Kaʻu News Briefs, Monday, Nov. 7, 2016

Preserving historic sites and responsible stewardship of Ka Pae ‘Āina O Hawaiʻi are “rooted in Hawaiian traditions that make caring for the land a cultural value,” states OHA which asks everyone to vote for its trustees on Nov. 8. Photo from OHA

OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS CANDIDATES are vying for everyone’s vote on Tuesday. Any registered voter, no mater the race or cultural background, can vote for the OHA Board of Trustee members. OHA, a state agency created at the 1978 Hawaiʻi Constitutional Convention, controls many thousands of acres entrusted for the benefit of Hawaiians. Income from real estate, investments and funding goes to grants and loans for health care, charter schools, scholarships, agriculture, economic development, historic preservation, culture, arts, environmental advocacy and many other programs. OHA’s  annual budget is about $40 million and its portfolio value is about $630 million in cash, real estate and investments.

Wao Kele O Puna is a 25,856 acre forest preserve owned by OHA. Photo from Big Island Video News

    Writing in Civil Beat recently, OHA trustee Peter Apo encourages all citizens to learn about OHA and to consider voting for OHA trustees, stating they “routinely make decisions that affect everyone in Hawaiʻi.” OHA recently supported the successful expansion of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands to make it the largest marine protected conservation district on the planet. Apo noted that OHA financially supported  the recent global convention of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, held in Hawaiʻi.    
      Regarding OHA’s land use mission, OHA’s website states: “Our  focus on protecting the ‘āina is part of a larger effort to honor the past while preparing for the future. This particular emphasis for us is rooted in Hawaiian traditions that make caring for the land a cultural value. As a result, a top priority for us is to ensure that Native Hawaiians participate in and benefit from responsible stewardship of Ka Pae ‘Āina O Hawai’i.”
      Near Kaʻu, OHA has title to the 25,856-acre Wao Kele O Puna forest makai of Volcano. It is one of the few remaining tracts of lowland rainforest in the State of Hawaiʻi, a watershed, native plant seed bank for Kīlauea Volcano, endangered species habitat and provides forest resources for native Hawaiian cultural practices.

Teaching the use of native plants for landscaping is a program  of OHA. Photo from OHA

     OHA points to its advocacy for “laws that provide transparency safeguards in the sale, gift or exchange of public lands as well as ensure that at least one member of the (state) Board of Land and Natural Resources has expertise in Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices.” OHA's protection of water resources includes becoming a “co-petitioner in the historic Nā Wai ʻEhā stream flow contested case, which helped to reaffirm the state’s responsibility to ensure that water benefits everyone and not just corporate interests.”
     On this island, OHA is attempting to work closely with the U.S. Army at Pōhakuloa Training Area to address community concerns about “destruction of land with significant cultural site and exposure to health hazards caused by residue from depleted uranium used during military exercises.” It is also involved in the analysis and community response to the Thirty Meter Telescope planned for Mauna Kea.
     OHA pledges on its website to support sustainability by “Increasing the percent of Ka Pae ‘Āina O Hawai‘i managed to create economic value, preserve cultural and natural resources and historic properties, and/or provide cultural and social opportunities for Native Hawaiians in a sustainable and balanced manner. One OHA goal is “increasing from 12% to 15%  - the percent of ahupuaʻa that are managed sustainably,” states OHA at www.oha.org
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ROBERT LINDSEY is running to keep his position as an OHA trustee. The Kamuela resident served as a trustee for 14 years and chairs the OHA board. He has also represented other organizations, sitting on the boards for Habitat for Humanity in West Hawaiʻi and West Hawaiʻi Mediation Center. In his professional life, Lindsey is retired from Kamehameha Schools, where he was the director of the Land Assets Division on Hawaiʻi Island. He also worked as a National Park Service ranger and served one term in the Hawaiʻi Legislature.
     Lindsey is endorsed by United Public Workers, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Hawaiʻi Construction Alliance, Laborers International Union, and Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons.

