HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0349.834 2006-2008 "Doc ANDY" STARK, Clinical Psychologist
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P.O. Box 88 Na'alehu, Hi! 96772-0088 ~
c808'929-9438 _
FRIday July 6`", 2007
Bob Jacobson
25 Aupuni Street, Suite 200 =..J
Hilo, HI 96720
re: Your "Talk-Story f sicl" here last night
Dear Bob:
I remain fully supportive of what you are trying to do. But last night? "Not"
I should have realized that something was seriously amiss with so few people
bothering to attend anything to do with Punalu'u. Then I heard your "ground rules." I
really wanted to hear what you had to say, but your terms were unacceptable. So I stood
up and asked, "So you don't want to hear from anyone who is illiterate?" and left.
As you can tell from my attached letter to Dominic Yagong, "born and raised' here
in Ka'u too often means being illiterate. Hence my only question when Guy Enriquez
"pitched" Sea Mountain's bribes to his organization as somehow benefiting "The People"
of Ka'u: Is there any reason to believe that people "born and raised' in Ka'u would have
any help in getting {and retainingp employment with Sea Mountain? Jobs for a few elite
people who left and now want to bring that junk back here will not help any kanaka.
I don't know Pahala, and I don't like Ocean View. I know and love Na'alehu. "The
Heart" of Na'alehu is "Camp." I remember how approachable you were in Reeds Bay. On
my way home from Albhertini's, seeing you and Julie on the highway, warmly greeting
everyone, inspiring cooperation to save our aina... That's how I want to think about you.
Would you (and Julie) like to know what people who have shared Camp's small,
crowded "inadequate [sic]" homes for generations want? 'The wishes of those "born and
raised' here is what we colonists should be paying attention to.
M
Stark; PhD
copy to: Lou Korn & Jim Stonecipher Comm. No. • g
Ref. To:
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"Doc ANDY" STARK, Clinical Psychologist
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P.O. Box 88 Na'alehu, Hi! 96772-0088
c808~929-9438
FRIday July 6`", 2007
Dominic Yagong
c/o: Hawaii County Council
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
re: your survev
Dear Dominic:
Thank you for asking to "The People" of Ka'u want to do about Punalu'u.
Fifteen years ago Ka'u became my home. As the first (and still only) licensed
mental health Doctor here, I began with a "needs assessment." I thought I should find
out what "The Community" wanted rather than offering services I myself enjoy doing.
The State of Hawaii paid me to interview people here before opening my practice.
I did not expect either of my primary findings:
1.) Ka'u is, indeed, one of "the worst" places to live, according to the values of The
"First" World. Try ask Carol Ignacio. But there is an even more serious problem
here that has never been addressed. The schools here teach only a tiny elite
group of people how to read. Every Sea Mountain job will go to either this
tiny elite or a colonist like me. To survive in America literacy is not optional.
2.) There is no such thing as "The Community" of Ka'u. There are three primary
subpopulations: (1) "local," (2) First World people who want what is here and
(3) Colonists who are doing what colonists do, exploiting the native peoples.
Pamela Frierson's "The Burning Island" clearly articulated the reason: "The People" of
Ka'u have more in common with "The Third World' than with the United States. This is
changing. How should it change?
Your survey will help the Colonial Powers not The People of Ka'u. How can the
vote of one colonist erase the wishes of a dozen local people sharing one home?
Mahaia;
-,4 , ~""J Stark; PhD
enclosed: Our su (my brother & me)
copyt o Jacobson