BARE CUPBOARD

BARE CUPBOARD: Two emails arrived today regarding the desecration of the burials at Naue Point at Ha`ena on Kaua`i, one from Chair of the House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Rep. Mele Carroll, regarding the status and current content of three bills dealing with the state burial councils and one from 22 “Kānaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration” from across Hawai`i and the U.S.

And though the need is great for reform of the “advisory” burial council system - even the judge who ruled in the case said the laws are insufficient for protection of the `iwi kupuna- as evidenced by the “legal” desecration okayed by the state at Naue, the bills do pretty much nothing but add more “consulting” groups for the councils and set up a “working group” to study what can be done meaning there will most likely be no action this legislative session.

Today, we’re off to the dentist so without further comment we’ll let readers read for themselves the note from Carroll’s office on the three bills and the letter from the scholars describing and decrying the history and current status of the burial issues.

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House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs passes resolutions, Senate bills


SB 1083, SD1
(SSCR473)
Status

Senate Bill 1083 SD1 includes additional native Hawaiian organizations for the Department of Land and Natural Resources to consult with to determine whether a burial site should be preserved in place or relocated and to develop a list of candidates for the burial councils. Senate Bill 1083 SD1 passed with amendments, which adds to the list of organizations the Kamakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i, DLNR’s Historic Preservation Division, and Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai‘i Nei.

HCR 226
Status

HR 194
Status


House Concurrent Resolution 226 and House Resolution 194 request the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to convene a working group to review the system and procedures for the review of Native Hawaiian burial sites. House Concurrent Resolution 226 passed with amendments. The recommendation was to add language to the resolutions to include that the working group would work with the State DLNR Historical Preservation Division in addressing and seeking solutions to the many serious concerns that the division is faced with, for example, the lack of qualified staffing, the overwhelming unresolved cases pertaining to our kupuna iwi, and other critical issues.

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Kānaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration

Second Statement on Naue, March 24, 2009

As Kānaka Maoli scholars we write to follow-up on our statement from September 13, 2008 publicly condemning the state-sponsored desecration of a Native Hawaiian burial site at Wainiha, Kaua`i resulting from the construction of a new home at Naue Point by California real estate> developer Joseph Brescia. Both the state abuse of power and the desecration continue unabated and must come to a halt.

In the late 1980s, in response to a massive burial site disturbance at Honokahua, Maui, Kanaka Maoli came together to challenge the laws that allowed this type of sacrilege. As a result of this history, five Island Burial Councils were created and are administratively attached to the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) of the Department of Land and Natural Resources to address concerns relating to Native Hawaiian burial sites. By Hawai`i state statute, the composition of each island Burial Council must consist of a majority of Kānaka Maoli. The preservation criteria established by state law favor the "preservation in place" of burial sites that contain a "concentration of skeletal remains," or are "pre-contact" or "historic period" burial sites associated with important individuals and events.

At Naue, there are 30 known burial remains within less than half of an acre, with a high likelihood that more remains are present. Naue is a significant historical site that is frequently acknowledged in hula, oli, mele, and other Hawaiian knowledge sources.

Accordingly, the Kaua`i- Ni`ihau Island Burial Council appropriately voted to preserve in place the burial site on the property claimed by Brescia.

In complete contradiction to both their own state law, and the April 3, 2008 determination adopted by the island Burial Council to preserve the burials in place, the SHPD improperly approved a "Burial Treatment Plan" for Brescia without the required consultation with the island Burial Council. The Burial Treatment Plan was submitted by Mike Dega, the archaeologist hired by Joseph Brescia as a consultant in support of his building a private home atop of the burial site.

The SHPD’s own rules empower the island Burial Council to determine the disposition of previously known burials. The island Burial Council’s decision on this issue is supposed to be binding. Yet, SHPD deputy administrator Nancy McMahon sanctioned the use of vertical buffers and concrete caps on the burials to make way for installing the footings of Brescia’s house. Her authorization for such an intrusive "preservation" measure is a fundamental repudiation of the power allocated to all of the island Burial Councils.

By ignoring the decision of the island Burial Council, her actions undermine both the very concept of historic preservation and the reason for the founding of the island Burial Councils. Tragically, before a court could intervene, and based on McMahon’s unauthorized agreements, Brescia’s team managed to install massive house foundations on a portion of the cemetery.

The Kaua`i Planning Commission’s approval of Brescia’s house plans included a specific condition issued in a letter dated December 12, 2007 that "No building permit shall be issued until requirements of the State Historic Preservation Division and the Burial Council have been met." The requirements of the island Burial Council have not been met; the Council recommended that there be no building upon the cemetery. SHPD covered up the island Burial Council’s decision by trying to pretend that vertical buffers and concrete jackets constitute "preservation" ; they do not.

During the consultation required by the preliminary October 2008 court ruling, on November 6, 2008, the island Burial Council recommended that the SHPD reject the revised Burial Treatment Proposal submitted by Dega. Therefore, Brescia still has not met the requirements of the island Burial Council and thus, the building permit should be revoked. Because the Kaua`i Planning Commission’s December 2007 approval was specifically conditioned on Brescia’s meeting the island Burial Council’s requirements, there is no real approval of Brescia’s house plans. The island Burial Council made clear the proposal to build on the burial site was culturally unacceptable to its members, which is why the Council rejected the revised Burial Treatment Plan. The Kaua`i Planning Commission should be held accountable to rescind the conditional approval it gave, since its requirements were not met.

In the midst of this ongoing desecration, last month, on February 4, 2009, the SHPD wrote a letter to Dega acknowledging his sixth proposed Burial Treatment Plan. This is the same Burial Treatment Plan that McMahon circulated to Native Hawaiian Organizations for consultation as part of a court order by Judge Watanabe on October 2, 2008. The outcome of this consultation with Native Hawaiian Organizations was their sweeping rejection of the proposal. Without any regard for this rejection, the SHPD letter to Dega states, "at this time we cannot accept the Burial Treatment Plan without some revisions which are to be addressed below" and then outlines seven concerns for him to deal with such as detailing a landscape plan for burials outside of the house footprint. In other words, the letter basically instructs Dega to revise the Burial Treatment Plan in order for SHPD to approve it. This is unacceptable; if McMahon’s decision is reaffirmed despite the outcome of the consultation with Native Hawaiian Organizations that clearly rejected the proposal, it would set a dangerous precedent and strip the island Burial Councils of any meaningful authority.

To date, 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe has denied requests for a temporary restraining order and has even refused to grant a temporary injunction to stop further construction until the full civil suit is adjudicated by the state court. The civil suit — Joseph Brescia v. Ka`iulani Huff, et al. — currently in progress is a travesty. Brescia is suing at least 17 individuals—almost all of whom are Kānaka Maoli —implicated in protecting the burial site from his construction work. Beside trespass, Brescia has accused them of five other counts: private nuisance and harassment, tortious interference with contract, civil conspiracy described as "terroristic threatening" , intentional interference, ejectment, and slander of title. We stand in solidarity with the defendants. Brescia has no one else to blame but himself; he knowingly took the chance of building his house over a grave site when the essence of the island Burial Council’s action was to preserve all burials remains in place.

We must remind the state agencies that their own law, Hawai`i revised statute 711-1107 on Desecration, specifically states that no one may commit the offense of desecrating "a place of worship or burial," and the statute defines "desecrate" as "defacing, damaging, polluting, or otherwise physically mistreating in a way that the defendant knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or discover the defendant's action."We call on all people of conscience to join in our condemnation of the desecration of the ancestral remains by:

• holding the Kaua`i Planning Commission accountable for upholding their own condition by finding Brescia in violation of it by starting to build;

• demanding that the SHPD honor the Kaua`i-Ni`ihau Island Burial Council’s original decision to preserve the burial site without any construction;

• insisting that the SHPD respect the outcome of the court-ordered consultation process and reject the Burial Treatment Plan;

• supporting an end to the illegal construction supported by the state; and

• protesting Brescia’s lawsuit targeted at those who have served to prevent the further degradation of the bones of our kūpuna.

Signed,

Hokulani Aikau, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Carlos Andrade, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Maile Arvin, M.A. candidate, Department of Ethnic Studies, University ofCalifornia San Diego

J. Leilani Basham, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Hawaiian Studies,University of Hawai`i at West O`ahu

Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Ph.D., Mellon-Hawai` i Postdoctoral Fellow, Kohala Center, Hawai`i

Kealani Robinson Cook, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, University of Michigan

Lani Cupchoy, Ph.D. Candidate, History, University of California, Irvine

Lisa Kahaleole Hall, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Women’s Studies, Wells College

Sydney Lehua Iaukea, Ph.D., Mellon-Hawai` i Postdoctoral Fellow, Kohala Center, Hawai`i

Lilikalā Kame`eleihiwa, Ph.D., Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anthropology and American Studies, Wesleyan University

Kanani K. M. Lee, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Geology & Geophysics, Yale University

Jon Kamakawiwo`ole Osorio, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Lessa Kanani`opua Pelayo, M.L.I.S. Candidate, B.A., University of California, Los Angeles

Kekailoa Perry, J.D. Assistant Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Keanu Sai, Ph.D., Lecturer Kapiolani Community College

Noenoe K. Silva, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Stephanie Nohelani Teves, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in American Culture, University of Michigan

Ty Kāwika Tengan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Haunani-Kay Trask, Ph.D., Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i, Mānoa

Liza Keanuenueokalani Williams, Ph.D. student, New York University

Erin Kahunawaika` ala Wright, Ph.D. Director of Native Hawaiian Student Services, Hawai'inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge

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Contact: J. Kehaulani KauanuiPh: 860-638-1264Email: jkauanui@wesleyan. edu

--------TAKE ACTION

Write individual emails or letters the Kaua`i Planning Commission, State Historic Preservation Division Officials, Governor Linda Lingle, Joseph Brescia, and the Mayor of Kaua`i.

