Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 10, 1 October 2013 — Residents voice priorities at Hilo meeting [ARTICLE]

Residents voice priorities at Hilo meeting

By Harold Nedd HILO, HAWAI'I — Trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs faced a full agenda Sept. 26 when they returned to Hilo for an annual community meeting that brought out an estimated 100 people. Led by Hawai'i Island Trustee Robert K. Lindsey, the four-hour meeting at Aunty Sally 's Lū'au Hale also brought new attention to a range of familiar concerns voiced by more than 30 people who signed up to speak.

Among the speakers was Moanike'ala Akaka, who attempted to make a case for more support for grass-roots efforts to halt military bombing practices at Pōhakuloa Training Area, where worries in the surrounding eommunity about health hazards stemming from exposure to live fire and bombing exercises have been documented on OHA's issuesbased website - Kamakakoi.com. "What's happening with military activity and bombing is affecting our island," said Akaka, a former OHA trustee. "We need more help with Pōhakuloa. The military has been a bad steward of the land. Send them to do their training in some desert on the mainland." Accompanied by former OHA trustee Dante Carpenter and other well-regarded community activists, Palikapu Dedman made a spirited attempt to put front and center on OHA's agenda support for efforts by a group called 'Ohana Ho'opakele to create pu'uhonua, whieh means "plaee of refuge," as a credible alternative to building more prisons, where Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented. Dedman, the new president of eommuni-ty-based 'Ohana Ho'opakele, suggested to OHA trustees that their support is critical to his group's ability to lay out a positive path forward for Native Hawaiians entering and leaving prison. "I found myself when I eame out of prison," Dedman told OHA trustees. "I never went back. We have to make a commitment to take care of Hawaiians who are falling through the cracks. We need help spearheading the

building of pu'uhonua on every island." A handful of other speakers underscored the need to slow plans to build the Thirty Meter Telescope, whieh would be the world's largest, atop Mauna Kea, whose mountain peak was characterized as sacred and culturally significant to Native Hawaiians. A few others treaded lightly on Hawai'i Island's hotly disputed geothermal issue, suggesting that OHA rethink any eonsideration it may be giving it as a viable renewable-energy option. In addition, Toni Keahiolalo Mallow, the East Hawai'i site coordinator for Nā Pua No'eau Center for Gifted and Talented Native Hawaiian Children, made a last-ditch attempt to state the program's case that OHA's iniīial decision to reduce its funding for this year was unfortunate. But as others lined up behind her to press the issue, OHA Chairperson Colette Machado felt compelled to interrupt and remind them that trustees have already sat through more than four hours of their testimony at a previous meeting, recorded about 3,000 testimonies and agreed to restore funding this year for a program OHA has supported for nearly a decade to the tune of $1.2 million annually. Another major focus for OHA trustees has been charter schools with a particular interest in students from the Native Hawaiian community. Ka'iulani Pahi'o, of the Kanu O Ka 'Āina Learning 'Ohana in Kamuela, made the nearly two-hour trek to Hilo to encourage continued support from trustees for the 17 Hawaiian-focused charter schools that make up Nā Lei Na'auao - Native Hawaiian Charter School Allianee, whieh received a $1.5 million OHA grant this year. The meeting also attracted a strong presenee by representatives of the Keaukaha Community Association, Keaukaha Pana'ewa Farmers Association, Maku'u Farmers Association and the Pana'ewa Hawaiian Home Lands Community Association, whieh before the community meeting all hosted site visits from the trustees, who wanted to hear about their concems as part of a broader effort to promote collaboration with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. As an example of their commitment to that collaboration, OHA trustees pointed to participation fromthe Waimea Hawaiian Homestead Association in the community meeting, whieh is the last in a series of five Neighbor Island meetings that started in May. ■

We have to make a commitment to take care of Hawaiians who are falling through the cracks. " — Palikapu Dedman, president, 'Ohana Ho'opakele

KAIĀULU C0MMUNITY