Vultures in the...
Hawaiian Home Lands
Isn’t it about time for the Hawaii State government to stop the court
battles and start keeping their promises to the Hawaiians?
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
~ o ~
July 21, 2007
From: SnowyOne, Kailua, HI
reply to nwrickert
If the telephone line is on Hawaiian Homelands the phish scam is peanuts to the real scam. The real scam is how Sandwich Isles Communications Company receives more than $16M dollars per year to service 1,238 customers.
Do the math.
That's $13,345.00 per year, per residential account! Sandwich Isles Communications also just received one-half Billion dollars to provide broadband to 5,400 homes.
Do the math.
That's $93,000 per home. All of those homes already have landlines and are eligible for DSL, which even including repeaters, would run around $600 per home.
Not that Sandwich Isles Communications is alone in raiding the "Universal Service Fee" fund for this scam. Mobi Communications is attempting to collect ~$1000.00 per month, per account to provide cell phone service to the same areas.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r18702718-Telephone-phish
For more, GO TO > > > Vultures of the Sandwich Isles
July 19, 2007
A CHEMICAL LEGACY
The poison in our soil:
Effects on populations living around
land treated with heptachlor
By Alexandra Charles, The Molokai Times
Heptachlor, a toxic pesticide banned in the U.S. in 1988 and classified as a probable carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency, is likely to cause ill effects to human health if exposure to the chemical is in high doses and over a long period of time.
Studies of the pesticides' effects have been limited to laboratory rodents. When fed high levels of heptachlor over a long period of time, the animals developed liver cancer. Several experts say it is reasonable to assume similar effects will occur in humans who are exposed to a high dose of heptachlor by drinking water or milk, inhaling air, or touching soil contaminated by the chemical.
"Pesticides by their nature are dangerous," explained farmer Larry Jefts. "They are created to kill stuff or stop its growth."
He added, "They may not be dangerous to you and me but they may be to some weeds and bugs. We want to be really careful, to follow rules, and to rely on science and not science fiction (when using pesticides on agricultural land)."
Research confirms pineapple companies contaminated the soil when using heptachlor to kill pests on crops. Of major concern is what impact such a regular agricultural practice in Hawaii during the late 1950s and early 1980s has on people today.
A problem arises from land use changes because when new residences are built on agricultural land that was contaminated by pesticides, homeowners are not told about the potential harmful impact to their health.
For instance, after the Hawaiian Homes Act was established in 1920, the federal government put 200,000 acres of Hawaiian land aside for homesteading by Hawaiians with 50 percent or more native blood. In Hoolehua, agricultural lots were established. It is unlikely that homesteaders were informed about what was put into the soil when the land was part of pineapple plantations.
Residents have a variety of suspicions and concerns regarding pesticides like heptachlor. One resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the number of infant gravesite markers in the north side of the Maunaloa cemetery took him aback. He pointed out that Maunaloa was once a pineapple town and said it was chilling for him to see how many children did not live more than a few days. Currently, it is difficult to uncover the cause of death for those buried in the cemetery.
The heptachlor-milk connection
David Rodrigues, another Molokai resident who is an assistant veterinarian and was once a dairy farmer on Honolulu, said heptachlor led to the crippling of the dairy industry.
Rodrigues, who started dairy farming when he was 15, explained pineapple waste from the processing factories, called pine bran, used to be fed to cattle. The pineapple bran was sold to dairy farmers for a cheap price and it made milk sweet, he said.
It was later discovered that heptachlor gets into the body fat of cattle and into their milk. According to researchers Renu Gandhi and Suzanne Snedeker of the Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New York State, using heptachlor-contaminated pineapple leaves as feed for dairy cows in Hawaii resulted in "unusually high amounts of heptachlor epoxide to appear in cow's milk sold on the island of Oahu in the early 1980s. Higher levels of heptachlor epoxide were also found in the breast milk of women who lived on Oahu during this time."
As a result, the sale of the pineapple bran feed was discontinued in the early 1980s and dairy farmers were forced to find substitute feed or shut their farms down.
Rodrigues said he used to drink raw milk from tanks at the farm. Today, at age 51, he says his stomach has become intolerant to milk.
"I love milk but I suffer badly," he said.
Rodrigues said he also had a liver problem but never found out the cause. He said he has since changed his diet.
