Mike, one of this blog’s readers, sent this, which I like a lot:
I guess another way of expressing your “CMP took all of us” sign might be this:
Mauna Kea: It’s About The Big Picture
I think it’s really important that I say something now.
I’ve been talking a lot about the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan, and I want to be very, very clear about one thing:
This is not about “sides.” It’s not about the astronomers or the business people or the Hawaiians or the labor people. It’s not about whose agenda “wins” and whose agenda “loses.”
This is about taking care of Mauna Kea. It’s all about Malama Mauna Kea in a very “big picture” way. The CMP is a process where we are taking everybody’s input and coming up with a plan that takes care of the mountain and looks to the future.
I feel very strongly about this. This is not about any one group of people and what they want. It’s a matter of everybody having their say. I’ve been meeting all the different people who have an interest in Mauna Kea, and they’re all nice people. None of them are the enemy. And I’m not the enemy, either.
We need to aloha everybody – that’s the point. No matter what side of the fence you’re on, we need to aloha you. Because we all have to live here with each other.
When we wave signs on Monday, people will be carrying signs that say “CMP Yes.” But I’m making a sign that will say, “CMP took all of us.” That’s what I’ll say when they interview me. I really feel strongly about this. It’s all of us.
If you’re going to teach the kids anything, you’ve got to teach them that we’re not fighting with each other. We’re going through a process, and it’s a good process. The process is the lesson.
Hear Radio Spots Supporting Mauna Kea CMP / Contest Winners Follow
Many have already committed to waving signs on April 6th in support of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP).
The CMP will be heard before the State Land Board in Hilo on April 8th and 9th.
Richard is encouraging others – including you – to meet them by the Kamehameha Statue at the Hilo Bayfront between 4 and 6 p.m. on Monday, April 6th. He’s even providing a pint of his Hamakua Springs grape tomatoes to each of the first 150 people who arrive (limit one per family).
He helped gather people for some radio spots that are about to hit the airwaves, too. The radio spots were done by five native Hawaiians, all explaining in their own words why they support the Mauna Kea CMP.
“This is what we have to do for the future,” says Richard, of the CMP. “We need to talk to each other, and keep our community tight. It’s not a fight between ourselves. The process is a way for people to say what they need to say, and then we’ll do the best we can for everybody. This is what we have to do.”
“It’s the process,” Richard says. “Everybody is contributing to the process. We’re all in this together.”
Listen to the six short radio clips here:
Audio: Richard Ha, farmer, Hamakua Springs Country Farms
Audio: Patrick Kahawaiola’a, President of the Keaukaha Community Association
Audio: Michael Kaleikini, Manager, Puna Geothermal Venture
Audio: Lehuanani Waipa Ah nee, Young Hawaiian Leader
“There are going to be labor people and business people there who don’t naturally find themselves on the same side, and Hawaiians and every other kind of people,” says Richard. “The labor union guys are telling me, ‘This shouldn’t be the only time we do this; that there will be other issues when we could join together for the common good, and other times we will disagree philosophically, and that’s fine. But that doesn’t mean we can’t agree when it’s mutually beneficial.’
“That’s why I’m so excited about this,” he says.
“It’s really exhilirating when you think about it that way. And that’s why I am encouraging people to bring their kids. It’s a real civics lesson for young kids.”
Final audio clip: Composite of voices supporting the CMP
Please consider joining the sign-wavers – on Monday, April 6 between 4 and 6 p.m. near the Kamehameha Statue on Kamehameha Avenue – to support the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan.
Caption Contest Winners!
What a contest! You guys are great. Richard told me a couple times, “This is really a lot of fun!” One time he told me, “Every time I want to laugh I go and read the captions.”
I, too, really enjoyed it. I was at a nice dinner party a couple nights ago, and eating dinner when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I snuck a peek and saw it was an email coming in, one that I receive when someone comments to this blog. So I surreptitiously read the caption right there at the dinner table and it was so funny that I laughed out loud. Which blew my cover, and then I had to explain. Fortunately, I have cool friends.
Richard and I agreed that it was virtually impossible to choose one best caption, and the best we could do was get it down to a three-way tie. So the following three winners are each going to receive a box of farm-fresh Hamakua Springs produce (Just wait until you see the amazing box of vegetables they put together! It makes me swoon.)
Here’s the picture again.
We did not rank these three winners. We just liked ’em all. So here they are, listed in alphabetical order by the entrant’s name.
From Baron Sekiya, of Hawaii247.org:
• Dog, “Wot brah, beef!?!” Chicken, “No, actually chicken.”
From Darren, of Island Notes:
• “Friends don’t let hens drive drunk.”
From Janice:
• “Ah! I see my stimulus chick has arrived!”
Both Richard and I had some others we really, really liked. This was hard! You guys are good, and it was so much fun that we’re going to have to do it again some day.
Baron, Darren, and Janice, please email Richard (richard@hamakuasprings.com) to arrange to pick up your produce.
Thanks, everybody.
Wave Signs on April 6th, 4-6 p.m.
