Musings: The Rest of the Story

Sometimes, but not often, Koko wakes me in the night to go out, and I’m invariably glad she did. Otherwise, I’d miss such spectacles as a white and growing moon hovering close to brilliant Jupiter in a swirling sea of pearlescent clouds.

By morning, they’d both set in the west, where Makaleha had lost her summit to a pile up of gray fleece. Venus was riding high in the eastern sky atop quilted, mustard-colored stripes that slowly shifted to pink and gray as the sun edged up over the horizon.

After edging out Kalaheo, Kauai High’s Red Raiders will be heading to Oahu on Saturday to play Iolani. Kick-off is 2:30 p.m., but I haven’t heard one complaint yet about the poor boys having to endure the heat. Apparently it’s only a problem on the home field, and for the big boys. In all the bitching and moaning about moving the Friday night games to Saturday afternoons, everyone seemed to forget the young kids in Pop Warner always played in mid-day.

But then, the outcry over the end of Friday Night Lights was never based in reason or reality. Otherwise, people would have been calling for Mayor Bernard Carvalho’s head. Because as leader of the county, and former director of Parks and Recreation, he’s the one responsible for the decision to end the games.

And make no mistake, it was a calculated decision, a diversionary tactic intended to take the heat off the county and instead, as one friend noted, “make people want to stomp the birds and the Sierra Clubbers.”

The state also unfairly took the heat, even though it had been working for years to try and convince the county to do something about its lights and avoid a lawsuit.

I was reminded anew of all this when I received an email in response to the article I did for Honolulu Weekly on the conflict that the county created between Friday Night Lights and the `A`o, or Newell’s shearwaters. The writer was disappointed, as was I, in the subhead that asked, "did the state drop the ball?" The answer is no. The county did.

The writer, who has been close to the action, noted:

It has been very disheartening to see the county just flat out stonewall the state and the feds on this issue over the years. The state folks you talked to were very diplomatic in how they spoke about the county but I know some of the conversations that went on and the county was less than kind in their dealings with state personnel.

The writer then went on to say:

Also, one thing you failed to mention was that the county did not have to go to this extreme in shutting off all the lights and canceling night football games. They could have focused on other areas such as Kilauea, and other games such as night soccer or tennis courts. The county cut the Friday night games to spite the state and the feds and to turn public sentiment against the birds. It's absolutely disgusting the way they handled it and what they did and I think your article should have been tougher on them.

Yes, it should have been tougher. And yes, what the county did was absolutely disgusting and despicable. The county turned people against the `A`o simply to cover its own ass. Or let’s be more precise here: to cover Bernard’s sorry ass.

In writing the article, I sent questions to the county. They sent me back some limp responses, and I followed up with more questions. Here’s what transpired on the issue of “tell me who, who responsible?”

Me: State and federal officials advised the county five years ago that its lights were resulting in unauthorized takes of protected seabirds and the issue needed to be addressed. What actions were taken in response to this warning, and when were they taken? If no actions were taken, why weren’t they? Who was charged with making decisions about county lighting when the state issued its warning?

County: The County has taken this matter very seriously throughout the years of discussion with state and federal officials. In response to the warning, we secured funding for lighting retrofits and actions we’ve taken has resulted in the recent plea agreement.

Me: Who was charged with making decisions about county lighting when the state issued its warning? Wasn’t Bernard Carvalho in charges of Parks and Rec at that time?

County: The current mayor was the Director of Parks and Recreation from 2007-2008. However, the issue at hand, i.e. exterior lighting, has always required, and continues to require, numerous departments throughout the County, as all county facilities have external lighting. It is not simply a matter solely bearing on the Department of Parks and Recreation, but requires a major collaborative effort on the part of all agencies since every county facility is subject to the ESA.

Can you believe that crock? The lights in question were ALL under Parks and Rec, and as we’ve seen, Bernard’s successor, Lenny Rapozo, is similarly disdainful of the `A`o. The attitude from Parks and Rec has been, essentially, to flip regulators the bird, which is why the feds finally came down on the county with criminal charges, something that is very rarely done.

Then in total chicken shit fashion, the county had KIF make the announcement when it released its 2010-11 sports schedule. The county weighed in with this canned comment:

“We have been working with state and federal agencies and the KIF to explore all possible scheduling options for football games in order to comply with the Endangered Species Act, and at this point in time, this appears to be the appropriate plan of action,” said Beth Tokioka, executive assistant to Kaua‘i mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr.

Of course, the county can get front page coverage of the mayor on the Path, and on the bus and at the community garden, etc., etc., but somehow it couldn’t manage to get any coverage of the mayor speaking out for the birds or explaining what really went down. And why? Because it wanted people to direct their fury at the birds instead of the mayor, who just happened to be running for re-election.