Please cc: all letters and emails to: J. Kehaulani Kauanui,Center for the Americas, Wesleyan University, 255 High Street, Middletown, CT 06459.Email It's important to cc: me so I can track letters and so the recipients know you are keeping one KM scholar in the loop so there's a record of the correspondence.

See addresses below:

Ian Costa
Director of Planning
County of Kaua`i
4444 Rice Street, Suite 473
Lihue, HI 96766
icosta@kauai. gov

Laura Thielan, Chairperson
State of Hawaii, Department of Land and Natural Resources
State Historic Preservation Division
601 Kamokila Blvd., Room 555
Kapolei, HI 96707
dlnr@hawaii. gov

Pua Aiu, AdministratorState Historic Preservation Division601 Kamokila Blvd., Room 555Kapolei, HI 96707pua.aiu@hawaii. gov

Nancy McMahon, Deputy Administrator
State Historic Preservation Division
601 Kamokila Blvd., Room 555
Kapolei, HI 96707
Nancy.A.McMahon@ hawaii.gov


Governor Linda Lingle
State of Hawai`i
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Honolulu, Hawai`i 96813
governor.lingle@ hawaii.gov

Joseph Brescia, President
Architectural Glass & Aluminum
1151 Marina Village Parkway, Suite 101
Alameda, CA 94501
jbrescia@aga- ca.com

Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr.
Mayor, County of Kauai
4444 Rice St., Suite 235
Lihue, HI 96766
mayor@kauai. gov

DEM BONZ:

DEM BONZ: In a yet another somewhat stunning development in the case of the desecration of kanaka maoli burials at Ha`ena point the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) Tuesday requested that the attorney general’s office send a cease and desist order to halt all construction there.

The letter questions not only the legitimacy of the state burial council’s administrative rules under state constitution and statues but details how the State Archeologist Nancy McMahon and the developer’s attorney’s Walton Hong lied to both the Kaua`i Planning Commission and the Burial Council.

The highly legally notated letter, available only in a pdf file for now, first cites HRS 6E-13 and 6E-13(b) allowing the attorney general or any citizen to file suit “for the protection of an historic site or burial site and public trust therein or improper demolition alteration or transfer of property or burial site”

Then it cites 10(4)4 and 10 1(b) which essentially requires state agencies to assist OHA saying “(i)t shall be the duty and responsibility of all state departments ... to actively work toward (OHA’s) goals”.

But the heart of the request is based on Article Vii Section 7 of the State Constitution which says the state “shall protect all rights customarily and traditionally exercised for substance cultural and religious purposes”.

Then citing HRS 6E and Chapter 13-300 of Hawaii Administrative rules which regulate the Burial Council it quotes McMahon and Hong misrepresenting the law to the two citizen panels.

At the heart of the claim is the state’s contention that the burial councils, as they have been told, have no right to have any say over burials other than to say either remove them or let them sit where they are.

OHA goes on to show that this is not true when the actual laws and rules are read, claiming that the burial council also has the right to say “no- you’ can’t build there” or other appropriate actions.

It questions the legitimacy of the process and says because the process was abused that the current decision allowing Joe Brescia to build a house on top of the numerous burials, both discovered and undiscovered at the north shore parcel at Naue in Ha`ena must be revisited and the decision of the burial council be considered void and illegitimate.

The letter includes many other specific details of and objections to the way the Burial Council, under the State Historic Preservation Department (SHPD) has violated the constitution and state laws and presents the transcripts of the misrepresentation by SHPD head McMahon, and Brescia’s attorney Hong before both the Kaua`i Planning Commission and the Burial Council.

What’s most surprising is that it took so long for OHA to start going through this process. But the confluence of events brought to light by Ka`iulani Edens Huff, Nani Rogers Louise Marston and a host of others over the last month or so has perhaps spurred them to action

And perhaps the very adamancy of the right wing wacko property rights crowd in supporting Brescia’s “right to desecrate” because he “followed all the rules” was just the thing needed to spur action by OHA,

OHA outrages their own community with regularity in its state-lap-dog habit of fighting against its own beneficiaries on so many occasions that it has become a joke to most kanaka in light of its mission.

And the fact that Chief Darryl Perry on Kaua`i brought up the state law against desecration- even though it is written separately from the laws protecting the traditional cultural and religious rights of the descendent of pre-western contact islanders- might have been contributory enough to finally provoke the ever conservative OHA to finally stand up for the rights of the people they represent.

It is an election year- for OHA too- and this story has been getting statewide media attention of late and has gotten to the point where not just many but most, in the Kaua`i community agree that something is wrong as typified by a letter in today’s local paper .

The one problem may be that the person who OHA is requesting/demanding write the cease and desist letter is allegedly the most corrupt of the hacks in the Linda Lingle administration Attorney General Mark Bennett who is responsible for the Superferry debacle and various other gubernatorial sleazy ploys, using blatantly unethical if not illegal secrecy ploys to cover-up alleged crimes by administration personnel.

How he answers the letter will be most interesting but it is apparent that asking him to do it is only OHA’s first move and that if he refuses, OHA makes it most clear that they will proceed on their own.

We leave you with the words of Nani Rogers on the current situation written this week when the corrupt pols in the AG’s and the local Kaua`i Prosecutor Craig Decosta’s office refused to back up Police Chief Perry ’s assertion that Bescia’s and Hong’s actions were desacratory.

I pray all is maita`i with you and your loved ones. Auwe! Auwe! Auwe! Kaua`i na po`e are crying over the unbelievable disrespect and denial of State and County agencies. For their disrespect of sacred burials and their denial of the truth and cultural and natural laws that protect graveyards from desecration. It is a criminal act, in anybody's law book, to desecrate burials; the Naue burials date back to the 13th century and are of great significance to our na po`e that are lineal descendants ofna iwi at Naue and to all na po`e and supporters that have been camping near by to protect them from harm for the last three months. It has been a long and hard battle but we will go on, we will continue to be there and to stand up to any challenges they may throw at us.

We urge na kanaka to come to Naue and be eye witnesses to the desecration so you can go home and tell your ohana and children. They need to learn our ways.

Ka`iu, myself, and others will be at Naue this afternoon to camp overnight again. We made a vow to protect our na po`e buried there, we must keep our promise to do all we can to do so.

To Mr. Joseph Brescia, who says he owns the `aina, to Mr. Walton Hong, his lawyer, to Mr. Galante, the contractor, to Pua Aiu, SHPD Director, to the Police Dept., the Attorney General and to Governor Lingle, et al, we say, BEWARE! get ready for the grave (pardon the pun) spiritual consequences your actions will cause. Remember that you will have brought it all upon yourselves, nobody else is to be blamed but you for anything that may happen to you and your family. Can you see that?

We pray that our na Akua, na Aumakua and na Tupuna continue to surround and protect us at Naue. We pray that our na po`e; men, women and children; buried there may continue to rest in peace. Mahalo!

BONEHEADED

BONEHEADED: All’s quiet on the northern front it seems- for at least another week..

As detailed on the front pages of the local and two Honolulu newspapers
and excellently reported by Kaua`i Eclectician Joan Conrow today all it took was a linked chain of defenders to stand up for justice in order to get a week reprieve in construction at the Naue graveyard owned by genocidal-maniac and illegal-vacation-rental-baron Joe Brescia until next Thursday when the case will be heard in court.

Belying the constant press reports that repeat the lie that Brescia is just a businessman who wants to build his house, his string of non-VDA vacation rentals- also cited as illegal by the State DLNR for their commercial activity in a conservation area- he continues to use his millions to slap the host culture in the face and buy administrative and judicial actions by corrupt self-serving boards, commissions and assorted government lackeys and legislators.

For Brescia this is no longer about building a house. It’s about a line in the sand to insure that money talks and people don’t matter in a cesspool of corruption like Hawai`i and specifically Kaua`i.

But an article accompanying the excellent on-site story by Blake Jones in the local paper provided coverage of the Kaua`i Burial Council meeting being held simultaneously with the north shore events and contained information that helps explain “how the heck did this guy get this far” in trying to build his pseudo-hotel in a graveyard.

The “new”- or new to us- fact reported was not what happened at the meeting but who chaired it- none other than the man cited recently here and in the pubic eye as the chief defender if corruption on Kaua`i- functionaries Mark Hubbard. .

Hubbard, as we previously detailed, is the former Grove Farm honcho whose own ethically challenged actions as head of the Kaua`i Ethics Board has led to establishment of a body that refuses to enforce the primary conflicts-of-interest laws on Kaua`i because he would have to leave his position if they did so.

Grove Farm- one of the largest land owners on Kauai-has had numerous projects stopped by discovery of iwi kupuna- bones of the dead of kanana maoli- and his presence on the council is as conflicted as conflicted can be.