Rodrigues said he suspects long-term ingestion of milk byproducts, from cattle who were given heptachlor-contaminated feed, may weaken a person's liver but does not have any scientific proof.
"I think the State of Hawaii overlooked researching what damage heptachlor causes when consumed," he said.
Impact on humans inconclusive
Barbara Brooks, toxicologist for the Department of Health's Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response branch, said heptachlor is a residual contaminant. She said low levels of heptachlor have shown up in some food like fish, despite the commercial sale of the pesticide being banned for the past 20 years.
The current presence of the pesticide is not too concerning, Brooks assured, since the levels are still acceptable and the produce can be eaten.
According to Qing Li, professor of Environmental Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Hawaii, the concentration of heptachlor in Molokai soil is not that high.
"We had a hard time finding heptachlor in some soil samples we analyzed," he said. "In one field, we might detect heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide in one section but not in another."
A 1996 United Nations Environment Program and Food and Agriculture Organization report explains why control actions like banning and restricting heptachlor are reasonable: "control actions have been taken for various reasons including: heptachlor's toxicity to man, other mammals, birds, fish, and other aquatic organisms, as well as a concern for bio-accumulation, persistence and environmental contamination. Of particular concern is its demonstrated carcinogenic response in laboratory rodents and its potential impact on human health from widespread environmental contamination in the food chain."
A report by Dean Baker from the Environmental and Occupational Medicine Department of Community Medicine also paints a frightening picture of heptachlor: "at high doses, heptachlor can cause dizziness, muscle tremors and spasms, convulsions, and death (…) case reports in humans (suggest) that heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide may increase the risk of developing cancer."
In one case, a Molokai resident named Edward Alfonso Sr., who used to work for Del Monte applying chemicals to pineapple fields, developed hundreds of tiny tumor nodules in his chest cavity.
His daughter, Betty Lou Alfonso-Ignacio, said both she and her mother had to have tumors removed and that her sister Marianne died from colon and lung cancer at age 48. According to Alfonso-Ignacio, her family used to live carefree beside pineapple fields that were being treated with powerful insecticides.
In 2005, Alfonso-Ignacio observed a trend of cancer occurring in people who worked in the pineapple fields like her father. She contacted Erin Brokovich's law firm in Los Angeles with the intent of filing a class-action suit against the former plantation operators, but was told she needed more evidence and records proving a link between the pineapple work and illnesses. Today, Alfonso-Ignacio said her attorneys are still working on the case.
Several studies have looked into what effect heptachlor has on mice and rats. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine, some studies show changes in the nervous system and immune function of young animals exposed to heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide during gestation and infancy.
Still, evidence of the chemical's effects on humans is not conclusive.
University of Hawaii Associate professor of chemistry, Jean-Pierre Michaud, explained scientific experiments and studies cannot clearly show cause-and-effect relationships, such as what exact effects heptachlor has on humans, because there are no constants with humans. For instance, when studying a sample of people, one must realize that traits like gender, age, diet, and lifestyle vary and all contribute to someone's level of health.
"The studies almost never give a complete picture," said Michaud.
Michaud also said people should not jump to conclusions based on studies done with heptachlor on laboratory rodents because rodents are given very high doses over a short term, whereas humans may have a low exposure to a pesticide over a long time.
"By overwhelming rodent bodies with a high amount of toxicity, all hell breaks lose," said Michaud.
He pointed out that an overdose of water or salt can be lethal and said, "it is all a question of dose."
How can people reduce the risk of exposure to heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide?
To minimize exposure to heptachlor, researchers recommend people avoid digging in the soil, or planting close to foundations of homes that were treated with heptachlor.
Also, children should be careful playing with dirt and hands should be washed thoroughly and before eating.
http://www.molokaitimes.com/articles/771916246.asp
< < < FLASHBACK < < <
November 30, 1998
Heptachlor study
will track isle students
The pineapple pesticide found
its way into the state's milk
supply 16 years ago
By Gregg K. Kakesako, Star-Bulletin
Some 200 teen-agers who were exposed to the pesticide heptachlor in tainted island milk in 1982 will be the subject of a year-long study.
The $775,000 study, commissioned by the Hawaii Heptachlor Research and Education Fund, is the second epidemiological study on the long-term health effects of the pineapple pesticide that found its way into the state's milk supply 16 years ago.