The mayor himself didn’t speak up until eight days after KIF made the announcement. That’s when the paper printed his wimpy letter to the editor in which Bernard made it seem like those big bad regulators came down on the poor little county after it had been trying so hard to be good. There wasn’t one peep about protecting Hawaii’s native heritage or one of its rare birds. It was all about fines and unacceptable risks — to the county, that is, not the birds.

I almost gagged on his closing remarks:

As a former football player myself, I understand the frustration of many and feel for our keiki and their families. However, I ask myself “what kind of role model would I be if I ignored my duties to uphold the law in this instance or any other?” It is my hope that we will come together as a community to continue to seek the best possible solutions that will serve the best interests of all.

Well, Bernard, it’s very clear what kind of role model you are because you did ignore your duty to uphold the law until the feds and their criminal charges held your feet to the fire, and then you threw the birds under the bus to take attention off your own lack of leadership.

And if you really wanted the community to seek solutions you would have consulted them. I heard one of the football coaches on the radio come up with some very good ideas, and some of the folks in the football booster clubs said they were very upset that they never had a chance to weigh in or come up with alternatives.

Why? Because you wanted a “solution” that served your best interests: getting elected.

Yes, I should have put more of that in that article, and given more space, I would have. But it’s never too late to tell the rest of the story.

Tomorrow I'll have part two.

Musings: On `A`o

The sun was already well up, casting the rain replenished landscape in a soft green-gold glow, when Koko and I went walking this morning. I’d actually risen hours before, at 4 a.m., to be exact, to put my sleep-refreshed mind to work polishing a story on Newell’s shearwaters that I knew the Honolulu Weekly editors wanted to see first thing.

I’d been working on the story all weekend, and part of the week and weekend before that, because it’s complicated and I wanted to make sure it was accurate and conveyed the bigger picture. Mostly, I wanted to make sure it was understandable to people who aren’t so familiar with the bird, the Endangered Species Act and wildlife management — stuff I’ve been writing about for well over 20 years.

So the `A`o, to use its Hawaiian name, has been much on my mind, especially since it is fledging season, the time when humans are most apt to encounter young birds as they make their maiden flight from their mountainside nesting burrows to the sea.

I thought about them when Koko and I reached the end of the road and I saw the tall poles, strung with numerous wires, that span Moalepe Valley. Just the day before I’d read a report by seabird experts urging Kauai Electric, as the utility company used to be known, to underground or re-route its wires — or at the very least, shorten its poles and plant some rows of trees to hide the lines — there and at four other key nesting valleys: Wailua, Hanalei, Lawai and Waimea.

That was 15 years ago, and none of that was done. Instead, some orange balls were strung on the wires, an act that seabird biologists said is totally ineffective in preventing collisions.

I also thought about them at 5:53 a.m., when I received an email from Caren Diamond telling me her kids had found another Newell’s fledgling, this time on the highway, near the street light at Wainiha, where it was almost run over by a car — a not uncommon demise for today’s seabirds. They had contacted Kathy Valier, who was prompted to volunteer for the Save Our Shearwaters program after becoming aware of the animosity directed toward the birds by football fans angry over the cancellation of night games.

Kathy, in turn, would take the bird into the recovery center run by the Kauai Humane Society, which now manages SOS using money donated by KIUC and, thanks to a recently negotiated plea agreement with the Department of Justice, Kauai County. That’s how it works, you see. The entities that kill birds are expected to fund efforts to prevent their extinction, like education, habitat restoration and SOS.

I hoped this little bird wouldn’t meet the same fate as the one she and her kids had rescued last Thursday and dutifully taken down to the aid station at Hanalei Liquor, one of numerous such sites set up all around the island. Caren didn’t like the idea of leaving the bird in that cold, wet little cage all night, so she’d called SOS (632-0610) and they had called Kathy, who drove down from her home in Wainiha to pick up the bird. She’d put the bird on a heating pad to warm it overnight, then taken it to the recovery room the next morning.

On Friday night, she sent Caren a photo — the bird is sporting a little “beard” of downy feathers — with this email:

I thought you might like this picture. (S)he had a temperature of 99 degrees last night (a good temp for a bird is 104 degrees), but it was 102.2 today. (S)he is very emaciated, and we did give her three rounds of electrolyte solution today. Dehydration is the biggest hurdle in stabilizing them. I am guessing it took off because it was so hungry and made it as far as your place. I understand that their parents leave them unattended for the last ten days. Hell of a way to begin life. They are such sweet beings. I wanted you to know how things had gone and send you a picture, since you hadn't taken one. I am sorry it isn't a better picture, but we were slammed. It seems like they are all fledging at once this year and the rehab room was full.

