LEO 'ELELE - TRUSTEE MESSAGES

As a community, finding
our way into the future

Robert K. Lindsey, Jr. Trustee, Hawai'i

I was born in Hilo in 1948 and raised in Waimea. Hilo is my one hānau. 'O Waimea ku'u home. Waimea is my home. The old Waimea I remember 60 years ago as “keiki o ka 'āina” is very different from the new Waimea I live in today as 'Anakala. It's a new time and we are doing the best we can to adjust to this new time. We have telescopes on Mauna Kea, resorts dot our coastline, a city is emerging at Waikāloa, sugar is dead and this sad debate about a dual County system for our Island, East Hawai'i County and West Hawai'i County rages on, as does traffic, traffic, traffic.

We had only one role model when we were growing up in Waimea. He was the Parker Ranch Cowboy. Our world was right here. It was local. We did not have to venture far from home. We couldn't, as most of us couldn't afford to anyway. When we were kids, we had only one radio station, KGU Radio via Honolulu, and reception for some reason was best at night. We had one television station, KGMB, but KGMB did not reach us until the early 1960s and most of the time our black and white television screen had snowflakes falling out of it. Those of us who had TV captured signals through this unwieldy aluminum gadget called an antenna. Today we have big-screen televisions, a hundred channel choices, a cable box and an endless list of icons. Kobe Bryant, Brett Favre, Michael Phelps, Colt Brennan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michelle Wie, Hannah Montana, Tiger Woods to name a few. Our cowboy has been pushed over the pali. Our paniolo icon is becoming a memory. Local is being replaced by Globalism.

Parker Ranch was the Center of our Universe. Mr. Carter (Hartwell Carter) was its Manager. He was boss, his word was law. He was a very fatherly, soft spoken and thoughtful man. At Christmas, every youngster in Waimea received a makana (gift) and a brown bag within which was an orange and apple, raisins and candies from Parker Ranch. It did not matter whether one's dad (or mom) worked for the Ranch. Everyone was touched in a very real way by Parker Ranch. It was our Ranch.

Sixty years ago we (those of us who were small independent ranchers) chased cattle from one part of Waimea to the other, right down Māmalahoa Highway. Cattle had the right of way. Our kuleana was to protect and nurture them. They ruled because they were our livelihood. And, I remember our Parker cowboys. Tough, handsome, Hawaiian men mostly, with 'ākulikuli or pansy lei on their Stetsons, perched high and proudly in their saddles, chattering in Hawaiian, laughing heartily and making fun of us kids as they rode by. Palaika, Kauwe, Kaula, Bell, Lindsey, Spencer, Purdy, Yamaguchi, Maertans, Nakata, Sakado, Kimura, Kawai, Vierra, Espaniola, Horie are the names I remember with great and enduring fondness. Today, where are the paniolo? Ride a horse through Waimea and expect to be cited by HPD for being a danger to oneself and to society. There are too many cars and too many people now. There are more cars than horses. Car spooks horse. Rider falls, breaks neck. 'Auē Lawsuit. “Ua pau.”

In the old days we did not have traffic lights (or streetlights). Today we have three stoplights all within a half-mile of each other. For the entire 10 years my brother and I attended Waimea Elementary and Intermediate School our student body averaged 200 students (1953 to 1965). We had 10 grades (including kindergarten). Today our school has 1,200 students and nine grades. If you chose to go astray (“raise hell”) the teacher would help you find your way back to the right side of the road quickly and forcefully. The Principal was our next stop and “Kamehameha” was his enforcer, the inoa of the wooden paddle that hung in a prominent spot on his office wall. When you left Mr. Nakano's Office, 'ekahi, you did have a sore 'elemu (behind); 'elua, a scarred ego and 'ekolu, an eternal promise to oneself that you would never return to his office again. ACLU, Legal Aid Society, Public Defender, Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. were not even “pipe dreams” in our day. We had our own law and our own justice system. We did not need outside help. We were who we were and we took care of our own in our way. After the “teacha” and Mr. Nakano, our mom was Judge, Jury, both Probation and Parole Officer and Executioner. She would be waiting for us with her guava stick right there at the gate by our big eucalyptus tree where Chesebro Lane ties into Māmalahoa Highway. Teddy Roosevelt must have been her favorite President. The only difference was she carried a “small stick that had a big sting.”

My town has changed. I have my memories of what Waimea used to be, a quiet, peaceful town, where everyone knew and looked after everyone, where the cattle and the horses played freely under the night sky. Our place bubbled with Aloha. Aloha was lived. We were born with Aloha for all. It was not a bumper sticker on the back bumper of someone's BMW. Aloha in our day was a real deal. I have an uneasy feeling about the future. Our most prominent benefactor to our state-of-the-art hospital, Earl Bakken (inventor of the pacemaker) in a recent press release said he was severing his tie with North Hawaii Community Hospital, a hospital he gave so much to in time, treasure and talent. Why? Because he feels it has lost its Aloha. Your town has changed as well I am sure, in its own special way. As I have my recollections, you have your special memories of the people who have touched your life and the place you call Home.

Where am I going with all of this? Hawai'i is our Home. It is changing and changing quickly. Other changes are coming. How do we cope, find our way into the future? It takes participation, involvement, investing time in the civic affairs of our communities from Hanalei to Kapolei, to Ho'olehua, to Hāna, to Lāna'i City, to Miloli'i to Keaukaha. If we are to influence and manage the changes occurring around us we must step out of the shadows and into the light and help build roads into the future to keep our spirits, our families, our communities healthy, vibrant, happy, purposeful and safe. Be active with your neighborhood board, help with picking up 'ōpala on a Saturday at the park, be an assistant soccer coach, attend a community association meeting and offer to chair a committee, write a letter to the editor of your local paper about whether we should or should not have a Constitutional Convention. Make a big difference by playing a small role (or big role if you wish) in the life of your community. In the midst of all the changes going on around us, let our foundation forever be one of Aloha. Aloha for our past, our here and now and all that is to be. May we always Aloha our Hawai'i.