Sherry Broder, attorney who handled the lawsuit, said the study is part of a $4 million settlement to claims made from the heptachlor exposure.
So far, Broder said nothing of concern has been discovered.
Besides studies, the settlement money has been used to fund research into the pesticide and to develop educational and teaching materials, Broder said.
"I would say at the present time nothing has been discovered that would cause a parent to become concerned with regard to heptachlor," Broder said.
Broder said the current study, which will be conducted by Dr. Dean Baker of the University of California at Irvine, will match the neurological behavior and academic achievements of 200 Oahu heptachlor babies against 100 students who were not born on Oahu and not exposed to the pineapple pesticide.
However, these 100 students will have lived on Oahu for the past 10 years and will have attended island schools.
"These (200) students are now 15 and 16 years old, and it will probably be the last opportunity we will have to test them," Broder said.
Baker did an earlier, $900,000 study where blood samples from heptachlor babies were tested.
"There were no flags raised from that study," she said.
Heptachlor made its way into the milk supply through pineapple tops that were fed to cows.
Thousands of gallons of milk had to be dumped in 1982 when it was discovered that heptachlor had made its way into the supply.
By then several hundreds of babies had been drinking it for months.
http://starbulletin.com/98/11/30/news/story4.html
From The Catbird’s Forum:
Date Posted: 18:22:31 12/06/06 Wed
Author: Truth Seeker
Subject: HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS PLANS HUGE MALL
Catbird,
Great site! Nice to see some real news.
These would go in the category of Iwa birds. They are stealing food from other birds that does not belong to them.
Here is some news about the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands:
BIG BOX STORES PLANNED
Advisory board made up of developer friends of Micah Kane.
67 Acres for one of Oahu’s Biggest Malls.
DHHL run by Building Industry Representative handpicked by GOP- as political payback for party favor.
50,000 square feet of fancy new offices.
Two new commercial sites.
What in the world happened to homes for thousands of Hawaiians, many who have been waiting since the 1970’s?
How did these projects get ahead of the line?
http://www.dhhlhoap.org/article.php?story=20061019135117205
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Aug/23/ln/FP608230356.html/?print=on
Why is a panel of developer crooks running a public agency?
“I thought, what would [Ko Olina developer] Jeff Stone do if he was in my shoes, or [real estate vet, Beach Walk developer] Dick Gushman or Stanford Carr [developer of Hawaii Kai Peninsula]?”
So Kane asked them, creating a volunteer advisory board staffed with some of Hawai‘i’s top private developers and building supply firms—none of which do business with the agency.
http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/2006/08/hawaiian-homeland-improvement/
Aloha,
Truth Seeker
July 9, 2006
Homestead awards end long wait
for lucky few
One Hawaiian homestead is awarded to a woman
57 years after her father applied
By Alexandre Da Silva, Star-Bulletin
The line for a homestead was so long for Aloysius Lincoln that he never saw the end of it.
But yesterday, 57 years after the former Honolulu Gas Co. employee applied for a lease, his daughter claimed the lease awarded for the second phase of a Department of Hawaiian Home Lands project in Kapolei.
"Unfortunately, he died two years ago. He was 87," said Frances Segundo, 60, who was a baby when her father signed up for the program. "However, his legacy goes on, because this award is for our ohana, our family."
About 2,000 people showed up yesterday morning at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall, where the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands awarded 250 lots in Phase 2 and Phase 3 of in their Kaupe'a project in Kapolei.
The 52-acre subdivision has 326 lots, 76 of which were awarded in November 2005....
Segundo, a clerk at Maui Community College, said her cousin, Naira Martin, would live in the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house with her daughter, but there would always be room for another relative.
"I'm free from the rent, which is going to be over with," said Martin, 56. The $2,000 she pays each month for rent will now go toward her mortgage....
Gov. Linda Lingle, who was present for yesterday's selection meeting, said the latest awards would help the state's shortage of affordable rentals as new homeowners are able to free up rental homes and apartments....
Yesterday's crowd was a fraction of the nearly 20,000 native Hawaiians currently on the homestead waiting list, about half of which are on Oahu, said Lloyd Yonenaka, a spokesman for the Hawaiian Home Lands Department.