I asked Kathy if I could use the email and photo, and she said sure, but yesterday, she called me with an update: the little bird hadn’t made it. Apparently it weighed only about half what a chick should if it’s to survive at sea.

It’s hard to know why that particular bird was so emaciated. One of its parents might have been killed, and the fishing efforts of both are required to bring a chick to maturity. Or its parents might not have been able to find enough food; we don’t really know what’s going on out there at sea. Or it could just be the workings of nature. Life is tough for a seabird, and mortality is high among chicks under even the best circumstances.

Thomas Ka`iukapu, the state wildlife biologist on Kauai, confirmed in an email that the number of seabirds collected by SOS is slightly down this year from last. But it’s likely not because angry football fans are turning their backs on downed birds.

We anticipated the decrease in fallout this year, a part of it has to do with this year's El Nino event. There are scientific information that show that some species of seabirds do not breed or not return to their nesting grounds if conditions are not right. More research is needed to fully understand this phenomenon.

Other factors that have reduced the fallout numbers are less lighting on Kauai during the SOS season. There have been voluntary compliance from the Kauai community to turn off unnecessary lights during the SOS season. The people of Kauai have played an instrumental role in this endeavor to support the Save Our Shearwater program. We continue to work with local businesses, County and State agencies through the Kauai Seabird Habitat Conservation Planning office. As you know, the County of Kauai decided not to run the KIF night football games this year. This has, in my opinion helped reduce some of the seabird fallout this season.

I understand the disappointment over the cancelled night games. One of my friends was telling me about the impact. His wife missed many of their son’s games because she has to work on Saturdays, and a shortage of referees has wreaked havoc with scheduling games for the other football teams. As a result, some of the younger kids — we’re talking 8 and 9 years old — are waking up at 5 am. on Sundays so they can get to the field for a 6 a.m. weigh-in and 7 a.m. game. The Saturday high school games draw smaller crowds than Friday Night Lights, and this has meant less revenue for the KIF and the clubs that man the food booths, and so less money to support school sports.

He believes that birds and people can co-exist, but he’s frustrated that things reached the point of canceling the football games. He should be. As I found in doing my research, specific measures to prevent the decline of the `A`o were identified and clearly spelled out 15 years ago.

While some entities, like the Hyatt, responded by installing seabird-friendly lighting, others, like the county and some private businesses, directed their money and effort into other things. And that continued until this year, when the feds, and Earthjustice, stepped in and held their feet to the fire. The St. Regis — the largest single source of light-attraction bird deaths on Kauai — paid up and agreed to fix its lights. So did the county. KIUC is still fighting its federal criminal charges, and trial is set for Dec. 7.

And in the way of human beings, some people donned “buck the firds” T-shirts and others put `A’o chicks on heating pads.

"It keeps me from feeling totally helpless and hopeless about the situation," Kathy told me yesterday. "You just do what you can do."

Musings: Only Ourselves to Blame

The moon, which will be full upon rising tonight, was high in the sky and almost perfectly lined up with Jupiter when Koko and I stood beneath its light last night, me petting the horses, she sniffing the scent history of the place.

This morning, as we prepared to walk out into the waning darkness, a barn owl screeched and I realized I haven’t heard one single Newell’s shearwater this season. I used to hear their distinctive wheezing-braying calls often, right after sunset or in the pre-dawn hours, but this year, nary a one.

I’ve found several dead ones, though, including as recently as a week ago when I passed one lying between the cones of the contra lane on Kuhio Highway. Like all the others I’d seen, it was lying beneath a death trap of a dozen utility lines strung between poles.

It was a sight that filled me with deep sorrow, but might have made Rich Rapozo happy. He’s been getting a lot of publicity, thanks to his oh-so-clever “Buck the Firds” tee-shirt and ugly warning, printed in a widely distributed AP story, that some people won’t pick up the fallen fledglings this month and next because they’re angry about Friday night football games being cancelled.

Hey, Rich, I realize you and the other football families are unhappy and I sincerely do sympathize. I know, from seeing the impact on a friend of mine, that the cancellation has been a drag, a disappointment and even a hardship. But please, don’t take it out on the birds. They’re just doing what they’ve been doing for millions of years, long before people came to Hawaii and greatly disrupted their way of life. If you want to lay blame, lay it where it belongs: on KIUC, the county — heck, even you and me, since we're the consumers of those services.

