STAR-BULLETIN / JULY 2006
A 2nd Brigade Stryker vehicle driver learns to maneuver between two cones in an orientation session at Schofield Barracks.
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Stryker opponents cite risks to heiau
Activists maintain the Army's training plans pose a threat to cultural treasures
Anti-war protesters have stepped up efforts to stop the multimillion-dollar Stryker brigade training range project at Schofield Barracks -- a project they believe is destroying Hawaiian religious and cultural sites.
"The Army must stop the destruction immediately," said Kyle Kajihiro, program director of the American Friends Service Committee. "Every day that the bulldozers are running means another piece of Hawaiian culture, another precious link to the past may be lost forever."
Work on the Stryker training ranges were halted two months ago when workers bulldozed across a buffer protecting the Haleauau heiau.
Yesterday, Kendrick Washington, Army spokesman, acknowledged that "the Army temporarily ceased unexploded ordnance clearance activities (in July) at the battle area complex for nearly a month while it engaged in extensive discussions to resolve these concerns.
"It is important to note that none of the clearance activities damaged Haleauau heiau, and no clearance activities are scheduled near the heiau. We have recently resumed clearance activities with the full participation of cultural monitors as part of the clearance teams," he said.
Kajihiro and other activists have maintained that the Army's environmental impact statement justifying the Army expanding training areas here to accommodate the Stryker brigade is inadequate. They want the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to seek a temporary restraining order to protect these cultural sites. The activists have an appeal pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Clyde Namuo, OHA administrator, did not return a call seeking comment.
In a written statement, Terri Kekoolani of DMZ-Hawaii/Aloha 'Aina said, "The Army doesn't even know what it might be destroying because it has not completed the required cultural studies."
ZapataEngineering was awarded a nearly $5 million contract two years ago to clear 941 acres at Schofield Barracks for a new battle area complex for gunnery training and weapons qualifications.
The Army is spending $32 million to build a battle-area complex where 39 Strykers and other vehicles fire live ammunition during combat maneuvers. Twenty-eight Stryker construction projects, estimated at $693 million, are planned for Oahu and the Big Island.
The 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade eventually will get 328 of these combat vehicles.