Even though more than 1,200 leases have been given out since 2003, the department's waiting list keeps growing, at a pace of about 100 people a month, Yonenaka said.
To qualify, applicants must have at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood and be pre-approved to afford one of the five Kaupe'a models, which range between $238,600 and $296,100 in lots averaging 5,000 square feet. The lease rent for the land under their homes is $1 per year....
As she signed documents for her new lease yesterday, Vivian Perreira, 71, said she would vacate her Maili home in Waianae -- where she lives with husband, Alfred, her son and his two children -- sometime next year. Perreira said her youngest son, 47-year-old Prince, a refuse truck driver for Rolloffs Hawaii Inc., had to co-sign her application because her Social Security earnings weren't enough for a loan.
After waiting 48 years for her name to be called, Perreira, now in a wheelchair, will lease a four-bedroom home on a corner lot in Kapolei.
"I signed up when I was 23," she said. "I almost gave up, but I left my name on for so long."
The federal government set up the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act in 1921, eventually reserving 200,000 acres statewide to benefit native Hawaiians. But development of land to provide homes has been slow, and many families have been on the waiting list for decades.
Last month the state Supreme Court ruled that 2,700 native Hawaiians can seek monetary damages in a lawsuit against the state for its alleged mismanagement of the Hawaiian Home Lands program.
Not everyone who came yesterday had a happy story to share. Homes went to 250 families, but 750 people qualified for lots, which are awarded on the basis of seniority. People who have qualified and waited the longest are the next in line for a home.
Lee Kogler, 54, who has been researching her genealogy for more than 20 years, had to leave without a lease after arriving at 7 a.m. with her husband, daughter, grandson and two sons....
Kogler, who is number 7,954 on the wait list for Oahu, said she would never quit trying for a lease....
Read the complete article (with photos) at:
http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/09/news/story02.html
Catbird Note: Lee Kogler, and the thousands of others like her on the Hawaiian Homes wait list, should be happy to know that when they FINALLY get their chance to lease their 5,000 sq. ft. of Hawaiian Home Lands’ property, they will probably already have access to cable TV through Sandwich Isles Communications!
July 1, 2006
Hawaiians win in land dispute
The state high court rules beneficiaries can pursue
land claims and monetary damages
By Alexandre Da Silva, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
More than 2,700 native Hawaiians can seek monetary damages from the state for its alleged mismanagement of the Hawaiian Home Lands program, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
Upholding a lower court's ruling, five judges also concluded that as many as 2,721 beneficiaries can pursue land claims that were once up for consideration by a review panel suspended in 1999, said Thomas Grande, attorney for the plaintiffs.
The suit, brought by three women, argues that the homesteading program set up under the 1959 Statehood Admissions Act mishandled thousands of land claims under an extensive wait list. It also faults the land trust for allegedly awarding properties lacking access to water, damaged by illegal grading or other work.
State Attorney General Mark Bennett could not say yesterday whether the state would appeal the 64-page decision, but that his staff would review it. Lloyd Yonenaka, spokesman for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, referred questions about the case to the Attorney General's Office.
Attorneys say the ruling would allow applicants to file claims for rent paid while waiting for a Hawaiian Homes lease. Also, those with land awards could make claims for not being able to build a house or a farm because of a lack of improvements.
One of the plaintiffs, Raynette Nalani Ah Chong of Kahaluu, said the ruling will allow her to revisit an application filed in 1966 by her father, Joseph Ching, who died in 2001.
"I'm overjoyed that we finally won the battle he was fighting. Now, that my father is not here, I have to fight for his portion so that I can pass this to my mother," said an emotional Ah Chong, 48, whose mother, Wehilani Ching, lives in Hawaii Kai. "He waited long and hard for this."
The land disputes date to 1991, when the state set up the Hawaiian Homes Land Trust Individual Claims Review to investigate allegations of breaches in cases between 1959 and 1988, Grande said. But when the panel crumbled in 1999, only two cases were heard, leaving more than 2,700 challenges unresolved, he said.
The Legislature tried to keep the panel active for another year, but then-Gov. Ben Cayetano vetoed the measure. Soon after, Circuit Judge Victoria Marks ruled that claimants could sue the state for ending the review process. The state appealed, and the case wound up before the high court.
"It's been a six-year battle in the Supreme Court and the decision that was rendered today allows us to now go back to Circuit Court and to pursue these claims for monetary damages," Grande said.
