2006-09-07 TPD - Laserfiche WebLink

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HILL:I would like to make a plea because of my baby, to be one of the next speakers if I can. ALAMEDA:Sure. You may be seated. Staff, can we get a chair for the Ms.? HILL:I don’t need a chair. She’ll fuss. ALAMEDA:She’ll fuss, okay, just like mine then. Okay. You’ll develop some good biceps, you know. Ma’am, can I get your name? Ma’am? HILL:My name is Ligaya Alipio Hill, and this is Malia Cateman Hill. ALAMEDA:I want to swear all you in at the same time. Could you please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth now before the Hawai`i County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS:Yes. ALAMEDA:Okay. Can you state your name and address for the record, please? HILL:My name is Ligaya Alipio Hill. My address is 17-168 Palaai Street, Keaau. ALAMEDA:Go ahead. HILL:Thank you very much for allowing me to go first and thank you for allowing me to stand. Just very briefly, I realize there’s a three-minute time limit. My grandparents were Sakatas. They came in the early 20’s. I’m not here to give you a full history of my family, but they have been here for a very long time. And they have instilled in us, in my father and me and now in my siblings and in my family, that family is very important. A good neighborhood is comprised of good families. I, too, have moved away off island and have seen the demise of neighborhoods in the mainland and have chosen to return home to the neighborhood that I’ve grown up in, to the land that my father has provided for me in Keaau Ag Lots, the land that was available to him as a worker of the sugar plantation. And I am looking to continue my grandparents’ dream, her forefathers, her great-grandparents, to continue to fight for what I believe is right. And what I believe is right is to raise a family. It is the parents’ responsibility to prevent them, to prevent their children from getting into drugs, to prevent them from getting into trouble. It is their responsibility, not someone else’s, not the State Department of Health. I would plea with the State Department of Health to look for programs that prevent children from getting into drugs in the first place. And I would plea with the Commission now to please do not change the definition of “family” in the name of the Sakatas who have dreams and hopes of providing a good neighborhood, a good community to raise their children and become productive and contributing members of their community. I would plead with you as a mom to please do not change the definition of “family.” Thank you very much. EXHIBIT D 15