Category: O’ahu

This is good news for the ‘aina.  The Gill family and another investor bought 4000 acres from the former Campbell Estate to keep in conservation and agriculture.  This will benefit part of the Wai’anae coast and the forest areas of the southern Wai’anae range, which is an important conservation area for endangered Hawaiian species.  The adjacent parcel in the northern Honouliuli preserve was recently purchased by the Trust for Public Land. As the following article notes, the biggest investor was the Army.

Why would the Army invest in a conservation land trust?   The Army actually has a program called the “conservation buffer” program, which helps nonprofit groups to purchase land for conservation purposes to create “buffers” for military training activities.  The Trust for Public Land has also partnered with the Army to acquire land in Moanalua Valley and Pupukea, overlooking the North Shore.  Sounds like a good thing right?  Win-win?  The Pupukea purchase is problematic because it strengthened the Army’s grip on land in the Ko’olau range and enabled it to increase its training areas (and destructive activities) in the North Shore as part of the Stryker Brigade expansion.

While these conservation projects are good projects that deserve support, the Army funding has effectively bought the silence and compliance of some environmental groups.

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http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20091016/BUSINESS04/910160332/Gills++partner+acquire+Campbell+tract

Posted on: Friday, October 16, 2009

Gills, partner acquire Campbell tract

Family says it has no plans to develop 4,000-acre property

By Andrew Gomes

Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii’s prominent Gill family and an investment partner have bought close to 4,000 acres on Oahu from the James Campbell Co. with an intent to keep the land in agriculture and preservation uses.

The family, including six children and the brother of the late former Lt. Gov. and U.S. Rep. Tom Gill, acquired the property with California native and longtime Hawaii landowner Edmund C. Olson.

The buyers paid $15 million for the vast tract of land, which runs along the eastern slope of the Waianae Range from Makakilo to Kunia and also stretches leeward near the Kahe Power Plant.

A representative of the Gill-Olson joint venture, local labor attorney Tony Gill, said the group doesn’t intend to develop the property, about half of which is zoned for agriculture and half for conservation.

“We approach this with a tremendous respect for the history and traditions up there,” he said.

Some of the land is leased out for a variety of income-producing uses, including two ranch operations, telecommunications towers and Camp Timberline.

The land also is viewed as having potential for alternative energy production such as a wind farm, though Gill said the new owners are just beginning to evaluate the property and haven’t devised any plans.

“Campbell has been up there 150 years (as an owner), and we expect to be there at least as long,” he said.

Along with the Gill-Olson purchase, Campbell Co. sold an adjacent piece of land covering about 3,600 acres to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land for $4 million.

The land contains the Honouliuli Preserve, which is overseen by The Nature Conservancy and is slated to be transferred to the state in the near future for conservation protection.

The trust secured most of the money for the purchase from the Army, which manages part of the property, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Legacy Lands Fund and the city Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund.

Both sales closed Sept. 30.

Campbell Co., which marketed the land for sale through commercial real estate brokerage firm CBRichard Ellis, had sought $22.5 million for the combined 6,500 acres, but also preferred to sell the land to conservation-minded buyers.

Theresia McMurdo, a Campbell Co. spokeswoman, said both buyers have environmental and cultural values that are consistent with the property. “That was the main criteria,” she said.

Gill said the acquisition is the first venture into major land investing for the family hui, which includes his brothers Eric, Gary, Ivan and Tim, his sister, Andrea, his uncle Lorin, and Lorin’s godchildren.

Olson heads Los Angeles-based A-American Storage Management Co., which is one of the country’s largest self-storage businesses with several locations in Hawaii.

A part-time Big Island resident, Olson owns about 13,000 acres there and is a partner in OK Farms LLC. He also bought 1,296 acres in Kunia on Oahu from Campbell Co. three years ago for $4 million.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.

The Honolulu Star Bulletin notes that the expansion of the war and counterinsurgency in Afghanistan is “disturbingly similar to the “hearts and minds” strategy that failed in Vietnam”, yet in the end, sides with Senator Inouye to support a troop buildup in Afghanistan.    The people need to raise our voices to end the wars!  No more flip flopping and backsliding by politicians.

JOIN THE PROTEST MARCH

on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17

3pm

END U.S. WARS, OCCUPATIONS, AND TORTURE FOR EMPIRE!

Gather near the Atkinson entrance to Ala Moana Park for a permitted street march. Bring signs and noisemakers! There will be a trolley for those unabl to walk the route circling Ala Moana Shopping Center.

This is a national day of protest, and there will be regional protests in dozens of cities as we enter the 9th year of war and occupation in Afghanistan!

