Posted on: Sunday, October 3, 2004
Wal-Mart asked to delay store opening
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Attorneys representing Native Hawaiians have asked Wal-Mart to postpone its scheduled Oct. 13 opening until unearthed remains, now boxed and stored on site, can be reburied on a corner of the store property.
Wal-Mart officials seem unlikely to comply with the request, sent Wednesday by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp.
"It's untimely and unreasonable, in our view," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin, who added that the remains have been handled carefully and are now in an air-conditioned shipping container. "Because the timeline for reinterment is not known, postponing the opening until reburial would be to postpone it indefinitely."
For their part, Hawaiians who have opposed the disturbance of iwi kupuna (ancestral bones) at the Wal-Mart Ke'eaumoku Street site find it offensive that business could begin before the iwi are reburied as planned, on the corner of Sheridan and Makaloa streets, said attorney Moses Haia.
"The really maddening thing for my clients is that Wal-Mart comes in, disturbs iwi that have been at rest for over 100 years, argues for disinterment, receives authority to disinter," Haia said.
"Now Wal-Mart is going to leave them sitting in a container while they begin to turn a profit on the very land where the iwi were at rest," he added. "That's very disrespectful, in the Hawaiian way of seeing things."
Haia represents Paulette Kaleikini and the non-profit burials-protection organization Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, among the recognized "cultural descendants" with consultation rights in the case.
This is only the latest in an ongoing series of clashes over the way burials have been treated in the development of the 10.5-acre "superblock" property, which Wal-Mart purchased in May 2002 for an estimated $35 million. Conflicts are sure to flare long after the shopping carts start rolling, Haia said, beginning with a protest by Native Hawaiians on opening day and, next July, a trial over a lawsuit challenging the way the state burials law was carried out in this case.
Additionally, the state attorney general has confirmed that an investigation is continuing into the unauthorized removal of additional iwi during site construction in July, bringing the number of unearthed sets of remains to 43. Contract archaeologist Aki Sinoto, who allegedly moved the remains, has said he was unable to reach state authorities because the find occurred on a Saturday. Sinoto did not return a call for comment yesterday.
At the center of the current dispute is the time that has gone by without progress in getting the iwi reburied. Haia said Wal-Mart and the state appeared to move more quickly to dig up the bones so the project could be finished.
The state Historic Preservation Division, part of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, approved the burial site plan May 18, and disinterment was finished in July, said Holly McEldowney, division administrator.
Planning for reburial is left to descendants to decide, and two reburial plans had been submitted by the end of August, McEldowney said.
Wal-Mart has hired a consultant to help descendants settle disagreements, said Lin, but so far no meetings have taken place.
And even after the alternative plans are reconciled, McEldowney said, the blueprint will go for review by the O'ahu Island Burials Council — not due to meet again until Oct. 13 — before the state gives final approval. Wal-Mart then would need city permits before reburial could take place.
The state sees the council's involvement as "a matter of courtesy," McEldowney said, adding that she doesn't believe any of the delays have been unreasonable.
"Our major commitment is to make sure the process is fulfilled," she said, "and our priority is always to get the iwi reburied as soon as possible.
"But having it tied specifically to the opening of a store, I think we would see that as outside our jurisdiction."
Lin said descendants never before insisted that the iwi be reburied before Wal-Mart opens. She added that delaying the grand opening would disrupt the lives of the 1,300 people they hired and the suppliers they lined up.
Lin said in a written statement yesterday that Wal-Mart officials were surprised by the NHLC's "sudden demand that we delay the opening of the Wal-Mart project. This is the first we've heard of objections to our opening the project prior to reinterment. In previous discussions with NHLC, SHPD and the OIBC, reinterment was never tied to the project opening. The October grand opening date for the Wal-Mart Ke'eaumoku project was announced months ago. To wait until two weeks before the grand opening to suddenly make an issue of this is simply unreasonable, and quite simply, puzzling."
The statement continued: "The kinds of criticisms NHLC is now raising against Wal-Mart are simply inaccurate and unfair. From the beginning, we have been committed to ensuring that the final treatment of the remains is done in a culturally appropriate, respectful and sensitive manner. We are certainly willing to work with recognized descendants to discuss how to accelerate the process of reburial, obviously, in a way that is appropriate and consistent with recognized practices and beliefs."
Haia's sympathies lie with the ancestors.
"The iwi are now out of the ground, and now Wal-Mart is going to be operating business on the same property where they were at rest and now are at unrest," he said. "That is what is culturally insensitive."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