The incident’s conclusion- the stand down by police and the establishment of a “people’s injunction” in place after the local judge refused to stop it- is driving the western property-rights nut-cases and self-absorbed, juvenile troll crowd up the wall because the police stood down and avoided a confrontation, presumably at the behest of new chief Darryl Perry.

Perry has again garnered, if not full support, at least respect from many in the community that have criticized the militarization of the local police force they fear will be used against non-violent civil disobedience such as yesterday’s direct action or the Superferry protests last year, including the harassment of the head of the Hawaiian sovereignty group Nation of Atooi. who was arrested and is bring tried in connection with the Superferry events.

It’s fun to watch steam coming out of the ears of some western invaders as they call for Perry’s head for this with their pathetic little bleatings of “death to all who would get between a rich man and his desires” and use the “rule of law” to call for more desecration.

But the problem is that genocide isn’t against the law because the one with the most money gets to say what the law says. Seems a couple of hundred years ago that attitude on the part of “the authorities” caused quite the little protest on the very mainland they come from and whose laws they cherish so.

Sorry to inform you but justice doesn’t come from laws. Laws are supposed to come from the concepts of justice.

Theoretically a governance by laws in a “nation of laws” provides justice. But it does not in the US these days.

The laws are written by corporate thieves and administered by corrupt petty bureaucrats like Hubbard and State Archeologist Nancy McMahon who lie as to what the law says and manipulate the system to make sure that justice is only for those who hire the most lawyers and have the right connections.

When that happens actions like those in Naue yesterday are not only understandable and predictable but are imperative. Despite what the self-obsessed maniacs of the property-rights movement try to tell us in their ratings and support for Brescia’s asinine behavior, the people have the real rights..

And when the law is flouted and manipulated and turned on its head they have every right to stand up to the law... to stand up for justice, not just adjudication.

The rule of law is subject to the consent of the ruled and when the other golden rule- he who has the gold, rules- is the law of the land, the ruled withdraw their consent and it can’t be blamed on those who will not follow the law but on those who do not join them is violating it..

If defenders of Naue are arrested next time, inappropriate questions like “what are you doing in jail” will be answered with the Thoreau retort of “what are you doing out there?”

When the law fails to provide justice and the ability to change the law is subject to others’ paying for their own versions of the laws, it’s time for revolutionary acts such as those in Naue yesterday.

THE INTIMIDATION OF THE INVECTIVE INCISORS

THE INTIMIDATION OF THE INVECTIVE INCISORS: Despite shield laws such as the one passed in Hawai`i this year journalists and their news gathering efforts are under assault, from the arrest of Amy Goodman at last week’s Republican convention all the way to Kaua`i journalist Joan Conrow’s locked door question by the KPD.

The incident, as Conrow details at her popular local blog KauaiEclectic, describes her interrogation by the three top-ranking officers investigating a simple trespass case.

They locked her in a room and demanded she tell them what she saw, did and heard while reporting on a protest on Aug 7 when eight people pipe-locked themselves together with a “blackbear” device in the Naue seaside graveyard where a vacation-rental is under construction.

Conrow described it this way:

So there I was, with the three top officers in the Patrol Services Bureau arrayed in a semi-circle around me, all armed, in their badges and uniforms, and Arinaga starts off by saying they wanted to talk to me about the Aug. 7 protest over the burials at Naue because they had a lot of photographs taken at the site with people they couldn’t identify, and I was there, wasn’t I? And then he added, before I could waffle, we were just reading your website where you wrote all about it.

I asked if I’d be incriminating myself if I answered and Arinaga said, no, we’re just having a little chat here, so I said, yes, I was there. Then they wanted to know how I’d heard about it, and were other reporters contacted, too, and did I know who had brought the “blackbears” that the protesters used to link themselves together and did I know all the people at the protest or the guys who came from other islands and was Palikapu Dedman a “personal acquaintance” of mine — whatever that means, because aren’t all acquaintances inherently personal? — and finally, did I cover all the protests on the island and was I planning to cover the court hearing on the motion for an injunction to stop construction of Joe Brescia’s house at Naue?

And all the while I'm wondering if they going to arrest me, and if so, did I have enough cash in my purse to post bail, and I was hungry and shaking cold from the AC and I needed to pee. After about 30 or 40 minutes, Ollie walked me to the door, unlocked it and I was free.

Though the protesters left by themselves, Joan reports and we’ve confirmed that at least three of those protesters were arrested at home Friday night after they were threatened with being subject to an arrest warrant in the press the day after the event- a story Conrow broke..

As the protesters worried would happen, despite their requests to let them know when and if they were charged and expressed willingness to come in to pay a $50 bail, they arrested them- unannounced, at they homes, after 5 p.m. on a Friday night.

One of those arrested, Jim Huff of Kapa`a, heard about the first arrest on the North shore and had his wife call the department while he took a shower saying he’d be there right away.

She said she was assured by KPD office Rezentes that he would be allowed to turn himself in. But minutes later officers showed up, handcuffed him and took him to be booked, refusing to even let him drive his own car so he wouldn’t need a chauffeur..

Conrow describes her experience in harrowing detail, not knowing what to do although knowing she was being questioned like she was some kind of co-conspirator in a federal case.

Most journalists like to think they’d have their wits about them and not be taken off guard, We’d hope to be self-aware and unrattled and remind them of a journalist’s ethics regarding unpublished newsgathering- it’s not something one shares with the police.

And the news shield law supposedly protects journalists against this type of abuse and harassment.

The theory behind shield laws is that if people thought the press was working for the police few would ever talk to a journalist. There would be no reporting, just press releases.

If this type of question methodology isn’t a violation of KPD policy one would have to wonder why not... and think “what exactly is?”.

If the three officers are not at least reprimanded for interrogating a woman with the door closed and no other woman present it won’t be a surprise to ex-Kaua`i reporter Anthony Sommer whose new book has KPD and the rest of the county government on edge.

“KPD Blue”, which was finally released in full on Monday, describes all sorts of sexism, racism, bigotry and downright corrupt behavior that make this incident seem routine. PNN’s serializing of the book continues with Chapter 5 this weekend.

As in his book Sommer doesn’t pull any punches in his analysis of this incident either. In a email he told us:

"The sad part is that the KPD middle management is only proving that by winning their long political battle to rid themselves of outsiders and place one of 'their own' in the chief's office the end result is maintaining a very ugly status quo.

"There will be no change, there will be no reform, there will be no respect for the rule of law and the rights of individuals. The KPD middle management is and will remain simply a gang of thugs in blue.

"For a senior KPD officer and his swaggering sidekicks to gang up on her (or any reporter) behind locked doors after business hours in police headquarters and attempt to mentally rubber hose her into giving them the names of her news sources is something out of a 1930s gangster movie (probably used as training films at the KPD Academy).

"And as a tactic for gaining police intelligence, it's pretty damned stupid. A reporter may swap information but never will burn a source by revealing the source's name.

"A smart cop should know it's a violation of Hawaii's Reporter Shield Law to even ask the question.

"For Arinaga to then tell her what a nice guy he is because he could have had her arrested and hauled in for questioning is an unconscionable lie. What's the crime? Where's the probable cause to justify the arrest? And where are her Miranda rights? Total macho bullshit. And all too typical.

"Even more sad is that all you'll hear is silence from those public officials on Kauai who should be criticizing the police for their conduct in this situation and disciplining those responsible.

"Has His Interim Honor the interim mayor voiced his concern? Has the new, improved Police Chief hauled Arinaga on the carpet for a butt-chewing? Has the watch dog Police Commission promised an investigation? Is the ever-vigilant Ethics Commission looking into it? What about The Great Police Reformer currently running for mayor?

"On Kauai, only the sounds of silence (with apologies to Paul Simon)."

PNN has learned through reliable sources that the KPD also contacted The Garden Island (TGI) newspaper asking for pictures and information gathered at the protest. Editor Adam Harju told us today he cannot comment at this time.

Kaua`i county spokesperson Mary Daubert said she was unable to get a response by press time to an email sent this morning asking for comment from KPD on the incident.

No one minds sharing information with the police of the “they went that-a-way”. nature after a bank robbery.

But this incident appears to be way beyond the pale. Bringing a journalist into a little locked room with three big men in blue- no matter how “nice” they were- and asking for more details of a story she covered as a reporter violates the state shield law and can’t have been KPD policy before the law went into effect this year either.

The irony is that Joan has been one of new KPD Chief Darryl Perry’s biggest supporters since he became Chief last year.

Recently, community activists got into a verbal battle in the press over what people said was his over-militarization of the force through the recent purchases of tasers, riot gear and a mobile incident command center vehicle.

Conrow stood by Perry as a reformer and someone who would never condone this type of activity from his officers but the dust up resulted in columnist Juan Wilson’s firing from TGI after he criticized the martial marshaling.

The chief has a weekly column too where he takes questions from the public. So hey-Darryl, we gotcha question right hea.

GETTING PERSONAL:

GETTING PERSONAL: Looking for justice in the 5th Circuit Court on Kaua`i has long been an exercise in futility. But now apparently it’s gone beyond perpetuating attacks on the community’s right to plan their future and may result in a personal financial slap down of one of the most committed kanaka maoli activists on the island.

As we’ve mentioned a few times lately, with the appointment of two judges with close ties to the county, it’s gotten worse for those that are frustrated with some of the blatant flouting of laws and administrative rules by both administrative and legislative officials.

