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GIFFIN: All right. Thank you. Commissioners? Once again, members of the public, thank you <br />very much for taking your time this morning. I appreciate it. (There was another person signing up <br />to testify.) Good morning. Will you please sit down and raise your right hand. Do you swear or <br />affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Leeward Hawai‘i County Planning <br />Commission? <br /> <br />ROY: I do. <br /> <br />GIFFIN: Please state your name, and you may begin your testimony. <br /> <br />ROY: Aloha, Members of the Commission. My name is Mikahala Roy. It’s my pleasure to see <br />many of you in the audience and the members of the Commission this morning again. Aloha. <br /> <br />GIFFIN: Aloha. <br /> <br />ROY: I’m here, my name is Mikahala Roy. Do you need my address, Ms. Giffin? <br /> <br />GIFFIN: No, thank you. <br /> <br />ROY: Thank you. <br /> <br />GIFFIN: We used to. <br /> <br />ROY: Okay. I appreciate the comments and the presence of many people from the community, as I <br />always do. This is an important matter. Ag lands and all lands in Hawai‘i are important. I give <br />testimony today as kahu of Ahu‘ena Heiau. It is the sacred site of sacred sites in Hawai‘i because <br />this is the kingdom’s capital as left to us by Kamehameha the Great. I testify before the Royal <br />Commission in Hawai‘i to say that as a result of the capital being established there, it is evidence <br />that the kingdom exists. And so I give testimony today to this body that I respect in history for its <br />presence in the flow of history, but I have to give testimony to say that I speak for the unborn of the <br />future. The agricultural lands in Hawai‘i, like many other places of the world, bear history of yet <br />unknown vital importance, and I speak for them, I speak for us, but I speak for my children and <br />their children, and I definitely speak for the unborn. And so I remind us all that the Hawaiian <br />people are still giving their cumulative voice on an occupied kingdom. And I must say to you that I <br />speak for the importance of respect to the sacred lands. I speak of Waipi‘o, I speak of Mauna Kea <br />the expanse; we don’t farm at the top, but we certainly have an expanse that goes down to all six <br />districts. That is called mana. And it comes from the very core of mother earth to us, guarded and <br />kept by Pele Honua Mea. So today, my testimony covers a great expanse, really all of the <br />archipelago Hawai‘i. And I must say these things, not with any disrespect personally to anyone <br />who has testified or the farmers today, because we all live in the present, but I must, as you can <br />hear, give ways to an ancient thing that comes forward that stays with us until these things are <br />resolved; they are not resolved. Thank you. <br /> <br />GIFFIN: You’re welcome. Thank you. Any questions, Commissioners? <br /> <br />ROY: So, on the record I am against the bill. <br /> <br />GIFFIN: Yeah, I gathered this much. <br />18 <br />EXHIBIT B <br /> <br />