[ OUR OPINION ]
Wide probe needed
to protect artifacts
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Artifacts that were taken from the cave in the mid-1800s by Joseph Swift Emerson, a missionary's son, and sold to the Bishop Museum were repatriated in 1997 to Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei. The group, which was formed in 1989 for the purpose of such repatriation, was supposed to have put the artifacts in the same burial cave in accordance with ancient protocol.
That activity preceded the 1999 enactment of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which was intended to protect burial remains and sacred objects by returning them to Native American and Hawaiian groups. In response to that law, Bishop Museum secretly "loaned" to Hui Malama 83 artifacts that were taken in 1905 from another Big Island cave by amateur archeologist David Forbes and sold to Bishop Museum two years later.
Hui Malama is headed by lawyer Edward Halealoha Ayau, who once worked at the museum and was former staff counsel to Sen. Daniel Inouye, ranking Democrat on the Senate committee that drafted the NAGPRA legislation. Ayau signed for the 83 Forbes artifacts in February 2000 and said they would be returned to a Big Island burial cave.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and other Hawaiian organizations protested being neglected in consideration for the loan. The controversy colored museum director Donald Duckworth's resignation months afterward. Bill Brown, a former Interior Department official who became the museum's director the following year, said the loan was a "mistake" in violation of NAGPRA guidelines.
In response to a complaint by the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, a National Park Service review committee concluded in May that transfer of the Forbes artifacts to Hui Malama was "flawed" and called for their return to the museum. The question is whether the museum will be allowed to keep them or must repatriate them using the current list of 13 qualifying Hawaiian organizations. Hui Malama has refused to return the artifacts.
Asked about concerns by museum officials and others about whether all 83 of the Forbes artifacts remain in the cave, Ayau told the Star-Bulletin's Sally Apgar, "All the evidence anyone will ever get is our word." The federal investigation, although pertaining only to the Emerson artifacts, indicates that is not enough.
The museum now maintains that it should be regarded as a Hawaiian organization, giving it equal footing with Hui Malama and other such groups to maintain possession of Hawaiian artifacts. The museum's deep Hawaiian roots -- founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop as a memorial to his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop -- warrant such recognition.
Bishop Museum has repatriated more than 2,500 items to Hui Malama and other Hawaiian organizations in the past 14 years. The museum has no intention to keep human remains, but some objects properly belong in a museum, protected against deterioration and theft.
Natatorium problem
needs resolution now
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Since 1979, when it was closed for health and safety reasons, the crumbling saltwater pool has been stuck in a quagmire of political indecision further mucked up by a litigious band of naysayers who want it torn down.
We have long supported full restoration because the Beaux Arts landmark was raised in 1927 to honor those who fought and lost their lives for America.
However, if city officials cannot find the funds or the will to repair the Natatorium, they ought to say so and end the tedious wrangling that has dragged on for an unbelievable 25 years. The Kaimana Beach Coalition, whose members continue to obstruct efforts to fix it, should stand down and quit filing lawsuits at every turn.
In the latest development, two engineering inspections revealed that its seawalls will soon collapse as did the pool deck earlier this year. So a City Council committee is considering getting rid of the historic structure rather than spend any more of the $6.1 million set aside for repair, filling in the pool, demolishing part of it or handing it back to the state.
The last option would be a mistake. The state isn't likely to resume responsibility for the collapsing memorial and the effort will probably consume even more time when something needs to be done now.
Government moves slowly, but this exercise in indecision is ridiculous. Further delay is unacceptable. It's time to sink or swim.
