Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 2, 1 February 1998 — 'It is a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quar rel.' — Proverbs 20:3 [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'It is a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quar rel.' — Proverbs 20:3

ISPENT MY New Year's eve attending an early service at ehuieh. I'm sure many of you said "goodbye" to 1997 and "hello" to 1998 as I did, in God's house. Last year was not easy for me. I suffered a second stroke followed by two serious infections, whieh prevented me from traveling, but I was in constant eontact with my office. I am healing and with God's love I will be back to work soon. I have a wonderful staff that kept my office mnning and kept me fully informed so I wouldn't stagnate. At first, I thought things were really looking up in early 1997. We finally got our legal mess untangled and our new

tmstees, Machado and Springer, sworn in. New committees were formed with equal distribution of the work utilizing all the talents of all tmstees. After a long search we finally hired a new administrator and everyone seemed happy. We were on our way. Then, on Oct. 14, a new majority eame into power. Tmstee Hee lost his chairmanship and the office lost its momentum. It was a step backwards.

I knew all the work done by the previous board would be lost, deadlines would pass, and then it would be catch-up time. Along with the new majority eame a new minoiity — Hee, Aiona, Akana and Keale — all the old-timers. Assignments have not been divided equally. Tmstee Akana sits on

only one committee, while I was assigned six, including the Board. We have been accused of boycotting the new majority, whieh is not tme. We ean count, and five is the magic number. So many important issues are before us: legislative bills, the restructuring of OHA revenues. Areweready? Before the legislature this session is a bill introduced by Representative Ed Case called the "Native Hawai-

ian Autonomy Act." Don't be fooled by the title. This bill proposes to create a Native Hawaiian Trust Corporation to assume the assets, liabilities and responsibilities formerly held or to be held by the State on behalf of Hawaiians, including those of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Depart-

ment of Hawaiian Home Lands. It repeals OHA and DHHL. It also provides for the admistration of a corporation by a board of trustees elected by Hawaiians and it specifies that decisions on assets, liahilities and responsibilities transferred to the corporation are thereafter to be made by this corporation on behalf of Hawaiians. The disastrous news of Rep. Case's "Autonomy Bill" is fully covered elsewhere in this and other newspapers. I would just like to reiterate that OHA was created by the 1978 Constitutional Convention. All Hawaiians elect nine trustees to maintain and control the assets in the public Hawaiian tmst. Why do we need to transfer these assets to another organization to do what OHA is already doing? As beneficiaries, all of you must support OHA's attempts to strengthen its purpose and to secure what is ours. This year is an eleehon year. You ean make a differenee in 1998! Let's work for a brighter future for OHA. Mālama pono! ■

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