Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 3, 1 March 1997 — Pai ʻOhana evicted from Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Pai ʻOhana evicted from Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park

The Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historic Park closed Feb. 14 for the eviction of the Pai 'Ohana from lands within the park. Eight months of negotiations by different parties to relocate the family to adjacent state land fell apart. The park reopened five days later after national park and state officials removed numerous structures, property and debris that had been left behind. The Pai 'Ohana maintains it is legally entitled to occupy the land as the last descendants of the original inhabitants of Wai'opio Honokōhauiki on Hawai'i. The United States called for the eviction of the ll-member family on the grounds that no single

group should have exclusive rights to lands within a nahonal park. Judge David A. Ezra told U.S. Marshals on Feb. 10 to make sure the land was vacated within 30 days. Ezra said anyone interfering with the evacuation faced a federal fine and imprisonment. Mahealani Pai, spokesman for the Pai 'Ohana, declined to speak to the Ka Wai Ola o OHA about the eviction. A compromise for the Pais, negotiated between the Nahonal Park Service (NPS), the Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), called for relocation to take plaee Dec. 31, 1996. According to a release from Sen. Daniel Inouye's office, the senator called upon Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit three times to hold off eviction of the family.

A Right of Entry permit to land adjacent to the Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historic Park was granted to OHA by DLNR and signed Jan. 7, 1997. OHA plans to build a Living Hawaiian Culture and Learning Center on this land and designated the Pais

as acting kahu, or caretaker, of the center. According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Pais would still be allowed to use the federal park for their cultural and reHgious practices. The deadline for relocation, December 31, 1996, set by Babbitt, eame and went and the Pais remained on the federal land. Mahealani Pai sent a letter to President Bill Clinton in January reasserting the family's elaim to the property at the 'Ai'ōpio fish trap, and declining to relocate to the state proper-

tyOHA understands three factors prompted the

Pai family's reluctance to move. • The Pai family believes there is a cloud over the NPS title to the lands • The NPS did not finalize or sign a Memorandum of Understanding to provide native Hawaiians with orderly access to, and use of, the 'Ai'ōpio Fishtrap and Pu'uoina Heiau to perpetuate religious and cultural practices. • The Right of Entry granted by DLNR does not authorize occupancy of State land upon whieh OHA plans to build the center. Legal representation for the Pais, Arnold Lum of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, said the family received a "royal patent" for the land from the Perfect Title Co. This

title company uses 19th century Hawaiian Kingdom law to trace land ownership. OHA had scheduled a ho'oponopono (a session "to make right"), but it was canceled because Mahealani Pai did not attend. In a letter to OHA

Trustee A. Frenchy DeSoto, Pai said he wanted the family involved and felt the session should take plaee at their home within the park land. "My na'au (mind, heart) did not feel comfortable going to O'ahu as it appeared everything was onesided without our participation and that I fell short of being a team player," he added in the letter. Although news reports indicated the Pais moved off the federal land in early February, NPS Chief Ranger Jerry Case said that the Pais still had possessions on the federal land, but the majority of their belongings was transferred to adjacent state land. "I and others in the park services will not allow one altercation with one individual sour our outlook on relations with OHA regarding the care for Hawaiian places; we're trying to be good stewards of those places," Brian Harry, Pacific Area Superintendent, said. An organization called HPACH (Hawaiian Political Action Coimcil of Hawai'i) represented by Richard Kinney, a political activist, sent letters to the OHA Board of Trustees requesting the alloeahon of trust funds for legal representation for the Pai 'Ohana. Editor's Note: The }anuary issue of Ka Wai Ola o OHA incorrectly reported that the Pai

ml and others in the park services will not allow one altercation with one individuai sour our outlook on relations with OHA regarding the care for Hawaiian places; we're trying to be good stewards of those places," Brian Harry, Pacific Area

Members of the Pai 'Ohana at the 'Ai'ōpio fish trap at Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historic Park where they offered cultural workshops.