GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Palolo Valley homesteader Shelly Keliipuleole-Rutt, here with supporters yesterday, is disputing an eviction by her step-mother from her family home. CLICK FOR LARGE

Eviction becomes Hawaiian issue

A Palolo woman says she is willing to go to jail in protest

Some 15 people protested the eviction of three family members from state land yesterday in Palolo Valley.

Leaseholder Eleonora Keliipuleole said she wants her stepdaughter, Shelly Keliipuleole-Rutt, and Keliipuleole-Rutt's daughter and nephew off the land because of unfulfilled obligations.

Keliipuleole-Rutt, 40, was served with an eviction notice Saturday, her neighbors said, and was given 72 hours to move. She later received a two-day extension.

Yesterday, support groups, including a Hawaiian charter school, gathered at the house where Keliipuleole-Rutt is currently residing in expectation of her eviction.

Keliipuleole-Rutt said she, her daughter and nephew are the last of her family to be evicted from the land and that she is willing to go to jail.

"We've tried to handle this quietly in a peaceful way. The evictions are taking place, so we can't stay quiet any longer," Keliipuleole-Rutt said, adding it is her obligation to "keep our home safe in the family bloodline."

Irwin Keliipuleole signed over the lease of the land to his wife, Eleonora, a day before he died in February 2004. The 999-year lease has been with the Keliipuleole family since 1912.

Eleonora Keliipuleole said living on the land without obligations "was not the intent of (Shelly's) father."

Eleonora Keliipuleole, who is not Hawaiian, said her stepdaughter has turned the issue into a Hawaiian bloodline issue. Keliipuleole-Rutt, meanwhile, said her father's will ceded the land lease to his wife, but he was dying of cancer and was too weak to have signed the lease.

"There's no way he could have signed any of those documents," she said.

The dispute grew worse in May, when Keliipuleole-Rutt and her stepmother had an argument that led to her getting a temporary restraining order against the stepmother.

Tensions escalated yesterday as Peter Avioli, brother of Eleonora Keliipuleole who lives on the land, called police after being drawn into a heated exchange with a protester.

Four Honolulu police officers arrived, while at least six other police cars waited at the top of the hill.

"We're just trying to keep the peace. It's a civil process," said HPD Sgt. Kyle Numasaki, who was on the scene.

Wearing blue T-shirts from their Halau Lokahi, a public charter school, protesters chanted in Hawaiian. Five Hawaiian flags were raised, and a larger one was unraveled in the back of the group.

The Hawaiian protesters marched up a gravel path to block entry to Keliipuleole-Rutt's side of the property, facing the police officers, and chanted for all Hawaiians to fight with pride and for what is just.

"All this is to make Ellie look bad," said Malia Tongg, a friend of Eleonora Keliipuleole who lives on the property.

"Irwin's not happy in heaven right now that the day is happening like this," Tongg said.