A bill prohibiting genetically modified taro in Maui County received final approval Friday by the Maui County Council.

The taro bill prohibits anyone from testing, propagating, growing or introducing genetically engineered or modified taro, or kalo, within Maui County. Council members voted 9-0 to approve the ban, saying they believed taro's cultural and spiritual significance to Native Hawaiians was more important than any other factor.

Mayor Charmaine Tavares said after the vote that she would support the ban.

"I will be signing the bill into law and recognize that the passage of this new law will send a message of support for state Representative Mele Carroll's efforts to introduce and pass a bill at the state Legislature," she said in an e-mailed statement.

Edwin "Ed" Lindsey Jr., "a steadfast champion and leader in protecting Maui's aina and its important cultural landscapes," died Wednesday morning at his family residence in Lahaina. He was 70.

The Maui County Council honored Lindsey in May with a ceremonial resolution as a "beloved Maui treasure" who served in numerous roles, including kumu, kupuna, uncle, tutu, brother, dad and husband.

Auntie Patty Nishiyama of Na Kapuna O Maui, an organization of Hawaiian elders she actively participated in with Lindsey, described him as "a warrior, a strong warrior."

"He will be missed," Nishiyama said.

Lindsey was a founding member of Hui O Wa'a Kaulua, an organization with activities including the building of a sailing canoe, Mo'olele. He also was president of the Ohana Coalition, organizer of Kilakila O Haleakala, co-founder of the Maui Nui Marine Resources Council, member of Na Kupuna O Maui and a participant in the Kaanapali 2020 planning process.

Lindsey spearheaded ongoing native habitat restoration projects such as Malama Honokowai Valley, Malama Ukumehame and Malama Kaheawa-Hanaula.

It was through his work with Kaanapali 2020 that Lindsey saw a need to develop a formal mechanism that would perpetuate the protection of important cultural landscapes, and thus Maui Cultural Lands Inc. was founded as a Maui-based, grass-roots land trust organization aimed at stabilizing, protecting and restoring Hawaiian cultural resources.

KAHULUI - A man who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner and educator at the University of Hawaii-Hilo will appear Monday at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center to discuss how the global economy affects residents in local communities.

Sulak Sivaraksa and Manulani Aluli Meyer will speak at the event, sponsored by Ala Kukui and the MACC, and titled "The Wisdom of Sustainability: A Dialogue on Global Economics and Island Culture."

Sivaraksa is one of Asia's leading social thinkers and activists, who twice has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to an event news release. He founded the International Network of Engaged Buddhists and dozens of other grass-roots organizations and authored more than 100 books in Thai and English, including "The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century."

In 1995, Sivaraksa received the Right Livelihood Award.

"Sulak Sivaraksa and I share a conviction that if we are to solve human problems, economic and technological development must be accompanied by an inner spiritual growth," the Dalai Lama has said about the speaker.

Joining Sulak at the gathering is Meyer, an associate professor of education at UH-Hilo, specializing in Hawaiian cultural views of intelligence. She is the author of "Ho'oulu: Our Time of Becoming" and the forthcoming "Hawaiian Knowing."

"A far-reaching visionary, Manu Aluli Meyer captures an essence of what it means to be Hawaiian," according to Luana Palapala Busby-Neff, a fellow Hawaiian cultural practitioner.

The event begins at 6 p.m. at the McCoy Studio Theater. Admission is $15, and tickets may be obtained by calling 242-SHOW. For information, call 875-7995 or see the Web site www.alakukui.com.

Other sponsors of the gathering are the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and the County of Maui.

A sea of people of all ages embraced and honi'd, or touched noses, Friday at Lahaina while celebrating the end of a weeklong, 193-mile torch march around Maui to raise attention for Native Hawaiian issues.

Elders of Na Kupuna O Maui had joined the marchers at Puamana, walking the last 1.2 miles of the journey called E Ka'apuni A Ho'a Kukui Na Moku'aina.

An estimated 400 people ended the march about 4:15 p.m. on a hot, dusty patch of Moku'ula, or Malu-ulu-o-Lele Park, with traditional haule-lani rites honoring deceased members of the Native Hawaiian community.

Coordinator Ke'eaumoku Kapu said the marchers fulfilled their goal, to ignite "a spark of light that spread across all of Maui." The "light," represented by the trek's continually lit torches, signified unity and enlightenment about Native Hawaiian issues, he said. Those issues included the ceded-lands lawsuit now before the U.S. Supreme Court; threats to Native Hawaiian trusts, exemplified by lawsuits related to Kamehameha Schools admissions; and Native Hawaiian health, education and well-being, he said.

Native Hawaiian protesters on the beach clashed with construction workers yesterday after a tense day at a home site at Naue Point where at least 30 bodies are buried.

No one was arrested or injured, but both the protesters and the construction workers filed complaints with the police, who arrived at about 1 p.m.

The site, where a home is being constructed by California businessman Joseph Brescia, has been the subject of numerous legal battles over where to put the building, how far it should be set back from the ocean, and where the property line exists.

Hundreds of public charter school students and staff will rally at the state Capitol today to protest the budget pending at the Legislature that charter officials say will cut their funding by $400 to $900 per student.

Under the budget proposed by Gov. Linda Lingle and being considered by state lawmakers, charter school administrators say, the state's 27 public charter schools may have to cut services or positions.