The federal government set up the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act in 1921, eventually reserving 200,000 acres statewide to benefit native Hawaiians. As of May 31, there were 18,784 people waiting for leases, Yonenaka said.
But Alan Murakami, attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said the state has not adequately funded the program. He pointed to a graph that showed the department's share of state general funds decreasing dramatically in the past 20 years.
"What do you think happens as a result of that small of a budget for this big of a mission?" he asked. "This is an example of how the state has given very little priority to the most important and fundamental mission of the state as a result of joining the federal union."
Dianne Boner, a plaintiff from Waipahu, said her application has been pending since 1971. Because agency staff originally assigned to her claim are long gone, Boner said it's hard to check the status of her case.
"Just to get our claims, we have to research and file it to the claims office," said Boner, 58. "They lost my paper and I had to reapply. ... It was a lot of stress."
Gov. Linda Lingle had no comment on whether her administration has given the agency enough funds, said her spokesman, Russell Pang.
The 2,721 outstanding claims range from people who argue they were given deficient land to those who believe they've been on the waiting list for an unreasonable amount of time, said plaintiffs' attorney Carl Varady.
It's unclear when the claims will be presented in court, but lawyers say the state should cooperate, noting that some beneficiaries have been waiting up to 40 years for an answer....
Read the complete story (with pictures) at...
http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/01/news/story01.html
$ $ $
July 4, 2006
Lawsuit challenges Hawaiian land rules
A man wants the Hawaiian Homes Commission
to be put in charge
By Rod Thompson, Star-Bulletin
HILO » Patrick Kahawaiolaa doesn't want to destroy the system that awards leases to native Hawaiians, but he does want to destroy the controlling Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
He thinks the Hawaiian Homes Commission can run the land system without a department, and doing so would end injustices he believes exist.
There's a small chance that he may upend both the department and the system. He's basing a federal lawsuit against the department on racial grounds, that non-Hawaiians are barred from Hawaiian Homes leases.
Deputy Attorney General Clayton Lee Crowell opposes that suit brought by Kahawaiolaa, 61, a retired postal worker, and five others.
The law prohibits Hawaiians from trying to protect the rights of non-Hawaiians, Crowell said. In legal language, Kahawaiolaa and the others don't have "standing," he said.
U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway already ruled against Kahawaiolaa. But there is no certainty about a pending appeal until a ruling comes from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Kahawaiolaa suit can be compared to two other recent Hawaiian cases.
Kamehameha Schools argued to the 9th Circuit Court last month that special treatment for Hawaiians is right at that private institution, but Kahawaiolaa argues special treatment is wrong for Hawaiian Homes beneficiaries.
While about 2,700 Hawaiians learned last week that the state Supreme Court is letting them sue for being excluded from Hawaiian Homes land, Kahawaiolaa's group already had land. They want other benefits that they believe old laws grant them.
For example, up to 2003, Kahawaiolaa reduced his monthly mortgage payments to the department, believing the 1920 Hawaiian Homes law allowed him to pay 2 percent interest instead of 8 3/4 charged by the department. The department evicted him and the others in 2003....
Read the full story at...
http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/04/news/story07.html
DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS
News Release
LINDA LINGLE
GOVERNOR
Micah A. Kane, Chairman
Ben Henderson, Deputy to the Chairman
For Immediate Release:
February 14, 2006
DHHL Markets Kapolei Commercial Site to Wall Street
RFP for 67-acre parcel advertised in Wall Street Journal
HONOLULU, HAWAII—The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) will place an ad in the Wall Street Journal tomorrow seeking interested parties for the development of a its 67-acre commercial parcel in Kapolei. The ad is one of several issued this week and directs interested parties to a web site: www.EastKapolei.com for more information....
DHHL envisions a regional mall serving the Leeward Coast to be developed on the 67-acres site, which is larger than the footprint of Ala Moana Shopping Center (50 acres). The revenue from the commercial lease will further the department’s self-sufficiency quest and provide additional funding for residential development.
"We are looking for the best opportunity to work with a developer that will provide a good revenue return and who can also respect our culture and what makes Hawaii special. This is a valuable piece of real estate because it sits strategically between two existing communities and thousands of new homes are coming online in that area," said Micah Kane, Chairman of the Hawaiian Home Lands. "It will provide employment and business opportunities for the entire region and it is a great anchor for that region."