KIUC has known for more than 20 years that its power lines are killing birds, but it just blew off the problem until it finally got sued, as did the St. Regis, which recently settled by agreeing to reduce its nighttime glow and contribute about $150,000 to habitat restoration projects around the island.

Similarly, the county was warned more than five years ago to shield the stadium lights. It also blew off the problem, flagrantly flouting federal law until prosecutors put the county’s feet to the fire this year.

But rather than publicly acknowledge and accept responsibility for its own foot dragging, the county threw the birds under the bus. Friday night football games were cancelled — something that state and federal wildlife officials had never requested — and so began the backlash against the birds.

It’s a part of a backlash against native species that extended as well to reviewing the management plan for the Hawaiian Humpback Whale Sanctuary and a proposal to possibly add turtles, monk seals and corals to the list of species protected in it.

Suddenly you had people like Greg Holzman — a bottom fisherman whose industry keeps pushing Wespac for higher fishing quotas, even as scientists warn the stocks are crashing — whipping up hysteria by claiming that the feds were going to impinge on folks' ocean-going freedoms.

He was joined in his crusade by another free entepriser, Scott Mijares, who recently hosted a KKCR radio show in which he railed against federal plans to “take away our culture." I can only assume he was referencing his own transplanted Southern California Republican surfer culture.

Both he and Holzman, who also moved here from America, complained bitterly that “people from outside Hawaii" would have a say in what happened in the sanctuary, because public comments were being accepted from around the world.

As a result of these widely publicized hysterics, a friend approached me last week with a petition to sign. It stated that the undersigned supported the educational functions of the sanctuary, but not any expansion. He’d been motivated to seek signatures after being told the feds planned to ban all shore fishing on Kauai — no diving, no pole fishing, no net fishing, no nothing.

I tried to convince him his information was wrong, but as a fisherman who often feeds his family with his catch, he wasn’t taking any chances. And besides, that’s what he’d heard.

“What’s next?” asked another friend who was listening to our discussion. “Communism?”

I imagine many hundreds of signatures were collected in such a manner. Yet I have to wonder what value they have, what weight they'll carry, seeing as how they were gathered under false pretenses.

I understand animosity toward the feds, especially here in colonized Hawaii. Still, it wasn’t enough for Holzman and his tour boat buddies to blast the feds and the sanctuary and moan about losing their “rights.” They also began talking stink about the animals, spreading shibai like monk seals — one of the world’s most critically endangered marine mammals — are plentiful and humpback whales, which don’t even feed here, are becoming so abundant they’re threatening to outstrip the local food supply.

When it comes to the natural world, ignorance abounds and is intentionally disseminated by those — like Rich Rapozo and his simplistic “Buck the Firds” shirt — who just want to do what they want to do, without looking at the bigger picture.

What the bigger picture shows us is that far too many creatures have already been pushed to the fringes of their habitat, the brink of extinction, and if we keep pushing, they’re going to be gone.

I'm sure a lot of folks don't care if the animal world is reduced to pets and cloned livestock. But diminishing biological diversity has an affect on humans, too. Everything has a place and a role in the web of life, and as species decline and disappear, the overall ecosystem functions less and less efficiently.

We really don’t know where the tipping point lies, that place of no return where it all falls apart. But if we keep on pushing, we just may find out.

And we won’t have anyone but ourselves to blame.

Musings: All Over the Place

It was more morning than night when Koko and I walked today, although Venus and the waning crescent moon still reigned over the sky.

Since it was lighter than usual, I got to see things I usually don’t, like the golf ball-sized toadstools growing alongside the road. A pink cloud released a sheet of gray rain over in the vicinity of the airport, and a rainbow arched out of the clouds atop Wailaleale.

Yesterday I saw a lot of rainbows — about six, if I recall correctly — on my way to and from Kalihiwai, where the surf was giant, but sloppy, prompting lookey-lous to double-line the road at the bend on the river side, making it dangerously hard to get by, much to the annoyance of people who down live there, some of whom I’d gone to visit.

They informed me that the bones of three persons — one of them in a casket — and a horse had been dug up as the ground was excavated for two septic tanks so a second house can be built on the site closest to the ocean. And for a cool $2 million, it can yours.

Great. Now we’ve moved beyond excavating ancient burials and are digging up modern ones, too. While we’re on that topic, I have a story in the current issue of Haleakala Times that merges the controversy over the excavation of burials at the Whole Foods site on Oahu with the concern over the natural foods giant coming to Maui. I couldn’t help noticing that the ad running right next to my story on the website was for the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, where 900 skeletons were uncovered in 1988.

