HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0343.045 2012-2014 Page 1 of 2
Cad Nair
Murashige, Laura LCIArv) L-
From: Nawahine [keauea @hawaii.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 11:28 PM
7-:!? r 39
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: res 140-13
Albert K Kaho'opi'i Jr.
PO Box 2714
Kamuela, HI 96743
March 5, 2014
Aloha council members I am Albert K. Kahoopii Jr. I am here today to speak about the ala loa trail.
When I was a young boy my grandfather a kanaka maoli took me with him. He saddle up horses and we
rode that trail when I was growing up. We rode that trail from Kahua ranch down to Kawaihae to
Mahukona and though Parker Ranch back to Kahua Ranch long before the road was even built
between Mahukona and Kahua Ranch. My family and I also used that same trail to fish, hunt, and
camp. It was on this trail, that I learned how to survive off the land. I still remember how the kanaka's
count their catch after a dive or surround a lay net one kaau is forty fish by having one fish to represent
that forty fish, next forty is also same followed by each fish then total that amount would give you a
total of your catch. We also learned how to hunt and gather on that same trail that has been used for
generations by my ohana. We all know King Kamehameha used that trail to get around the Island for
Makahiki and to check on all the ahupua'a. We still use that trail today. I know my rights as a kanaka
maoli, do you? I am also a direct descendent, the eighth generation of King Kamehameha the Great.
My son Pono'i is the ninth generation. I am showing him and my ohana this same knowledge and
history that I have learned. He is learning to respect these trails, to malama the aina. He is learning
traditional and customary subsistence rights. He is learning to gather, fish, hunt and live off the land.
He is learning the traditional and customary spiritual practices tied to these ancient places. He is
learning the mo'olelo the stories of his ancestors, kupuna and aumakua that are tied to these trails.
Practices handed down from generations before the arrival of western colonization. When my son was
born in 1992 my wife who is a kumu hula and I took our son before he could walk, on the same trails
my kupuna taught me on. We carried him in a backpack and walked the trails throughout North Kohala
all the way to Kawaihae. He learned the history of his genealogy, his ancestors, how to fish, hunt and
gather, camp, dive and pule to our kupuna and ancestors as the generations before him have done. All
parties involved in the destruction of the trail in this instance the archeologist, planning department,
county council, the state historic preservation dept. and the developer have been negligent in
identifying the historic and cultural significance of the Ala Loa trail and have failed to properly assess
the negative impacts on Hawaiian cultural practices. You are required by international, federal and
state law to protect the rights of indigenous people, to preserve and protect their lands resources and
traditional places so we may practice our traditional, subsistence and customary practices without
interference and to protect other elements of our cultural heritage that are a part of our existence as a
people. If you proceed in this manner you will be complicit in the further diminishment of our
traditional and customary rights. The Ala Loa trail is used for the perpetuation of customary,
traditional, ceremonial and subsistence practices. It is part of our cultural heritage. Furthermore the
developer went forward and graded the trail covering it with mulch with your approval. You approved
the desecration of a known historic site, the Ala Loa, for exclusive private use, violating the rights of
the Kanaka maoli. Another issue is the kapulu job done to talk story with the descendants of this area.
Again all have failed to do their job. The list of descendants included only one Kanaka Maoli (William
Comm.No. 3 f 3. 1,13—
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Page 2 of 2
Akau) the other two were the land owners (Monty Richards and Pono von Holt) who sold the land. The
interview process that was conducted did not follow the legal procedure of the cultural impact
statement process. The Kanaka Maoli chosen by some mysterious process was only interviewed by
phone. There are no written statements by them that we are able to review and verify and nothing left
for us to refer too. A clear violation of the cultural impact statement process.
You also:
❖ failed to uphold HRS Chapter 205A regarding public participation in decisions regarding public
access
❖ failed to follow the recommendations of the North Kohala Community Development Plan
❖ failed to follow the County's own subdivision rules
❖ failed to follow the SMA permit approved by the Planning Commission
❖ failed to properly review the Na Ala Hele report
❖ failed to cite the property owner for building a shoreline trail without a Public Access Plan or
approval by the Planning Department
❖ failed to protect the public by calling for a certified shoreline
❖ failed to provide a safe walkway from the parking area to the mauka-makai trail
❖ failed to provide access to cultural sites and burials as required by HSPD
❖ you failed to recognize the information found the 1935 revised law Sec 41 labeled Certificate of
title, exemption #3 showing the title transfer never happened
❖ failed to require a farm plan or any other requirement to assure that the primary use of this
state Agriculture Land Use District will be agriculture and undermined primary ag use by
permitting a community recreation center and canoe hale.
For this reason I ask that you Table the grant of easement until you can determine who owns the Ala
Loa and make pono all the wrongs that have been done.
Albert K. Kaho'opi'i Jr.
3/6/2014