But although former deputy county attorney, Judge Kathleen Watenabe has yet to rule against the county when it comes to process when it comes to protecting rich land owners’ “right to despoil” it’s been quite the opposite.

One of those cases was the Thousand Friends suit to require an EIS for two east side developments and enforce a planning commission requirements for the project.

We won’t rehash the specifics but suffice to say that planning department incompetence was at issue and their seeming inability to properly include a “finding of fact” by the commission– and to understand that was all that was needed- was key according to attorney Dan Hempey.

Nani Rogers was one of the plaintiffs in the suit who agreed to lend her name to the filing in order to protect the `iwi kupuna - the bones of her ancestors- and now, even though the case is going to be appealed she’s being hit with a court-cost bill of $38,919.04 which includes $10,000 to be paid to the county of Kaua`i.

One of the attorneys, Lyle Hosaka, of Coconut Plantations, has gone so far as to ask Watenabe to allow him to cross examine Rodgers in court as to her assets.

Rather than try to characterize it further we’ll post an email from Nani which we received this morning followed by a letter from her attorney David Frankel detailing what he calls the “egregious” request by Hosaka.

-----

Re: Help! this is an attack on a Kupuna who protects na iwi kupuna

Aloha kakou,The story of what these insidious lawyers are trying to do to me should be hitting all the newspapers and tv stations! Can you folks help?

This case is not about Naue na iwi kupuna, Naue court date is in October, 2010.

This is about other na iwi kupuna that needed protection against the construction of two huge resort developments in Waipouli, Ahupua`a o North Olohena.

Coconut Beach Development, LLC applied for permits to build on approximately 20 acres of land (TMK: 4-3-02:15 and 16 a.k.a. Lot 3 and 4.) Plans for the parcel include the development of six hotel units and 334 condominium/ timeshare units to be constructed in three phases.

Coconut Plantation Holdings, LLC applied for permits to build on 12 acres of land in Waipouli Ahupua`a, Kawaihau District, Kauai, Hawaii (TMK: 4-3-007:027) Plans for the parcel include the development of a condominium project on approximately 9.73 acres of Lot 6 with 192 condominium/ timeshare units and 6 hotel units.

Also included in the case was the Kauai Planning Dept. for granting these permits without an EA. My part was to protect the cultural resources at Waipouli as described in Thousand Friends of Kauai& Puanani Rogers v. Dept. of Planning, County of Kauai et al., Civil No. 07-1-0007.

We went to court to petition for an EA for these two properties. Plaintiffs named were Kauai Thousand Friends(KTF) and by their invitation to join them, Puanani Rogers. I applied and requested legal services to Native Hawaiian Legal Corp.(NHLC) in January 2007,. My request was granted and my assigned lawyer was David Kimo Frankel of Honolulu who would work jointly with KTF lawyers Greg Meyers and Dan Hempy of Lihue. My NHLC legal services contract states: "NHLC will assess the following: The merits of the claim that the development needs an environmental assessment and whether litigation can protect traditional and customary practices."

Court filings and hearing began from January 2007 THROUGH Oct 9, 2009. Kauai Thousand Friends and Puanani Rogers were denied their claims, so on October 9, COCONUT PLANTATION filed their motions for Costs in the amount of $7,265.34.

On December 3, 2009, the Court entered its Order Granting the COUNTY OF KAUAI Defendants Motion for Bill of costs in the amount of $10,187.04.

On December 17, 2009, the court entered its Order Granting in Part and denying in part intervenor COCONUT BEACH filing of costs against Plaintiffs in the amount of $21,466.66 with interest at the statutory rate of ten percent per annum.

I added it all up and the total came to $38,919.04.

KTF and NHLC will be filing an appeal to stop the construction of the two resorts.

You have also seen the e-mail from the attorney for Coconut Plantation, Lyle Hosaka, threatening to get a court order to allow him to cross examine me in court regarding my assets. (see his message below) No hearing date has been set for that, nor do I know if the judge received or granted the bad, nasty lawyers' request to do their nasty deeds...

I need help with documents that I may present to the court that will protect me if and when I refuse to enter their courtroom. I was told by some people to use Convention IV per Prof. Francis Boyle. I need to research that. I don't want to step into that courtroom, as a Kanaka maoli and through past experience I know that I was discriminated against because I am Kanaka maoli, my political activism and the Naue na iwi case; and because the court refuses to acknowledge all traditional and customary rights of cultural claims, practices and beliefs.

KTF is an organization that has no money so they are not feeling any threat, but KTF and NHLC will be appealing the judgment to permit the building of the resorts. KTF members are very concerned about my situation and are offering to support and help me as much as they can.

Mahalo a nui for taking the time to read this long message.

I am praying that the judgment for costs may go away if the appeal is granted. I am praying for kokua and support, not necessarily for money, but for prayers and solutions.

Me ke aloha ana`ole,

Kupuna Nani Rogers

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Forwarded text:

From: David Kimo Frankel
Sent: Fri, April 9, 2010 1:43:31 PMSubject: it gets worse

Lyle Hosaka, of Coconut Plantations, is doing something even more egregious.

He has requested information from far more banks than Joe Stewart did, including several federal credit unions:

Garden Island, Kauai Community, Kauai Government Employees, Kauai Teachers , Kaumakani, Kekaha, Koloa and McBryde.

He has also asked the Court for an order allowing him to cross examine you in court and to bring:

1. Any and all pay stubs you received in the past 6 months.

2. Any and all account statements that you received in the past 6 months

3. Any and all check registers.

4. Any and all documents evidencing a debt owed to you.

5. Any and all documents evidencing ownership of and/or an interest in real property

6. A list of all 3rd parties that owe money and/or property to you

(The preceding post has been edited from its original content)

HARDENED BONEHEADS

HARDENED BONEHEADS: It’s nani-nani-boo-boo time for us today as the Naue cemetery desecration case came to fruition in court yesterday.

As we reported first by delineating a letter from OHA on July 10, the shenanigans of developer Joe Brescia and his henchwoman Nancy “Igor” McMahon violated various provisions of rules and laws.

As Joan Conrow said this morning in referring to the property rights nutsos who have been defending and singing the praises of Brescia and McMahon::

“OK, get out your chili pepper water, your A-1 sauce or your other favorite condiment. Because it’s time to eat some crow — and not the Alala kine, since it’s almost extinct.

Although the ruling was vintage, archetypical Judge Kathleen Wantanabe in it’s equivocations in favor of bureaucratic deference, the ruling confirmed that the desecration of the cemetery at Naue was never legal even according to the administrative procedures much less the state law and constitution.

Because she was a typical gutless government attorney throughout her career, by predilection it seems it never occurred to Judge Wantanabe that she could strike down the “ad rules” that she instead said should be changed legislatively in part because they violate the laws and constitutional provisions.

The ruling is well reported by others today so we won’t detail it here but we can’t wait for the spectacle of next Kaua`i Burial Council meeting, which if they’re smart they’ll hold at the convention hall or stadium.

And of course we anticipate quite the crowd at the planning commission whose discussion of the legitimacy of the construction permits has been on hold pending the ruling that invalidates an essential component- a valid burial plan..

And we’re pretty sure there are prohibitive odds against State Archeologist Nancy McMahon coming in anywhere but last in this Saturday’s council election after the full blame for the mess was deposited at her doorstep.

The only question left is whether her negligence and malfeasance rose to a level that she doesn’t have any immunity against a lawsuit by all sides.

Perhaps we’ll see a civil case with plaintiffs Jeff Chandler and Joe Brescia vs. respondent Nancy McMahon in the near future. Only a complete twit like McMahon could bring those two together on something.

But even though the desecration and destruction is essentially halted for now- though in a typical Wantanabe-istic non-ruling ruling- what strikes us through all of this is the antiseptic way the press, even our friend Joan (although just quoting Wantanabe), has fallen into a pattern of describing the actual desecratory construction last month.

Here’s some snippets from Joan’s post.

Wantanbe also said that doesn’t mean he was authorized to start pouring his foundation, effectively capping some seven iwi in concrete so he could erect pilings for his house...

“While the burials were preserved, they were not authorized according to law and it could be argued that construction of jackets constitutes alteration,” Watanabe said...

The Council could take any number of steps, she said, such as having the jackets taken off the iwi and removing the seven burials that are now under the house and reinterring them elsewhere.

Blogger Charley Foster, who despite his protestations has decidedly sided with the developer, used the words “after jackets and footings were already poured” in a comment although that can be expected.

But here’s a description from the article in the local paper today:

...a Burial Treatment Plan featuring vertical buffers for the house and protective concrete jackets for the iwi.

“Capping some seven iwi in concrete”? “Construction of jackets”? “Having the jackets taken off the iwi”? “Vertical buffers for the house and protective concrete jackets for the iwi”.?

What is with these antiseptic descriptions?. What Brescia apparently did was dig a freakin’ hole and pour concrete all over the bones- “coincidentally” right where they were pouring the concrete for the concrete foundation poles.

They all make it sound like anything but what it is.

There are no stupid “jackets”. Nothing was “capped”. And there were no “preservation measures”.

If we were to suggest the Arizona Memorial be “preserved” by slathering it in concrete we’d be strung up by the short and curlies.

At least malahini Advertiser reporter Diana Leong put the words "concrete jackets" and "buffer" in quotes in her piece this morning.