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http://www.starbulletin.com/editorials/20091015_inouye_makes_strong_case.html

Inouye makes strong case

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 15, 2009

Expressing new optimism about U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye says he supports Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s strategy involving increased troop involvement. Such a policy direction could expand the mission from defeating al-Qaeda to challenging an extremist Taliban presence across Afghanistan and Pakistan, a daunting task that should not be taken lightly.

After several days of meeting with Afghan and Pakistan presidents, U.S. military leaders including McChrystal, and Hawaii-based troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Inouye agrees with the general’s call for coalition forces to have “more daily contact with the people of Afghanistan.” Such contact, he said in a written statement, “is correct and is what is needed if we are to achieve security and stability in Afghanistan.”

The rationale is disturbingly similar to the “hearts and minds” strategy that failed in Vietnam. And it comes only a few weeks after Inouye noted to Politico magazine that Alexander the Great, the Soviets and the British all “got thrown out” of Afghanistan. “For some reason,” he said, “Afghanistan always has succeeded in getting people out of there.”

The position by Inouye, head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also puts him at odds with Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., his House counterpart, who has threatened to cut off funding in case of continued lack of progress. An attempt to challenge the Taliban is “going to require hundreds of thousands of American, Pakistani and Afghan troops,” he said on Tuesday, “and I just don’t believe that this country wants to see that happen.”

U.S. troops in Afghanistan now number 67,000 and an additional 1,000 are scheduled to arrive there by the end of this year. McChrystal has advised President Barack Obama that 10,000 to 80,000 troops — he favors a compromise of 40,000 — should be added in the first few months of next year at the earliest.

Inouye said he will await specific recommendations from the White House and the Pentagon to decide how many he will find acceptable. If that number is 40,000 or 50,000, he added, “that’s what we’ll send, but much more discussion has to take place before a final decision on troop levels can be made.”

Inouye said that if U.S. troops were to withdraw from Afghanistan now, its government “will not survive and the consequences will be detrimental to the region and will ultimately threaten the security of the United States.”

In recent weeks, the Taliban has increased its militant attacks in Pakistan, prompting that country’s army to put in place 28,000 troops to take on 10,000 hardcore Taliban within its borders. That amounts to a full-scale guerilla war that threatens the stability of the nuclear-armed U.S. ally.

Combined with the potential of a popular Taliban overthrow of the present corrupt Afghanistan government, Inouye makes a strong case for an increase in troop levels. Obama must decide what is necessary and effective at the least cost in dollars and lives.

http://www.starbulletin.com/columnists/20091010_Flight_control.html

KOKUA LINE

Flight control

The Thunderbirds and other military craft get waivers for shows

By June Watanabe

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 10, 2009

Question: I don’t know if they were the Thunderbirds or not, but military jets kept flying over Moanalua Gardens, making a big racket and shaking houses, on Friday afternoon, Sept. 18. Isn’t there a law against them flying over a residential area?

Answer: The Federal Aviation Administration approved three aerial demonstrations by the Air Force Thunderbirds for the weekend of Sept. 18-20.

The FAA has specific regulations governing flight patterns over residential areas and altitude restrictions, but the Thunderbirds had a waiver to go below the “published minimums,” according to a spokesman for Hickam Air Force Base.

Hickam officials, the Thunderbirds and local FAA officials worked together on the “standard waiver,” which outlined a predetermined flight area encompassing a 5-nautical-mile radius around the airport and Hickam, he said.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor confirmed that the agency issues waivers for military aircraft to fly over populated areas and at certain altitudes during air shows.

In Hawaii the FAA’s Flight Standards District Office is responsible for assessing the flight area.

“The FAA air traffic facility will issue temporary flight restrictions to monitor the aircraft that are authorized in the restricted area at a specific time and altitude,” Gregor said. “We continuously monitor the aircraft during these events to ensure the safety of people on the ground and in the air.”

At all times, there is coordination among the military and FAA’s air traffic and flight standards offices, he said, emphasizing that safety is the main concern.

Gregor explained that each waiver has specific instructions to ensure that the planes are at a safe distance above people and property.

“If during an air show we found that weather or altitudes were a potential safety factor, the military flights would be canceled or the flights would be conducted at safe altitudes,” he said. “These events are always performed within a 5-mile radius of the scheduled main event, and these aircraft are closely monitored by FAA air traffic.”

As for “published minimums,” Gregor said that refers to weather or altitude regulations.

“For example, federal regulations state that aircraft cannot fly faster than 250 knots when they’re below 10,000 feet altitude,” he said. “The FAA would have to issue a waiver for aircraft in an air show to fly faster than 250 knots below 10,000 feet.” The FAA also may issue waivers to allow aircraft to fly at lower than “normal” altitudes, but such waivers are given only when it’s determined there are escape routes to nonpopulated areas in the event of a problem.

