A letter to the Governor: Fix the harbor to preserve the reef

Jerry Johnson
1/29/2008 4:02:05 PM, The Molokai Times

Dear Governor Lingle,

In the local newspaper this week, there was an article on your “Year of the Reef” program (“Ocean pH levels could damage world reefs”) and the work that Mike Field is doing with Feds on reef study. I had spent many hours some 10 years ago with Mike discussing their findings on the reef and the siltation that threatens it.

The older locals were always telling stories of how clear of mud the south shore was ... eastside of Kaunakakai harbor ... back in the 40s and 50s ... people could walk out to reef on actual sand instead of mud ... there was good fishing for crab and fish ... it's common knowledge that when the Department of Harbors put the wharf in ... and did not put flow-through culverts in ... the flow of cleansing currents were stopped and the mud started to pile up ... sludging up the reef ... settling in mud and backing up eastward ... leaving a human created and growing mess.

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Na`iwa, Makahiki Piko

By Jennifer Smith and Léo Azambuja
Wednesday 1-30-08, The Molokai Dispatch

Today most people associate Makahiki with Kaunakakai Ball Field. However, for centuries, Na`iwa, one of the most breathtaking and significant places on Molokai, opened its grounds for the seasonal Hawaiian games.

Descending upon the green hills overlooking Ilio Point, the island’s most accomplished athletes of past and present would compete in feats of skill and strength in this spiritual center.

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Events of the Makahiki

By Tom Patrick
1/21/2008 3:52:24 PM, The Molokai Times

Games to take place Friday, Saturday

Inspired by the plight of the god Lono, who dealt with his inner turmoil caused by rash murder of his wife by fighting men through out the Big Island, the Makahiki games are one of the essential stages of the Makahiki season. The following are brief descriptions of some of the events taking place this weekend on Molokai.

Haka Moa (chicken fighting)

Within a circle on the ground, balanced on one foot and holding their other leg behind them by the ankle, two competitors hold hands and attempt to either knock their adversary to the ground or out of the circle. The one remaining upright or ...

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Ka Molokai Makahiki to take place Jan. 25 and 26

By Tom Patrick
1/14/2008 6:50:11 PM, The Molokai Times

With the 27th annual Makahiki Games of Molokai to take place Jan. 25 and 26, Lono, the god of music and fertility, is surely pleased.
Beginning in mid October and culminating on Feb. 2 with the casting off of the Ho'okupu Wa'a, the ceremonial and symbolic canoe used to remember Lono's departure and his promise to return one day, ...

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