"This is a great fit for the department’s philosophy of building communities where residents can live, work, play and learn in the same place," Governor Linda Lingle said. "Besides providing economic opportunities for the entire region, this will have an important influence on reducing traffic by keeping jobs in Kapolei. This is good for native Hawaiians and it will have a positive impact for everyone in the region."
####
Question to Linda Lingle and Micah Kane from the Wise ‘Ol Owl: Why do you have to go to Wall Street to look for a developer? Aren’t there ANY native Hawaiian entrepreneurs who can build, own and operate this shopping center on their own, mismanaged Hawaiian Homelands property? ? ?
June 4, 2005
Sandwich Isles Communications:
Political Connections Pay Off
By Andrew Walden, Hawaii Reporter
Special from Hawaii Free Press
In a little-noticed May 16 ruling, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver necessary to allow Sandwich Isles Communications to complete construction of its $500 million project to link 69 Hawaiian Homelands properties with a fiber optic communications network.
Sandwich Isles, had completed about $160 million worth of construction bringing its network to all the islands except the Big Island, when in October, 2004 the FCC suddenly acted on a 6-year-old complaint from telecom rival Verizon. As a result of the October ruling, Sandwich Isles was forced to reapply for its FCC waiver which allowed SIC to receive $400 million in federal funds taken from the “Universal Service Fund” (USF) tax on consumers’ phone bills.
The Universal Service Fund tax is intended to subsidize telecommunications service to unserved rural areas. Verizon Hawaii, now re-named Hawaii Telecom after being purchased by the Carlyle Group, had argued the DHHL lots Sandwich Isles proposed to serve were not unserved because they were within Verizon territory. With the waiver granted, federal funds can once again flow into Sandwich Isles Communication’s coffers and construction can be completed on the Big Island.
Gilbert Tam, Sandwich Isles Communications Vice President for government and community relations, says the company “is pleased with the FCC order” which “allows SIC to fulfill its commitment and efforts to provide modern and affordable telecommunications services to residents of Hawaiian Home Lands.”
At an estimated of $500 million, if Sandwich Isles Communications were to serve all 20,000 DHHL lots, the cost would be $25,000 per lot. But DHHL has only about 5,400 lots occupied by leaseholders.
At current build-out rates it would be about 40 years until all 20,000 lots are filled. $500 million to wire 5,400 lots averages out to about $93,000 per lot - the construction cost of a house - just for high speed internet and phone service.
Further, there is no reason to believe that all 5,400 DHHL leaseholders would want to pay Sandwich Isles Communication’s monthly fees for high speed internet service.
Many DHHL homesteaders already have land lines from Verizon. In the United States, about 33 percent of households have high speed internet connections.
If DHHL leaseholders have the same level of interest in high speed internet connections, Sandwich Isles Communications would serve about 1,800 lots at an average cost to the taxpayers of about $278,000 per lot.
Currently, Sandwich Isles Communications is reported to serve about 1,300 customers.
These figures compare unfavorably to the $600 or less setup cost of many commercially available high-speed satellite internet connections.
Internet satellite providers’ monthly charges are competitive with those of Sandwich Isles Communications. With inexpensive, commercially available “VOIP” technology, high quality internet based telephone service can be included.
Satellite technology requires no digging to lay cables, thus minimizing environmental damage and disruption of Hawaiian sites.
Unsurprisingly, Sandwich Isles is led by many politically connected directors and corporate officers.
Robert Kihune, retired vice admiral and Vice-Chair of the Kamehameha Schools Board of Trustees, is Sandwich Isles Communications Chief Executive Officer. Kihune, who is also Chairman of the USS Missouri Memorial Association, was keynote speaker at the Hawaii County Council inauguration in December.
Al Hee, brother of former Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairman (and current Democrat State Senator) Clayton Hee, is Sandwich Isles Communications President.
Sandwich Isles Vice president, Gilbert Tam is a former Director of P&C Insurance Company, Inc. and the former Administrative Group Director for Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate (KSBE). Tam was formerly an officer with Bank of Hawaii, which has substantial financial connections with KSBE.
