Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 12, 1 December 1991 — Pomroy: protestina brings results on Kauaʻi [ARTICLE]

Pomroy: protestina brings results on Kauaʻi

At the Third Global Congress of Heritage Interpretation International, Sharon Pomroy, an actiuist and member of the Kaua'i-based Culture Resource Management Center joined in Kaleo Patterson's presentation, along with Summer Harrison who spoke concerning the present role of the Kaua'i Hyatt Regency. Pomroy said she walked the picket lines when the Kaua'i Hyatt Regency was being built, protesting the destruction of pre-history Hawaiian sites during the building of the resort. Pomroy said, "The resort people said 'trust us' and we did and they peed on us." She claimed bones were put in plastic bags and stored in boxes. "Bulldozers take everything, indiscriminately," she said. Pomroy said bones of animals were mixed with human bones. The problem, as Pomroy sees it, is that "top leuel people deal only on their own level. They don't eome down to the community levei." Therein, she said, lies the major problem that has to be worked out. Pomroy said the builders and financers of major projects must eome to realize they must involve the community in the early plans or they will have to spend millions in legal battles, delayed contracts and schedules. "They (developers) must realize we will fight for our sites. They have to talk first. In the end it cost them millions because they wouldn't listen to us first," Pomroy said. She noted that after prolonged protests the Hyatt Regency has established a curatorship program and management is now trying to work with the Hawaiian community by way of the Culture Resource Management Center to plan interpretation of remaining sites in the ahupua'a of Pa'a, where the hotel is built.

Summer Harrison, who was director of public relations for the Kaua'i Hyatt Regency at the time of the protests, said there are still problems facing the resort even though management has eome to realize they must act responsibly towards the concerns of Native Hawaiians. Developers and financiers understand the

structure of a development, Harrison said, but have to realize there is no soul in a structure. "They must go to the people," she said. "They understand there must be care, a curatorship." In addition, she noted, onee the archeological work is done by developers there is no way to get the information directly to the public. Harrison said no happy solution has presented itself. "It is a developing relationship. We must show we ean work together," she said. Education of visitors and guests at the resort is one problem faced by the resort, she noted. "The

hotel must sensitize guests to the significance of the Hawaiian sites," she said. Angela M. Morehead, director of public relations for the landowner Grove Farm Co., said the hotel has been planned since 1958. "We will be building in the future," she said. "It may be 10 years but more (development) will eome." Grove Farm Co. ine, includes Grove Farm Rock Co., Grove Farm Properties, ine., and Grove Farm Land Corp. The group developed Kukui Grove Shopping Center on Kaua'i.