Wal-Mart site yields 2 new sets of remains
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
Two more sets of human remains have been found on Wal-Mart's Ke'eamoku Street construction site, the retailer announced yesterday, a day after a lawsuit filed by a Hawaiian group over the handling of 25 other iwi kupuna, or ancestral bones.
Meanwhile, Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, an organization that oversees perpetual care for the remains of Native Hawaiians, said their lawsuit was not filed to stop the Wal-Mart development, but to force the state to leave the remains where they are and to focus attention on the state's practice of allowing developers to skip archaeological surveys that are required by historic preservation laws.
Such exemptions have frequently led to the desecration of Hawaiian remains, including at the Wal-Mart site, according to the group.
"Their reasoning is the urbanization of these lands almost guarantees no remains are there," said Hui Malama member Edward Halealoha Ayau. "Well, they are wrong. The goal is to recognize that the historic preservation review process has gone astray."
Remains have been found in recent years at several construction projects after urban exemptions were given, including at Harbor Court, Marin Tower and Smith-Beretania Park, Ayau said.
"There is a pattern here where the property was urbanized and the burials are intact," Ayau said. "By exempting them, they deviated from the historic preservation process. If they had just stuck to the process Wal-Mart would not be in this position, (and) the kupuna (remains) would not be under the pressure of being moved."
Peter Young, state Department of Land and Natural Resources director, said he doesn't know the details of the exemptions, but said the land department's Historic Preservation Division feels the appropriate surveys were done at the Wal-Mart site.
"That line of reasoning would suggest a conspiracy and there is no conspiracy," Young said. "The Historic Preservation people feel the right decisions were made and the right actions taken and there were unfortunately inadvertent burials found. We are addressing those in a sensitive and caring way."
Hui Malama alleges that an archeological survey of the Wal-Mart site was incomplete.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation attorneys Alan Murakami and Moses Haia III, accuses Wal-Mart and officials from the Department of Land and Natural Resources of violating the public trust and manipulating and violating sections of state law that deal with protection and preservation of human remains and desecration of graves.
Hui Malama and Paulette Kaleikini are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Haia plans to seek a temporary restraining order to prevent the remains from being removed.
A separate Circuit Court lawsuit against Wal-Mart filed by a group called the Citizens Against Reckless Development last year asks the city to stop the development, claiming that zoning laws are being violated. A trial date has been set for Sept. 5.
The original 25 sets of remains were discovered in January grouped in one area, and the Historic Preservation Division will make a decision on their final disposition. An archaeologist has determined that the remains may be from the 1853 smallpox epidemic that struck Honolulu.
Wal-Mart purchased the 10.5-acre property in May 2002 for an estimated $35 million and is building a Sam's Club and Wal-Mart on the block bounded by Sheridan, Makaloa, Rycroft and Ke'eaumoku streets. The stores are expected to open next year.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin said the second sets of remains were found last week in another area of the construction site and they have been cordoned off and protected.
"Since construction started the archeologist has monitored all 280 excavations," Lin said, referring to any instance in which ground had to be broken at the site, no matter how small.
"We continue to work with the state archeologist and the burial program to be sure the monitoring meets their approval."
Lin said a driveway — not buildings — is planned where most of the remains were found.
Young said he was caught off guard by the lawsuit.
"I'm surprised that the lawsuit happened because the last conversation I had with them at that site that morning was that everything was OK," Young said. "We think we did the right thing and plan to continue to do the right thing. We met with them and our impression from their direct statements was they were satisfied with what was happening. It's surprising that a lawsuit comes out as the next communication."
Ayau agreed that the work to protect the iwi kupuna was handled quickly by Wal-Mart, but said the lawsuit covers larger issues.