As a Dec. 31, 2001, article in The Honolulu Advertiser explained:
Part of the reason Sandwich Isles Communications has attracted interest in Hawaii political circles is that the company has ties to a variety of politicians and current or former executives involved with Kamehameha Schools, another politically influential local institution.
Al Hee says his brother Clayton, then chairman of the board of trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, is not involved in the project. Sandwich Isles did hire Clayton Hee’s wife, Lynne Waters, to produce videos for presentations to business leaders, homesteaders and others on the company’s operations.
Among (Sandwich Isles’)... 22 employees are former Democratic House Majority Leader Tom Okamura and former Rep. Devon Nekoba, who both carry the title of agency coordination officer. (Al) Hee says the two advise company executives on government policy matters.
Ties to Kamehameha Schools, formerly known as the Bishop Estate, include Gil Tam, the company’s vice president of government and community relations, formerly director of administration and interim chief executive officer for Bishop Estate, and Robert Kihune, chief executive officer, now a Kamehameha Schools trustee.
The Hawaiian Homes Commission chairwoman in 1994, when the commission approved Hee’s license (to provide communications services), was Hoaliku Drake, the mother of former Bishop Estate trustee Henry Peters.
Clayton Hee is a friend of Peters and was hired as a cultural affairs researcher for the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, a subsidiary of the former Bishop Estate/Kamehameha Schools (KSBE).
(See article and related materials posted at www.the-catbird-seat.net/SandwichIsles.htm)
Henry Peters was one of the Bishop Estates Trustees named in the infamous “Broken Trust” case. Gilbert Tam was also a co-investor in KSBE’s McKenzie Methane deal at the time he was a KSBE manager.
(Articles reprinted at: www.the-catbird-seat.net/Methane.htm)
In Harmon vs. Federal, et al, a lawsuit stemming from the Broken Trust expose, plaintiff Bobby Harmon, former P&C President, alleged “Tam’s actions, through his complicity, deceptions, and breach of fiduciary duties, in collusion with some or all of the trustees of KSBE, with other managers and employees of KSBE, with other officers and directors of P&C, and with outside contractors, attorneys, politicians and others, constituted a conspiracy to defraud P&C and the beneficiaries of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop; racketeering; mail fraud; wire fraud; extortion; and violation of IRS interim sanctions regulations....”
(See Harmon vs. Federal reprinted at www.the-catbird-seat.net/RICO-BH.htm)
In addition to “Broken Trust” connections, Sandwich Isles also benefits from a connection with former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, son of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and a mid-1970s Annapolis Naval Academy classmate of SIC President Al Hee. The FCC’s sudden decision to rule on Verizon’s complaint corresponds in time closely to Michael Powell’s resignation as FCC chair.
There is also a correspondence in timing between the purchase of Verizon Hawaii’s assets by the Carlyle Group, with many well-known connections to both Democrat and Republican national political leaders and appointees, and the FCC’s subsequent ruling in SIC’s favor.
Sandwich Isles Communication’s cable-laying contractor is MasTec, named for its founder the late Jorge Mas Canoza, Cuban exile leader. On the Mas Tec board, in Joseph Kennedy II, whose family connections with Mas Canoza go back to the Bay of Pigs.
Amazingly for a $500 million fiber-optic communications company, Sandwich Isles does not have a web site...
Andrew Walden is the publisher and editor of Hawaii Free Press, a Big Island based newspaper. He can be reached via email at andrewwalden@email.com
Catbird Note: See also Hawaiian Telcom Communications, Inc. Application For Review In the Matter of Sandwich Isles Communications, Inc., Before the Federal Communications Commission, Washington, D.C. - CC Docket No. 96-45 - Filed on June 15, 2005: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6517689577
~ ~ ~
For more, GO TO > > > Vultures in the Sandwich Isles; Office of the United States Trustee vs. Harmon
Ms. Mariene Dortch
Office of the Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street S.W.
Washington, DC 20554
RE: Support of Hawaiian Telcom’s Request for Reconsideration of Sandwich Isles Communications Study Area Waiver - CC Docket 96-45
Dear Ms. Dortch,
I urge you to support Hawaiian Telecom’s request of reconsideration of Sandwich Isles Communications study area waiver. I believe wholeheartedly that it is not in the best interests of the Universal Service Fund to be supporting this project. Most of the DHHL areas are unoccupied and will be for the foreseeable future. Thus I have some real serious issues with the USF subsidizing this boondoggle at a cost of nearly $14,000 per customer.
