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THE KANAKA MAOLI ARE HOUSELESS ,THE SOVEREIGN NATION of HAWAI'I IS THEIR HOME !
Mokule'ia park will close down at nightBy Will Hoover, Honolulu Advertiser, June 11, 2008New rules will displace homeless, but there's no city cleanup this timeBeginning Monday, Mokule'ia Beach Park on O'ahu's North Shore will be closed to the public between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.City and county officials issued a public notice regarding the change on May 16, and alerted more than a dozen tent-dwelling families staying at the park that they would have until 7 p.m. Monday to vacate the park with their possessions.
Some Mokule'ia Beach Park dwellers have been living there for years.
A number of homeless have been displaced as various beach parks have been cleaned up, reclaimed for use by the general public and declared off-limits overnight. In this case, no cleanup is involved, according to Lester Chang, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation.
The North Shore Neighborhood Board as well as the city's Parks Board have recommended that the park be closed after dark, Chang said yesterday.
Specifically, he said the overnight park closure followed the demolition in April of the park's deteriorated restroom facility.
"We tore it down because it was a hazard," said Chang, who added that without water or lighting, the remote beach park is not considered suitable for overnight usage. A replacement restroom facility is being planned, he said, although construction is not expected to begin for some time.
Meanwhile, portable toilets have been made available for daytime park users, and the park's shoreline will still be accessible to night fishers, he said. However, between sundown and sunup, the park itself will be off limits.
Chang said the overnight closure had nothing to do with city and county camping rules, which were struck down last November by the Hawai'i Supreme Court. The court ruled that authorities could not use city camping laws to justify evicting tent-dwellers from parks because the rules were too vague. Those camping regulations are being rewritten.
Chang said area service providers have been assisting any families in the park that need a place to stay.
"Our approach has been to try and be as sensitive as we can," said Chang, about moving people off the beach. "But we've still got to deal with it. It's not something we like to do. But, on the other hand, that's our responsibility.
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BananasHere is some good food info on bananas NO WONDER MONKEYS ARE SO ACTIVE!!!!After reading THIS, you'll NEVER look at a banana in the same way again!Bananas contains three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose. Combined with fiber, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet..
Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier..PMS: Forget the pills -- eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood..Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia..Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it the perfect way to beat high blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke..Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert..Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives..Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system..Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief..Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness..Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation..Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system..Overweight and at work Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady..Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach..Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature..Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan..Smoking: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal..Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack..Strokes: According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine," eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrates, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around.. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"
Love and Light,♥Angel Love♥ Source
The Last Indian Fighter fights HawaiiansIN THESE TIMES.COMINDEPENDENT NEWS AND VIEWSOCTOBER 2, 2000The Last Indian FighterSlade Gorton is American Indians'Public Enemy No.1by Jeffrey St. ClairFor years, environmentalists in the Pacific Northwest have referred to Sen. Slade Gorton, the Republican from Washington, as "Senator Skeletor." But in Indian Country he's known as the "Custer of the Senate." And with reason. For the past 25 years, Gorton has been bashing Indians as relentlessly and ruthlessly as Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms have race-baited blacks.Gorton's noxious rhetoric often turned out to be just that--rhetoric. For much of his career, he has lacked the influence to back up his overheated chest-pounding. But as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's powerful sub-committee on Interior and Related Agencies (including the Bureau of Indian Affairs), Gorton is now in a position of tremendous power over the more than 550 federally recognized Indian tribes, fully capable of turning into legislation