2017-04-17 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case

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protocol when you hit, when you dig a new grave, you hit iwi, bones, you take all that bones, you put it on the side, you take a piece of ‘ili‘ili rock, you put it in a cloth, put saliva on it, it shines, you put it where the, where you got the bones from, and you continue with the dig; when the person that’s going to be buried in is buried, they fill it up to where the ‘ili‘ili rock is; you take the ‘ili‘ili rock out, you put saliva on it, you put it back; you take the iwi of the, what you took from there, you put it right where it is. You’re putting it here. You’re not taking and putting it somewhere else; you’re putting it right back where it was and where it’s supposed to be. Not now, you know. I ask you in the audience here: If there is a burial here, a bulldozer come, take the burial and move it here, where is the burial? Is it here where the bones are found or is it here where the bones were dug up? Can an archaeologist, who is archaeologist in here, answer it? Nobody can answer that. They say archaeological studies, archaeological studies. I can do archaeological studies. But it’s not legal. I don’t want to have the paper. But what if we say we do cultural archaeological studies? Then you get to the root. Just like when you, the bulldozer push over a tree. What’s on the bottom of the tree? Roots. So we can get to the roots of all of this. You know, every time I hear iwi is found, you read in the newspaper, you know, it hurts, it hurts. What are they going to do with it? They ask, “What are we going to do with it?” Huh? They’ve got to put it back where you got it from. They was put there, or they were put there for a purpose to rest in peace. Or not to be made into fish hooks. So, you know, in closing I would like to say kapu is kapu, is no, no, no. I am very much against what’s going to happen there, if it does, I am very against it. Thank you. Oh, another thing, burial in Kahalu‘u, the last burial in Kahalu‘u was done cave burial, was done in Kahalu‘u in the early 1920’s. Proof, that’s our last burial. And, sorry to say, it is no longer there; it was dug up, it was moved. It hurt the ‘ohana-s of Kahalu‘u. So, I thank you with that. WILLIAM FREITAS: Aloha. My name is William Freitas. Everybody knows me as Billy. And mahalo ke Akua today to have this opportunity to set the mindset of the significance of Kahalu‘u. I am a descendant of au kupuna, Kamāmalu. I am a descendant of many ‘o wau kupuna. I had an opportunity in 2011 to restore the Kahalu‘u Wai‘kua‘a‘ala Loko. That’s the remanence of the pond that you see at Kahalu‘u. That pond was fed by springs that came, and still come, from underneath the earth, from the pūnāwai-s. It’s sad to see all the changes of Kahalu‘u. As a young boy, I was fortunate enough to have the moments of Kahalu‘u to be a place of memory where we gathered from Kailua Elementary School to fish along in Waikua‘a‘ala Loko. And today it’s actually buried. Recently there was a breach, a sewer breach, at Kahalu‘u, and it closed the park for a week or so. Today they have a sewer line that goes across Waikua‘a‘ala Loko. The pond is still there, the water still flows under that sand, but they have a sewer line that goes through there. So that’s just some of the examples of desecration to a very significant cultural site. Kahalu‘u was th known to be one of the main focus areas of our ali‘i-s during the time of the 14 century and many of the people gathered in Kahalu‘u through Keauhou, Kahalu‘u. Through the years of change from Kamehameha Bishop Estate Trust, there are many, many untrue things that factored in the sale of the lands of Kahalu‘u that was under the Trust of Kamehameha. And those people were held accountable for their actions. The Trust still exists; it’s the actions of each individual that made Kahalu‘u sold, a piece of land that could be sold. When we look back at history of all the oppressions that happen to Trust lands from Kamehameha Bishop Estate Trust lands, the people that operate these Trusts, they are not true; they are just individuals. The Trust is true. We need to 3 2017-04-17 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case