01-29-20 Regular Session Minutes

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Mr. Robinson: And the next is Luella Crutcher. Good morning. Ms. Crutcher: My name is Luella Crutcher and I'm here to review. I mean the number 8. The review the draft and it's regarding the rule of law. And I question this because I believe there's kind of like...there's laws that are more important and the constitutional laws to me, come before what the County does. And the constitutional law grants us the right to worship. And what is has happened here in Hawai'i is from the beginning from long, long time ago, back in 1968. That did not happen. Our kupuna, since the beginning, have told them how holy that mountain is. And the royal recognizes as the most sacred. It is the tallest mountain from the bottom of the ocean to the top. That alone gives the world. And if you come up there and see all the flags, those are for people that are acknowledging that sacredness. I question whether the TMT could be in there, in spite of that. And what I found was, it is also a lalanu'u mau mau. It's considered the highest level of Hawaiian temple. That has three levels. So it's 3,000 feet down and the lala is the bottom one. Which means that, that's the way people can go and visit. The middle section is where the prayers occur. So if you look at the mountain, that's where properly where all the ahu are, that they worship. The top is left for Akua. That's where the piko is. That's where God's energy is. It is so sacred, that on Mt. Fuji, their top of the mountain you can't drive up there in a car. The people who really acknowledged this, and there are very many that exist. You go up there only during special times. You don't go up there any time. You don't drive the car all the way up there. And it's special times, according to protocol. Prayers are done according to protocol. I'm not even able to do that. So as much as I love the mountain, I don't go up there. Okay that's one thing. So to me, that's a law that should have been recognized. And that's what I'd like for you folks to address. Why hasn't this happened? Why is it that when a Hawaiian speaks about that holiness, it's ignored? And the people that want the TMT, get the right of way. I realized that we've had some very intelligent Hawaiians speak. But they're not. See, I really Christian okay, because I'm from that generation that we lost the language. So I don't know the language. And when I ask my father about the old stuff, he said we're Christians now, we don't talk about it. So I'm learning about it up there and when I'm learning, it's the Hawaiians didn't have Gods. They were elemental beings. Tutu Pele is an example. The lava is Pele. She's not a spirit. The lava is Pele. So the mountain is special and I would like you folks to start looking at all the views which I've included in that letter that I gave today. These are the... 6