Thursday, January 17, 2013

Musings: Wailua Dirge

I literally felt a pain in my na'au when I drove past Wailua Beach this afternoon and saw the rock wall gone, the heavy equipment hovering at the edge of the sand. “Get out of there,” I thought with a growl, praying and hoping they hadn't begun cutting down trees, digging. Because it just feels so wrong, on so many levels, to risk destroying one of the most sacred places in Hawaii for a concrete recreational path. 

I'm not the only one feeling like this. A friend sent an email with only this message: 

            desecrated and destructed there today,chilling


Auwe!

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sacriledge is a disgraceful monument to self-aggrandizement. How can the county allow this abortion while Coco Palms hovers as an insult to government integrity? Why does the path need to be continuous? I am extremely disgusted with the supposed "progressive" members of the Council and, of course, the mayor. A plague on both their houses!

Anonymous said...

that wall was an eyesore

Anonymous said...

http://news.yahoo.com/ex-orleans-mayor-charged-bribery-fraud-180547781.html

Anonymous said...

7:59. That wall is going to be rebuilt

Anonymous said...

If there had been no wall before and they were building one now you all would be having a cow. You live to complain.

Anonymous said...

When people on Kauai identify problems and voice their concerns you call them complainers. When people exercise their right to file a complaint then you call them cry babies.

The abuse by Kauai's government officials have been exposed by this blog site as well as others and the trolls try to discredit the whistle blowers by childish name calling.

Slowly but surely the Powers are starting to lose the positions that give them the right to abuse their power.

Anonymous said...

OMG, a 10 ft concrete path next to a 50 ft wide and growing highway. It's the end of the world as we know it.

Bones are just bones. The dead should not be a major obstacle for the living to get on with things.

Anonymous said...

Word.

Anonymous said...

Please. There was no wall there when I was young. And my father made a really good na'au. Took all day. My mother always complained.
Get on with the path. It is the most important thing out County has done in years. And can these fools on the council please stop trying to make fireplaces illegal? Is every cracked-pot on the island now a council member?

Anonymous said...

whiners, i wanna ride my bicycle, i wana ride here, don't care if i ride over your most sacred places, more whining i wanna ride now. FU

Anonymous said...

Pedestrian safety, safe transport for those without cars, costal access for persons with disabilities are also important goals. The path is being built fully in the highway right of way over ground that has already been disturbed. This is an acceptable compromise.

Joan Conrow said...

Acceptable to you, maybe.

It's not about the wall per se. It's about the whole process of overriding cultural and environmental concerns for recreation.

It's about doing what's hewa as opposed to doing what's pono. So please, don't try to disguise it as a safety, access or alternative transportation issue. All of that is just window-dressing to ease your conscience, because those issues could be addressed in other ways and you know it.

Anonymous said...

A better compromise is to tear down the eye sore across the highway and return it to the Hawaiian people in recognition of its cultural significance as the former home of Chiefess Kapule. The real question is why kanaka must always compromise their cultural places/practices to accommodate others who apparently can't put their selfish wants aside for the indigenous people of Hawaii.

Anonymous said...

Uh no.

"t's about the whole process of overriding cultural and environmental concerns for recreation."

It's about debating these things loudly and often for over a decade and still not getting that the vast majority of us don't agree with you. The path is not a significant change in an area that is hardly pristine.

Anonymous said...

BS more fraud, waste, and abuse. How can the federal government be so stupid to be scammed over multi millions of dollars per mile for this fake alternate transportation route.

Oh yeah remember the serial killer hoopla and how Kauai's officials went on Americas most wanted and fooled the whole world. Yeah I remember that and also the crying over the planning commission quid pro quo, "we must stick together". How about the gas theft and the cover up of all the family and friends that was stealing gas from county refueling stations.

Dey do Wat eva dey like! Dey no sked! Dey get peepo in place to protect dem. Dea no fea cuz dey da ones in powa!!

I say federal prison sentences for all these dirty corrupt people. RICO charges on all of them.

Anonymous said...

Joan is the one being hypocritical. For knee jerk anti development white people like her who want to preserve their image of what the island should be it's about using cultural and environmental issues to stop development. Period.

Joan Conrow said...

"It's about debating these things loudly and often for over a decade and still not getting that the vast majority of us don't agree with you."

It doesn't matter whether you agree with me or not. This isn't a question of opinion. It's about fundamental values that some of us don't want to compromise.

And 10:36, you don't even deserve a response.

Anonymous said...

Joan always mistakes her opinions for "fundamental values." Otherwise known as 'self righteousness'

Anonymous said...

11:16 a.m. There isn't any doubt what Joan stands for and she is consistent in her writings about what she values. As this is her blog, she can write about what is important to her and obviously if you don't agree, you have the choice to avoid her blog or not rather than chastise her for her set of values. I and many others are aligned with her values thus love reading her blog.

Anonymous said...

Fundamental Values? Whose?

Shall we all be forced to wave fans as we walk to avoid stepping on ants?

Sanctimony is not all that powerful a tactic.

Anonymous said...

4:03 That IS the central issue, no appreciation for the sanctimony of life. As we get to walk/ride our lazy, fat asses on that concrete path that some idiots feel should go all around the island, there will be many more iwi and untouched coastlines to cement over.

Anonymous said...

Oh come on now. Jeezus H Christ, lest we forget the Coliseum of ancient Rome. An engineering marvel of it's time, and still yet today. And all for the entertaining enjoyment of the masses. And what a lot of bones that must have produced. And who can deny that the Hawaiian's warrior legacy didn't create a very fair share of bones? So what;s a little concrete path next to an asphalt highway across from the dilapidated remains of the iconic Coco Palms? Given what is spent on other less user friendly boondoggles enjoy it while you can, Glenn Mickens be dammed.

Anonymous said...

Can't explain it to someone who just doesn't have a connection to place, to na kupuna, to this 'aina.

Anonymous said...

11:13. Talk about grasping at straws! Pathetic.

Anonymous said...

if the original road was put in over graves, as is the case, what can we do?

close the road,
not fix the water or sewers?

what is the solution?

Anonymous said...

"Talk about grasping at straws! Pathetic." Western mind thought. Respecting na kupuna is our kuleana.

8:31 am: Obviously the previous desecration can't be undone. Future desecration can. Leave it alone.

Anonymous said...

I enjoy the path and hope I'm still able to ride a bike when it's finished. But it appears that coastal erosion is a given, and despite Wailua's recent accretion, it seems foolish to build an amenity so close to the ocean.

Anonymous said...

Just like the fireplaces. Crazy people insisting that others must obey them. The bones on this stretch were washed out to sea years ago. You want bones, dig under the golf course. But that is ok, right? Or wrong. Or whatever you nuts decide at the weekly meeting for loony cranks.

Anonymous said...

I understand respecting graves, but these are possible graves that no one has looked after, and no one can varify ancestory too.
There own familys have not kept links to these, it was their kuleana and they didnt care.

Anonymous said...

Kanaka died en masse from epidemics, whole families and communities. The link to the past could've easily been cut. Regardless, Wailuanuiahoano is a well-documented site of great cultural significance, home to our ali'i, the royal birthstone still exists, Coco Palms was the home of Chiefess Kapule and her fishponds, heiau exist from the sea all the way to the summit of Waialeale. Alii bones were hidden intentionally to prevent desecration. Western concepts of death and burial don't apply.

Anonymous said...

I agree the Western concepts differ, but are you telling me that Ali'i were buried hidden on Wailua Beach?
The proper care during exhumation and reburial of any found remains should be adequate to satisfy cultural traditions.