Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 8, 1 August 1985 — Forums for You [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Forums for You

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawaii

The Anahola Clubhouse on Kauai July 15 was the scene of the first in a series of educational sessions being scheduled statewide in the next few months relative to the proposed Hilo-Waimea-Molokai airport land exchange between the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) and the State Deoartment of

Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). In briefly refreshing your memory, it was at the end of 1984 that DHHL and DLNR, without consulting you the native Hawaiian beneficiaries of DHHL lands, attempted to exchange 209 acres of airport land (or 13 acres of industrial land at Shafter Flats, Oahu, including some buildings. Shafter Flats initial!y would eam only one-half of over the half million dollar revenues received annually for the airport. This will also mean a loss of almost $53,000 a year to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs since Shafter Flats is part of the ceded land trust. It shou!d be remembered this land exchange must be finalized by the U.S. Department of the Interior whieh has not yet eome to pass. You will reca!l my reporting to you several months ago that the Keaukaha Panaewa Farmers Associa-

tion has appealed the Hilo Airport court case so the land exchange currently is in limbo; the courts will be forced to decide. Meanwhile, the state will have to continue paying the over half million dollars into escrow for the three airports to DHHL. Our struggle for justice continues. These airport land exchange public forums have been scheduled on other islands as follows: Aug. 16 on Molokai; Sept. 3 on Oahu; and Sept. 13 on Maui. Sessions have already been held on the Big Island and more ean be scheduled upon request.

These are evening meetings and you must eall your respective OHA office for time and location. These forums have been made possible through Community Organization Plan (COP) fundsof five trustees — RockneFreitas,Thomas K. Kaulukukui, Louis Hao, Rod Burgess and this writer. Hayden Burgess, another trustee, did not contribute but he did give $1,000 earlier in the year in support of the Prince Jonah Kuhio Day airport demonstration. It was mueh appreciated. These trustees should be applauded for caring enough to support the Keaukaha-Panaewa Farmers Association's attempt to educate you the Hawaiian community about the unfair land exchange and other areas of Hawaiian interest. Big lsland kupuna like Genesis Lee Loy and Henry Auwae have been an inspiration in taking the makua and kamali'i forward. Islandwide, some of the landmark Hawaiian court decisions have eome from Keaukaha-Panaewa. These are Hawaiians who know — "if you snooze, you lose!" Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono. Malama pono!