Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 2005 — 2005 IN REVIEW [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

2005 IN REVIEW

IANUALI - »1-«,

• Mandatory leasehold£p<5nversion is repealed^y the Honolulu City Council. Supporters of ali'i trusts hail the repeal as a victory for future Hawaiian generations. • Sen. Daniel Akaka introduces the 2005 version of

his Hawaiian recognition hill in the Senate. • Lāna'i's Sol Kaho'ohalala leaves his newly re-elected state House seat to direct the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission.

PEPELUALI • The first-ever Grammy for Hawaiian music is a$arded in L.A.

The award becomes somewhat controversial, how-

ever, when it is won by an instrumental slackkey compilation alhum, Slack Key Guitar . Vohune 2, over such nominees as the Brothers 4 Cazimero, Ho'okena, Keali'i Reichel, and Willie K and Amy Hanaiali'i Oilliom.

• Aaron Mahi leaves the Royal Hawaiian Band after newly elected Mayor Mufi Hannemann replaces him

with Pearl City High School band director Miehael Nakasone. Some in the Hawaiian community protest Mahi's ouster after 23 years as bandmaster. MALAKIe^AL^/ • A federal review committee affirms its earlier recommendation that the repatriation of 83 "Forbes Cave" artifacts was flawed and incomplete. Two claimants subsequently file a lawsuit seeking the return of the items, whieh were reburied by the repatriation group Hui Mālama i nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i Nei after Bishop Museum granted the group a one-year loan of the objects. • The Akaka Bill passes the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and in the process is amended to clarify that it would not make Native Hawaiians eligible for federal Indian programs and services. • The reburial of Hawaiian remains that had been unearthed dur-

ing construction of the Ke'eaumoku Street Wal-Mart is delayed indefinitely after the state launches an investigation into alleged "desecration and injury" to the remains, whieh have been stored in a trailer at the site. The state eventually levies a $210,000 fine against the archaeologist on the project, but that ruling is currently under appeal. ^ 'APELILALlL^/ • The UH Board of Regents^ipproves new master's degree programs in Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies at Mānoa. • In a rare appearance at Merrie Monarch on their hālau's 30th anniversary, the men of Robert Cazimero's Nā Kamalei sweep the men's kahiko, 'auana and overall titles. Maile Francisco of Sonny Ching's Hālau Nā Mamo o Pu'uanahulu is named Miss Aloha Hula - an unprecedented third soloist title in a row for a hālau. • The State Auditor releases an audit of OHA that is critical in some respects but notes marked improvements in others. Mei • Hawaiian-related bills ^nat succeed at the end of the state legislative session include tougher burial law penalties, designated funding to protect vital "legacy land" natural areas and a fiscal autonomy hill for OHA. • The state Land Board approves a marine-refuge plan banning eommercial fishing in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Soon afterward, Rep. Ed Case proposes similar rules for the more extensive federal waters in the region. • After protests by farmers, UH promises not to conduct genetic modification research on Hawaiian varieties of kalo without first consulting with Hawaiians about cultural concerns. • The Hālawa-Luluku Interpretive Development project releases a draft of its federally mandated plan to mitigate the cultural impact of the H-3 freeway. The plan calls for cultural and education facilities in four distinct areas, to be used for cultural healing, preservation, education and religious purposes.

IUNE • The voyagin,£/canoes Hokule'; delegation to the Northwester Mokumanamana. Kumu Hula P a solstice ceremony on Mokun and spiritual link to what some • UH Mānoa's law school estafc Native Hawaiian Law, to focus port Native Hawaiian law stude X\i\A\--LjLr • A promised §£r(ate debat^/on several Republican senators pla • The Army releases a draft envi continued us

Valley. The i settlement w groups, is cr oughly cor \ not eon

'AUKAKE Ci-— • A federal appeals court rules tfy£ preference admission policy ^ law. Following the ruling, thou: their supporters march in out: islands and on the continent. Ti of the ruling is still pending. • The same appeals court affirms

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i and Hōkūalaka'i carry a cultural r Hawaiian Islands of Nihoa and aalani Kanahele and others conduct lanamana to re-establish a cultural eall the "kūpuna islands." lishes a Center for Excellence in on Hawaiian legal issues and supnts. the Akaka Bill is postponed after ee holds on the measure. ronmental impact statement on its e of live-fire training in Mākua 3IS, prepared as part of a legal ith Hawaiian and environmental iticized by opponents for not thorsidering alternative locations and ducting expected archaeological rveys. • A federal spending hill introduced in the U.S. Senate includes $63 million in funding for Native Hawaiian programs. ^ — 1 k Kamehameha Schools' Hawaiianriolates federal civil-rights

;ands of Hawaiians and •age throughout the / le school's appeal / '

most of a lower

court's dismissal of the Amkaki lawsuit, whieh challenges the constitutionality of OHA and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. However, the court rules that the plaintiffs may sue over OHA's use of state tax funds. The case will now proceed back to the lower court for trial on that issue. kepakemapa $* • The state signs a landmark conservaticjn agreement to transfer eontrol of Hawai'i island's 25,000-acre Wao Kele o Puna rainforest to OHA. The last unprotected lowland native forest of its kind, Wao Kele has long been at the center of controversy over native access rights and geothermal drilling for electricity generation. • Supporters of the Akaka Bill attempt to force a Senate vote on the measure through a procedure known as cloture. The scheduled eloture vote is postponed, however, due to the Hurricane Katrina emergency. Meanwhile, Sen. Akaka proposes major amendments to the

bill to assuage Bush admimstration concerns. • The Hawai'i Supreme Court rules against OHA in the agency's long- /

running suit to recover Honolulu airport ceded lands revenue from I the state. The court onee again refers the issue to the Legislature for a

poliīieal resolution. * • Lederal judge David Ezra sets a deadline for the "Lorbes Cave" burial objects to be returned to Bishop Museum. However, an appeals court

cancels the deadline while an appeal is pending in the case. 'Okakopa (ūjLjU • In one of OHA's largest grant appropriations ever, trustees eommit up to $4.4 million over the next two years to help Hawaiianfocused charter schools. • OHA is sued over its use of ceded lands revenue for Hawaiians of less than 50 percent blood quantum.

• Development construction in Kona uncovers a major collection of Hawaiian artifacts buried in a lava tube. A variety of parties are now in discussion over what to do with the objects. • Kamehameha Schools purchases lands surrounding Mo'okini Heiau in Kohala to protect the site from development. n owemapa • OHA marks 25 years since the agency's first Board of Trustees was elected in November 1980.

• Hopes for passage of the Akaka Bill this year fade as the congressional session draws to an end. Supporters vow to press for passage of / the measure again when 109th Congress' I second session begins in Ianuary, and Sen. I Akaka says he "remains confident" that the y hill will be voted on by the current members \ of congress.

kēkēmapa /l • The third annual "State of OHA and the Hawaiian Community' address is given by OHA Board Chairperson Haunani Apoliona at Kawaiaha'o Church. A

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