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came and approached me to be on this committee. I talk about a one voice, the importance of a
<br />one voice. The Committee has one voice, so people cannot speak for the Committee, and that's
<br />the whole Committee votes on it. It doesn't have to be every Committee member approving, but
<br />the majority rules, and then the president or vice-president of the Steering Committee could
<br />come here and say the Committee recommends that you move this forward. And, the issue of a
<br />one voice didn't even appear in the minutes of the, that came out of that meeting.
<br />CLARKSON: Okay.
<br />GOMES: So, if I could just clarify, I was the convener for the meetings even though I served as
<br />vice -chair, and so I vividly remember the ending of that meeting where the presentation of the
<br />Planning Director's recommendations was made, and while the vote was not on the agenda, and
<br />you're familiar with Sunshine Law and all of those requirements, we were very clear that we did
<br />have the option to continue the meeting to allow us to agendized the vote. We did not, among
<br />the Steering Committee members that evening get a motion either to continue the meeting. So, I
<br />do believe that for the sake of process, it's important to lay out that we knew we had that option.
<br />CLARKSON: Thank you very much. I think we better continue now. I thank you all for your
<br />testimony. Unless there are further questions, we'll get the next group of testifiers. Beth Smith,
<br />Denning Powell, Jim Cain, Yuri Zhuraw, would you please come forward if you're. Okay, we
<br />apparently—Constance Fay? Thank you, all. Would you please your right hands? Do you
<br />swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Planning Commission this evening?
<br />TESTIFIERS: Yes.
<br />CLARKSON: Would, Mr. Powell, would you start, please?
<br />CAIN: Aloha, my name is Jim Cain.
<br />CLARKSON: Oh, Cain.
<br />CAIN: Yeah, I'm a taro farmer from Waipi`o Valley. For the last 30 years my family and I have
<br />been blessed to call Waipi`o Valley our adopted home. We farm taro. We also process poi. I
<br />want to I guess in the interest of keeping this short echo, you know, these beautiful sentiments
<br />that were already given about this process. You know, and how inclusive it was. Just an
<br />amazing process, and I shout out to my friends and neighbors who sat on this Steering
<br />Committee and their dedication and their stamina. Nine years! You know, that's common law.
<br />You guys are officially married. But, seriously, you know, to see this process through, Hamakua
<br />is a jewel, and you know, all of us who are lucky to call Hamakua home, you know, again, it was
<br />expressed very eloquently already.
<br />But from those of us who call Waipi`o home, we think it's even more special and that's—so I'm
<br />not going to comment on other people's hometowns. It's not my place, but for Waipi`o, like
<br />Samuel Clemens says, talk about what you know and, you know, there was such an effort to
<br />really honor Waipi`o in this process and to honor the families of Waipi`o to have a voice. You
<br />know, we've been very active for long time, you know, critical times for Waipi`o and planning
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