The news stories made clear that there was no order to stop but the proviso was that construction could continue only as long as there’s “no irreparable damage to the burials”

No one is pointing out the obvious- there was already irreparable harm because the way it’s described with “caps” and “jackets” and “buffers” and “pilings” it doesn’t let people know that they just poured cement over the bones.

This is a certainly a new idea in physical anthropology. Why we could “preserve” all artifacts forever by throwing them in a pit and sealing them in cement. Mayan ruins? Dinosaur bones? George Washington’s wooden teeth? Seal ‘um all in concrete. .

Since McMahon is going to be out of a job we may well be looking forward to the new Joe Brescia Memorial School of Wacko Anthropology... built of concrete.

And as for Brescia, well no one can say he hasn’t cemented relations between north shore developers and Kanaka community.

GRRRRRRRRRRR

GRRRRRRRRRRR. There’s trouble in paradise today as dueling titles of Joan Conrow’s and Katy Rose’s blog entries take diametrically opposed attitudes toward the value of anger .

In a piece entitled “Screw Guilt- Get Angry” Katy recounts the history of American genocidal America and then says:

So what do we do? I suggest we get angry, furious, outraged. We'll never understand the depth of loss and grief of the Native peoples we have forcibly displaced. Guilt, even where appropriate, is limited in its ability to spur us into action. But while the genocide is committed in cold blood and calculated policies, our resistance can be fueled by rage and love.

And it must start right where we're at, with this burial site, and the next, until we get justice and full reparations are made.

But Joan doesn’t like anger and in her retort to Katy titled “Anger Is An Energy” she says:

Anger isn’t going to solve any of the problems that face us at Naue or aid us in resolving any of the other troubles in the world. Why? Because it’s a dead-end, reptilian, boomerang emotion. The most effective and admirable activists I’ve met — Nani Rogers, Henry Noa and Palikapu Dedman, to name but a few — have moved beyond anger and into a place where they come from the heart and just keep plodding ahead.

It’s easy to get angry. God knows there were times when if I’d had a gun, I would have happily and impulsively shot to kill — and, as the old saying goes, repented in leisure. It’s much more difficult, yet ultimately far more rewarding, to strive to remain in that space of loving peace.
But Joan misses the point that anger is a human emotion and it is real. It’s not something that we can just tell ourselves that we shouldn’t feel.

It’s hard to understand how she can say “anger isn’t going to solve any of the problems that face us at Naue or aid us in resolving any of the other troubles in the world”.

As a matter of fact, it’s the only thing that ever can and does

And if she thinks the three activist she cited have no anger it can only be because she either didn’t ask them or didn’t get an honest answer.

.A “place of loving peace”- in the midst of oppression and greed in this world is a delusion none of us can afford.

Denying our feelings is what gets us in trouble in the first place. It’s probably the leading cause of ulcers if not depression. And it’s the enabler of all enablers because it denies our own self-worth..

What’s the alternative to being in touch with our feelings? Are we just supposed to be a bunch of apathetic hypocrites who sit around bemoaning our fate yet faking happy-faces by forcibly pulling up the corners of our mouth in hopes that it sticks that way? Do we just say how sad it is what happened but do nothing about it but sit around and sing a delusional Kumbaya?

And if it’s not our truly felt anger that motivates us to do something about it, what does?

Anyone who acts as an agent of change and reform like Joan, Katy and us may fool ourselves into thinking that it isn’t our anger that causes us to question authority and fight the system

But if we think we’re doing it without anger then we’re either robots, emotionless psychotics or more likely have such a mental aversion to identifying what we’ve dubbed arbitrarily as a negative emotion that we’ve managed to delude ourselves into thinking we are not feeling anger.

If you’re suppressing anger rather than acting on it you’re just as much of the problem as the practitioners of genocide, the crooks, the warmongers and other assorted a-holes who are causing us to feel that anger.

Joan seems to intimate that anger must lead to violence. Not the case unless you’re a sociopath. Anger leads us to go to the streets and try to right the wrongs. A little righteous indignation never hurt anyone unless they start to pick up rock.

Blaming violence on anger is blaming the messenger. If anger leads you to violence you have bigger problems and may need to seek professional help... perhaps it’s because you don’t “believe in” anger and other emotions.

That’s because emotions are there. It’s only through convoluted mentally constructed value judgments that we believe they are good or bad ones

A healthy dose of anger is what motivates people to act. And to suppress that for the sake of some magical mythical “positive energy” because anger is “too negative” is to allow to continue that which made us genuinely angry in the first place.

And it’s the only thing that will motivate us to try to correct those wrong whether we acknowledge it or not.

Detachment from what we are feeling is a hallmark of America. It’s what allows us to oppress others for our own comfort whether by stealing the product of their labors to pad our back account or, as George Carlin used to say, bomb brown people.

In fact it’s actions of the “angry young (wo)man ”- even if (s)he has grown into an “angry old (wo)man”- that keeps us from being a society totally devoid of contact with the reality of our own actions.

We honor the anger of all those who are genuinely pissed off and hope they don’t succumb to temptations to stuff those emotions deep inside where they’ll come out in real violence aimed at those who had nothing to do with causing it in the first place.

CAN’T YOU HEAR THAT WHISTLE

CAN’T YOU HEAR THAT WHISTLE?: Tin political ears are often the coin of the realm on Kaua`i. It’s a tradition going back at least as far as Smokey Louie Gonsalves, who in the 50’s purportedly, approximately said “people will know what they think about that when I decide and tell them what they think”.

Kauaiians rarely cared in the olden days because the paternalism was so strong that people expected the roguish behavior that recently departed Bryan Baptiste’s father Stan exhibited by running the island as Mayor from a jail cell.

No matter how many times pundits cite “changing demographics”- a code for the exponential increase in the influx of mainlanders- nothing has changed since the first time we heard this during the 1980 elections.

So when Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) Chief Darryl Perry got off on the wrong foot by playing up high-tech abusable cop equipment , jacking up a peaceful sovereignty activist , pledging to “take care of” protesters if the Superferry came back and finally writing a condescending tone-deaf commentary in response to suggestions for instituting community policing techniques, people figured that the anyone upset about the desecration of the burial site at Naue had already been stuck with the proverbial fork.

All that was left was for the cultural defenders occupying the location was to count down the hours to the day of reckoning, scheduled for yesterday at dawn.

It was assumed that this would be the final nail in the coffin, solidifying the impression in the community that this was the official end any illusory “our friends and neighbors on the force” era of policing on Kaua`i and that the interests of money and power were to be protected at the point of a taser and a riot shield.

But they didn’t count on Perry being smarter than the average bear and having a political ear that could serve him well if he ever chooses to exercise it in the electoral arena.

Nothing would have seemed out of the ordinary had he ordered his force to round um up and cart um off in the paddy wagon and give the thumbs up to the construction crew.

Although people would have shaken their heads in disgust we’re used to doing that on Kaua`i. We would have gone on with our lives and perhaps occasionally bemoaned the day that Perry brought us into the era when the department fully served the new plantation bosses as they had enforced the laws made up by lunas since the first commercial sugar cane stalk was plunged into the `aina in Koloa.

No one knows what will happen from here in the courts. Apparently the law Perry cited regarding “desecration (such).that the defendant knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or discover the defendant's action“ has never been court tested, especially as it may conflict with the Burial Council processes.

But the fact that Perry took the chance at angering the all powerful land use lawyer Walton Hong and acknowledged that there are people who Hong and his client know full well have their “sensibilities outraged” speaks as much as the action itself.

It would have been easy for him to say, like the small but growing part of the “haole” crowd - the ones for whom we commonly use the word in conjunction with a certain copulatory adjective- that they’ve been doing this for years so why stop them now.

He could have ignored the obvious desecration of his own people’s culturally iconic bones and no one would have said anything but “well, same as it always was”

Today the progressive, culturally-sensitive haole community is singing Perry’s praises. These are the self-same people who were calling for his job if not head yesterday.

With his action Perry gained a bank-full of political capital in future endeavors. How he spends it could put those that were critical of his previous words and deeds behind the eight-ball for some time to come if he abuses it

Should he seek to spend it allowing the rogue element in KPD to abuse innocent until proven guilty suspects and non-violent activists, the funds could disappear quickly, although he has established enough credit to have a no-minimum-balance account for the time being.

People say Perry’s snatching victory from the jaws of defeat shows that he has a good heart in his chest. Maybe. But what was most useful to him yesterday at Wainiha was the uncommon-for-Kaua`i size of the brain in his head and those uncommonly astute ears.

DOWN IN THE DARK MY BONE MILL ROLLS

DOWN IN THE DARK MY BONE MILL ROLLS: From yesterday’s Kaua`i Burial Council meeting comes news via the local newspaper that ding-dong the wicked witch has resigned the chair because “life’s too short to put up with some of the things we put up with at the burial council.”

An odd choice of words indeed from Mark “Ainokea” Hubbard, the post around which the current revolving door of cronyism in Kaua`i government revolves, as we’ve detailed.

He has given up his post saying

“I was willing to run the meetings, but it’s not good to have a haole as the chair. You need to have a Hawaiian, a kupuna, to command some respect,” Hubbard said. “People were looking at council with disrespect just because I was the chair.”

Gee, ya think?

The fact is disrespect for Hubbard goes a lot deeper than his ethnicity- a contempt he has earned though his disrespectful actions toward the Kanaka community as well as the community at large.