On top of that, some of the DHHL areas are being serviced by Hawaiian Telcom currently, e.g. Hilo Hawaii DHHL lands. From my view there will be serious issues arising from Hawaiian Telcom’s ability to service these customers in the future. I urge you to take a close look at this. Along with the fact that Sandwich Isles Communications will be skirting the rules of their licenses and service non-DHHL areas through their sister company ClearCom Inc. Thus going head to head with Hawaiian Telcom etc.
You can read evidence of this dream of SIC in numerous publications, like Forbes “Dreaming and Scheming Hawaiian Style, 10/2002,” Maui News www.the-catbird-seat.net/SandwichIsles.htm, Hawaii Business News www.hawaiibusiness.cc/hb42001/default.cfm?articleid=6
Thank you for your time in this matter.
Sincerely,
< Name Withheld By Request >
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April 27, 2001
Burial Council questions need
for fiber optics system
By VALERIE MONSON, The Maui News
WAILUKU –– A proposed $500 million fiber optics cable system that would provide high-tech hookups to every parcel of Hawaiian Homes land on six islands was met with criticism – and suspicion – by the Maui/Lanai Islands Burial Council Thursday.
"These lines are telling a different story," said Leslie Kuloloio, a former member of the council who was testifying on his own behalf, as he pointed to a map covered with red lines over land and under the ocean that would connect the project.
"These lines aren't geared for Hawaiian Homes - they're geared for a big picture 50 years from now," he said.
The system has been proposed by Sandwich Isle Communications, an Oahu-based public utility company certified as a rural telephone company by the state Public Utilities Commission and Federal Communications Commission. The company, formed in 1995, is owned and operated by Native Hawaiians.
Although Sandwich Isle spokesman Gil Tam insisted the main purpose of the project was to offer state-of-the-art communications to Hawaiian homesteaders, the Native Hawaiians of the Burial Council feared their lands were being used to create a huge network for the public at large as well as commercial ventures and, possibly, the military.
"What about the Department of Defense? The Department of Energy?" wondered Kuloloio.
"Are they another part of the big picture that we don't see? How many Hawaiians have computers and Microsoft? We're at the bottom. What we need is water. I'd like to see all these lines be waterlines."
Chairman Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. and Vice Chairwoman Dana Naone Hall were especially surprised that the cable would run all the way to LaPerouse Bay just to connect a small piece of Hawaiian Homes land that no one on the council even knew was part of the trust.
"I'm shocked, I've never even heard of that being homelands," said Maxwell.
"There's nothing there but lava. There's no water there. People won't be able to live there for at least 50 or 100 years."
Maxwell pointed out that costs for the project will soar even more because of all the archaeological work that will be needed to address the expected concentration of ancient graves and historic sites through the South Maui corridor to connect LaPerouse. He said it would also needlessly disturb the bones of the ancestors.
"How is this (project) practical?" he asked. "I can't see digging through intense, intense (layers) of archaeological sites and burials for (a community) that might not even occur."
Hall called the draft environmental assessment prepared for the project "premature," because the system would be built in phases and things would inevitably change over the years.
She also called the archaeological assessment prepared by Cultural Surveys Hawaii Inc. of Oahu "extremely inadequate" in describing the minimal impacts on burials that would result from widespread trenching.
Maxwell said the Burial Council has "had a lot of problems" with work done by Cultural Surveys Hawaii in the past and suggested that Sandwich Isle hire a Maui firm.
Kuloloio was also concerned that there had never been a public hearing about the system for Hawaiian homesteaders on Maui.
Tam said the idea for the project came from Hoaliku Drake, a past chairwoman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission. He said $400 million of the needed money would come from a loan from Rural Utility Services in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The other $100 million would come from private sources.
The public would end up helping Sandwich Isle pay back the federal loan through charges on monthly telephone bills.
Tam said when AT&T broke up several years ago, a fund was created by Congress to enable rural areas to keep up with cities in terms of technology. At that time, the charge was $1 per customer each month. Current charges were not available.
Tam said those fees "help companies like ours to pay back the loan."
No one on Hawaiian Homes land will be charged for any infrastructure. Individuals will only be expected to pay for their service.