abilities, limitations, strengths and fears of each child, but also to summon their own abilities and courage to take that very risk themselves.”

 

CTY staff assisting in the summer program include Loso Iaulualo, Malaetele Tautala, Noelle Tavale-Mageo, Upulasi Tanielu, and Faimanifo Amose. The Junior Company personnel lending a hand are: Ruth Soli, Ku’uipo Trepanier, Daniel Saifoloi, Conan Iaulualo, Isaako Maileoi, and Roman Fetuao.

 

CTY is funded by the U.S. Administration for Natïve Americans to educate and heighten awareness of youth and social issues in our community. Financial assistance for school teachers is funded by DOE and the Junior Company work program is funded by the Coalition for Teen Pregnancy and the Department of Human Resources Workforce Investment Act. For more information, contact 699-5313 or visit the website at www.ctyweb.org

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Sunday, July 9, 2006

 

Restoring shine to our history

 

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

 

It's dark inside Hawaiian Hall, the gloomy, aging heart of the Bishop Museum.

 

For the moment, that's probably a good thing. The stuffy, shadow-streaked interior masks a beautiful, but deteriorating Victorian-era structure sorely in need of repairs. Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser: Richard Ambo

 

Paint flakes hang off the ceiling in hand-sized chips.

 

Koa wood trim — on display cases, windows and railings — is faded in some places and oxidized in others, a mottled acne of hardened varnish and more than 100 years of dirt and dust.

 

Fans bolted onto iron railing grates buzz the air in an anemic attempt to cool a building without air conditioning or any form of climate control so necessary to preserve artifacts. The extension cord from one fan snakes up a cast-iron column to a ceiling outlet.

 

And some of the original beauty of Hawaiian Hall was muted by attempts to modernize it: Skylights are covered and windows shuttered.

 

But the Bishop Museum is about to start a $20 million restoration project that will give Hawaiian Hall and several adjacent structures a much-needed facelift. When finished, visitors will have access to more of the museum's beloved artifacts in an environment better suited to long-term preservation. Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser: Richard Ambo

 

The project will require the museum to close Hawaiian Hall for about 18 months, beginning tomorrow. Two of the adjacent buildings that make up the Hawaiian Hall Complex — Polynesian Hall and the Vestibule/Picture Gallery — also will be closed at various points. The Kahili Room, however, will not close.

 

To ease the blow of closing the complex for such a long time, the museum will waive admission today.

 

It is a job long overdue. Museum staffers consider the Hawaiian Hall Complex, with its distinctive, quarried blocks of volcanic stone, their largest artifact.

 

"It's still beautiful," said William Brown, president and chief executive officer of the museum. "It's still an extraordinary place. What we are doing is, for the first time in decades — and for the first time ever in terms of some basic things — restoring and improving the whole complex."

 

The cornerstone of the project will be climate control and new electrical wiring that will replace a system installed in the 1960s, when electricity was first introduced into the complex, Brown said. Only the smaller Polynesian Hall and nearby Kahili Room have air conditioning, installed in 1972.

 

The change to Hawaiian Hall will cool visitors accustomed to 80-degree temperatures in the summer, but it will come with a $17,000-a-month electric bill.

 

More importantly, the air conditioning will reduce threats to preservation.

 

Initially built to use natural ventilation and light, Hawaiian Hall is open to breezes, artifact-eating insects, humidity and the rise and fall of temperatures. Temperatures in display cases can top 80 degrees — not bad if they stay that way, but higher than the preferred constant of 70 degrees, Brown said.

 

Access will be improved for the 300,000 to 400,000 visitors who tour the museum each year.

 

For the first time, the complex will have an elevator that will link floors from the three different buildings that went up between 1898 and 1903. It will have to be built outside them in what is now a courtyard in the back because none of the floors in the different buildings are aligned.

 

The changes will allow the museum to modernize exhibits in Hawaiian Hall that have not been changed in decades. Brown can point to display-case materials that are 30 years old, a gem collection that looks more like a youth science project than a professional museum exhibit, and empty display drawers begging for artifacts.

