Dozen protesters arrested on Mauna Kea for blocking roadway
News Release from Hawaii County PD, April 2, 2015
Twelve persons were arrested Thursday (April 2) after blocking access to construction workers who were en route to the summit of Mauna Kea to begin work on the Thirty-Meter Telescope.
“During the arrests, our officers practiced the Hawaiʻi Police Department’s core value of compassion,” said Assistant Chief Henry Tavares, who oversees police operations in East Hawaiʻi.
Earlier in the week, police were in communication with protesters opposed to the telescope, informing them that they had the right to protest peacefully and asking for a peaceful resolution and cooperation in keeping the roadway open. At that time, police informed the protesters that anyone who blocked the public road leading to the construction site would have to be arrested.
The arrests began at approximately 8 a.m. Thursday and were still in progress at noon. These individuals were taken to the Hilo police station for processing and then released after posting $250 bail:
- Ronald Fujiyoshi, 75, of Hilo
- Moanikeala Akaka, 70, of Hilo
- Joseph Kanuha, 56, of Kailua-Kona
- Eric Heaukulani, 38, of Kealakekua
- Kelii Ioane Jr., 63, of Hilo
- James Albertini, 68, of Kurtistown
- Erin O’Donnel, 40, of Kamuela
- Craig Neff, 56 ,of Pāpaʻikou
- Gary Oamilda, 66, of Ocean View
- Chase Kahookahi Kanuha, 26, of Kailua-Kona
- Dannette Henrietta Godines, 45, of Hilo
- Lambert Lavea, 27, of Mountain View
Additional enforcement was conducted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which is responsible for enforcement on property owned by the state.
WHT: Protesters Thrilled--Arrest is Ticket to Stardom, Profit
AP: Protesters arrested blocking road to Hawaii telescope site
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Mauna Kea: OHA Demands Payoffs for Mountain
Peter Apo: ...how does one bridge the apex where science slams head on into culture? ... (By giving OHA a lot of money, that's how...)
The State Land Board had signed off on a notice to proceed with construction on March 6 and now is apparently ignoring a few last-ditch legal challenges. As of this writing, undeterred, and with increasing commitment, opposition to the project has escalated to civil disobedience by protestors led by Kealoha Pisciotta, leader of the organization Mauna Kea Anaina Hou.
She is quoted as saying: “We are not giving up, and we’re standing for what we believe in.”
The protestors, in growing numbers, are intent on slowing or halting all construction-related traffic attempting to get to the construction site and police are threatening arrests. Protestors are now beginning to organize on the UH Manoa campus. The project is at a flash point.
To understand why this is so important to Hawaiians like Kealoha Pisciotta we need to understand the history as to how we got here.
(Good Idea: Lets flash back to 2008 and read Pisciotta's $50M demand letter: LINK)
An expensive, congressionally supported attempt to bridge the gap between the two sides gave rise to the Hilo-based ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, a cultural science museum and planetarium which is intended to bring the Hawaiian community and astronomers together to discuss and mitigate their differences. While ‘Imiloa has been an educational boon for Hilo, from a political perspective, it seems to have fallen short of its diplomatic objective of building a bridge between the two camps....
It would be an understatement to characterize the situation as jittery. I get the same feeling about the character, commitment, and high stakes nature of this protest movement that I had during the early days of the stop the bombing of Kahoolawe movement. In that case, Native Hawaiians took on the entire military industrial complex of the United States and the rest is history....
read ... Give Us the $50M
- Ronald Fujiyoshi
- Moanikeala Akaka
- Joseph Kanuha
- Eric Heaukulani
- Kelii Ioane Jr.
- James Albertini
- Erin O’Donnell
- Craig Neff
- Gary Oamilda
- Chase Kahookahi Kanuha
- Dannette Henrietta Godines
- Lavea Lambert