his perverse obsession with punishing some of the poorest people on the continent.Since he became chairman in 1995, Gorton has moved against Native Americans on a myriad of fronts by attempting to slash federal support for Indian health care and schools, restrict salmon fishing rights, exert control over tribal housing developments and tax casino profits. In 1998, Gorton led the ultimately unsuccessful fight to strip Indian reservations of their sovereignty and institute means-testing for federal aid to tribes.Tribes across the country are now fighting back, vowing to help defeat Gorton in November as he runs for his fourth Senate term. A tribal PAC has already begun running ads against Gorton throughout Washington, attacking the senator not only for his record on Indians, but on the environment as well. "If you ask Indian leaders who is the enemy," says Ron Allen, a member of the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe of Washington and vice president of the National Congress of American Indians, "Gorton's would be the first name and the last name."Back in the Reagan years, the vile James Watt, the Gipper's hapless Interior Secretary, grabbed headlines by denouncing Indian reservations as "the last bastion of Communism." Watt was rebuked for his impertinence and ridiculed by political pundits as a right-wing, born-again-Christian bigot. But over the past couple of decades, Watt's cause has been sedulously carried on by Gorton.While the press savaged Watt, Gorton has been treated by the media as a more serious character, often described as "studious," "brilliant" and "mercurial." There are better descriptions of Gorton: cranky, peevish, rueful, petulant and vindictive. "He has a brusque, prosecutorial manner and the demeanor of a coroner," says a longtime staffer for a Republican senator. "He likes to bully people, even fellow senators, into taking his side."Part of Gorton's animus toward Indians appears to be personal. In the early '70s, the Lummi Nation won a landmark court case, known as the Boldt decision, giving tribes the rights to half of the steelhead and salmon returning to their spawning grounds in the Puget Sound basin. Gorton, then Washington State attorney general, was outraged by the decision and mounted two appeals to the Supreme Court. He suffered stinging rebukes in both cases and has been on a vendetta ever since.Gorton rode into the Senate in 1980 on the heels of the Reagan landslide, defeating old liberal warhorse Warren Magnuson. It was a nasty campaign, highlighted by Gorton's smearing Magnuson as being too enfeebled to be re-elected. Upon taking office, Gorton moved swiftly to settle his old scores with the tribes. In 1981, he introduced a bill that would have overturned Indian treaty rights to steelhead trout fisheries in Washington. Gorton's first term in the Senate was by all accounts uninspired, and in 1986 he lost his seat to Brock Adams, who enjoyed the support of Washington's growing environmental vote. Embittered, Gorton vowed revenge.After working as a lobbyist for the Non-Indian Negotiating Group, a coalition of corporations and white landowners seeking to weaken the sovereignty of the tribes, Gorton was back on the political scene in 1998. Campaigning as a full-fledged right-winger, Gorton was narrowly elected again to the Senate. But it wasn't until 1994--after the two moderate, senior Republicans from the Northwest who held Gorton on a tight leash, Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood, had left the Senate--that Gorton emerged from the shadows as a true Visigoth, nearly indistinguishable from Idaho's Larry Craig or that grim duo from Alaska, Frank Murkowski and Ted Stevens.The only groups to rank near Indians on Gorton's hate list are environmentalists. Upon his return to the Senate, Gorton, backed by timber industry cash, immediately went to work to unravel the Endangered Species Act (ESA). He pursued the task with such zealotry that it landed him under the scrutiny of the Senate Ethics Committee.In 1995, Gorton introduced a bill that effectively would have dismantled the ESA. Public Citizen filed an ethics complaint against Gorton when it uncovered a memo to the senator from his chief environmental aide, Julie Kays, describing how lobbyists for two anti-ESA industry coalitions had written a draft of his bill. The two groups, the National ESA Reform Coalition and the Endangered Species Coordinating Council, are bankrolled by timber, mining, ranching and power concerns, including the Northwest Forestry Association, Chevron, Kaiser Aluminum and the Idaho Power Company. "The bill takes some getting used to," Kays wrote. "However, I think that the coalitions did a tremendous job of adopting your ideas and putting them into the bill."These very groups have invested heavily in Gorton's political career. The ESA Reform Coalition had given Gorton $34,000 in campaign contributions. Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, accused Gorton of violating Senate rules by "using corporate lobbyists as an extension of his Senate staff. ... The law is clear that the public's business must be done by people on the public payroll."Gorton shrugged off the allegations of impropriety, telling the New York Times that he "was perfectly willing to get the free services of good lawyers." The coalition's lawyer, Robert Szabo, was similarly dismissive: "Senator Gorton laid out his thoughts to us, he asked our help, and we gave it to him."Nonetheless, in an admission of just how thoroughly corrupt official Washington has become, the Senate Ethics Committee refused to reprimand Gorton, ruling that "such exchanges are common and acceptable practices."Gorton has enjoyed a similarly cozy relationship with the fanatically anti-Indian Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, a coalition of nearly 500 groups that is pushing to end the tribes' right to self-government on reservation lands. Despite its claim to be a human rights group, CERA's real interests become clear on a visit to its Web site (www.citizensalliance.org), which is cluttered with references to the evils of "multiculturalism," the dangers of a global government administered by the United Nations, and intimations that tribal governments "currently deny millions of people living on or near Indian reservations their full constitutional rights."Among CERA's objectives, two stand out: to "ensure the right to own private property on or near Indian reservations" and to "ensure the fair administration of natural resources on public lands for the general welfare." Thus, it's not surprising that more than 50 percent of CERA's member organizations have an interest in mining, timber or oil and gas, and that the organization itself is closely affiliated with the anti-environmental Wise Use movement. These corporations and businesses want a return to the old days, with unfettered access to tribal lands, free from pesky environmental regulations or noisome requirements that they hire tribal workers.Since the early '90s, CERA has worked closely with Gorton and his staff on a range of anti-Indian measures, most of them unsuccessful. A few examples: In 1991, Gorton went to bat for sport and commercial fishermen by introducing a bill that would reduce the tribe's take of salmon and steelhead. Later that year, he sought to block legislation giving tribal courts jurisdiction over reservation residents who are members of other tribes. In 1995, Gorton introduced a rider bill directing that any tribe be denied at least 50 percent of self-governance funds if they fail to accommodate non-Indian water claims on reservations. The measure, a kind of senatorial blackmail, was largely aimed at his old enemies, the Lummi.In 1998, Gorton introduced CERA's dream bill, the cynically titled "American Indian Equal Justice Act." It was offered as a kind of political extortion: Surrender self-rule or lose millions in federal money. Gorton's bill, which passed the Senate but was rejected by the House, would have required all tribes to surrender their tribal sovereignty in order to receive federal funds and for all tribes getting federal money to be means-tested. Ada Deer, a member of the Menominee Tribe and former assistant secretary of Interior for Indian affairs, called the measure "termination by appropriation."There's a deeply ingrained paranoid streak to Gorton's politics. This paranoia is evident in Gorton's description of Indian tribes as being an expansionist threat to white people in the West. Such fear-mongering hasn't been heard since the press frenzy after Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull whipped Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Earlier this year on the campaign trail, Gorton boasted of his efforts to "fiercely protect the rights of [the tribes'] non-Indian neighbors." He casts his efforts as a crusade to protect little people. But in reality Gorton's chief backers are big corporations that want to continue exploiting Indian resources: coal companies, aluminum factories, timber firms and factory fishing fleets.Gorton tends to portray tribal governments as run by incompetent and power-hungry cabals that want to exert oppressive controls over white people and corporations. "I don't think Indians should be able to impose their will on non-Indians," Gorton has lamented.He argues that tribal governments should surrender their immunity from civil lawsuits. To illustrate his point, Gorton repeatedly has invoked a 1994 traffic accident involving a Yakima tribal policewoman who ran a stoplight, leading to the death of teen-ager named Jered Gamache. Gorton said that tribal sovereignty prohibited Gamache's family from suing the tribal government in non-Indian courts. (It should be noted that Gorton is an advocate of tort reform, limiting jury awards in such lawsuits in federal court.) Outrageously, Gorton even compared tribal police to the cops that tortured Haitian émigré Abner Louima. "What makes the case of Jered Gamache different from the case of Abner Louima?" Gorton proclaimed in 1997. "Tribal sovereign immunity."Later, Gorton denied making the statement. But when the Portland Oregonian confronted him with the fact that it had appeared in a press release issued by his own office, Gorton sheepishly mumbled a half-apology. But what Gorton didn't say, and the press didn't report, was that although the Gamache family couldn't sue the tribal government, it could--and did--sue the Bureau of Indian Affairs.Gorton tends to portray the federal payments to the tribes as if it were a form of welfare. Of course, the so-called Tribal Priority Allocation isn't a handout. It's