 

"Frankly, the exhibits are kind of tired," Brown said. "And they will be everything but tired when they're done."

 

The current patchwork of displays from different eras will be replaced with a modern interpretive approach and the ability to easily create new exhibits drawn from the museum's 24 million artifacts, Brown said. Hawaiian Hall and Polynesian Hall will be able to display twice as many objects.

 

"It will be much more inviting," Brown said. "It will be warm and lit in a way that shows the colors. We'll still keep the basic historical feel. I don't think we'll feel old-fashioned in a bad way."

 

Graphic courtesy of the Honolulu AdvertiserThere was talk during the 1980s of remodeling Hawaiian Hall but funding was spent on other tasks. When Brown arrived in September 2001, he knew he had to first finish the $17 million science adventure center despite the desire to tackle the Hawaiian Hall Complex.

 

The center opened in November, allowing Brown to concentrate on fund-raising for the remodeling. So far, Brown has raised $10 million for the $20 million project — from the Legislature, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and a variety of foundations. He's confident the public will pony up the rest.

 

But the museum waited until today to tell anyone except potential donors what is about to happen. Even its 30,000 members have not received official word — that will come in the next membership newsletter.

 

Clare Hanusz, whose family has had a membership for about a year, wondered what she was going to tell her two young children. The Manoa mother takes them to the museum several times a month, and every visit includes a stop at Hawaiian Hall for a hula performance.

 

Still, Hanusz understands the museum's need.

 

"If you look up at the ceiling and if you look at the windows, you can tell that the years have taken their toll on the building," she said. "And it's unfortunate that the facility will need to be closed for so long to make repairs. But I trust they know what they are doing."

 

Down on the central floor of Hawaiian Hall, where the hula shows entertain longtime residents and tourists alike, the restoration will be done with a dose of caution, given the public's long familiarity with the hall's central features: An authentic thatched hut obtained on Kaua'i in 1902, a model of a heiau made with rocks from Big Island heiau, and an enormous sperm whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling.

 

All three will remain.

 

DeSoto Brown, who is not related to the museum president and serves as collections manager for the museum's archives, said they are central icons of a building that represents an era.

 

"As it is restored, we have to be respectful of its age," DeSoto Brown said. "We have to not alter it from its original appearance. This is not only a renovation, it is a partial restoration, too. We can't arbitrarily — and we don't want to arbitrarily — make drastic changes."

 

During construction, every item on display will be removed and everything about how the museum tells the story of Hawai'i will be thought through before it goes back on display, DeSoto Brown said.

 

"Every single case will be re-designed," he said. "It's a huge job we are putting a lot of thought into."

 

That task is both exciting and daunting, and the possibilities can give Betty Lou Kam, the museum's vice president for cultural resources, a kind of nervous excitement, like someone suddenly able to tell a really good story after years of waiting.

 

"There are so many expectations for the museum," she said. "Expectations of those on the outside of the museum and those in it. We want it to be the best it can. We want it to be meaningful and we want it to be sensitive. All those things are important."

 

Kam knows better than most what's at stake.

 

She can open practically any drawer and box locked away in the museum's special, climate-controlled storage room. She can stare into the shell eyes of a woven war god — one of only 17 left in the world — and ponder its history. She can view braided human hair lei worn by the most powerful of Hawaiians.

 

But she can't display any of them for the public, can't put them in an antique display case in a building that is "sweltering hot" in the summer, and certainly can't risk putting them in a hall that leaked until a year ago and sprouted mold during the recent March monsoon.

 

"The objects have to be appreciated," she said. "They have stories to tell. If they are stuck in the storage area, they are not telling their stories to people who are interested. There is something about coming up and seeing something. The encounter motivates you to want to know more about it and why."

 

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

July 5, 2006

 

The First Hawaiian Physician

 

By Lucy Jokiel

http://www.islandscene.com/Article.aspx?id=2896

 

Dr. Matthew Puakakoililanimanuia Makalua was the first Hawaiian to study and practice Western medicine, according to Hawaiian health and medicine historian Benjamin B.C. Young, M.D. Young has spent 25 years trying to find out what happened to Makalua, one of 18 young Hawaiians sent overseas to study by King Kalakaua in the 1880s.

