Judge rules Wal-Mart
can move remains
State Circuit Judge Virginia Marks has denied a Nanakuli woman's request to stop Wal-Mart from relocating native Hawaiian remains at the site of its new Keeaumoku Street store.
"I'm distraught right now," Paulette Kaleikini said after yesterday's ruling, which clears the way for Wal-Mart to move 42 sets of remains discovered during construction of its new Sam's Club and Wal-Mart store complex.
Though the stores are scheduled to open in the fall, a time for relocating the burials hasn't been set, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin said yesterday. Specifics about where and how to move the remains must be approved by the state Historic Preservation Division, she said.
Kaleikini's attorney Moses Kaia, with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said she hasn't decided whether to pursue a lawsuit alleging the state didn't follow its own rules in deciding what to do with the remains which were found between January 2003 and January 2004.
Kaleikini said she believes the bones likely include some of her ancestors and had wanted the majority of them to remain where they were found, with additional sets found on the site moved to join them.
However, other potential descendants told the Oahu Island Burial Council that they want the remains moved to a quieter, drier area of the parcel, away from a planned driveway for delivery trucks.
Kealoha Kuhia of Waipahu, who believes he has ancestors buried in the area, was pleased with the judge's decision. Kuhia is petitioning the state Burial Sites Program to be allowed to move his ancestors' remains to the burial mound in Kapiolani Park.
Kaleikini's attorneys failed to show that the state "breached its public trust" in giving Wal-Mart permission to relocate the remains on the 10.5-acre "superblock," Marks said yesterday.
According to Deputy Attorney General James Paige, the state followed procedures.
Wal-Mart's Lin noted that the state's approval of moving the remains "took into account statements and manao (thoughts) from Oahu Island Burial Council and recognized cultural descendants of the remains."
"We're pleased that the judge is upholding the decision issued (in February) by the state Historic Preservation Division," Lin said.
In her Feb. 26 letter authorizing moving the remains, Holly McEldowney, state Historic Preservation Division director, noted that 98 percent of burials discovered in downtown Honolulu since 1990 have been relocated rather than reinterred where they were found.
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Vigil seeks repatriation
of remains
Several native Hawaiian groups will hold a 24-hour vigil beginning at noon Saturday seeking the return of ancestral remains and funeral objects from the Bishop Museum.
The coalition alleges that the museum improperly has 100 human remains and is attempting to reclaim remains and funerary items reburied at the Big Island's Kawaihae cave under the Native American Graces Protection and Repatriation Act.
"This prayer vigil seeks the expeditious repatriation of all iwi kupuna and moe pu held at the Bishop Museum and spiritual protection for the Kawaihae iwi kupuna and moe pu," the 'Ilio'ulaokalani Coalition said in a news release.
Other groups participating in the vigil will be Hui Malama i na Kupuna o Hawaii Nei, the University of Hawaii Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies and the Nation of Hawaii.
Museum President Bill Brown said in a statement that all remains held by the museum are from Oahu's Mokapu Peninsula and skeletal fragments unearthed in development.