“The waivers specify what these escape routes are, and we ensure that pilots are aware of these routes during preflight briefings,” Gregor said.

That all said, Air Force officials apologized for “any disturbances or frightening situations the aircraft noise may have caused.”

They said the precision aerial maneuvers are done not only to demonstrate the capabilities of the Air Force, but also “to reinforce public confidence … by demonstrating to the public the professional competence of Air Force members.”

Auwe

To Hickam Air Force Base for misleading us into believing we could take TheBus No. 19 to the Thunderbirds air show on Saturday, Sept. 19. Dozens of us took that bus to Hickam but were turned away at the gate.

I had phoned Hickam and was told we would be allowed in on the bus. Others had printed letters from Hickam officials saying the same thing. But only people with military IDs were allowed in on the bus. Why, when all those with no military ID driving cars could go in the main gate? Shame that many of us never got to see the displays or the show. — Very Disappointed

Hickam Air Force Base officials extended their “sincerest apologies” for what happened, saying it was the result of a “communication failure.”

They acknowledged it was advertised and people were encouraged to use TheBus to go to the “Wings over the Pacific” Open House the weekend of Sept. 19 and 20, but that “a communication failure” prevented people on your specific bus from entering the base.

“Once identified, base leadership immediately corrected the problem, and there were no further delays,” a spokesman said.

He explained that since Sept. 11, 2001, security has been a “paramount” concern.

Security personnel were following regulations for a public transit vehicle when they asked everyone aboard TheBus to show identification.

The policy in question states, “Personnel entering the base via TheBus must be in possession of a valid form of authorized identification. Any person not in possession of valid entry credentials will be denied access to the installation.”

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or e-mail kokualine@starbulletin.com.

Updated at 3:05 p.m., Monday, September 28, 2009

Grenade practice round found near bus stop on Leeward coast

Advertiser Staff

Police today recovered what appeared to be a rocket-propelled grenade practice round from an area near a bus stop at the intersection of Laaloa Street and Farrington Highway near Honokai Hale on Oahu’s Leeward shore.

“One of the regulars out there who picks up empty soda cans almost every day found the thing and picked it up,” said police Maj. Michael Moses. “He carried it down to where a special duty officer was working and our Specialize Services Division was called out and determined it was an inert dummy round, a practice round.

Moses said police “have no idea how the thing got there.”

The SSD bomb disposal experts took the device with them, Moses said.

Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090928/BREAKING01/90928068/Grenade+practice+round+found+near+bus+stop+on+Leeward+coast

UH Study Shows Thousands of Weapons Buried at Sea

Reported by: Gina Mangieri
Email: gmangieri@khon2.com

Last Update: 9/25 7:46 pm

A U.H. study of weapons buried at sea decades ago is yielding interesting results both for what is and is not being found.

Army records say within miles of Oahu’s coast 16,000 chemical munitions were discarded decades ago. Tom Clark knows, he was on one of the barges. “When they did that back then they thought it was right, or correct, and as time went along, the environment gets affected by that.”

So the military now wants to know where it landed and how to deal with it. The University of Hawaii is conducting the Hawaii Undersea military munitions assessment extended through the end of this year. They set out based on old records that weren’t on the money in terms of the map.That’s where Tom comes in. “I told her you’re looking in the wrong spot. I told her it’s past Barbers Point.”

Redirected with his help, three people set off tucked into a 7-foot spherical submersible and found scores of weapons, but “We actually have not found very many things that we thought were chemical, so again that 16,000 remains elusive in terms of finding the bulk of them,” said Margot Edwards of the University of Hawaii Ocean Sciences.

The hunt continues. Meanwhile they’re seeing all sorts of other junk. Mylar balloons, plastic bags and kids toys show today’s litter comes from all of us. “If you want to know what fishermen in Hawaii drink it’s Budweiser beer, because we must have seen a billion Budweiser beer cans at the bottom of the ocean,” said Edwards.

Bigger waste like cars and huge nests of metal could prove tricky for the state’s planned undersea power cable to link wind-generated electricity from Molokai and Lanai to Oahu.

Chris Kelley with the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory says, “Particularly if we want the cable to landfall in Honolulu or Pearl Harbor or somewhere, it’s got to go through a gauntlet of exposed vehicles and bombs and frames down there.”

Source: http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/UH-Study-Shows-Thousands-of-Weapons-Buried-at-Sea/bDd9lab4PEaqQ6lxqgd6Mw.cspx?rss=2065