Reopening artifact cave may cause collapse, mason says

[Lynn]

Reopening artifact cave may cause collapse, mason says
By Gordon Y.K. Pang Advertiser Staff Writer

Reopening a Kawaihae cave to retrieve Hawaiian burial artifacts as ordered by a federal judge could cause the collapse of the Big Island cave, according to a mason who helped seal it.

The mason's statement, filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the group Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, came to light yesterday as Hui Malama leaders reaffirmed their vow to resist the court order.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra earlier this month ordered the group to help return to Bishop Museum 83 lots of sacred burial objects that the group said it placed in the cave.

In his ruling, Ezra sided with two of the 13 Native Hawaiian groups that had filed suit arguing that the museum should have possession of the artifacts until the claimants can come to an agreement on their final resting place under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Hui Malama, one of the 13 claimants, has argued that the artifacts were taken illegally from the cave in 1905 and should remain there until the groups resolve their claims.

A declaration filed this week by Kona mason George W.K. Fields III, who resealed the cave, warns that "removal of the security measures at the cave will cause the cave to collapse." Fields, hired to work on the project by Hui Malama, also cited the possible expense of working on a cave that is in a remote area of the Big Island.

"I would not attempt the removal of the cave's security because it would violate my cultural beliefs ... (and) would be cost-prohibitive to ensure safe working conditions, account for extraordinary costs of working at this remote location, and guard against life-threatening conditions posed by the location of the cave," Fields said.

George Van Buren, an attorney of the two groups that sued Hui Malama, yesterday said Fields had not raised safety concerns previously.

Van Buren said Fields' claims will be one of a number of points addressed when his legal team files a response to Hui Malama's request for an appeal, a filing that is expected today.

At a news conference yesterday at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa Center for Hawaiian Studies, Hui Malama leaders vowed to be steadfast in their fight.

Alan Murakami, attorney with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., which represents Hui Malama in the case, said the group is hoping to convince the appeals court to set aside Ezra's decision.

Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr., Hui Malama president, said the group will not back down.

"From the cultural standpoint, if all legal means fail and Hui Malama is obligated to follow the ruling of Judge Ezra, we are set in our cultural feelings that we will protect the kupuna (ancestors)," Maxwell said. "That is our job. That is our solemn duty."

The court has ordered Hui Malama "to do the unthinkable," said Hui Malama spokesman Edward Halealoha Ayau. "We won't be a party to a theft of our kupuna."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/ ... /1173/NEWS

[Cindy Heazlit]

As an update - the two sides are battling it out in court this week in San Francisco.

http://starbulletin.com/2005/09/19/news/index1.html

Btw, there are studies showing that most of the caves on the big island of Hawai`i are not used for burials. Reference the proceedings from the 6th International Symposium on Vulcanospeleology

[Lynn]

Suit involves Hawaiian funeral customs:
HONOLULU | September 20, 2005 11:12:02 AM IST

Two groups of native Hawaiians have taken a dispute about a hoard of funeral items to a federal appeals court in San Francisco.

The 83 items were originally in Honolulu's Bishop Museum. But five years ago the museum loaned them to Hui Malama, a group formed in 1988 to preserve traditional Hawaiian funerary artifacts, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported.

Hui Malama buried the hoard in a cave. The objects rested there peacefully until La'akea Suganuma, an expert in the Hawaiian martial practice of lua, and Abigail Kawananakoa, a descendent of Hawaiian royalty, filed a federal lawsuit against the museum and Hui Malama.

A federal judge ordered the objects returned to the Bishop Museum, to remain in storage there until their ultimate fate is decided. Hui Malama has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn that order.

The newspaper says that a number of groups are now involved in the case, disputing the nature of ancient Hawaiian funerary customs, whether cave burials were done for the ancestors and whether commoners like those in Hui Malama should be able to handle ritual objects.

http://news.webindia123.com/news/showde ... &cat=World