Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 10, 1 October 2006 — ROY BENHAM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ROY BENHAM

Iam Roy L. Benham, born in Kahuku, O'ahu. My father was a soldier in World War B I, coming to Hawai'i to serve.

My mother was born on Maui and is a descendant of the Cockett and Saffery families. I have two daughters; Sarah Kauiaulono Tripplet and Chrissy Kalanikapu Gove. I have three grandchildren; Christopher, Makena and Olivia. I attended Kahuku School and Kamehameha Schools and received my bachelor's degree from the University of California-Berkeley. I

was a teacher at Kamehameha Schools and a retired civilian employee of the Department of the Army. My expertise has been in organizational development and personnel management training. I have been active in Native Hawaiian affairs including the Hawaiian Studies Program in DOE, the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce, the development of chapters of the Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association and the establishment of Hawaiian civic clubs on the continent. I have served on the Trustees Board of Kawaiaha'o Church, served on the Advisory Board for Alu Like and was one of the original trustees for OHA. Recently I worked with a loeal group in assisting the substance abuse counselors at the Women's Correctional Institute at Kailua in integrating the Native Hawaiian cultural values into their counseling program. Currently, I am president of the Prince Kūhiō Hawaiian Civic Club, co-chairman of the Native Hawaiian Kāne heahh program "No Ka Ola Pono o Nā Kāne." I am also a recent initiate into the Royal Order of Kamehameha. My interest in serving on the OHA Board of Trustees is multi-faceted. Currently OHA is supporting a process by whieh the indigenous Native Hawaiian people ean attain a community service/ poliheal entity whieh will represent the majority of the Native Hawaiian people. As an OHA trustee, I would fully support this effort. Lurther, their current programs, whereby OHA assists Native Hawaiians in education, business development, culture and other activities meaningful to Hawaiians and the community as a whole, need to be continued. I believe that my experience as a kupuna will assist in continuing to develop a cooperative, meaningful and harmonious climate within the office and in the community. Discussions I have had with many Native Hawaiians and non-Native Hawaiians have shown that there are many ways in whieh a Native Hawaiian community service/ poliīieal entity would benefit the total community of Hawai'i. Lor example, upon negotiating with the federal, state and city governments, we could possibly be responsible for some of our law violators - the kind the current government entities would let us handle, i.e. substance abuse, theft, aggressive behavior and so forth. Think of the relief the courts would experience. We could also negotiate homeless measures, education, care for kūpuna and others. These are the issues that OHA ean help in accomplishing by its role in the development of the Native Hawaiian entity. This is the single most important issue facing OHA today. The entity must be established so that it ean truly represent the majority of Native Hawaiian people. I further recognize that this is a very important first step for the indigenous people of Hawai'i of whom I am a part.