The PR person for Whole Foods finally responded to my inquiry yesterday, a mere 15 days after I made it and the day after the story was published. I’m still waiting to hear back from the Department of Land Natural Resources public information officer on an inquiry I made last week for a story on a Kauai biofuel project that came out in yesterday’s Honolulu Weekly. (I’ll post the link when it comes on line next week.)

If a public corporation wants to blow off the media, it has the right, but I have a problem with first, being unable to speak directly to state officials who make decisions that affect the public and second, waiting for the PIO to ask the question for me, and not getting a timely response.

Do you ever get the feeling folks just don’t want to answer your questions, or even hear what you have to say? That’s the only explanation I can derive for scheduling a public hearing on proposed revisions to the state Water Resource Protection Plan for 6 tomorrow night in Lihue.

Now how many people want to attend a hearing on a Friday night? And it just so happens to coincide with the parade of lights down Rice Street, when all the roads leading to the meeting site at the civic center will be closed. Let’s hope they put more thought and planning into the revisions themselves, which I will try to read and synthesize for tomorrow’s post.

I’d meant to do that this morning, but experienced bloggus interruptus when I had to zip up to Kilauea again to pick up my health food order. I’m part of a buying club, which helps keep prices way down, and the monthly stockpile came in today.

Saw two more rainbows on the way there, and Crack 14 must be goin’ off because the highway was packed with cars. I wonder how much longer the surfers will be able to get in there, with that fancy new house going up alongside the old cane road. But that’s one good thing about surfers. They push the access issue.

Which reminds me of the next question that Superferry security watchdog Karen Anderson plans to pose: “Dear Superferry, I want to bring a car full of fireworks for my New Year's camping trip, plus tiki torch fluid, cans of lighter fluid, two 20 gallon propane tanks and some hunting rifles. What kinds of fireworks are allowed on board and in what quantity? Also, is it okay to store the fireworks next to the lighter fluid in my trunk?”

Awright. You go, grrrl!

And while we’re on the topic of Superferry security. I got another email directing me to this blog, and this link, which contained this nugget: “Large passenger ferries, such as the ones that carry citizens between Manhattan and Staten Island, New York, pose the greatest risk of terrorism in maritime transportation, the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security warn.

“According to a Coast Guard study, large ferries received the highest risk assessment score among 80 maritime terrorist scenarios, tying with a ship carrying hazardous cargo near an urban area. DHS has also issued a bulletin warning that terrorists are scouting U.S. ferry systems for possible attack.”

But hey, no worries. We’ve got the “Unified Command” keeping us, and the Superferry, safe from the “terrorists” — you know, da guys paddling surfboards and outrigger canoes at Nawiliwili and Kahului harbors.

Musings: Good Little Parrots

I happened to be down at the County building yesterday morning, in the rain, when the Harleys came roaring in, bringing toys and food for the island's many needy citizens via the Keiki Toy and Food Ride.

Besides the stuff collected by the bikers, workers from the island's four chemical/seed companies, supported by some corporate funds, donated more than $1,000 worth of toys. Though a lot of the workers don't make much money, and many support relatives in the Philippines with their pay, they still managed to come up with a significant amount of cash to benefit a local charity.

And I couldn't help but think, how have the anti-GMO groups given back to the community lately? I don't mean individuals in those groups, because I know many are involved in worthwhile endeavors through their employment and/or volunteer activities, but the groups themselves. Because they do have money — money to fly people to other islands to testify and march, money to buy ads and run their various campaigns.

They've gotten money from the anti/pro-GMO groups that fund them, money from selling tee-shirts, money from donations, money from a benefit concert, money that will never be fully accounted for, much as they demand full transparency in others.

Just curious why groups that supposedly formed because they're so worried about the community aren't simultaneously doing something to help it — other than push through a badly flawed bill that could help the chemical companies and the state definitively establish their pre-emptive powers over the counties.

Because Kauai is all about giving back, and I'm not seeing it from that particular segment. Perhaps it's because a lot of the newbies in those groups don't understand local culture, just like they don't know history.

Which is why they kept proclaiming — with the aid of newcomer TGI reporter Chris D'Angelo — that last summer's red shirt march on Rice Street was the biggest coming together of people ever on Kauai. 

Wrong. Take last Friday's Lights on Rice event, which had 2,000 marchers in the parade alone, and some 10,000 people total in attendance. Friday night football games regularly attracted 5,000 people, and back in the day, the union rallies attracted far larger crowds than the march, as a percentage of the total population. But since Chris doesn't know any of that, he accepts the misinformation that's fed him as fact.

Whenever I write something critical about the red shirt movement, or highlight its connection to the real estate and construction industry, I get a comment or two about how I must be working for the chemical companies. Because there couldn't possibly be any other reason for finding fault, right?