The veep at Grove Farm- the old land-robbing plantation outfit that has been a prime actor in the genocide of the Hawaiian people for a century- still sits at the head of the Kaua`i (Lack of any Discernable) Ethics Board where he has refused to enforce the ethics law.

He actually tried to change the charter to allow him and his cronies to openly abuse their positions on the various board commissions and the county council this year.

But the defeat of the measure guarantees... well probably nothing.

Hubbard and his gang of disingenuous dullards are so bored of ethics that they have feigned ignorance- and of course have refused to release a county attorney’s opinion- as to what the law means when it says members of boards and commissions can’t represent private interests before other boards, commissions and administrative agencies

Despite Hubbard’s contention that the law is “too broad” and would cause those who serve to not be able to get a drivers’ license he schizophrenically admitted that the clause actually did do something by proposing an amendment to remove the clause from the charter that forbids conflicts.

The board actually cleared another good old boy, attorney Jonathan Chun- the chair of the Charter Commission that approved the proposed charter change- of ethics charges for extensively representing the Board of Realtors before the county council on the vacation rental bill earlier this year.

But despite the re-iteration of the law by the populace don’t expect Hubbard to change his ways should any complaint be filed when Chun appears before the Planning Commission at next week’s meeting representing another client

The Burial Council meeting itself was apparently an affair to remember in Hubbard’s absence, according to reporter Joan Conrow who described some real shenanigans in the infamous “capping” of the Naue kupuna iwi.

Apparently Mike Dega, the head of the contracted “archeological field crew”- i.e. construction workers- took it upon themselves to put a concrete slab over the ancestral bones, saying neither he nor state Archeologist Nancy McMahon approved the measure.

The real news- perhaps the only good thing in all of this- is that the cap, which from previous descriptions of the process we concluded actually encased the bones, was rather what was described as something similar to a “sewer cover” three feet above the bones which could be removed without disturbing the actual iwi.

But the unbelievable insensitivity in the description of the “caps” aside it remains to be seen if the Planning Commission will withdraw the permits because apparently Burial Council “approval” is one of the conditions for the “house” that developer Joe Brescia is trying to build on top of the cemetery.

One thing that seems to stick out like a skeletal hand reaching out from the ground is that the Planning Commission condition gives actual power to the Burial Council while the state- which created the body- treats them as advisory.

There doesn’t seem to be any law or rule against a county agency giving a state advisory council actual power for county purposes. But, according to the newspaper article Planning Commission Chair Steve Weinstein “(e)ven a violation would not guarantee revocation, as other mitigation measures can be considered.”

Translation? “We’ll probably do what we do whenever someone does something illegal- we’ll allow them to do it anyway if it’s in our power to do so- and sometimes even if it’s not.”

Another question is, based on our analysis yesterday of the new General Plan enforcement charter provision, one the planning department hasn’t dealt with at all- is Brescia’s “house” a “tourist accommodation” that would fall under the new law taking the power of approval away from the Planning Department?

If so, the processing of anything having to do with it should cease immediately if it is to comply with the law.

Although Brescia claims it is merely a huge single family residence Brescia’s other “houses” in the area have been serving as vacation rentals for years.

of course that presumes that anyone in Kaua`i county government even cares whether their activities meet legal requirements and standards..

As our friend Ace commented yesterday

Andy, Andy, Andy. You are ignoring the zeal with which the Planning Commission and the County Council tend to overlook such pesky things as laws, ordinances and charter amendments. One should not be surprised to see these folks do whatever they want and wait to be called on it. To which they will predictably respond, "So sue me".

Just more porridge to fill the Minotaur’s bowl.

A NOT SO DIFFERENT BREED

A NOT SO DIFFERENT BREED: It seems like today is some kind of day of self examination for white people across the state, not just the supporters of the Naue protesters on Kaua`i but also the those involved in a planned cultural visit by children to Kaho`olawe in light of the refusal of the military to even test for much less acknowledge the use of depleted uranium on the sacred island.

A comment on the discussion of the direct action to preserve the north shore graveyard and the police response on Katy Rose’s Breaking The Spell was quite provocative in response to Katy’s description and discussion with Joan Conrow of some of the actions and reactions.

The anonymous poster said:

It’s amazing to observe the effects of the tremendous influx of malahini who have come here to “settle” and “immerse” themselves in the “host” culture; to hear them voice in their best PC manner their support of the island’s “indigenous” residents’ struggles bemoaning their plight. How, incredibly hypocritical this is! They totally ignore the fact that it is their continuing invasion that has caused the severe lack of affordable housing here; caused by their renting and buying up everything in that category. It is their competition for housing that has caused the steep rise in rents as more and more of these working class immigrants arrive. All that’s left available are expensive luxury homes that local folks can’t afford. So, with their true colors flying, they voice their objections to all the overbuilding on expensive properties that they helped create. It is their numbers which have contributed by their unnecessary presence to Kauai’s traffic problems, crowding of beaches and surf sights. They compete for what decent jobs there are on the island, and by their hand enable the contractors and developers to do the very over building they so openly despise. They fill the jobs in the islands tourist industry thereby enabling its expansion that they so strongly bemoan for all its ill effects on this once rural environment. This is more than hypocritical; this is duplicitous. How can they look themselves in the mirror, write their blogs and present their testimonies on how Kauai is losing its cultural identify when it is they who are the problem; it is they who are killing it. If it weren’t for them, local folks could more easily find housing so that their children can remain on the island of their birth and find decent jobs so they don’t have to leave. The voices of these patronizing malahini ring false when it is their very presence that hurts most those they seem to want to support. This is the inconvenient truth!

Some good points, as Katy said. But the problem with that is that mainlanders are not just one monolithic demographic.

The settlers causing the problems are the ones who come to develop and rip-off the local resources and culture. They come and rape the land and give back nothing but degrading low pay jobs in an offensive tourism industry, instilling plantation mentality in their wake.

And although pacific islander immigrants including the undocumented ones probably equal those from the states you don’t hear people complain about “ those stupid f—in’ Filipinos”.

It’s not the working class people who are causing this mess. As a matter of fact to say so is to blame the victims of the system whether locally born and raised or immigrant..

It’s not the transplant population explosion itself that has cause the problems but rather it’s the imposition of another culture that values money and progress over the individual rights and local lifestyle of working people who are caught in a trap, not of their making or in their ability to directly resolve it.

And there’s the rub.

Because even assuming the poster’s premise was correct and all the people who came here are destroying the island, is the correct response to say “join the club” with an “if you can’t beat them join them attitude” as many who comment in the various blogs and newspaper comment sections across the state emphatically pronounce?

Or is the right action to do all you can to curb the negative effects of the invasion by doing what you can to stop the degradation of exploitive predatory development that is causing it?

Another cultural clash within the non-native community came across our desk late this morning in an email to a list of almost 100 community activists, politicians and journalists sent by Maui public interest attorney par excellance Lance Collins in response to a letter from Big Island depleted-uranium (DU) activist Shannon Rudolpf .

Rudolpf saw a press release from Collins’ Malama Hawai`i organization announcing a workshop regarding “(a)n opportunity to go to Kaho`olawe with the Protect Kaho`olawe 'Ohana and learn about the island firsthand” for secondary school teachers and presumably students.

This caused Shannon to write to Collins saying:

Aloha,

It's completely irresponsible to take children to Kaho'olawe unless you are CERTAIN no depleted uranium has been used there. I've asked this question many times over the years but have never gotten a straight answer from anyone. I'm no expert but I would guess a lot of DU was used there. (The Target Island)

Please don't let your children go to Kaho'olawe without a working and properly calibrated radiation monitor.

I was present (across the road) from the Pohakuloa Training Range, on the Big Island in May 2007...many of us watched the radiation levels stay at or below background levels for an hour and a half, (5-20 counts per minute) on residents monitors...suddenly the wind came up and blew dust directly across the monitors... which then zoomed up to 75 cpm.

I would never have gone up there if I had known this was going to happen and would have discouraged others. Please heed this warning. Please discourage anyone from going to Kaho'olawe until there is a long term, 24/7 monitoring system in place, preferably with independent verification, such as the Hawai'i County Council has recently recommended for our training range.

Sincerely,

Shannon Rudolph– Kona

This drew what some might call an outrageous response from Collins, who has admirably worked with and represented many cultural and political Hawaiian groups including apparently this workshop. He wrote:

Shannon,

I think the issue of going to Kaho'olawe is more complex for many people than your black and white assessment -- which impregnates the issue with Western medical/scientific reasoning as the basis for your moral claims of what responsibility is for other people and their practice of culture.

During the cholera outbreaks in the turn of the century in the Philippines, U.S. military authorities used Western medical discourse to make similar black/white claims regarding what the proper conduct of Filipinos should be towards themselves and their children -- characterizing those that didn't listen to them as irresponsible and childish.

Western medicine and science has a long history of partnership with U.S. military and cultural imperialism and I would suggest caution before or nuance in telling other people how to practice their culture.

lance*

Wailuku, Maui


Ooooo- snap....

But who is the one telling whom how to help someone else practice their culture?

It’s certainly not an easy issue. It sounds similar to clashes that occurred in the northwestern US and Canada and in Alaska regarding whale hunting.

With good intentions many western activist said killing whales is killing whales and shouldn’t be allowed in an age when they are endangered no matter what the cultural importance.

