Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 10, 1 October 1993 — Assault on Puhi Bay [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Assault on Puhi Bay

by Moanike'ala Akaka Trustee, Hawai'i Officers from the state Attorney General's office swarmed a campsite at Puhi Bay, Keaukaha, Hilo, the mom-

ing of Aug. 30, and I tore down a pavilion Hawaiian homesteaders had built on DHHL land. Since the 1960 tidal wave destroyed the last pavilion, no facilities have been provided makai by

DHHL for homesteaders and their 'ohana on this strip, next to a sewage treatment plant. Mike Johns, who was raised and lives near Puhi Bay, said "For 33 years the community begged DHHL to provide needed facilities. No results!" Everyone knows that families eamp there for the summer. After Labor Day everyone goes home. Why did DHHL rush their eviction? A decade ago homesteaders

(the Puhi Bay 'ohana) decided to clear this neglected 'āina of debris, junked cars and vegetation, for community use. Instead of being applauded, encouraged and suDDorted for their initiative

to mālama the 'āina, they witnessed the destruction of their labor of love by DHHL. DHHL said there was no permit for the pavilion. However, documented letters go back two years asking DHHL to meet with Puhi Bay

'ohana to discuss plans for the area. DHHL never responded. Finally a meeting was set for Aug. 31, the day (ital) after (end ital) the invasion. However, early Aug. 30, the bulldozers eame in and destroyed the pavilion that was to be discussed the following day. DHHL, in poor faith, destroyed the pavilion before talking! Community members said there were caustic words between a former Hawaiian

Homes Commissioner's 'ohana and one of the Puhi 'ohana that built the pavilion. This, I'm told, led to the destmction of the pavilion and arrests. Daisy Spalding, president of the Puhi Bay 'ohana, was arrested for trespassing on DHHL land, of whieh she is a beneficiary. DHHL was also disturbed because electricity and water had been hooked up to the eommuni-ty-built pavilion. DHHL is supposed to be providing this basic infrastructure for their eommunity; instead the community took the initiative. With the sewage treatment plant adjacent, running water is necessary as people sometimes swim in unhealthy water. The 'ohana hooked up electricity for security reasons. "Outsiders have been making lots of noise and partying late at night, keeping the kūpuna across the street awake," said Patrick Kahawaiolaa, leader of the Puhi 'ohana. Hilo DHHL commissioner Ann Nathaniel agreed some troublemakers are from continued on page 14

Puhi Bay Assault

from page 13 outside Keaukaha-Panaewa. Lights just might deter youth from hanging around at night, drinking. The Puhi Bay 'ohana was evicted for carrying out DHHL's responsibility to provide a pavil-ion-shelter and meeting plaee for the community. Water and eleetricity were obtained at their own expense and kōkua. The Honolulu Advertiser' s editorial Sept. 1 supported DHHL, although it commended the "spirit of self-reliance of the community ... DHHL should encourage and support these kinds of efforts," and added that

"Ideally DHHL should have worked out a compromise ... without removing all improvements." I'm told that at Anahola, Kaua'i on DHHL land, a nonHawaiian continues to operate an illegal hamburger stand after 32 years. Is this not a double standard? Beneficiaries who are fulfilling DHHL responsibility, keeping up the area, are evicted while a non-Hawaiian continues "business as usual." In the late 1980s a native Hawaiian asked for the parcel the hamburger stand is on, and was told the pareel was not suitable for a native Hawaiian. The Puhi Bay 'ohana under-

standably cries foul and discrimination because the beneficiary has become the victim. The Puhi Bay 'ohana maintains they have not been hostile to anyone, Hawaiian or non-Hawaiian. At this writing community plans for Puhi Bay will be formulated with DHHL as facilitator. We Hawaiians must cease this incessant bickering and make a win-win situation of this turmoil. Short of this we all lose! Working together we ean all be winners! Mālama pono. Ua mau ke ea o ka 'āina i ka pono.