Just like I got heat when I dared to criticize the petition drive to hold an election on the KIUC smart meter opt-out fees. Oh, we're not trying to stop you from having an opinion, I was told, we just can't understand why you would express it, why you would say anything that might hurt “our side.”

The message seems to be that if you hold any sort of progressive views, you should just quietly march in lock step with all the others, parrot all the commonly held stances, and if you see something wrong or stupid going down, then look the other way and keep your mouth shut.

How, pray tell, is that any different than a county worker in, say, building or planning, who sees one of their colleagues accept a platter of sashimi, a bottle of Scotch, from a developer, but doesn't say anything, because hey, that's my co-worker, or my cousin, or my classmate?

Wrong is wrong and stupid is stupid, no matter who is doing it.

Which leads me to today's article in The Garden Island on red shirt leader Felicia Cowden — the second fawning piece that Leo Azumbuja has written about her in the past three months — which designates her as “the voice of agriculture.”

Really? Where in the world did TGI ever get that patently erroneous idea? When you consider all the real true farmers on this island who have devoted their lives to agriculture, who have struggled to actually feed large numbers of people, keep irrigation systems alive, ag lands from being developed, TGI has the hubris to proclaim a home gardener living off her investments "the voice of agriculture?”

Gee, Leo, you might want to stop parroting what you hear in the KKCR/Facebook echo chamber and get out in the community more. Because I can tell you, if you asked them that know, "who speaks for ag on this island?" they sure as heck wouldn't say Felicia. What an insult to farmers.

Musings: Movement

Koko and I walked up the mountain trail late yesterday afternoon, where clouds were softening both the golden light and the jagged ridges of Makaleha and a frisky breeze ruffled the leaves of the ohia and caused the ironwood and eucalyptus to moan and sigh, respectively.

In the distance, the ocean stretched smooth and blue until it merged with the sky, where a white moon that is edging its way toward full stood bright and bold directly above the head of the Giant.

Returning — restored, mind calm — in the gathering dusk, I heard the distinctive call of a Newell’s shearwater, perhaps heading in to tend its fluff ball chick in one of the burrows that dot the slopes of Makaleha.

The birds were back in the news yesterday, with The Garden Island publishing a press release — what TGI too often passes off as “news” — from KIUC talking about how it plans to spend $11 million protecting the birds. But only half of that is actually going to be used to change the utility lines that are killing birds. Much of the rest will be spent on studies with one primary purpose: trying to show there are more birds out there than currently estimated, so KIUC can justify its high take.

Speaking of takes, I found it ironic that the St. Regis, whose bright lights kill dozens of endangered seabirds each year, prompting an Earthjustice lawsuit, is the site of today’s Save Our Seas conference.

Over at Civil Beat, reporter Michael Levine had a very thoughtful, thorough article on how efforts to protect the birds are playing out on Kauai. It had Rep. Jimmy Tokioka saying that constituents angry over the end of Friday night football had told him they might now be less inclined to help the birds.

Hmmm. One can only imagine Jimmy’s response: “I understand your frustration, but why blame the birds? After all, their precipitous decline can be directly traced to human activities.”

Nah. Knowing Jimmy, it was more likely along the lines of this: “Yeah, fucking dumb birds. Har-har, yuk- yuk.”

He's such an embarrassment.

When I interviewed Kehau Kekua about Wailua and traditional cultural practices related to the sacred and the profound — you can read the story here— we got to talking a little about the Newell’s shearwaters, or A’o. The traditional name of Wailua includes alio, which is a reference to their cry, since another name for the birds is lio.

She spoke of how Hawaiian burial practices and beliefs parallel the burrowing nesting habits of the birds, which travel the seas, but return each year to make their nests in the same place where they were hatched. So with both the birds and the kupuna, there’s this unending connection. Well, until we disrupt it, anyway:

“It has to do with burying the kupuna strategically along the coastal areas, facing the horizon, so they’re able to continue their own migrations into the spiritual realms, where life continues,” Kekua explained. “The manao [thinking] of politicians and developers is just move the bones, but the mana, the spirit, lives in the bones. It’s not a one-way trip; it’s a cyclical movement, which is why Hawaiians feel obligated to protect the iwi kupuna. When we hala, die, we leave our bodies, but in places like Wailua, that are sacred portals, our ancestors can always come back and we can mingle with our kupuna.”

In other words, as Kehau noted:

“It’s all about movement.”

And the inter-connectedness of everything.

Kehau’s Halau Palaihiwa O Kaipwuai will be performing ancient chants and hula at 4 p.m. today at Church of the Pacific in Princeville. They may still have some tickets at the gate, but it’s too late to get in on the feast that will be prepared by Stacy guys at Waipa. You can check out the halau website for more details.