a treaty obligation, a payment for the millions of acres of tribal lands seized by whites and the federal government.The senator also inveighs in moralistic tones against Indian gaming, a rallying cry of the Christian right. Gorton suggests that tribes with casinos are on their way to becoming as wealthy as multinational corporations. He argues that the tribes should be means-tested and that those making a profit should be stripped of their federal allocations. (Meanwhile, Gorton spends much of his time in the Senate defending the interests of Boeing, securing tax breaks and lavish defense contracts for this multibillion-dollar company.) Gorton's pious attacks on Indian gaming also overlook the fact that few of these operations are actually making much money.A self-described fiscal conservative who wants to abolish the IRS, Gorton also has piously suggested that tribes could more than recoup their federal payments by imposing property taxes on tribal members. Naturally, the senator thinks it's unfair that the tribes are able to levy sales taxes and other user fees on non-Indians. "When the tribes find a way to make a dollar," says Herbert Madzu Whitish, chairman of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe in Washington, "they always find a way to take that away."Last year Gorton was able to sneak through a provision that allows the Bureau of Indian Affairs to reallocate $70 million from the richest to the poorest tribes. Gorton said that the measure was intended to address "funding inequities," but tribal leaders charge that it's a back-door assault on the federal government's treaty obligations to pay tribes regardless of their financial condition. "They haven't done an analysis of who's rich and who's poor," says Wayne Shammel, an attorney for the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe in southern Oregon. "So how can they redistribute a substantial portion of our priority allocations based on someone's unilateral choice on which tribes are wealthy and which aren't?"But this is just Gorton's first step. The senator also wants to force the tribes to begin opening up their financial books, using a divide-and-conquer strategy designed to pit the tribes against each other. "Tribal nations have kept up their end of the treaty agreements made with the United States," says Mark Anthony Rolo, a member of the Bad River Ojibway tribe of Wisconsin and editor of The Circle, an American Indian newspaper. "If there's deep distrust among Indian nations toward the federal government, it's because ill-informed politicians like Senator Gorton insist on dreaming up schemes to keep us down."But Gorton finds himself on the defensive as he faces a tough re-election battle against his likely Democratic opponent, former congresswoman Maria Cantwell, who herself faces a challenge in the September primary from state insurance commissioner Deborah Senn. The tribes are a large reason the Democrats may have a shot at toppling Gorton. In 1998 the tribes formed a PAC, called the First American Education Project, that began raising money for a media campaign aimed at toppling Gorton. The Project intends to buy nearly $2 million worth of ads opposing the senator.The first ads are now beginning to air in Washington. They won't directly address Indian issues, mainly because that might backfire on the tribes. Instead the initial ads target Gorton for his role in inserting language in a military spending bill that would have overturned a federal court injunction against a gigantic cyanide-heap-leach gold mine in northeastern Washington. The mine, owned by Battle Mountain Gold, has been opposed by both environmentalists and the Colville and Nez Perce tribes.Of course, Gorton is a shrewd politician, and he has deftly exploited the tribes' ads to portray himself as a victim in order to drum up even more financial aid. Gorton's campaign coffers are now bloated with corporate cash. As of June 30, he has pocketed more than $3.8 million, and that figure is likely to double before the election. By comparison, Cantwell has raised a little more than $1.5 million and much of that has already been spent to boost her name recognition and fend off Senn.Still, the tribes have let the senator know that he's in for a fight. "We want to make a statement that if you attack the tribes there will be consequences," says Allen of the National Congress of American Indians. "Now we're able to bite back."Jeffrey St. Clair is the co-author (with Alexander Cockburn) of Al Gore: A User's Manual, just published by VersoFrom: Tane
THE SUPERFERRY CHRONICLES is the first book to describe an historically unique, spontaneous, leaderless uprising in the Hawaiian islands. As the story unfolds, we see this project riding on a wave of deception and corruption from the governors office, to the federal government, to the military, to the Hawai`i Superferry corporation. On Kaua`i, citizens took to surfboards and effectively blocked the vessel from entering the harbor. THE SUPERFERRY CHRONICLES is a story of personal and political empowerment thousands of Hawai`i's people from all parts of the community taking part in an unprecedented showdown against the latest expression of a centuries-old corporate-tourist-military intrusion into the Hawaiian way of life, landscape, and local sovereignty.