"We're looking at a significant underfunding next year compared to this year, and certainly a significant underfunding for what is equitable and fair," said Reshela DuPuis, executive director of the Charter School Administrative Office.

Communications Pacific executive Puaalaokalani Aiu has been named administrator of the state Historic Preservation Division, the agency with responsibility for overseeing the treatment of archeological sites and Hawaiian burials on land slated for development.

Aiu's appointment has stirred some concern because she worked on Communications Pacific accounts linked to the development of Wal-Mart and the Ward Village Shops projects in Kaka'ako, which both involved controversies over burials.

It might be that you would be able to obtain recognition quickly. And especially if you pursue this process in accordance with principles of peaceful, non-violent struggle. And I submit that's the most effective technique you have today. And if you doubt me, you should read Gandhi's book, Satyagraha, Non-Violent Civil Resistance. It's about 300 pages long. And it explains how Gandhi threw the mighty British Empire out of India without using force. People power, what we call it today. And I submit that the Native Hawaiian people would be able to do the same thing, moving in this direction and adopting the techniques of peaceful, non-violent action, which is what Gandhi called for.

Searching for a balance between cultural tradition and science, the state House Agriculture Committee yesterday approved a bill that would impose a five-year moratorium on genetic experimentation with Hawaiian taro but would allow research into other varieties of the tropical plant.
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The House is expected to approve the bill. It would be sent back to the state Senate, which agreed to a 10-year moratorium last session. House and Senate lawmakers could meet in conference committee on a final version, but that may depend on the reaction among taro farmers and scientists.

Several taro farmers yesterday said the House version is unacceptable and that they would urge lawmakers to adopt a 10-year moratorium.

"This bill is no good for the farmers. It doesn't protect us. It doesn't protect our Hawaiian varieties because you'll be contaminating them with the other varieties," said Jerry Konanui, a taro farmer and cultural practitioner in Puna on the Big Island. "They should kill this bill and face the consequences and the wrath of the people.

"It's ridiculous. They don't want to listen. But this is not the end. This is just the beginning."

Nearly 100 people testified yesterday on a state bill that proposes a 10-year moratorium on developing or growing genetically engineered taro in Hawai'i, but a decision on whether to advance the measure wasn't immediately made.

The state House Committee on Agriculture deferred a bill that would impose a 10-year moratorium on developing or growing genetically engineered taro in Hawai'i late yesterday after a more than 7-hour hearing on the measure that attracted oral testimony from around 100 people.

Senate Bill 958 was introduced last year and passed by a Senate committee. But the bill carried over to this year's legislative session after the House Committee on Agriculture last year declined to hold a hearing on the measure. It still remains possible that the bill could be advanced after more deliberation by the committee.

After September 11, 2001, militarism and real estate boomed in Hawaii. Military expansion brought real estate speculation, and for the first time in Hawaii, a market for wealthy people looking to buy a second home. The combined increase in militarism and private land ownership have set housing prices beyond the reach of average workers who simply cannot afford rents that have doubled in just a few short years.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has identified the members of a search committee formed to recruit candidates to fill vacancies within the department's State Historic Preservation Division.

Search committee members include retired First Circuit Judge Patrick K.S.L. Yim, who also is a trustee for the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust; Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner and educator Ku Kahakalau, who founded the charter school Kanu o ka 'Aina Learning 'Ohana in Waimea on the Big Island; and Timothy Johns, former chairman of the Department of Land and Natural Resources and a current member of the board. Johns is also president and chief executive officer of the Bishop Museum, and a trustee for the Parker Ranch Foundation Trust.

Melanie Chinen, the embattled head of the state Historic Preservation Division, is resigning effective Dec. 7, citing the physical toll the job has taken on her and the emotional strain on her family from job-related controversy and litigation.

The Society for Hawaiian Archaeology earlier this year voted to seek the removal of Chinen from the agency due to a history of staffing and other problems at the agency during Chinen's tenure. The society contends a lack of staff and other problems made it impossible to properly protect historic and archaeological sites.

An organization called Friends of the Burial Sites Program that includes Hawaiian cultural practitioners and Hawaiians working to protect burial sites has also lobbied Board of Land and Natural Resources Chairwoman Laura H. Thielen to have Chinen removed.

That group held a news conference this year to call attention to problems within the agency, including complaints that Hawaiian remains have been unearthed to make way for developments around the state, but have not been properly reburied.

Earlier this month former state archaeologist David Brown filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging his contract was not renewed by the state Historic Preservation Division because of his opinions on "illegal, unethical or culturally insensitive" activities at the division.
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Tom Dye, president of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology and an outspoken critic of the way the division has been run in recent years, said his organization is "obviously pleased" at the announcement, adding that "we wish her well."

Dye predicted it will now be much easier for the agency to recruit qualified archaeologists. "Our membership has believed for a long time that one of the main problems was the leadership at SHPD," he said.

Thielen said she will ask a search committee to look for a new administrator who is a strategic planner, good communicator and creative thinker, who is "devoted to the mission" of historic preservation and who can "help us work through a healing process." She will also ask for three new positions, two clerks to help professionals with degrees with paperwork, and a high-tech librarian position, to improve information available on the Web site.