The indigenous cultural practitioners and their supporters argued that even the questioning of the cultural significance is cause for outrage and to stop them from practicing their ritual was sacrilege tantamount to cultural genocide.

But then again some “cultural practice” claims regarding whales like those in Japan are seen by most as a thinly veiled attempt to engage in commercial whaling.

Rudolph was apparently just assuring the health and safety of children and the need to have the military to clean up their act and either admit to or show that there has never been use of depleted uranium on Kaho`olawe.

Does insuring that children aren’t exposed to radiation violate cultural practices of kanaka maoli- isn’t keeping children safe part of that culture too?

It seems presumptuous of Collins to attack Rudolpf even if it is in the name of sustaining cultural and religious practices. It feels disingenuous to claim that ascertaining the safety of the people going to Kaho`olawe is somehow an excuse for continuing cultural suppression.

Collins’ apprehension may be well placed because some of the most sacred places in the islands have been desecrated by the military such as Makua Valley on O`ahu.

The military has used dangerous conditions they created as an excuse to keep native practitioners out of the sacred valley of Makua, battling against practitioners in court and using and twisting court- mandated cleanup and access to actually keep practitioners out during traditional ceremonial periods like this year’s makahiki.

But the response Collins gave is not that maybe the importance of instilling culture in our children outweighs the risk of the DU but in fact he’s apparently dismissive of even finding out what the danger is much less taking the dangerous realities into account when people, especially children, visit

Would Collins object to taking a Geiger counter and keeping children away from radioactive areas if they exist? He doesn’t say

Does he want to keep the parents of those children- and for that matter the teachers and anyone else traveling to the island- ignorant of the risks and possible presence of DU on Kaho`olawe? He doesn’t say.

It certainly sounds like he is saying to Rudolph “shut up- what people don’t know won’t hurt them”.

Seems the least Collins and Malama Hawai`i could do is to insure full disclosure and the consent of those whose culture he’s defending.

Kipling’s white man’s burden thrives when westerners think they “know what’s best” for the “noble savages” and endeavor to protect them from themselves.

It’s the kind of attitude apparent in the way the state and federal governments still hold the never-really ceded “crown” Hawaiian lands they stole “in trust” and wants to pass the Akaka bill to “steal them one last time, fair and square”

Most Americans routinely say “we’d be glad to give them their land back and insure their cultural and political self-determination if they’d all just agree on what they want”.

Uh, they have- they want their land back and their cultural and political self determination insured.

As our friend, Anahola kanaka maoli sovereignty activist Michael Grace once said to us: “Hey- we big boys now- can handle”.

If they can handle, can’t we?

LICENSE TO DRILL

LICENSE TO DRILL: Atrocious English notwithstanding, today's local newspaper report of the state's latest desecration of kanaka `iwi along the beach in Wailua gave us that old familiar feeling that you know so well.

The article says that apparently, that old black magic was being performed by "(c)ontracted archaeologist Jim Powell, of Scientific Cultural Surveys, (who) also found artifacts associated with ancient Hawaiian burials" according to cultural activist Ka`iulani Edens Huff.

“These guys are all over the place,” Edens said of Powell’s company, which also surveyed Joe Brescia’s property in Naue, on Kaua‘i’s (sic) North Shore. “They are dirty and they are everywhere bones are desecrated.”

Edens of course has been put through hell for daring to try to defend the `iwi against Brescia's graveyard mansion in Wainiha.

But what caught our eye was this citation in the article:

Title 13, Chapter 300 of the Hawai‘i Administrative Rules states that it is “unlawful for any person to remove from the jurisdiction of the state, any human skeletal remains over 50 years old, or any associated burial goods, without prior written authorization” from DLNR.

That's a long way to go to say today's post is a Best of Parx (okay it's a re-run) from July 1, 2008 when we first discovered that there was such a thing as "prior written authorization from DLNR" to desecrate Hawaiian graves.

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HEY- THAT’S MY SACRED DOG DISH: After falling out of our chair this morning we got to thinking about the latest statement from developer Joe Brescia who still wants to put his house atop a kanaka graveyard despite a police warning that to do so would violate state anti-desecration laws.

The local paper reports that he told them:

“The law was obviously designed to punish those persons who desecrate burials without authorization.”

Sometimes there are so many different government departments, divisions and offices we can’t keep track of them all. And obviously we missed the one Brescia must be referring to.

We’re pretty sure never-say-die Brescia’s telephone call went something like this:

Hello, Office of Desecration Authorization and Permitting.

Yes I’d like to perform some desecration. Have I reached the right person?

You sure have. What can I help you defile today?

Well it seems like I have these old bones on my property and those jerks put them right where I want to put my obscenely obtrusive illegal vacation rental....

Are they Hawaiian bones?

Yes – they aren’t even white people!

Well nonetheless you have to have a permit to commit sacrilege in this state even against those godless Hawaiians. Now how many are buried there?

There’s at least 30 sets of them.

Oh. my- 30, eh. Well that means you will need a Comprehensive Desecration Permit and don’t qualify for the two-graves-or-less provisions where I could just issue you a Minor Insult Permit today. Now exactly how many people have had their sensibilities outraged?

Well, I’m not sure- there were at least a hundred protesters out there when I....

Hold it right there sir- do you have the names and contact information for those you want to offend?

Well, no but...

Well you must document the names of the persons you’d like to disrespect and provide us with the specific ways each would be likely to observe or discover your actions in order to get authorization to perform your sullying. That involves notifying the specific persons affronted and calculating the level of offensiveness each experienced so you can file your form FU-13 Defilement Filing.

File my defilement filing?...

Yes. Then of course you’ll be publishing your Public Notice of Intent to Desecrate and hold a public hearing....

Public hearing?...

Yes how else can the Desecration Commission tell whether it’s a true sacrilege or just an imposition upon the culture. Now how exactly do you plan to despoil these bones?

I just want to put a house on top of them.

Oh- a house, eh. Then you’ll need to fill out a special GH-100 Spiritual Retaliation Waiver form releasing the Commission of all future liability for ghostly events and apparitions - you know, night marching warriors, fireballs, crying aumakua- you probably know them better as specters, phantoms, poltergeists and the like. It’s all quite common....

Well it’s all quite daunting if you ask me but I suppose I’ve manipulated and paid off so many offices and officials that, well, what’s one more?

Fine sir- we’ll send you our 150 page pamphlet, “So you want to Desecrate Our Host Culture”. Where shall we send it?

Just address it to the biggest jerk in Wainiha. I’ll get it.

Are you sure? I hear there’s a lot of them lately?

Hey- I’ve fought hard for that title. If I know anything it’s how big an a-hole I am..

Very well sir- Is there anything else we can help you thumb your nose at today?

No, I’ve done enough damage for now.

Thank you sir and have a very blasphemous day.

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UPDATE: Although our investigative report about abuses in the ofhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giffhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifice of Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri Carvalho was greeted with a collective shrug, to our amazement Councilperson Dickie Chang's lack of recusal in the matter of the obscene $150,000 grant for the Kaua`i Marathon yielded this from the council's May 4 agenda

C 2011-135 Communication (04/28/2011) from Councilmember Chang, providing written disclosure on the record of a possible conflict of interest and recusal on Bill No. 2404 (An Ordinance to Appropriate $150,000 to the Kaua'i Marathon Grant), because he is the Owner of Wala'au Productions which tapes and aires (sic) footage of the Kaua'i Marathon and also he serves as an emcee for the Kaua'i Marathon at several pre and post events.

AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLIN’ DOWN

AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLIN’ DOWN: It was a good news/really bad news moment when the Honolulu-based, on-line news venture Civil Beat launched a while back.

Many were excited over the prospect of whatever each envisioned was needed until we learned that it was going to be, in the words of Disappeared News’ Larry Geller, a “gated community” and would cost $240 a year to enter.

Worse yet, for Kaua`i at least, it meant losing ace reporter Big Mike Levine who moved on to become one of their “reporter-hosts”.

But we heard from Mike yesterday that there are going to be “some changes to civilbeat.com” and that “(e)verything we've been working on is now free for occasional readers.”

No telling what “occasional readers” means but we were able to read stories yesterday and again today.

We wonder what those who paid for a year are thinking... probably much the same thing we did when we got to Woodstock after having paid 18, 1969 dollars for tickets and found the fences on the ground.

Many have wondered how they were doing, especially since they’ve been tight-lipped about how many subscribers they have. And things might have gone from bad to worse recently with the blow back against CEO, Publisher and Co-founder Pierre Omidyar’s other venture, “Pay Pals,” after they banned Wikileaks from using the service- causing at least one notable cancelled subscription.

But really the prime subject of Mike’s letter was to point us to an article by one of his fellow “host-reporters” Adrienne LaFrance headlined “Obama's Winter White House an Illegal Rental”

According to her story:

Obama did not break the law by staying at the house, but the property owner who rented his house to the Obamas does not have the permit that would allow a stay of fewer than 30 days.

Although the owner claims he got around the law by leaving a 30-day window between rentals, the

explanation is one that's commonly offered, but that still represents an illegal renting practice...

"Maybe it's that the people are circumventing the law or thinking, 'Oh, I'll only rent it to one person in a (30-day) period," said Andrew Malahoff, a spokesman for Honolulu City Council member Ikaika Anderson, who chairs the city's Zoning Committee. "They say, 'Even though they're only going to stay there for seven days, I'll charge them for (30) days, and prorate that.' But as far as we know, that is also not legal. You will not rent for a period of less than 30 days. That's what's in the land-use ordinance. It's not just about multiple rental parties, it's the period of days."