Hector Valenzuela, Molokai Times, 6 June 2008Now that the dust has started to settle after the end of another legislative session, the public can once again be reassured that our representatives put aside the public interest in favor of directives given to them by big business, and the large land owners in the state.
A key bill that illustrates this point was SB-958, which called for a 10-year moratorium on research to genetically engineering (GE) the taro plant in Hawaii. The GE of taro, in the laboratory, consists of inserting foreign exotic genes containing DNA from bacteria, viruses, antibiotics, and from other plants, into every cell of the taro plant. Hawaiians were fervently opposed to this, as they consider taro to be a sacred plant, and part of their genealogy.
Adding to the cultural concerns, critics were opposed to this research because of the health and environmental risks of releasing an exotic GE taro into the environment. A problem with the open release of living forms is that once the genie is taken out of the bottle, there is no more bringing it back inside. If future studies reveal that GE taro causes serious health or environmental problems, it would be impossible to recall because it is indistinguishable from traditional varieties.
In addition GE taro would likely contaminate non-GE plantings throughout the state. Contamination has been observed virtually in all parts of the world were GE varieties are grown. In Mexico, were corn is considered to be a sacred plant, native species in remote areas were found to be contaminated by GE varieties from the U.S., despite the fact that GE corn is not approved for planting in that country.
But we don’t have to go as far as Mexico. In Hawaii the extensive contamination of traditional varieties was found only a few years after UH released the UH Rainbow GE papaya. The GE companies so far have been unwilling to take responsibility, nor to compensate farmers, for the widespread contamination of traditional varieties, throughout the word.
In support of the moratorium were a large group of native Hawaiian and civic organizations, the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Kam Schools, the County Councils from the Big Island and Kauai, members of the Maui County Council, many farmers, and all the kupuna and taro farmers from Waipio Valley, adding to over 7,000 letters of support for SB-958.
Despite this overwhelming public support for the moratorium, the legislature not only killed the bill, but earlier added a preemptive clause that would have prevented individual counties from enacting any local legislation restricting the planting of ANY GE crops on their counties.
In opposition to this bill, the assigned spokesperson for the out-of state companies was a person of Hawaiian ancestry, and an employee of Dow Chemical, a global chemical and seed company. Unlike supporters of the bill, who were cut short after only a few minutes of testimony, he was allowed ample time to talk about his family roots, and about his company’s long-term commitment to the community.
However, in his testimony the spokesperson for these chemical and seed companies didn’t mention what citizens in other parts of the world, feel about his company’s commitment to community. One such community would be Bhopal, in India, where a chemical explosion in 1984 left over 23,000 dead, and today a third-generation of victims from chemical exposure.
Community groups, 24 years after the incident, are still calling for a clean-up of the toxic waste and of the contaminated ground water supply. Some of the company’s shareholders, including the New York City Pension Funds are also requesting that the company address the issues that linger in Bhopal.
Hector Valenzuela is a Professor and Extension Specialist at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoaersity of Hawaii at Manoa
http://www.makaihawaii.com/makai_preview_tiab.html
Tia Blankenfeld: A Heart For The Community
By Alison Stewart
Growing up around the Hokule‘a and the ocean all her life, Tia Blankenfeld has water running through her veins. As a very busy 25-year-old young native Hawaiian woman, she also doesn't waste a moment of her time as she clearly has a heart for the community and helps with countless projects. With everything on her plate, Blankenfeld barely has time for herself, yet still makes it her number one priority to finish law school.
Blankenfeld's curiosity of law was sparked when she was very young because of her family's land ownership.
“I grew up in Niu Valley and my family owns a lot of the land back there,” she says. “The Niu ahupua‘a (land division) was given to my great grandfather by his mother when she passed away.
Over the years some of the land was given away, sold, etc. by him. Then after my great grandmother passed away, we got hit with a huge estate tax (aka the “death” tax) and were forced to sell part of our property and move further up the valley.