Robert Lindsey is running to hold his seat as the OHA trustee for Hawai`i Island Photo from bob4oha.com

     Lindsey said he lives by the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”  He expressed other core principles and values: “I do things always with Aloha and live by the teachings of Pilahi Paki, but always with the caution of Queen Liliʻuokalani. I will always choose being kind, thoughtful and considerate of others and their views. I prefer listening to talking. I believe in ethics, transparency and accountability. I mean what I say and say what I mean.”
     Lindsey is a writer,  authoring three books of fiction: Latitude 20.4 N Longitude 151.71; The 5th of July, God is Aloha.  His most recent work is Sonny Kaniho, A Profile in Hawaiian Courage.
     Former four-time trustee Oswald Stender described Lindsey in a recent Civil Beat editorial as “commiteed to the mission of OHA, hard working, and a servant to the Hawaiian people as well as the broader Hawaiʻi community.” Stender wrote: “It is important to Bob that the community works together to resolve disagreements and come up with solutions that will help the Hawaiian people and the communities in which they live to growand prosper while finding ways to live and work together harmoniousely. As a servant leader, Bob searches out common ground for projects, programs and funding.”
    Lindsey’s community positions include: Chair of Mellon-Hawaiʻi Scholars Committee; President of Kohala Ditch Foundation; Trustee of North Hawaiʻi Community Hospital; Director of Kahua Paʻa Mua; Director of Akaka Foundation for Tropical Forests; Director, Kanu O Ka ‘Aina Learning Ohana, a Charter School; Lifetime Member of Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association; Founder & Director of the Kohala Center; member of Waimea Outdoor Circle; member of Waimea Hawaiian Homesteader’s Association; and member of Hawai`i Island Legislative Delegation. See more at bob4oha.com.
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MILILANI TRASK challenges Bob Lindsey for his OHA position. The Kurtistown resident is an attorney with a law degree from Santa Clara University. She graduated with a degree in political science from University of California at San Jose and she is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools.
     Trask  is an international expert on indigenous rights and a grassroots organizer in Hawaiʻi. Her campaign website says, “Mililani Trask is driven by the abiding conviction that in defending native peoples one should be mindful to do right by the entire community at large as well. One cannot prosper at the expense of the other.”
     Concerning land use, Trask said, I think OHA is uniquely placed to ensure that we don’t just pay lip service to our Hawaiian sense of place. But we must recognize the realities of our times and be open to change to ensure that Hawaiians do not remain on the periphery, but instead have a meaningful stake in the main economy and access to all the opportunities from which they are now too often excluded. That includes being proactive and engaged in addressing the homelessness that afflicts too many Native Hawaiians.”

Mililani Trask is running for the Hawai`i Island tustee post for OHA Photo from trask4oha.com

     Trask has been appointed to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She is a founding member of the Indigenous Women’s Network, a collation of Native American Women whose work includes community-based economic development, social justice, human rights, housing and health. She has provided expert testimony to the U.S. Senate on Hawaiian Homelands. In recent years, she has advocated for the development of sustainable energy, working with the Maori of New Zealand and Native Hawaiians. She states that OHA should be involved in Hawaiʻi becoming independent from oil and other imported sources of energy.
     Her website says that she has worked with many prominient figures in international communities on human rights, including spending six years with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India.
     Trask’s endorsements include Hawaiʻi Government Employee’s Union, Local 368 Laborers’ International Union, Hawaiʻi Building Construction Trades Council, Hawaiʻi Carpenters Union, Hawaiian Mason’s Union and Iron Workers Union. Personal endorsements include those form Colleen Hanabusa,who is running to go back to the U.S. Congress, Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawananakoa, Robert Uluwehi Cazimero, Brother Noland, the late Kumu Leinaʻala Kalama Heini, and more. See www.trask4oha.com.
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THE GRAND RALLY, when Democratic candidates from around the state gather in Hilo on election night eve begins at 5 p.m. at Aunty Sally’s Luʻau Hale. Everyone is invited to hear the speeches. 

ELECTION DAY IS TOMORROW, TUESDAY, NOV. 8, and the last chance for registered voters to make a choice for U.S. President, members of the U.S. Congress and Hawaiʻi State Legislature, Office of Hawaiian Affairs and amendments to law.


VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT MEETING will be held today, Monday, Nov. 7 at Ocean View Community Center, 4 p.m. 939-7033.

EARTHQUAKE: DID YOU FEEL THAT?  is the topic on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at After Dark in the Park at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Seismic Network Manager Brian Shiro makes the presentation. Free; park fees apply.

AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

See www.kaucalendar.com