It’s hard to see how, if the owner just rented it out for 30 days and the vacationer decided to stay there for only two weeks it could be illegal. But then again we’re not really familiar with all of the planning and zoning laws in Honolulu.

But one thing we are familiar with that LaFrance is apparently unaware of- something that occurred to us years ago when we first heard of the President’s beach house rental- is the fact that the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement (DOCARE) has cracked down on vacation rentals in the state conservation district (CD) sending “cease and desist” letters to those operation in Wainiha on the North Shore of Kaua`i and in Kane`ohe on O`ahu- not far from the president’s rental.

According to an April 2007 article in the local Kaua`i newspaper

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has issued notices to 16 property owners in Ha‘ena to halt alleged unauthorized use of multi-million-dollar homes as vacation rentals.

Most of the 16 homes are on makai, or on the ocean side, of Kuhio Highway, from the YMCA’s Camp Naue to Limahuli Stream. Most are clustered around Makua Beach, also known as Tunnels.

A condition in the state Conservation District Use Application, which a property owner secures before building in the state’s conservation area, stipulates a single-family home cannot be used for rental or any other commercial purposes, Peter Young, chairman of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, said in a March 23 letter to alleged violators.

In one case, the cease-and-desist order could force the owner to sell a property worth millions, and may be the scenario facing other supposed violators as well, said Gary Stice, a Kaneohe, O`ahu resident who received one of the letters.

At the time of the letters many of the operators shut down their rentals but according to at least one anti-vacation rental activist many have reopened and DOCARE has apparently dropped the ball.

It also brings up the question of whether the house has a Shoreline Management Area (SMA) permit- which generally include use descriptions- for a vacation rental. But that would also be a City and County of Honolulu issue.

So far the report hasn’t gotten any press either statewide or nationally. But whenever the president is involved, stories including the word “illegal” tend to grow virally.

And the vacation rental issue could certainly use a little viral publicity considering the disease they cause in otherwise quiet residential neighborhoods.

CARVING OUT A THIRD WAY

CARVING OUT A THIRD WAY: Something subversive clicked this morning when we read the headline in the Honolulu Advertiser saying “Burial council won't sign rail pact”.

Seems that:

(t)he Oahu Island Burial Council has decided not to join other parties ... in signing an agreement on mitigating the rail project's impacts on historical, cultural and archaeological resources...

The burial council decision is largely symbolic and isn't expected to stop or delay the 20-mile elevated commuter train project.

That last sentence seemed odd considering how much power the Kaua`i Island Burial Council (KIBC) has apparently had in recent doings up at Naue where developer Joe Bresca continues to build a massive house on top of burials despite warning from Judge Kathleen Watanabe, while the planning commission has voted to consider revoking his building permit based on the fact that he doesn’t have the proper “sign off” from the KIBC.

What occurs to us is that the oft repeated conundrum for the KIBC- that they are limited to the two bad choices of either leaving the burials in place or removing them- may not actually be the case.

Because, as the months-long delay in holding a KIBC meeting due to a lack of appointments sufficient to maintain a quorum, they have, in a de facto manner, carved out a third choice- to simply not act on the request.

We’re not sure what the planning process on O`ahu calls for but here one of the numerous “sign-offs”- a so-called “punch list” of agency approvals that the planning commission and department rules mandate- is one from the KIBC.

Though the delay was unintentional, apparently, since the “automatic approval” law is inoperable here, if the KIBC simply “receives the matter for the record” – as the county council does when it doesn’t want to discuss an issue anymore- the planning department would be unable to issue a building permit.

After all it’s only been the widely reviled and truth-challenged State Archeologist Nancy McMahon’s -so that there are only two useless wrenches in the KIBC toolbox.

Who’s to say that if they take a page from the county council’s playbook of obstruction they can’t carve out a third?

DOGGIE PEE, DOGGIE DOO

DOGGIE PEE, DOGGIE DOO: It won’t be long now until dog poop is once again on the lips of the citizenry what with the expiration of the experimental “bikes on the dog path” law and the new law before the council promising a long hot summer of dog path hearings a-comin’.

So get out you doggie-doodoo-bag and pin it to your shirt because it’s already being spread pretty thick on the pages of the local newspaper- all before the public hearing on the bill to expand dog-crapping to the entire path and also before the required survey is available.

Just this weekend we’ve already been hit with a flaming bag-o-crap lobbed over the wall in a predictable disinformation campaign from the brownshirts of the so-called stakeholders committee: Dr. Randall C. Blake, Sue Hansen, Thomas Noyes, Dr. Becky Rhoades.

Even Joan Conrow- who is usually more concerned with topics of real importance such as her upcoming Honolulu Weekly piece on the latest from the Naue burials debacle- has been busy with watching where she walks after describing a little walk on the “linear park”

After a meeting of the persons if not the minds between her and Councilperson Tim Bynum, who has introduced the latest dog path bill and was an original proponent of the path, she wrote:

Koko and I found ourselves meeting Tim at Lihi Park — the southerly end of the section where dogs are allowed — yesterday afternoon.

Now, readers of this blog know that I am no fan of the Path, but it was a lovely day and the ocean — turquoise and glassy under an offshore wind — looked absolutely ono. Of course, I couldn’t legally access it for a swim so long as Koko was at my side, so I focused instead on the task at hand: listening to Tim.

For those who don’t generally delve into underworld of the anonymous trolls in the comments section of Joan’s blog, it’s pretty much of a zoo where the bored, lonely sophomoric and adolescent-minded baboons gather to mindlessly throw their own feces at each other and Joan.

And today, after mentioning the lawsuit against KIUC for refusing to do anything but talk about stopping their wholesale slaughter of Shearwaters, she wrote about what one particularly dedicated defacer posted over the weekend:

This topic always makes me think of the thoughtful “f the birds” comment left by the shift-key impaired, short dash-fixated “dwps” — aka “mainland mentality,” “Darwin was pretty smart,” “young white atheist male” and “anonymous” — who recently left the comment:

“only here, and a few weird places on the mainland populated by strange people, would a bike path be seen as some sort of bag thing. its bizarre”

I’m assuming he meant “bad” and not “bag,” so let me spell it out for him. A bike path that is part of a road system, so as to truly facilitate alternative transportation, could be seen as a good thing.

But a bike path that runs over a beach or burials, is constructed of coastline hardening concrete, delivers hordes of people to places previously untrammeled, exposes you to possible $500 fines and puts you on the radar of an over zealous enforcement officer riding a bicycle with a poodle in a basket, well, in my opinion, that’s a bad thing.

Although we generally skip the troll-fest we happened on this one and maybe not so coincidentally it stood out to us too.

So a little Kealia and island history is in order.

In 1976 a Japanese developer wanted to put a resort where the Kumukumu camp- right across the highway from the beach- had recently been shut down.

People fought like hell to stop it and did so successfully but at one point those who opposed it but thought it inevitable had suggested Kealia be officially designated as a county beach park to “protect” it from development.

Being malihini at the time we at first blanch didn’t get it. But on second thought we had been around the island long enough to have seen the pattern and saw what happened whenever a “park” designation was made.

Many local people knew full well what happens on Kaua`i when you make a beach or any other gathering place into a “park”.

Where people once had free reign to camp, fish, even drive right to the camping spot and generally be free of rules and restrictions, all of a sudden we now had permits, rangers, prohibitions- including against bringing dogs- and generally had to go somewhere else to relax on weekends ad holidays.

So we stopped the beach park at Kealia. Some of us tracked it for decades and every time the proposal came back up we nipped it in the bud.

Now comes the bike path- that had it’s origins in Kealia Kai- and we thought we had nixed the beach park idea again with a plan that would have the path just run along the old haul cane road.

But Bernard Carvalho- then head of at first the Parks and Rec Division and later the newly-created Department of Parks and Rec- unbeknownst to anyone including the council until it was a done deal, formed a secret committee (later called the stakeholders committee), filled it with bike path proponents and then “secretly” built illegal un-permitted pavilions along the bike path because they had “extra money” (don’t ya just love that one?).

Finally they had to tear down and re-do some of the pavilions that dotted the path. But instead of leaving well enough alone, when the “dog path” bill came along all of a sudden Bernard and his cronies had somehow “declared” the bike path with pavilions to be a “linear park” where dogs would be automatically banned,

Even though by law official designation of parks is supposed to be done by the council- not to mention that no one had ever heard of a “linear park” on Kaua`i before and in fact the term didn’t appear anywhere in our charter, ordinances or administrative rules- their “done deal” stood, especially when Bernard became Mayor.

So through the back door Kealia has essentially become a “beach park” despite citizen vigilance, all due to Bernard’s lack of foresight and bending and breaking of laws, rules and regs and the lack of anyone on the council willing to challenge anything having to do with the bike path since Mel Rapozo and Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho left

That’s just one of the corners cut and reasons why we have an ugly ribbon of concrete running along the beach instead of the natural unspoiled shoreline we used to enjoy.

As with many Kaua`i institutions, its not “bike paths” in general- or electric power co-ops or a dozen other mom-and-apple-pie ideas- it’s THIS bike path that causes us to have to sidestep another stinking pile.