(ABOVE VIDEO) On Wednesday night at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel, Kalani Flores and Pua Case were given 10 minutes to speak during the public testimony portion of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board meeting. The two Waimea residents talked about Pohakuloa Training Area (we’ll have that story later), and their ongoing struggle against the Thirty Meter Telescope.

Video by David Corrigan

NEWS BRIEF

• Testifiers once again pressed Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustees to assist them in their fight to protect Mauna Kea from further development.
• The Thirty Meter Telescope is set to break ground on October 7, and cultural practitioners Kalani Flores and Pua Case have been unsuccessful in getting OHA to help them block the project.
• As part of their testimony, a short film entitled Sacred Mountain was shown (see below).
• Flores and Case were joined by a small crowd holding signs that read Idol No More and Ku Kia’i Mauna. After the testimony the group broke out into Hawaiian chant.

SOURCES

Here is the film that was shown during the Flores / Case testimony. Pua said it was inspired by a letter to the editor that she wrote to the local newspaper.

Sacred Mountain – Mauna Kea, Hawaii from Living Ocean Productions on Vimeo.

Kalani Flores and Pua Case address the OHA Board of Trustees in Kona, Sept. 17