If you're looking for the real deal, this is it. I know I’ll be there.

Musings: Politicos

The sky was gray-blue and the air thick, hot and still when Koko and I went out walking this morning. Cars were pleasantly few and far between, allowing Koko to stretch to the end of her long leash in pursuit of intriguing smells. As for me, I got a few heady whiffs of mock orange and deeply inhaled the fragrance of an angel’s trumpet and fresh-mown grass.

It’s the kind of muggy weather that usually prompts complaints, but after talking to a friend in the Midwest yesterday, where high humidity pushed the heat index up to a soggy, miserable 110 degrees, I knew to count my blessings.

She told of a bit of action around her house, with cops and dogs hunting an escaped inmate in the adjacent corn fields, where the temperature was a good 20 degrees hotter.

“Now who would run into a corn field on a day like this?” asked her brother, a farmer. “Must’ve been a city person.”

Since we on Kauai aren't city folk, the entire social fabric of the island is in danger of disintegrating now that late season high school football games have been moved from Friday nights to Saturday afternoons. At least, that’s the opinion offered by Rep. Jimmy Tokioka in response to KIF’s decision to shift some of the games rather than risk hefty fines if the super bright stadium lights kill endangered Newell’s shearwaters and native petrels.

According to a comment first reported by a hybrid Honolulu TV “news” station and then picked up by an AP report in today’s Star-Advertiser:

"This is all the people have, we don't have the Ala Moana Shopping Centers, we don't have some of the things the other counties have for these kids and the entire community, to just go without having football games at night is really going to hurt the social fabric of our community," State Representative from Kauai, Jimmy Tokioka said.

What's he talking about? We've got plenty of entertainment: cock fighting, night hunting, tweaking, boozing, pill-popping, wife beating, gay bashing, beach raves, bleach fishing. Oh, and don't forget adultery. wink, wink

So tell us, Jimmy, how many Saturday afternoon games are you and your homophobic friends going to attend to keep the social fabric of the island intact?

With one notable exception — Rep. Mina Morita — Kauai’s state representatives are an embarrassment. And now that Gary Hooser has resigned his Senate seat to run for Lieutenant Governor, things are even bleaker. It looks like Ron Kouchi will slide in there, even though he hasn’t officially filed papers yet. It's kind of amazing to think that someone who couldn’t even get re-elected to the County Council will end up as our one and only Senator.

Because it’s highly unlikely that Integrity Locksmith owner Dave Hamman, whose deceptive actions belie his company name, will prevail against Ron, whose yard signs inexplicably preceded his filing.

It’s also unlikely that Republican Harry Williams, who was questionably allowed to file after the deadline because of Hamman’s smarmy shenanigans, can unseat Mina, even though her district includes the Republican bastion of Princeville. As The Garden Island reported:

Hamman admitted Thursday he did the paperwork shuffle to give his party time to find a replacement for him against Morita.

“Bottom line is Gary Hooser waited so damn long to decide what he was going to do,” said Hamman, who’s now running to fill Hooser’s vacancy after originally filing to run for Morita’s state House seat.

What? Gary’s been gearing up for the LG run for two years now.

Anyway, if you want to see who is running for office in Hawaii, check out this website. The crop of County Council candidates — big yawn — is on page 27. With incumbents Darryl Kaneshiro and Lani Kawahara deciding not to return, at least we’ll have two open seat. The only question is whether they’ll be filled by Mel Rapozo and JoAnn Yukimura, who want back on since they didn’t win the mayor’s race last time around.

And that seat will, of course, go once again to Bernard Carvalho/Beth Tokioka.

Musings: Chipping Away

The mist was thick, so thick that it felt as if we were drifting among the clouds, when Koko and I walked out into the cold blackness of pre-dawn. It was caused, no doubt, by the brief rain that fell midway through the night in big, heavy drops, like small pebbles on the skylight, and then departed to leave the sky chock full of stars and all the mountain tops clear.

By the time we returned, the mist had greatly retreated, drifted far away from the road, tucked itself into the valleys, swirled itself around cinder cones, pooled into distant ghostly ponds. Yet it was still visible, even palpable, to those who cared enough to stop for a moment to see and feel.

That shifting scene serves as an apt metaphor for what’s happening today with so much of Hawaii’s native flora and fauna, as well as its indigenous culture. Reading some of the comments that are still being left on the Pondering the Path post, and then an article in The Garden Island about the dramatic decline of the endemic Newell’s shearwaters, really drove it home in an ugly way.