There will be a “sign waving” event in support of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan, and the idea of Malama Mauna Kea, on Monday, April 6th, between 4 and 6 p.m. near the Kamehameha statue at the Hilo bayfront.
We encourage everyone to join us to show the rest of Hawai‘i how things should be done. Bring your kids; this is going to be a historic event.
Hamakua Springs will give one clamshell of grape tomatoes per family to the first 150 people who come to the event.
The Superferry just left town. That was a prime example of how not to do things.
A much better example is what we are working on right now for Mauna Kea – putting together a Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) that provides for taking care of the mountain, together with giving rangers on the mountain the power to issue tickets to offenders that are not following rules to that end.
Most people agree that to malama Mauna Kea – to take care of Mauna Kea – should be our top priority.
I also hear people saying that Mauna Kea is our kuleana. It is our responsibility. Let us take care.
One reason people have been so angry over the years was that although Mauna Kea was our kuleana here on the Big Island, it was being managed from O‘ahu by the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
The control of Mauna Kea by UH Hilo is much better, because control is here on the Big Island now. This allows us to talk story and change things if we need to. People can serve on the Kahu Ku Mauna board or the Mauna Kea Management Board. Because they are not paid, it depends on how much time and commitment one can afford to give.
Another thing people are concerned about is that there is no way to keep people from doing things that are dangerous or destructive. For example, the rangers tell about coming across unresponsive children under the age of 2. The kids cannot talk, so their parents do not know if they are okay in the high altitude or not. They deserve a ticket for being stupid.
People tear down lele, religious altars, and the rangers cannot do anything. People use two-wheel drive and slide off the mountain. Give them tickets; they could hurt other people. That does not even take into consideration the trash that the rangers have to pick up, and the spray-painted graffiti that happens. I say, give them tickets.
Cultural and religious practitioners, though, should be given free access to the mountain. I think that it is not too much to have them talk story with Kahu Ku Mauna, so they know who is legitimate and who is just trying to get around the rules. For example, if someone, as part of the culture, needs to go up the mountain for a sunrise ceremony, I think that there should no problem for that person to go up by 4 a.m. so there is enough time to prepare properly. There should be no question that this is fine. But the guys who are just trying to get around the rules should get a ticket—even if they are Hawaiian.
I testified before the Senate Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs committee last week on behalf of allowing UH Hilo to do rule-making (i.e., allowing for the Mauna Kea rangers to be able to enforce set rules). There is a safety valve to this—rule making is a public process. No one can make rules without the public having input.
This is not just a UH Hilo power grab. I personally would fight UH to the end if it ever became that.
The provision to set up a fund is not for telescope rents; it is for incidental things having to do with managing the resources on the mountain.
Some people say that DLNR should make the rules and be in control of the management of Mauna Kea. I say, “Be careful about what you wish for.”
I worry about the “game warden” mentality. I would much rather have the ability to talk story with the UH Hilo Rangers and Kahu Ku Mauna. They are here on the Big Island.
I am 1000 percent against people from other islands having a say about our kuleana, Mauna Kea.
I was not there at the recent Mauna Kea Management Board hearing, but I understand that the Kanaka Council and Hanalei Fergerstrom said that they will support the CMP if religion is acknowledged as having special status. I agree with this. But we have to make sure that we are talking about Hawaiian practices.
The CMP is about Malama Mauna Kea. I think that we all can agree that this is the most important thing and needs to be done before anything else.
Specific projects will need to stand on their own merits. They will have to follow the CMP and also do an EIS.
The Superferry did not even have a Comprehensive Management Plan. Then they also went around the EIS process. They gambled, and they lost big.
All of us, pro and con, have added to the process of Malama Mauna Kea. We are not on different sides; we are all in this together! Mahalo, everyone!
Caption Contest!
And now for something completely different, we’d like to present to you this photo:
We thought this picture needs a caption, so we’d like to offer up this challenge:
Come up with a short caption for this photo, enter it in comments at the end of this post, and we’ll pick a winner. Have fun with it!
The prize, you ask? If the winner lives around these here parts, we’ll arrange for them to stop by Hamakua Springs Country Farms in Pepe‘ekeo and pick up a specially prepared box of the freshest produce. I have been handed such a box before, and believe me, it is a glorious treat!
If your caption wins but you do not live around here, you are welcome to either fly here (on your own dime, unfortunately) and pick up your box of vegetables, or else merely sit back and bask in the glory that will be yours when we acknowledge your cunning wit here on the blog.
Let’s see what you can do! Enter your comment at the end of this post by April 1.
(This is a pretty casual contest, but the judges’ decision is final, void where illegal, and Richard and Leslie cannot enter. Good enough!)
Video: Hamakua Springs Using Old Flume to Generate Electricity
Big Island Video News has a video up on Richard Ha:
The sustainably minded Richard Ha of Pepeekeo’s Hamakua Springs Country Farm seeks to have no resource go to waste. He has even found a future use for the old sugar plantation flume on his property.
