Sale all about money, not culture
It is reassuring to see that the Greenwell family is pleased with the support being thrown to keep open the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook (“Greenwells pleased about support”).
The local community in South Kona has rallied and there are plans afoot to create a nonprofit to take over (we assume buy) the garden by, somehow, finding the money. [Half of Waipio Valley is apparently a part of the sale. The two properties were valued at $10 million.] Bravo for us. Another example of a local Hawaiian community banding together trying against all odds to protect an invaluable cultural resource for the kanaka.
Yet, I am still disturbed about this case of cultural abandonment by an institution supposedly dedicated to preserving Hawaiian culture. Museums have become big business. The Bishop Museum is Dole dressed-up as cultural preservation. The museum’s interest in this “sale” is purely economic. They don’t want an ethnobotanical garden and a bunch of kalo farmers in a hard-to-reach valley far away; they want $10 million. Pineapple. They clearly are not interested in preserving culture. In case they didn’t get or read the memo, in Hawaii the culture is carried in the plants, the pele, the hula, the oli, the waa — and they cannot be housed in a building. The real Hawaiian “museum” is the aina – which they are selling to the highest bidder.
Shame.
James Martin
Captain Cook
Rename Kona Airport in memory of Ellison Onizuka
On Dec. 23 Hank Putek of Keauhou submitted an excellent letter to the editor regarding the closure of Ellison Onizuka Space Center at the Kona airport.
I agree with Hank, the Kona airport should be renamed in honor of and to preserve the memory of Ellison Onizuka. Please consider what he represents to the community and the power of a strong role model. I am a 2009 graduate of Konawaena High School, born and raised in South Kona. Upon graduating, I joined the U.S. Air Force and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy. I serve as a Human Space Flight Safety Analyst in support of NASA Johnson Space Center and the Astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Ellison, a 1964 graduate of Konawaena, went on to earn a Master of Science in aerospace engineering. Beyond his studies he became an astronaut and achieved the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force.
As stated in the West Hawaii Today paper, he was the first Japanese American selected to participate in America’s space program and the first Asian astronaut to venture into space. His life is a reminder to all citizens in Hawaii that no dream is too grand or beyond reach for our youth.
“From your vantage point, your education and imagination will carry you to places which we won’t believe possible. Make your life count – and the world will be a better place because you tried.”
Preserve the honor Ellison Onizuka brought to the country, Hawaii, Kona, and to all the past and future Konawaena graduates.
Written on Jan 28 2016, the 30th anniversary of the Challenger Disaster. My statements above are my own and do not reflect the views of the U.S. government or the U.S. Air Force.
Trey Livingston
Kailua-Kona