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Why it’s important to keep Kohala, Kohala

At Mayor Mitch Roth’s sustainability forum a few years ago, Nainoa Thompson of Hokule‘a shared a story about his close friend, astronaut Charles Lacy Veach, a graduate of Punahou School.

Dying of cancer, Lacy asked Nainoa to take him outside. As they stood together looking into the heavens, Lacy said, “You can’t save something you don’t understand.”

Astronaut Veach navigated among the stars, while Nainoa navigated by them. That truth resonates today.

Many people do not truly understand what it means to “Keep Kohala, Kohala” because they never lived the Kohala lifestyle of the plantation era — a time when access was open, people were free, and values like humility, sustainability, interdependence and self-reliance allowed the community to endure.

When the Kohala Sugar Company closed, so did that freedom. Back roads mauka and makai disappeared, replaced by a single ribbon of highway. No more gathering ho‘io and pepeiau after rain, netting ‘opae kuahiwi or fishing in complete solitude along the Kohala Coast. What once connected people to nature became memory.

As someone once said, “We thought the fences were to keep the cattle in. We didn’t know they were meant to keep the people out.”

In the 1980s, Hui Mamalahoa understood that access to mauka and makai was essential. Looking back, we did not realize how vital it truly was. Today, that way of life — and the resources that sustained it — is rapidly disappearing.

Our values have shifted. Where Kohala was once a community of we, it has become a community of me. Buzzwords replace practice, and responsibility to one another fades.

If you knew what we knew — if you experienced even a fraction of that freedom — you would understand why we must do everything possible to save what remains.

Soon, those who truly understood Kohala — its ko‘u inoa, the Sweet Breath of the Sun — will be gone

Jeffrey Kalani Coakley

Kapa‘au

‘See the evil you have worshipped’

We stand at the precipice of betrayal of our values.

Those who pretend to love our country clearly don’t know its history. Inalienable rights have somehow been subjugated to the worship of the evil one.

Tell us you believe in the Constitution, you pretenders! It is clear that those who taught you failed in their mission.

As a social studies teacher, I have to question your moral compass. Why do you somehow think it is appropriate to murder someone exercising their freedom of speech rights?

Your source of news and facts is proselytizing lies to protect the falsehoods you have adopted. God knows the truth; you know the truth.

Despite your denials, you must gather the strength to see the evil you have worshipped.

Those two innocent citizens exercising their constitutional rights were murdered in cold blood in the name of the evil one you bow down to.

Your eyes don’t lie, yet you continue to adopt the lies presented? Take the time to review the videos.

You will hopefully come to understand that you have placed your faith in an evil force that violates Christ’s beliefs.

You are a witness to the truth. Drive out the devils in power of you.

Matthew 25-13: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Matthew 13:2: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Romans 15-7: “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

The evidence in the Bible is clear, you have been fooled by the Antichrist.

May God bless you with the truth!

Thomas Vincent Keelan

Waimea