The Wai‘a‘ama flume was a part of the old Pepeekeo mill and was used to transport harvested cane. According to Ha’s blog, for many years before 1935 the hydraulic head of mountain ground water (spring water) drove a hydroelectric plant that supplied all of the mill’s needs and also supplied power for housing.
Plans to restore the flume to a power generating resource once again are underway at the farm. A new hydroelectric generator will use the flume to generate enough electricity to supply the entire farming operation, and Ha believes there will still be enough left over to allow the farm’s workers workers to plug in their future electric hybrids as an extra employment benefit.
It’s part of a 5-part series; the other Hamakua Springs videos are listed at the bottom of the page.
Part 2: And Then They Cooked For Us
(Part 1 is here: We Took Alan Wong To See The Tilapia)
And then, everyone just pitched in to prepare the food. Chef Alan took charge of the seafood bouillabaisse, while others inside the green shack started preparing salads and other dishes. People just seemed to do whatever needed to be done.
Every once in a while someone would come up to Chef Alan with a spoonful of something for him to taste, and he would taste it and tell them to add this or add that.
Outside, Conrad jumped in and started to scale the fish. Tilapia is a
very spiky fish, but Conrad did not even consider using the neoprene glove I had available. People just jumped in and backed him up.
Conrad Nonaka – Director, Culinary of the Pacific
Kevin Hopkins donated a five-pound sturgeon, and Chef Marc from the Pineapple Room did the honors.
Marc Urquidi
Then it was time to fire up the grills – one for steaks and another for fish. Conrad put two fish on the grill and told us something about leaving it for four minutes, and then he left to go help inside. When he came back out, instead of using a spatula he rocked the fish back and forth with his bare hands and flipped it that way.
I was amazed.
Inside, they used what they had and improvised. It was amazing to see.
Then Chef Alan asked me to come and taste the spicy bouillabaisse. He said he was thickening it with the tilapia meat, while the sturgeon would hold its form and stay firm.
He told me to try the red ketchup made from my grape tomatoes. “Make a fist,” he said. “Try this.” And he put a spoonful of the ketchup on the back of my fist to taste.
Next, I tried the orange tomato ketchup and then the goat cheese ketchup. He said, “Try the namasu made from your Japanese cucumber.”
He said, “You can make all that.”
I thought, “We really do need to build a certified kitchen so we can do value added production.”
Dinner was served with matching wines. Some of the people attending were Bob and Janice Stanga; Michelle Galimba and Chris Manfredi from Ka‘u; Chef and Mrs. Allan Okuda; Kevin and Dayday Hopkins; my sister Lei and her husband Dennis Vierra; my Mom Florence; June; my daughter Tracy, her husband Kimo, their daughter Kimberly and their son Kapono and his friend Matt; as well as Chef Alan’s staff and friends.
Left to right: Tracy Pa, Chris Manfredi, Janice Stanga, Ellis Hester, Laurene Oda, Chef Alan Wong, Kathy Kawashige, Leigh Ito
Left to right: Dennis Vierra, Leilani Vierra, Grandma Ha, Kimberly Pa
Ua and Michelle Galimba; Roy Tanaka; Kathy Kawashige
We sat there and ate and ate. We all had a great time chatting and talking story. Chef Alan Wong believes in sticking together through thick and thin. This was the fourth time he has done a cookout on our farm, and this time was very special. It was a great way to end a wonderful day of camaraderie.
Thank You, Chef Alan and crew!
Hawai‘i County Environmental Management Commission
I was copied in on this email yesterday, after having been confirmed by the County Council to a seat on its Environmental Management Commission, pending full Council confirmation in two weeks.
Sharron Henry
County of Hawai`i,Department of Environmental Management
Mr. Ha’s nomination for District 4 Commission member replacing Arnold was unanimously approved at the Env. Mgmt. Council Committee today. He was also advised that he did not need to appear for full council approval which should be in 2 weeks.
Hopefully Mr. Ha will be attending our next meeting in Hilo on May 27th where we can all welcome him.
I was asked to serve on this Commission several months ago and my reply was, “Anyway that I can help Mayor Kenoi, I want to do it.”
The confirmation process was very friendly. I know most of the Council folks and we all have the same basic goals for our people. We all live on the Big Island out here in the middle of the Pacific and want to do the best for our kids and future generations.
I’m very much looking forward to this work.
Attend the CMP Hearing (Apr. 8th and 9th) and Malama Mauna Kea!
Spray-painted graffiti at adze quarry
Why support the Comprehensive Management Plan for Mauna Kea? Because currently, the UH Hilo/Office of Mauna Kea Management rangers have no power to enforce problems with:
• Cultural resource damage
• Natural resource degradation issues
• Public health issues
• Safety issues
The CMP does not mean:
• new gates on the mountain
• a curb on constitutionally guaranteed religious and gathering rights (except for public safety/public health reasons)
Please attend the Land Board hearing on April 8th and 9th in support of the Comprehensive Management Plan.
Where: Hilo Hawaiian Hotel
When: April 8th and 9th, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. both days