"But that's just one of the many legal issues the family faces right now,” she adds. When Blankenfeld was about 15 years old she began attending the family meetings, and all this is what peaked her interest in law. With one year left to go at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i, Blankenfeld keeps herself busy as one of the alaka‘i (student leaders) of the ‘Ahahui o Hawai‘i (The Hui). Its mission is to ‘accept and fulfill our kuleana (responsiblites) by providing a safe and respectful forum to discuss issues from a Hawaiian perspective that is pono (morally correct). The Hui is the oldest student organization of the law school and raises significant issues of concern to native Hawaiians at the school and in the community.
“We do a lot of educational things such as symposiums and other talks,” she says. “We try to educate people on different legal issues that affect native Hawaiians. So far, I've been doing this for a year and a half and it involves a wide array of things,” she adds.
Blankenfeld recently participated in a symposium regarding native Hawaiian tradi-tional gathering rights and was sent on a trip to New Mexico, for the Federal Indian Bar Association's annual law conference. Blankenfeld's edu-cational experience has been enhanced by the Law School's recent receipt of a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant helped establish the Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law. It focuses on education, research, community outreach and the preservation of his-torical, legal, traditional and customary materials. It also offers new courses that support native Hawaiian law students. Working as a research assistant for one of the Hawaiian rights professors, Blankenfeld tries to put in at least 10 hours a week.
“Last summer my research partner and I studied a number of Indian tribes, she says. “We compared and con-trasted their government structures, land base, memberships and different laws. That was very interesting,” she adds.
This year Blankenfeld was given the opportunity to help write a new chapter in her professor's book on the Native Hawaiian Healthcare Act. Add this to her heavy 17-credit class load, and she just wants to breathe sometimes.
“I feel sometimes I never get a break between research, reading and studying,” Blankenfeld smiles. “Plus I have one of those writing intensive classes where I have to pick a topic, do all the research and write 30 to 40 page paper by the end of the semester. It's defi-nitely a lot of work and can definitely be overwhelming at times,” she adds.
When Blankenfeld completes law school, she will focus on trusts and estate planning. In addition to her hectic class schedule and school activities, Blankenfeld still manages to make time for her paddling and coaching. She paddles about three or four times a week (usually on one-man runs) and coaches the Novice B Men group two to four times a week. The Novice B group consists of the newbies with no paddling experience, whereas people in the Novice A group have paddled for at least a year.
“Although I usually coach the young girls, this year I decided to coach adults,” she says. “In a way, the adults are a little easier to deal with because they are there because they want to be there, and not because it's something they have to do. I really enjoy coaching brand new people, who don't have any knowledge of paddling. They're very moldable and haven't picked up any bad habits yet. Plus, it's fun teaching them all the different parts of the canoe and protocol,” Blankenfeld adds.
Blankenfeld has been paddling for 15 years, since she was about 10. Both her parents were coaches, so both her and her older brother got into it. When she made it to her fresh-man year in high school, she joined the Hawai‘i Canoe & Kayak Team, and competed in K1 competitions. Her team made it to various national competitions and traveled all over the mainland to compete. Blankenfeld and her partners were literally a tenth of a second away from making it into the Jr. World Championship competi-tion one year.
“Around my junior or senior year in high school I came in second and was ranked second in the nation,” she says. “We were training with the Olympic kayaking coaches from New York and highly encouraged to continue and try out for the Olympics. But, I decided to go to college instead. I wanted to have a normal life, and this would have been a huge commitment,” she added.
Though Blankenfeld paddles one-man, she prefers paddling with her six-man team. “The whole fun of paddling for me is you get to be in the water with your friends,” she says. “We always laugh and have a good time. But something I'd like to do eventually on my own is kayak the Moloka‘i Race. I've always wanted to do it when I was younger but I since I went to college on the mainland, I never ended up doing it,” she adds. “I'm just a total water person,” Blankenfeld smiles “I just love the ocean in general and all water sports, or any-thing that has to do with the ocean. When it comes to land, I'm very uncoordinated. I grew up surfing, bodysurfing, fishing and diving. I basically did everything my dad (Bruce Blankenfeld) did while I was growing up. While I was in high school, I'd go on the Hokule‘a for day sails and go with my dad to any long distance canoe races he was escort-ing,” she adds.
