Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 1, 1 January 1995 — 1994 Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Convention [ARTICLE]

1994 Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Convention

Sovereignty the hot topic at civic club meet

by Deborah L. Ward Hawaiian sovereignty and Hawaiian claims were foremost among concerns discussed last month at the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs annual convention held at Wailea, Maui. Attending the four-day convention at the Maui Inter-Continental Resort were 536 club members and guests. The convention theme was taken from the alma mater of Lahainaluna School, "Ka Ipu Kukui 'Ā'ā Mau, Pio 'Ole I Ka Makani O Kaua'ula," meaning "The eternal flame cannot be extinguished by the fierce winds of Kaua'ula." The theme served as an inspiration to the clubs as a symbol of the flame of the Hawaiian culture whieh cannot be extinguished by the winds of change. Association president H.K. Bruss Keppeler commended civic club members who ran for public office in the November elections and who are members of the Hawaiian Sovereignty Elections

Council. HSEC chairman Sol Kaho'ohalahala, a newly elected member of the Maui County Council, was the keynote speaker. Kaho'ohalahala outlined the work ahead of the HSEC in preparing for the plebiscite on sovereignty in 1995. (Registration of Hawaiian voters will take plaee from January to November and baIloting will take plaee from mid-November to the end of December 1995. Ballots will be counted in early January 1996 with results to be announced in mid-January.) He encouraged all Hawaiians everywhere to discuss these momentous changes with their families, and to invite their neighbors to also learn about Hawaiian history, conditions and issues. "It takes all of us to make change, but a single person ean make a tremendous impact," he said. Nearly 50 resolutions were eonsidered and debated, including ones: • urging the re-establishment of a recall process for the Office of

Hawaiian Affairs trustees; • urging the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs (AOHCC) to conduct statewide hearings on the issue of blood quantum; • requesting the Legislature and governor to appropriate and release funds to complete Hawaiian home lands infrastructure and acquire county subdivision approval; • urging the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to establish and enforce procedures to protect groundwater resources on ceded lands; • urging the DOE to continue to support Hawaiian immersion programs and establish cultural sensitivity programs for its employees; • urging the U.S. Navy, in consultation with the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission, to provide work and funds to elean up Kaho'olawe, preferably by native Hawaiians; • urging the AOHCC to assign a task force to promote the return of ceded lands through the base elosure process;

• supporting the Kōkua Loa Institute in its research into the eeonomie impacts of proposed models of sovereignty; • urging the OHA Board of Trustees to reconsider the purchase of ceded lands; • urging the Administration for Native Americans to repeal a new policy that denies access to its federal grant funds to non-resi-dent Hawaiians; and • urging the National Parks Service to support Hawaiian families as designated ahupua'a caretakers, particularly the Pai 'ohana at Kaloko-Honokōhau. Office of Hawaiian Affairs staff mounted informational displays at the convention, enrolled Hawaiians in OHA's Operation 'Ohana ancestry enrollment project, distributed materials on OHA programs and services, and showed educational videos. They also sold copies of the just-pub-lished book, 'Onipa'a: Five Days in the History of the Hawaiian Nation , produced by the 'Onipa'a Centennial Committee.