Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 2, 1 Pepeluali 2006 — Wal-Mart is sensitive to proper care of iwi [ARTICLE]

Wal-Mart is sensitive to proper care of iwi

By Kevin McCall Wal-Mart Community Relations Wal-Mart understands that the care of iwi inadvertently discovered during construction is an important issue for Native Hawaiians and the entire eommunity in Hawai'i. We believe our kuleana, as landowner, is to care for the iwi with utmost respect for Hawaiian protocol, the laws of the state of Hawai'i and all of the recognized eultural descendants. We understand that this type of care takes time. Although the law required the State Historical Preservation Division to make its decision on whether to relocate the iwi within 48 hours of discovery in 2002, we were willing to allow more time to be sensitive to the cultural descendants and the consultation process. It was more than a year later, in mid-2003, that we received SHPD's decision that the iwi should be disinterred and moved to a single location on the Wal-Mart property. From 2002 to 2004, we had meetings where all recognized cultural descendants were invited, and we consulted with the O'ahu Island Burial Council at many of its meetings. We were proud of the substantial progress that was made on creating a unified burial treatment plan that was

accepted by the recognized cultural descendants and the State Historic Preservation Division in October 2004. After accepting the plan, SHPD presented it to the O'ahu Island Burial Council. SHPD directed the archaeologist, who was hired by the general contractor that built the store, to finish all work by Feb. 11, 2005. Although the archaeologist informed SHPD that his work was not finished, the keys to the interim curation trailer, whieh was controlled by the general contractor, were turned over to SHPD on Feb. 16, 2005, and SHPD set Feb. 18, 2005, as the reburial date. SHPD informed Wal-Mart that they would be responsible for the reburial, and Wal-Mart worked diligently to eomply with SHPD's directives. However, a few days before the reburial, we were instructed to stand down because the reburial had been cancelled. At this point, we are still waiting for notification from the SHPD as to a new reburial date. We believe enough time has passed and the iwi need to be reburied. Let's hope we ean all make a good-faith effort in the long term interest of protecting the iwi. Wal-Mart is ready to do its share to ensure the long-term protection of the iwi, but the final eall on when to rebury the iwi is up to the state. S