HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0377.043 2024-2026C:4UNI Y CLERK
coUNTY OF HAWAII
To: The Council of the County of Hawaii
2025 JUL 2 1 Ati 9_ 4 6
From: Momi Naughton, Ph.D.
Date: July 20, 2025
RE: In Support of Resolution No. 234-25
I am writing in STRONG SUPPORT of Resolution No. 234-25 and am against,the Army using
P6hakuloa for training activities that involve bombing, testing chemicals used in warfare, and the
desecration of ancient Hawaiian sites.
Although I am a cultural anthropologist, I will not address the cultural significance of this area in
this letter as I believe other will in their testimonies. Rather, I would like to relay an experience I
had in 1978 that has me questioning the toxins used and coverups by the military at P6hakuloa.
My first-hand experience: In the 1970s and before, there were rumors that the Army was
testing "nerve gas" at P6hakuloa on herds of feral goats. Keeping that in mind, in 1978 as I was
driving Saddle Road from Waimea to Hilo to do monthly shopping, I noticed what looked like a
crop duster flying low and spraying fluid between the highway and Mauna Loa. In those days
you could pull over off the side of the road and there was no fencing. I pulled off the road and
was the only person/car within my visual field. I began taking photos of the plane.
Suddenly, there was a screech of wheels and out of nowhere I was surrounded by several
vehicles and about ten M.P.s got out and started questioning me about why I was taking photos.
They said they were going to confiscate my camera. When I questioned why, they then said that
they were only going to take the film out of the camera. I said, rightly, that I had my son's
birthday photos on the roll of film. After walking away to discuss the situation, they said that I
could keep the film. BTW I still have those slides. It was a very intimidating experience for me.
It has been revealed that the military did sarin tests in the upper Waiakea Forest Reserve in 1967
to try to determine the distribution of this highly toxic nerve agent in a jungle environment.
Even earlier than that bomblets filled with the germ agent Bacilius globilii were detonated in the
`Ola'a Forest in 1966 (Honolulu Advertiser Nov. 1, 2002). My experience in 1978 was more
than ten years after the above -mentioned tests were conducted on Hawaii Island, yet the military
has not been forthcoming in explaining what they were testing and why it was necessary to stop
and intimidate me.
Camp Tarawa: We are still discovering unexploded ordnance after the closing of Camp Tarawa
post WW II in Waimea. In 1954, two Parker Ranch employees died and three men were severely
injured by a 60 mm mortar projectile while digging a fence post in the Keamuku area. As the
population grows in Waimea and development continues, more unexploded ordnance will, no
doubt, be found.
Com 11A
Ref. To:
Ref. Date 2 2 2025
I know when the owner of Parker Ranch, Richard Smart, initially leased the area of Pohakuloa
after WWII, it was to keep military training out of Waimea since Camp Tarawa had caused great
disruption to the local population during the war. The Honoka`a Heritage Center, that I was the
director of prior to retirement from UH, has oral histories and documents that supports my
assertion.
The Pohakuloa Military Training area does not socially or economically benefit the communities
of Waimea or Hilo and it's time in Hawaii that we reassess the need for such a heavy military
presence on our islands that's causing pollution of our fragile ecosystem.