Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 12, 1 December 2011 — 'When is enough, enough?'... is the cry of our people on the island of Hawaii [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'When is enough, enough?'... is the cry of our people on the island of Hawaii

/A no'ai kakou ... /\ In our Oct. 19, 2011, ^^\ Community Meeting held Ē \ in Waimea on the / \island of Hawai'i,

our beneficiaries challenged the OHA Board of Trustees to stand up and be counted and voice our objections to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project on Mauna Kea. As everyone knows, Mauna Kea is a ceded land asset belonging to Native Hawaiians and the general puhlie. Hawaiians have considered Mauna Kea a sacred plaee

since the beginning of time. OHA is mandated by Hawaii Revised Statues Chapter 10 to protect and preserve sacred sites and to advocate for our Hawaiian people. The sacred mountain of Mauna Kea and all of its cultural sites must be protected at all costs. In an article I wrote on Mauna Kea in August of 2009, 1 cited various concerns that our administration had regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) done by the University of Hawai'i. First, the Draft EIS was premature because the state Board of Land and Natural Resources had not received or approved the four subplans it required of UH in April 2009, including: (1) a Cultural Resource Plan, (2) a Natural Resources Management Plan, (3) a Decommissioning Plan, and (4) a Puhlie Access Plan. Despite all of the objections and concerns made by our staff, the OHA Board of Trustees still voted to approve a resolution supporting the selection of Mauna Kea as the site for the proposed TMT project. Instead of approving the resolution, OHA should have sued the University of Hawaii for mismanagement of sacred ceded lands. OHA's administrator noted that the cultural resource analysis of the Draft EIS was "wholly flawed." There were also alternative sites available, such as the Chilean site at Cerro Armazones. Now the University of Hawaii is building an 18-story building on the slopes of a Mauna Kea. This latest act by the university is so egregious that it is time for all of Hawaii to

stand together to protect this precious mountain against any further assault by the university. Who do they think they are that they ean continue to desecrate our sacred mountain

and lands for their own linaneial gain? On March 14, 2009, the Honolulu Advertiser reported that Yale University paid $12M to use Mauna Kea telescopes for just 15 nights annually over 10 years. Who is proflting from all of this commercialism on our sacred mountain? Certainly not OHA or the state. This precious mountain is being subleased

by the state for $ 1 a year. Greed, Greed, Greed. The bible says that it is NOT money that is evil but man's lust for it that is evil. I am calling out a Kahea to all who love and respect the island culture and its people and all who live here to hear the cries of the people of Hawaii Island to put a stop to the desecration of Mauna Kea. Please contact your Senators and Representatives to change the law that gave the University of Hawai'i's Regents the power to have autonomy over leased ceded lands for $ 1 a year. As Trustees, we are mandated by state law to advocate for all Hawaiians and to protect sacred sites. This is an oath we recite when we take offlce. Although unpleasant and unpopular, we must take a stand against the establishment when the state allows valuable lands to be leased for $1 a year and allows the lessee to desecrate the lands that belong to the people of this state. Your comments to your Senators and Representatives and letters of support to protect Mauna Kea from further desecration will be very valuable when we speak to them about the university's mismanagement of ceded lands and lobby them to amend the law that allowed UH to do this. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Mahalo nui loa for your support. Interested in Hawaiian issues and OHA ? Please visit nty web site at www.rowena akana.org for more information or email me at rowenaa@oha.org. U

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