Blankenfeld is also the niece of Nainoa Thompson, the executive director of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and a Hokule‘a pioneer. She is extremely fortunate to be able to take advantage of what her family's legacy has to offer her. “I dabble in a little of everything,” Blankenfeld laughs. “I'm involved with everything that has to do with the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Hokule‘a. I especially help my mom (Lita Blankenfeld) since she is in charge of all the food that goes on the Hokule'a voyages and does a lot of the legwork for Uncle Nainoa. If it weren't for her, Hokule‘a would probably never leave Hawai‘i. My mom is always in the back-ground doing something. She's also an amazing paddler, a good athlete, and the best steersman in the family,” she chuckles.
Traveling is also a big part of Blankenfeld's life. Especially with Hokule‘a in her family, she has been given the opportunity to go all over the world. “My brother and I have been to a lot of places while we were growing up because my dad, uncle and basically the whole family was involved with the Polynesian Voyaging Society,” she says. “When we were little, my mom would take us to all the different places H¯ok¯ule‘a went.” Blankenfeld has been to New Zealand, Tahiti, Cooke Islands, The Marquesas Islands and Samoa to mention a few.
One of her most memorable experiences was going to the north side of Moloka‘i, paddling to different beaches and hiking around different valleys. However, her favorite by far was her adventure in Europe with her high school best friend. Together they spent a semester in Italy, had four-day weekends every week, and visited just about every country in Europe. Blankenfeld is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, went to Pepperdine University in California, transferred to George Washington University in Washington D.C., then earned her bachelor's degree there in environmental sci-ences. She ended up staying in Washington D.C. for two years when she received the opportunity to work in the U.S. Senate.
“I worked for the Chief of Staff, and I started off as a secretary, then worked my way up doing a lot more,” Blankenfeld says. “I worked on native Hawaiian health and education legislation with him since that was his focus. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go sit through hearings like a lot of the interns did, but I did go to different cancer research centers around the country to see which one Hawai‘i should model after,” she added.
Blankenfeld came home about two years ago when she was accepted by the UH Law School. Since her return home, Blankenfeld has enjoyed Hawai‘i's refreshing tight-knit community and open arms from her family and friends. When she fi nishes law school soon, she will continue to spread her warm aloha throughout the community.
..GARY T.KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN. COM East Maui farmer Beatrice Kekahuna displays the rotten bottom of a taro plant. She and other taro farmers say they are not getting enough water.
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Water panel inaction angers taro farmers
East Maui farmers claim their taro crops are dying due to inaction by a state panel
STORY SUMMARY » | READ THE FULL STORYHONOPOU, Maui » Taro farmers in East Maui say their summer crop is being ruined by a lack of water and the failure of a state commission to maintain stream flows to their patches.
Through a system of ditches that had its beginnings in 1876, East Maui Irrigation supplies 126 billion gallons of water per year to its sister firm, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., and 3 billion gallons to Upcountry Maui residents and farmers.
Native Hawaiian taro farmers have argued that the ditches are on ceded lands, a portion of which belongs to them under the Statehood Act, yet they have not received the benefits from the lands.
Alan Murakami, an attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said Alexander & Baldwin is profiting from the agreement with the state and pays only one-fifth of 1 cent per 1,000 gallons for East Maui water, while most Maui farmers pay more than 35 cents per 1,000 gallons.
The state Commission on Water Resource Management is currently reviewing stream flow standards of five areas in East Maui, including Honopou, Hanehoi, Piinaau, Waiokamilo and Wailuanui. The comment deadline is tomorrow.
FULL STORY »
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............GARY T.
KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN. COM East Maui taro farmers Stephen Hookano and Bush Martin stand in Waiokamilo Stream mauka of Hana Highway, where there is virtually no water flowing to the taro patches in Wailua. Taro farmers want more water released from ditch diversions in the mountains.