The Newell’s population has dropped from 80,000 in the mid-1990s to less than 20,000 today, and is continuing to decline at a rate of 60 percent every decade. Our lights and utility wires are the primary cause. These birds nest nowhere in the world but Hawaii, so when they’re gone from here, they’re gone forever. Yet KIUC still wants a permit to kill 125 each year and injure another 55.

It’s been working on the permit for the past eight years, and during that time has implemented a few token mitigation measures. Meanwhile, the birds continue to crash, literally and figuratively, but nothing of any significance is done because it’s just too expensive or bothersome or beyond the minimum legal requirements.

“We’re doing what we’re obligated to do,” [KIUC President and CEO Randy] Hee said Friday.

I imagine that when it comes to the pesky problem of imperiled native birds, Hee feels much the same way The Garden Island’s editorial writer did when he penned an opinion piece about the Path entitled “Time to move on:

We have spent far too much time and effort on this project already and there are miles still to do. Concerns for this phase have been raised and heard. Now is the time for decisive action.

What that really means, whether we’re talking about environmental issues or cultural concerns (and of course, they’re related), is damn the objections, full speed ahead. Quit spending time talking about what’s really at stake here, what might be lost by any particular course of action or whether any reasonable alternatives exist.

Just do it. Because we want it and we don’t want to deal with resistance to our wants any more.

The editorial also states:

This can not be turned into a test about measuring degrees of impact.

Why not? Isn’t that what all of the issues we’re debating so vehemently boil down to? When you’ve got species and cultures on the ropes, isn’t it all about degrees of impact?

We don’t know how far we can push the Newell’s population until it irrevocably collapses, or how much we can denigrate and suppress the Hawaiian culture in this fragile time of its renaissance until it fractures and declines once again.

But we keep acting like we do, taking just another 125 Newell’s, running a non-essential project like a bike path across sands that many hold sacred.

We keep chipping away, because we either can’t see, or don’t care, what’s happening to the whole when we do.

As Anne Punohu noted in a comment on “Pondering the Path:”

This culture is NOT DEAD. I meant it. So respect it. It is alive all around you. You must bend to IT not IT to you! Let us be respectful. If you are not Hawaiian, or hanai, or in any way knowledgable, ask first before you post judgment on what you see and here. You might just learn something.

Aloha. My goal is to educate, not dictate.

It was followed by the usual culturally derogatory remarks, of which one is particularly representative:

How bout this for education...we're in the USA now...not "old hawaii".

Chiefs don't mean shit.

Ever get the feeling that a lot of folks would just as soon the endangered birds were gone, so they didn’t have to worry about incidental take permits, that they would just as soon the Hawaiians were gone, so they didn’t have to worry about their bones and ancestors and other bothersome aspects of their culture that can’t be packaged for sale to the tourists?

I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s really behind the intensity of the debate over the path, and I believe that’s it. People are worried about what might happen if cultural pressure stemming from something as intangible as the concept of sacredness is able to effect a substantial change in the direction of an inconsequential project like a recreational path.

Heck, it just might set a nasty precedent – as nasty as the precedent of building on our beaches and hardening our coastline with a concrete path.

We know that anywhere the path is built in Wailua will have an adverse impact on iwi kupuna and the Hawaiian culture. Just as we know that installing more landscape lighting and utility lines will have an adverse impact on the Newell’s, and building along the shore will have an adverse impact on our coastline. But we keep doing it anyway, rationalizing that a little bit more won’t make any difference, until we’ve chipped away so much, that there is nothing more.

The recreational path is poorly conceived and even more poorly planned. I’ve yet to hear anyone explain just where, exactly, it is supposed to start and end, what route will it take as it encircles the island, how much it will cost and what will be lost – or rather, taken – in the process. But hey, why let those niggling questions stop us, or even slow us down? It’s time to “move on.”

Well, I, for one, and I know I’m not alone, am saying, no, it’s not. It’s time to stand firm and sort this thing out because it’s going to set some precedents, and they aren’t precedents that I and others want to live with. I don’t care if the EA has been issued, or if a small select group was planning this for years or if the federal funding will be lost if it's not used by a certain date.

Just like I don't care if KIUC has to spend a shitload of money or get its head out of the box to finally figure out a way to stop killing Newell's shearwaters.

I’m tired of the constant chipping away in the name of so-called progress -- especially when it’s being championed by people who don’t give a rat’s ass about nature or the Hawaiian culture.

I don’t know where Shilo Pa stands on the bike path, but before I left the house this morning, I had to play one of his songs, because I knew it contained the lines that speak directly to the underlying issue, and I wanted to have them going around in my head today:

“Don’t take away anymore. You already took from us before. You took our lands. Now you wanna take our sea.”