 

After a librarian in England sent him Makalua's obituary, Young learned that Makalua graduated from King's College, London, in 1892. He also found out that a grandson of Makalua, David Dewar, came to Hawai'i to look for his ancestors but was unable to find any Makaluas.

 

To solve the puzzle, Young traveled to England last summer to meet the Dewar family. They told him that the name had been changed from Makalua so that the son, James, could inherit a Scottish title. A clerk at the town hall in Hastings, where Makalua had practiced medicine, told him that the physician from Hawai'i was probably buried in Hastings Cemetery. After a 3-hour search, Young found the graves of Matthew and his wife.

 

Matthew Makalua was an only son of Matthew Makalua Sr. of Lahaina, a police magistrate and postmaster. There are no direct descendants of Matthew Makalua in Hawai'i.

 

Young, the director of the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, is the first Hawaiian physician to go into psychiatry. He says there were only 10 Hawaiians licensed to practice medicine in the state in the early 1970s. Today, there are more than 200 -- only 3 percent of all licensed physicians in the Islands, according to Young, a founding member of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public Comment Period Extension:  Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) – July 28, 2006

 

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) has extended until July 28, 2006, the public comment period on the draft “Policy Statement Regarding Treatment of Burial Sites, Human Remains and Funerary Objects.”

 

That draft was published for public comment in the Federal Register on March 14, 2006 (71 FR 13066-13070). That notice is available on the ACHP website at www.achp.gov.

 

The ACHP’s Task Force on Archeology will use the public input it receives to finalize the draft policy before presenting it to the full ACHP membership for consideration and possible adoption.

 

Please address all comments to the Archeology Task Force, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Suite 809, Washington. DC 20004.  Fax (202) 606-8672. Comments may also be submitted by electronic mail to:archeology@achp.gov. Please note that all responses become part of the public record once they are submitted.

 

 

 

 

2006 Elections Present 101 Seats for Voters to Decide

 

WHAT:  Activating Voter Registration in 2006 to weigh in on 101 seats at the federal, state and county levels is on the minds of many in Hawaii today.  The seats that will come before the electorate in the fall of 2006 include the following:

 

 

 

 

For more information and a complete list of 2006 Contests and Incumbents, visit the Hawaii State Office of Elections Website at:  http://www.hawaii.gov/elections/

 

To register to vote:  http://www.hawaii.gov/elections/voters/registration.htm

 

 

 

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 GEORGE A. TURNER; his heirs or assigns; and ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that Plaintiffs Mellon Bank N.A., as Trustee, Stephen B. Ratner and Audrey Ratner, have filed a complaint in the Third Circuit Court, State of Hawaii, Civil No. 06-1-0178, to quiet title to Land Patent Grant 4195, issued to GEORGE A. TURNER, situate at Olaa, Puna, Hawaii, within TMK Nos. (3) 1-8-010-031 & (3) 1-8-011-015. YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear in the courtroom of the Honorable GREG K. NAKAMURA, Judge of the Third Circuit Court, at 75 Aupuni Street, Courtroom 1, Hilo, Hawaii, on August 24, 2006 at 8:00 A.M., or to file an answer or other pleading and serve it before said day upon Plaintiffs' attorney, Philip J. Leas, whose address is Cades Schutte LLP, 1000 Bishop St., Suite 1200, Honolulu, HI 96813. If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint. DATED: Hilo, Hawaii, June 13, 2006. E. YAMABE CLERK, THIRD CIRCUIT COURT (Hon. Adv.: July 12, 19, 26; Aug. 2, 2006) (489600) Posted on 7/12/2006

 

 

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In recognizing that ka olelo makuahine o Hawaii nei was an oral language and that there were varying dialects among the islands, CNHA has adopted a policy of excluding diacritical markings in our publications.

This project is an initiative under the Office of Innovation and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education. Education through Cultural & Historical Organizations, also known as ECHO, provides educational enrichment to Native and non-Native children and lifelong learners.