Ka`u News Briefs Saturday, March 11, 2017

The public visited the hula heiau between Pahala and Na`alehu in May of 2016 and is invited
to learn about the recent archaeolgical inentory on April 1. Photo by Jasmine Cronin

A PRESERVATION PLAN FOR THE HULA HEIAU in the mountains above Punalu`u, called 'Imakakaloa Heiau, will be presented to the public on Saturday, April 1 at Pahala Community Center at 12:30 p.m. Kalaho`ohie Mossman, who works with stewards of the heiau, the Edith Kanaka`ole Foundation, said that everyone is invited to the community gathering.
        The heiau is on land owned by Edmund C. Olson Trust. Edmund C. Olson has provided the Kanakahole Foundation with the stewardship agreement.

     "We have completed the Archaeological Inventory Survey as well as the preservation plan and would like to share our findings with the community," said Mossman. "We would like to present the preservation plan for your review. Please feel free to make any suggestions on this draft plan which will guide the future treatment of this sacred place. Although the plan currently only addresses the two-acre area where the heiau is located, we are hoping to expand the area of preservation to include important view planes from the site. We value your input and look forward to seeing you all on the first. Please feel free to share this message with others who may be interested."

John Stokes described the hula heiau in his survey of
Hawai`i Island heiau, published by Bishop Museum

    A meeting was held on March 19, 2016 at Pahala Community Center, drawing many people who talked about the hula heiau and other cultural sites in need of preservation in Ka`u. 

     Kanaka`ole Foundation representatives discussed the possibility of the heiau becoming a focal point for community and cultural outreach, with possible programs coordinated with schools.

    On May 14, 2016 the public was invited to visit the heiau and gave input toward its preservation and community use.

   Olson Trust land manager John Cross recalled that John Replogle, of The Nature Conservancy, asked about the location of the heiau after Olson bought the property from the old Ka`u sugar company, and ranchers planned to clear more land in the area for cattle. 

    Cross said he knew of the heiau from the Bishop Museum archaeological survey Heiau of the Island of Hawai`i by John F.G. Stokes, published in 1991. Stokes described the heiau as “a series of enclosures with walls sometimes broadened into platforms. The ground declines to the southeast, but the earth floors of the enclosure have been approximately leveled as though by cutting and filling. The large enclosure on the southeast is said to have been for the chiefs and kahuna, the stone pavement shown being the kuahu.      

     "Outside and adjoining the wall of this enclosure on the west is a platform one foot high. To the north of the latter is another platform 4.5 feet high, an extension of the walls. This last is said to have been the hale o Papa. The second largest enclosure is said to have been for the hale hula. There was no information regarding the smallest enclosure.”

Public input on the hula heiau was welcomed by the Edith
Kanaka`ole Foundation last year in Pahala.
Photo by Julia Neal

     The late Pele Hanoa, long involved in historic, cultural and land preservation in Ka`u, also informed Olson Trust about the general location of the heiau, and several crews unsuccessfully hiked the area to find it. Ka`u cattleman Al Galimba bumped into a heiau rock wall as he was clearing for pastures and paddocks. He contacted Cross, and they identified it as the hula heiau, buried deep in a tangle of Christmasberry, cat’s claw and a large monkeypod tree. The location is makai of Ka`alaiki Road - the old cane haul route - between Pahala and Na`alehu.      Galimba withdrew cattle from the area and helped clear brush away from the heiau, followed by an Olson Trust team using small equipment to clear and protect it, fencing off about 1.5 acres around the site. Additional conservation has been accomplished through the Kanaka`ole Foundation.

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HAWAI`I ATTORNEY GENERAL DOUG CHIN will take the state’s complaint against President Donald Trump’s second Executive Order travel ban to court next week.

      Chin said this week on NBC News that the travel ban is "setting up as a system where there are certain races that are going to be presumptively in a second class type of environment and there will be a superior race that is running everything." 

     He said Jeff Sessions' speech last week, to U.S. Attorney Generals from around the country meeting in Washington, D.C., was that "crime is on the uprise...It is being committed by people who are unlawfully in this country, so if we remove people who are unlawfully in this country, then crime will go down."

Hawai`i Attorney General Doug Chin on NBC News

     Said Chin, "When you layer on those statements, which is actually part of what we do in this argument, we are saying there are so many statements from this administration that are going in a bad direction. That's another reason we can find this discriminatory in intent."

      In a press conference, Chin said,  “This is the first time a President has made such a broad sweeping kind of Executive Order that bans people purely based upon their nationality.  

     "It is saying if you are from one of these six countries -  now six  (first travel ban named seven countries) - you are presumptively a terrorist. This is over-assertion of power by the President. The President is not a king. He is not a dictator. We all learned that in social studies growing up. The concern about this Executive Order, even though it is just for 120 days, is that it can be easily renewed. It can be renewed for another 120 days and just become permanent or perpetual,” said Chin.

     Chin said that “We here in the state of Hawai`i care about the security of our state, but don’t bring us back to a time that occurred prior to the 1960s."
     Chin said he doesn't see the objection to the travel ban "as a Democrat thing or an agenda thing. I see it as if Hawai`i doesn’t speak up about discrimination by national origin, we are dishonoring and we are disrespecting what our past generations have gone through.” 

    Hawai`i will argue its case before U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson on Wednesday, March 15, the day before the ban is set to go into effect.

    Omar Adwat, Director of American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project, said the ACLU also filed a complaint. He said the “revised travel ban has the same problems as the original travel  ban, which is that it’s religious discrimination. President Trump can’t follow through on his threat without running straight into the Constitution.”

     The new travel ban does not favor Christian over other religions for entry to the U.S, as did the first travel ban that was stopped by the courts. The new travel ban also exempts those with Green Cards. It changes the ban to affect travelers from six instead of seven Muslim-majority countries, exempting Iraq. All refugees from the six countries would be banned for 120 days.

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A STATEWIDE SEARCH FOR KILLERS OF A MONK SEAL on Kaua`i on Feb. 23 near `Ele`ele has been launched with a $10,000 award. The monk seal tagged R4DP was found dead on the beach. She was 15 years old and familiar to monk seal researchers and Kaua`i residents. 

     Tipsters can call the state Department of Land & Natural Resources and provide information to be held in confidence to 855-DLNR-TIP (855-356-7847). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement is also investigating, along with DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement.
     The reward is sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Council for Hawai`i, the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust.

          Punishment for killing an endangered monk seal can bring fines of up to $50,000 and imprisonment for up to a year, or both. The seals are protected under state and federal laws.

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SUNDAY CLAY: High Fire, Sundays, March 12 – May 7, 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. or 2:45 –5:45 p.m. at Volcano Art Center. $185/$166 VAC members plus $13 materials fee. 967-8222

REP. RICHARD CREAGAN SPEAKS AT THE NEW VOICES MEETING on Sunday, at Punalu`u Bake Shop at noon. The public meeting will be held in the upper pavilion. Creagan will review activities of the 2017 Hawai`i Legislature, which has reached mid session. He will also discuss the national situation with the new President's administration. For more information, call Melissa Wheeler at 808-785-2643.