Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 6, 1 June 2002 — Expansion protested [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Expansion protested

On May 15, about 30 Native Hawaiians and environmentalists protested proposed military expansion plans at the existing 109,000 acre Pōhakuloa Military training area, Protesters "crashed" a VIP dinner held at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, where the U,S, Army hosted a select group of politicians, business people and county government officials to discuss the military's plan to acquire an additional 23,000 acres of Parker Ranch land to expand the Pōhakuloa Training Area, "Hawaiian people and their nation have had enough taken from them by military force," said one of the protesters, Keli'i "Skippy" īoane, a Native Hawaiian sovereignty leader from Kings Landing, "We have given our share, Take from Henry J, Kaiser, Rockefeller, Twigg Smith — all the guys that did well, Take the land from them, The Hawaiian Nation has already given more than its share," See NEWSBRIEFS on page 5

NEWSBRIEFS from page 3 Maj. Gen. James Dubik, eommander of the 25 th Infantry Division, said $693 million will be used to revamp training areas on O'ahu and Big Island as part of the ,Army's "transformation" over the next 30 years to modernize and become strategically responsive to new modes of warfare. The restructuring will include an additional 480 soldiers, 1,600 family members and more than 400 new combat vehicles in Hawai'i. The Army currently holds a dol-lar-per-year, 66-year state lease for its use of conservation and Hawaiian Home Lands at Pōhakuloa.

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