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Kubota gkubota@starbulletin. com..HONOPOU, Maui » Standing in stagnant water in a patch of wilting leaves, Beatrice Kekahuna pulls out a taro plant and presses her thumb through the rotting bottom.
"The taro's no good. We need more water ... but now with the drought, we're getting less water," said Kekahuna, 77. "We're getting less water than years ago.
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Throughout East Maui a number of taro farmers say their summer crop is being ruined by the lack of adequate water and the failure of the state Commission on Water Resource Management to maintain stream flows into their patches.
Farmers have also criticized delays in responding to their seven-year-old petition to release more water, when the response period was supposed to be 180 days.
The commission is currently reviewing stream flow standards of five areas in East Maui, including Honopou, Hanehoi, Piinaau, Waiokamilo and Wailuanui. The comment deadline is tomorrow.
Water from some 27 streams in East Maui is diverted into a 74-mile system of ditches, tunnels and flumes operated by East Maui Irrigation, a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin Inc.
Besides providing 126 billion gallons a year to its sister firm, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., East Maui Irrigation supplies 3 billion gallons to Upcountry residents and farmers, about a fifth of Maui's population, Hawaiian Commercial said.
State water resources Deputy Director Ken Kawahara said determining stream flow standards is a complex issue and required studies to look at the natural and diverted stream-flow characteristics of the region and the effects of water diversions on selected stream species.
Kawahara said in reviewing the interim stream flow standard, the commission is also receiving economic information and weighing the importance of current and potential uses.
The commission, he said, "is moving prudently to ensure that all potentially affected parties have an opportunity to comment on the information.
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The development of the irrigation ditches to capture East Maui stream water began in 1876 by sugar growers Samuel Alexander and Henry Baldwin, under a government lease during the Hawaiian monarchy.
Native Hawaiian taro farmers have argued that the ditches are on ceded lands, a portion of which belongs to them under the Statehood Act, yet they have not received the benefits from the lands.
Alan Murakami, an attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said Alexander & Baldwin is profiting from the agreement with the state and pays only one-fifth of 1 cent per 1,000 gallons for East Maui water, while most Maui farmers pay more than 35 cents per 1,000 gallons for irrigation water.
Murakami said Alexander & Baldwin has never had to prove to the commission that the amount of water it diverts is actually needed.
"The law says the one who takes the water is supposed to prove that what they need does not harm the stream or the small taro farmer," he said.
Garret Hew, Hawaiian Commercial's manager of water resources, said he would like to sit down with the taro farmers and work out an agreement.
"We believe there's enough water to go around," Hew said. "We believe the water situation can be worked out.
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Stephen Holaday, Alexander & Baldwin's president of agribusiness, said his firm is using the water efficiently.
Holaday said to conserve the use of water, Hawaiian Commercial has used drip irrigation in the fields.
He said the amount of water available through the ditch system fluctuates with the rainfall and drops significantly during summer months. The amount of water flowing through the ditches recently was about 20 million gallons a day, which is a low delivery level, he said.
"The problem is, there's a lot of below-average days, and there are some days when it's raining hard," he said.
Hawaiians point out at one stream in Waiokamilo, there is virtually no water flowing,
endangering the health of the native species.
Kekuhuna said the stream flow at Honopou has been decreasing as more urban developments occur in Upcountry Maui.
Her niece Lyn Scott said the flow is not enough to water the taro patches, where temperatures have to be below 77 degrees to keep the plants from rotting.
"A lot of taro becomes rotten or stunted," Scott said.
Scott said Hawaiians at Honopou are not asking for all the water, but only a portion, enough to grow healthy taro the way they have in the past.
"We're not asking to close down anything. ... The issue is there's not enough for Hawaiians who live here," Scott said.
Drafts of the stream flow standard assessment reports can be found online at www. hawaii. gov/dlnr/cwrm or at the public libraries in Hana, Kahului and Wailuku.
Public comments can be sent to the Commission of Water Resource Management, state Department of Land and Natural Resources, P.O.
Box 621, Honolulu 96809; or send e-mail to dlnr. cwrm@hawaii. gov.
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