Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Saturday, February 15, 1997

Negotiations were to resume at 2 p.m. Saturday and continue around the clock through Monday as long as there was progress. Hawaii's 11,700 public schoolteachers are scheduled to strike Thursday absent a contract agreement.

"We're still doing everything we can to get this thing settled," said Joan Husted, lead negotiator for the Hawaii State Teachers Association. Charles Toguchi, lead negotiator for the state, described relations among bargainers as "cordial and constructive."

Those remarks were in sharp contrast to the verbal pingpong played all day Friday in the newspaper, on radio and TV by Gov. Ben Cayetano and HSTA leaders.

Cayetano said union leaders needed to "get a grip on the reality" that the state cannot afford their initial wage demands of 7-percent-a-year hikes retroactive to fiscal years 1995-96 and 1996-97. That would cost the state $221 million when rolled over through 1998-1999, he said.

Union leaders countered that Cayetano was spreading misinformation because he knew the union had already informally lowered its demands. "This is not the time for scare tactics," said HSTA President June Motokawa.

The House Friday in a 27-24 vote decided to keep alive a bill that would allow a casino in any of Hawaii's four counties if a majority of voters residing there approved it via referendum.

While the measure is written generally, the focus of a long floor debate was the Big Island, with supporters arguing a casino would help the economically beleaguered county overcome poverty, high suicide rates and other social ills by providing a rich source of revenues and jobs.

"This bill is about dignity," said Rep. Jerry Chang (D, South Hilo). "It's about self-esteem. It's about giving the people of the Big Island the opportunity to work and provide a decent living for their families."

Judiciary Chairman Terrance Tom (D, Kahaluu-Kaneohe), whose committee passed the bill after a public hearing last Saturday, urged his colleagues to send it on to the Finance Committee so lawmakers could have another option to satisfy $94 million in emergency appropriations, public-employee collective-bargaining agreements and other costs without raising taxes.

Nine people were arrested Friday morning at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park in a surprise eviction by U.S. marshals and park rangers.

Eight people -- including Mahealani Pai and matriarch Mabel Pai -- were arrested after they moved from the federal park to nearby state property. Charges are pending.

Another individual was arrested on federal property for interfering with the eviction. He later refused to identify himself at an afternoon hearing before U.S. Magistrate Francis Yamashita, and was held. His trial is now set for 1 p.m. Friday.

Alm said the family had more than a year to work with the Park Service after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year upheld U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra's opinion that the federal government owns title to the land, which includes some of the best-preserved Hawaiian artifacts in the state.

Alm said during the past year the Pais, government officials and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs tried to negotiate an agreement where the family would be allowed to serve as kahu or caretakers of a Hawaiian cultural park in Kaloko-Honokohau. But last month, the Pais sent a letter to President Clinton again claiming ownership of the land, Alm said. That move prompted Ezra on Monday to issue an order to evict the Pais. U.S. marshals gave the family 30 days to move out.

"This action today was taken with regret," Alm said. "I think the fact that it was taken a full year after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion came down is a reflection of that."