HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0349.234 2006-2008 Murashige, Laura
From: msunnafr@d.umn.edu on behalf of sunnafrank [msunnafr@d.umn.edu]
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 8:02 AM
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us
Cc: Yagong, Dominic; Ikeda, Donald; Yoshimoto, J; Higa, Stacy; Naeole, Emily; Jacobson, Bob;
Ford, Brenda; Pilago, K. Angel; Hoffmann, Pete
Subject: Punalu'u
TO: Hawaii County Council Members
FROM: Michael sunnafrank
RE: Resolution 169-07
I write in strong support of Resolution 169-07, The Keolalani Hanoa Resolution. 2 am a
Professor of Communication at the University of Minnesota Duluth and currently a resident
of Minnesota. However, I am an owner of a residential lot in Discovery Harbor that I plan
to build on for my nearing retirement.
I am a regular visitor to Ka'u and Punalu'u. I come twice yearly, bringing 26 University
of Minnesota students with me each time. I have just returned from my latest trip and, as
always, the atudents have the same reaction to their experience. They (and I love)
Punalu'u and Ka'u.
We visit four islands on each trip but I save the Big Island and Ka'u for the end. We
spend more time in Ka'u than on the other islands combined, much of that time at Punalu'u
taking story with friends at the pavilions, listening and making music, learning net-
fishing and opi'i picking (when conditions are safe) and absorbing what may tragically
soon become an extinct life style and perspective. Here, at Punalu'u, traditional life
continues as it does in few places on the islands. The proposed development at Punalu'u
would destroy that. You must take action to stop this.
There are alternative ways of developing an economic engine for the region that would
supply better jobs than the proposed development would. I am convinced that education,
such as my students receive during our visits, would provide such an engine. My students
learn much from our many local friends, lessons that change their lives. I am confident
that people would be drawn to such eco-culture education opportunities.
Sincerely,
Michael sunnafrank
Department of Communication
University of Minnesota Duluth
Duluth, MN 55812
218-726-6363
msunnafr@d.umn.edu
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