Group stops construction at burial Site

TOM FINNEGAN
Native Hawaiians Andrew Cabebe, left, Jim Huff and Hank Fergerstrom linked arms using “black bears” yesterday to protest the building of a house on a Hawaiian burial ground. They were joined by another two dozen supporters on the house site of Joseph Brescia, who is trying to build on Naue Point.

By Tom Finnegan
tfinnegan@starbulletin.com

HAENA, Kauai » The construction of a beachfront home on top of an ancient Hawaiian cemetery was halted yesterday as more than a half-dozen protesters linked themselves together on the site.

The protest, carried out by a group of mostly native Hawaiians from all four major islands, ended after a peaceful eight-hour standoff. No one was arrested.

However, the protesters vowed to return if work begins anew at the site, which contains at least 30 sets of remains and has been the source of protests for months and numerous court cases stretching back to 2002.

Police told the protesters that all work would be halted until Thursday, when a hearing on a preliminary injunction is to be held in Circuit Court in Lihue.

The protesters, however, were asking yesterday for Gov. Linda Lingle to step in and condemn the property and cease work completely and forever at the burial site.

“As the (legal) process continued to fail us, we had to take matters to a higher level,” said Andre Perez, of Oahu. “The Burial Council has been undermined … and is not doing the job they were created to do.”

The seven protesters came prepared with “black bears” to make it difficult for them to be removed from the property. The “black bears,” Perez said, were used by protesters in the Pacific Northwest to keep loggers from cutting down old-growth forests. They consist of two PVC pipes connected with an elbow joint. Two protesters link hands inside the pipe, tie a rope around their wrist, connect the other end to a mountain-climbing carabiner and then use two carabiners to connect themselves inside the pipe.

The only way to remove them is to saw through them.

They removed the devices, however, when it became apparent that the half-dozen police officers who arrived at the scene would not attempt to arrest them or their two dozen supporters who entered the construction site yesterday. Construction crews that arrived in the morning left by about 10 a.m.

After eight hours at the site, protesters heard rumors that police would use Tasers to subdue them, and, according to their spokesman, Ehu Cardwell, they did not want to risk serious injury or death, as a number of the protesters had heart conditions. “They proved their point yesterday,” Cardwell added. “We will be back in force” if construction proceeds.

Kaiulani Edens-Huff, who camped out at the site for 16 weeks to protest the construction, stayed away from the protest yesterday, attending the Kauai-Niihau Burial Council meeting in Lihue. About 50 other burial supporters angrily testified that the council had failed to uphold its responsibilities, Edens-Huff added.

At the site, about 24 concrete pilings have already been poured, and at least a dozen grave markers have been removed.

The plans for the home have been approved by the county Planning Commission, the state Historic Preservation Division, the Kauai-Niihau Burial Council and others after the bones were found last year.

The homeowner, Joseph Brescia, a California businessman, bought the lot, which sits on Naue Point just off Alealea Road, in 2000 from actor Sylvester Stallone.

But numerous legal battles over the size of the house, its setback from the beach and its shoreline certification delayed construction even before the burials were found.

Brescia has said he has complied with all county and state rules and just wants a home on the lot he paid for.

“I now have no choice,” Brescia said in a prepared statement in June. “I have done what I could after learning of the burials.”

Source: StarBulletin