Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Musings: A Sham and a Shame

Let’s see, what’s new? Well, the days are getting longer now, a minute or so on either end, and already it’s not quite so black when Koko and I go out walking in the mornings.

And Kauai is finally getting its first drug treatment center, but wouldn’t ya know it, it’s a five-star job for the richy-rich refugees from Malibu, not the local lost boys. The Garden Island reports it’s near Kilauea, although proprietor Kat Conway won’t reveal the exact location because she “hopes it can keep a low profile that helps patients heal.”

I hate to break it to her, but it’s kind of hard for a 10,000-square-foot estate with a spa and a private path to a secluded beach to keep a low profile. From the pictures, it’s also obviously on ag land — perhaps a former vacation rental? — so I hope she got a special use permit.

Of course, if it was a rehab center for locals, you know folks would be squawking their heads off, with the NIMBY factor running high.

So as the rich get to deal with their demons in luxurious seclusion, served by a butler, chef and trainer, the poor addicts get their asses thrown in jail. And that's really a shame — if you believe in justice, that is.

Reforming the drug laws is a topic I’ll take up on my radio show this Thursday, which runs from 4 to 6 p.m. on KKCR (www.kkcr.org, FM 90.9, 91.9, 92.7). I’ll have two guests from LEAP — Law Enforcement Against Prohibition — talking about the national scene and Maui Sen. J. Kalani English and Jeanne Ohta of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii talking about local initiatives, including the decriminalization of marijuana, a bill to license medical marijuana dispensaries and more. I hope you, and Police Chief Darryl Perry, will tune in. We’ll be taking questions, too, at 808-826-7771.

What else is happening? Oh, yes, the Kauai-Niihau Island Burial Council is finally going to have a meeting, the first in many months, and the oft-amended Burial Treatment Plan for Joe Brescia’s lot in Naue is finally on the agenda, which was finally released, just four days before the meeting.

Of course, it’s all teetering on the edge of meaninglessness, seeing as how the house atop the burials is nearly complete and the Planning Commissioners already made it quite clear that they won’t do anything even if the Burial Council again rejects the BTP.

It’s all been a giant sham, with the many revisions of what is essentially the same plan, the pretense at consultation with interested parties, Gov. Lingle’s lengthy delays in appointing members of the Burial Council, which prevented it from having a quorum and meeting in a timely manner, the bullying of Burial Council members into believing they had no power, the quasi-judicial hearings before commissioners who were bullied into thinking that even asking the great JB to show he was in compliance with his permits — and of course, he isn't — somehow amounted to the equivalent of a “taking.”

But the pain that many are feeling over this issue, well, that part is real. As Aunty Nani Rogers noted in the email that circulated the Burial Council agenda:

I am hoping for a strong showing of bodies there, to strongly support us and stop the outrageous and flagrant acts of desecration to our na iwi kupuna and the great harm to the spirits of those that are defending them. Yes, my spirit is eha, [hurt, in pain, aching] it’s been so for over a year, not just me but many, many others. That kind of harm/damage is ana `ole, immeasurable, and the worst kind used to punish any living human being.

And that's really a shame.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Check out Pila'a on google earth. An old image but the property is is easy to recognize.

Anonymous said...

Justice is an illusion.

The world is not "fair", "equal"...good guys don't always win...the sooner that constant is accepted the better.

Anonymous said...

the bullying of Burial Council members into believing they had no power

Since when is reading the statute and the rules to the burial council "bullying" them?

the quasi-judicial hearings before commissioners who were bullied into thinking that even asking the great JB to show he was in compliance with his permits — and of course, he isn't — somehow amounted to the equivalent of a “taking.”

Such mendacious reportage. Nobody ever implied that asking someone if they were in compliance with permits would amount to a taking.

Dawson said...

Justice is an illusion.

No, justice is real. It is the result of and proportional to the amount of resistance presented to injustice.


...good guys don't always win...the sooner that constant is accepted the better.

Sufficient good guys, sufficiently motivated, can win, and have done so often enough in history.

The sooner that constant is accepted by the bad guys, the less flabbergasted they will be when it happens to them.

Anonymous said...

The myth is that the world is made up of good guys and bad guys.

Joan Conrow said...

"Such mendacious reportage. Nobody ever implied that asking someone if they were in compliance with permits would amount to a taking."

While I'll give you points for the use of mendacious, you seem to have forgotten what transpired at the PC meetings when Harold Bronstein and NHLC asked the PC to require Brescia to show he was in compliance. Maunakea Trask argued that such an action could open up the county up to a "taking" lawsuit.

Anonymous said...

Will the burial council meeting be a circus or a process? Interesting...

Anonymous said...

circus

Anonymous said...

While I'll give you points for the use of mendacious, you seem to have forgotten what transpired at the PC meetings when Harold Bronstein and NHLC asked the PC to require Brescia to show he was in compliance. Maunakea Trask argued that such an action could open up the county up to a "taking" lawsuit.

Again, that is BS, Joan. The petition last December from the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation on behalf of Puanani Rogers and Jeff Chandler was to revoke Brescia’s permit on the grounds that no burial treatment plan has yet been approved. It was never about simply asking Brescia to show he was in compliance. You are being mendacious and polemical.

Anonymous said...

"You are being mendacious and polemical."

May I cut in? I think it's called, DEMAGOGUERY

Joan Conrow said...

Actually, the petition asked the PC to order Brescia to show good cause as to why one condition of his permit still has not yet been met, even though his house is nearly finished. And it also sought to have the commission either revoke its earlier approval of the house or amend it to specify that Brescia could not build atop iwi kupuna without the express approval of the Kauai-Niihau Island Burial Council.

They could have asked him to show cause w/o revoking or amending his permit, but they were bullied into believing that if they did anything, it would be a taking.

And if you'd like to continue this "discussion" any further, you'll need to start using your name.

Anonymous said...

They could have asked him to show cause w/o revoking or amending his permit, but they were bullied into believing that if they did anything, it would be a taking.

asking him to show cause w/o revoking or amending his permit was never on the agenda or the table. Nobody ever mentioned it. Nobody ever told the commission that asking him to show cause alone would be a taking. It never happened.

Anonymous said...

Circus or not the clowns will be there.
Considering that the public testimoneny portion was voted closed at the last meeting how will the council handle the limited lament this time around.
Politely they will have to listen x and X again and again...

The big question is, Will the protesters continue to belittle and disrespect their elders?

Enigma said...

Exactly what sort of disrespect to elders was taking place, or has taken place?

A little enlightenment on the true culture of Kaua'i.

We always have the right, IF our elders are acting as konohiki representatives to question, and even remove them from a konohiki status if we feel the needs of the people are not being met.

That being said, yes, the Kupuna must be respected but if the argument or discussion is between kupuna of equal rank, stature and age, it is best to just take a few steps, be quiet and listen.

It is not your place to judge. Since you tried to bring the cultural respect element in, I feel that usually with Oahu transplants they never fully understand the Kaua'i way which is much different than the Kam 1 soaked brains of most Oahuans.

Kaua'i does things its own way.

Anonymous said...

It is not your place to judge.

I'll be the judge of that. And I sure don't need your "enlightenment" on the "true" culture of Kaua'i.

Anonymous said...

People sure do hate enlightenment don't they?