HOT DOG- ROCKS!

HOT DOG- ROCKS!: It was the smoking gun last August. Days after Superferry defied the Supreme Court and plowed it’s way to Maui after the Circuit court ordered them to stop running thereby stranding cars, we heard one of the trucks sitting at the harbor was filled with Maui river-rocks to be use in an O`ahu imu.

Most thought, based on the sketchy reports, it was a prime example of the abuses the boat would bring but little did we know some of the rather astounding revelations contained in a report in the Maui News today that 934 rock were discovered in three pickup trucks stolen by the Mormon Church under the direction of the bishop.

The slanted article headlined “Truckers’ bid to do good runs afoul of conservation laws
Superferry travelers face fines for trying to take rocks to Oahu” says three men face 9150 in fines.

According to the article:

Charlie Bright, Ralph Chun and Victor Fomoimoana were charged by the state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands with violating several laws meant to protect conservation districts, according to a staff report scheduled to go to the Board of Land and Natural Resources on July 11...

Under state rules, a permit is required for anyone collecting natural materials such as river rocks from a conservation district. The Iao Stream river mouth and shoreline along Paukukalo, from which the rocks were collected, is conservation district. The men told authorities that they didn't know what they did was against the law.

Off-duty DLNR enforcement Officer Gordon Yen, who was surfing at the time of the alleged incident, also reported seeing the men take the rocks on Aug. 27 from where Iao River converges with the Paukukalo shoreline, a surfing site commonly known as "River Mouth." According to a statement by Yen, he watched the men and then reported the incident to his supervisor that evening...

According to the report prepared by Senior Staff Planner Dawn Hegger, the men said they were directed to pick up rocks for the imu by the bishop of their church after the Hawaii Superferry offered a special $5 introductory fare.

"I've been diving at that spot for years and thought the ferry was a great way to get the rocks back to Honolulu because Honolulu does not have these types of rocks," Chun is quoted as saying in the report. "We make imus to kalua and to help children on Oahu."
Bright told officers that the bishop of his Mormon church told the men to come to Maui and get imu rocks because the church's old rocks were wearing out. The unnamed bishop also told them where to find the rocks on Maui, Bright said.

"We use the rocks to kalua pig for the Boy Scouts and support them through our fundraisers," Bright stated in the DLNR report. "We had good intentions. It was for a good cause. We didn't know it was illegal or that we needed a permit."

It hard to know where to begin. Which is the worst- that the bishop of the Mormon church was involved yet isn’t charged as the ring leader, the dubious claim that he didn’t know that it was illegal, that a year later when the investigation showed it was the church they tried to spin it with a lame “we were trying to do good” excuse or the fact that the Maui News which has been known as the only newspaper which has done hard hitting factual non-fluff pieces on the Superferry has now spun the story this way.

But if indeed somehow their claim of not knowing it was illegal was true that might just be worse. Only a bunch of brainless missionaries would think that they could violate the environmental integrity of a river mouth eco system without repercussions. Only a bunch of culturally repugnant interlopers would even think to do this without asking someone, not just the DLNR but the host cultural practitioners whose gathering rights are protected in PASH laws that specifically don’t allow non-natives to do these kinds of things not just to protect the land but to protect the cultural integrity.

And who doesn’t know these days about the damages of altering a coastline? Do these idiots have their noses buried so deep in their biblical fables that they don’t read the newspapers?

Even more outrageous than the fact that they are claiming not to know it was illegal might be the actual fact that they didn’t think it would be damaging environmentally.

This is a case of willful grand theft by and organized crime operation. A $10,000 fine is not enough for people like this. After the administrative fines are done if a criminal case doesn’t follow there’s something very wrong with our judicial system.

Churches are not above the law and the attempt to portray them as do gooders and claim that that gives them licenses to abuse us is more repugnant that the actual crime.