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CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you. Let's come back to Hilo now. Yen Chin, representing <br />Friends of Puna's Future. <br />YEN CHIN <br />(At this time Yen Chin, President of Friends of Puna's Future came forward to address members of <br />the Commission.) <br />MR. CHIN: Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Yen Chin; I am the President of <br />Friends of Puna's Future. Friends of Puna's Future knows that you all have walked a long <br />and difficult road in order to arrive at the Draft Plan you present today. I personally <br />witnessed your struggles and the mutual respect you shared among yourselves, and so have <br />my colleagues, who join me tonight, but who may remain silent. We have been here all <br />along; all along the way. And all along the way we have testified to the wants and needs of <br />Puna and we have submitted plans of our own. So we understand the challenges you faced. <br />I doubt that I could have shown the patience you all have displayed; nor could I have <br />followed that sage advice to always be sincere, whether you mean it or not. But seriously, I <br />have also witnessed the sacrifices that you have made in order to serve the greater good. <br />Puna has been part of those sacrifices; sacrifices which the rules required in some form. <br />The number of Puna residents more than fills the allowance for two council districts, so <br />some of our population needed to be assigned elsewhere. Volcano made a big sacrifice, <br />because it must remain a minority part of District 6. So Volcano remains tied to Ka`u, <br />rather than join with its more logical mates in Puna. We should all express our gratitude to <br />the people of Volcano, and their representative, Linda Ugalde, for seeing the need to make <br />this sacrifice and act in good faith; in good conscience. We should all remember that <br />sacrifice does not mean simply loss. Rather it means a willingness to give up something of <br />value in the hope of gaining something of greater value. Friends of Puna's Future believes <br />the greater value lies in the Draft Plan we consider tonight. We know that it is not perfect; <br />that it has flaws. But these are necessary flaws that make for honest and fair resolution of <br />this very difficult task of redrawing the council lines. <br />Therefore, we support acceptance of this Draft Plan, as it now stands. We believe that now <br />is not the time to pick at the warts that certainly dot the landscape of this plan. We believe <br />that now is the time for gratitude and celebration; gratitude for the hard work that you <br />Commissioners have all done, and celebration that we are close to the end. Thank you. <br />CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you, Yen. Do we have another testifier in Pahoa? <br />MS. LIVELY: Yes, thank you Madam Chair, next we have Elizabeth Weatherford and we <br />just had another testifier join us. <br />ELIZABETH WEATHERFORD <br />(At this time Elizabeth Weatherford came forward via videoconference from Pahoa to address <br />members of the Commission.) <br />7 <br />