The hearing officer generously allowed the proceedings to open with a pule (prayer) to the ancestors by Paul Neves of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, whose dignity at the opposition table helped ground the hearing. On another day a man in ceremonial dress appeared and circled the entire room, sprinkling red rock salt "to purify the place." The hearing closed with another pule.
At the end of one morning's testimony Gibson also permitted a long-bearded, silver-haired native elder to speak poetically from the audience about the mountain. Abel Simeona Lui from Ka'u noted, "We have our twin towers-Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. They are living. We go up there to talk story, sing, and chant. I stayed up there three days when I lost my wife. I was lost and needed to learn how to care for our three children. We are an indigenous people. We are the care-takers of this place. You are trespassing against nature and god and his creation." Tears punctuated Simeona's comments, as they did the testimony of other Hawaiians.
The courtroom drama started with the U.H.'s lead attorney, Lisa Munger. She has made a career of defending corporations accussed of polluting, according to the website of her firm Goodsill, Anderson, Quinn, & Stifel. Her bio proudly touts her record of defeating the EPA and citizen groups seeking safe drinking water and struggling against toxic waste and asbestos poisoning. U.H. attorney Lisa Bail works for the same firm, defending developers, Superfund sites, and hazardous waste generators. As one Hawaiian noted, "If you had an oil tanker and it spilled, these lawyers would defend the oil company."
At the end of one morning's testimony Gibson also permitted a long-bearded, silver-haired native elder to speak poetically from the audience about the mountain. Abel Simeona Lui from Ka'u noted, "We have our twin towers-Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. They are living. We go up there to talk story, sing, and chant. I stayed up there three days when I lost my wife. I was lost and needed to learn how to care for our three children. We are an indigenous people. We are the care-takers of this place. You are trespassing against nature and god and his creation." Tears punctuated Simeona's comments, as they did the testimony of other Hawaiians.
The courtroom drama started with the U.H.'s lead attorney, Lisa Munger. She has made a career of defending corporations accussed of polluting, according to the website of her firm Goodsill, Anderson, Quinn, & Stifel. Her bio proudly touts her record of defeating the EPA and citizen groups seeking safe drinking water and struggling against toxic waste and asbestos poisoning. U.H. attorney Lisa Bail works for the same firm, defending developers, Superfund sites, and hazardous waste generators. As one Hawaiian noted, "If you had an oil tanker and it spilled, these lawyers would defend the oil company."