As in years past, HRI participated in the annual L-a‘ie Days Parade

on July 10, 2007. This year, HRI’s entry was entitled, “Hukilau

Remembered,” and featured four trucks, including a float decorated

with fishnet, colorful handmade fish, bright fish balloons, and

poster-sized photos of L-a‘ie hukilau from the 1950s and 1960s.

Many of the community kupuna rode on the float singing songs

from yesteryear, including the “Hukilau Song,” while HRI employees

on another float threw candies to children and parade watchers.

(See related story on pages 2-3)

HO‘OMUAHO‘OMUAH O N O R I N G T H E PA S T . . . B U I L D I N G T H E F U T U R E

HAWAI‘I RESERVES NEWSLETTER, ISSUE V FALL 2007

HO‘OMUAPRSRT STD

US POSTAGE PAID

HONOLULU, HAWAII

PERMIT NO 169

INSIDE

La`ie Bash

President’s Message

Remembering Hukilau

Historic Win for KahukuStudents

Touching the Lives of YouthThrough 4-H

Hawai‘i Reserves, Inc.A Land Management Company

55-510 Kamehameha Hwy.Laie,HI 96762

www.hawaiireserves.com

Printed on 100 percentpost-consumer recycled paper

The 11th Annual L–a‘ie BashEveryone had a great time at the 11th annual L-a‘ie Summer Bash, which

occurred July 9 at the L-a‘ie Shopping Center, and is sponsored by HRI.

The Nani L-a‘ie Serenaders was one of several entertainment groups that kept

the crowd on its toes with melodies and dances. Plenty of food, rides for the keiki,

including a challenging rock-climbing wall, helped create the festive atmosphere that drew

crowds from L-a‘ie and beyond.

Children in 4-H Clubs participate in a programthat provides balanced training of Head, Heart,Hands and Health, to achieve clearer thinking,greater loyalty, larger services and better living.

Touching the Lives of Youth Through 4-HGrowing up on her family’s farm in

Pupukea and helping her dad tend to his

livestock have led Verna Eguires to 22 years

of volunteer service in the 4-H program as a

youth development educator.

Eguires, a property management assistant

at Hawaii Reserves Inc., has helped hun-

dreds of kids and young adults, most of

whom are troubled youths, raise animals

and provide a life skill in the livestock

industry. Her students live within the

Kahaluu to the North Shore area of Oahu,

with some from the Nanakuli and Waianae

areas.

“We work hand in hand with many social

organizations on the island providing good

activities for these youths, most of whom

are runaways, have truancy problems or

even probation problems. We try to instill

in them a feeling of self-worth as well as

help them become productive citizens,”

Eguires explains.

Eguires’s Clover J 4-H club currently has 17

youth enrolled in the program. They are

responsible for the care of beef cattle, dairy

cattle, hogs and lambs. The program assists

young people in developing life skills and

in forming attitudes that will enable them

to become self-directing, productive, and

contributing members of society. 4-H

strives to help young people "make the

best better" through programs that empha-

size learning by doing.

Hula dancer Phyllis Ku`umo`o

HRI’s parade float “Hukilau Remembered”

One of our youths enjoying the rock-climbing wall

hri pride

As unfortunate as it was back in

1940 when the LDS Church chapel

in L–a‘ie accidentally burned down,

such incidents have had a way of

causing our community to take

action and pull together.

Restrictions from World War II

prevented church members from

rebuilding the chapel until 1948. Without really knowing when they could build, the

congregation spent the 1940s gathering for weekly hukilau and l–u‘au for both fellow-

ship and fundraising at Hamana Beach on L–a‘ie Bay. Originally named Hamana

Beach because it is where Hamana Kalili had his boathouse, it eventually took on

the name Hukilau Beach, and is memorialized in a song written by Jack Owens and

performed by Arthur Godfrey that goes by the same name. Since then, so many of

Hawai‘i’s school children have learned to do the hula of “Going to a Hukilau.”

A hukilau is the ancient Hawaiian fishing method that involves large nets with ropes

extending to the beach tied to each end. Along the ropes lau, or long leaves, flut-

tered in the water scaring the fish into the net, as the community pulls or huki the

ropes, bringing the net and its bounty to shore.

The church members in L–a‘ie found that the

weekly hukilau and l–u‘au, which

included entertainment, were significant

fundraisers. The main fishermen of L–a‘ie,

Hamana Kalili, Jubilee Logan and Moke

Hiram, took charge of the fishing. Community members

organized into groups to prepare the food for the l–u‘au. Because of his stature,

Hamana Kalili portrayed King Kamehameha on occasion.

“The hukilau was really fun for us. The bay always was filled with fish—we

caught fish!” recalled Donnette Kekauoha,the granddaughter of fisherman Moki

Hiram. She started helping with the hukilau when she was 10 years old and contin-

ued through her twenties. “We’d go up into the mountains to pick ferns for decora-

tion and strung haku lei throughout the whole dining hall. It was exciting! Our

kupuna taught us how to decorate the tables. Later, we'd perform the hula.”

For 20 years, the hukilau tradition in L–a‘ie continued. Leaders of the Church noted

that visitors were willing to drive from Waikiki to L–a‘ie to enjoy an authentic experi-

ence of Aloha Spirit. As a result, the Polynesian Cultural Center was established in

1963, employing many of the original L–a‘ie Hukilau principals.

Congratulations to Kahuku High & Intermediate School students who excelled at the National History Day competition earlier this summer in Washington, D.C. Sponsors of the trip included Hawai‘i Reserves Inc., Kahuku High &Intermediate, Department of Education Windward District and Turtle Bay Resort.

Students Jonathan Lautaha, John Nielsen and Jeremiah Theewere finalists in the competition’s senior media division. Theirentry, a documentary on “The Battle of Stalingrad,” earned thema special award in the Military History category and $1,000.Providing her guidance was instructor Lorey Ishihara.

Receiving an Outstanding State award for their Junior Divisionentry were Kahuku students Ila Myer, Kira Ho Ching andChristin Hoag for their performance, “The Dawes Act: Story ofthe Indian Tragedy.” Instructor Bonita Cavanaugh oversaw thisproject, while parent Lanett Ho Ching coached.

HRI recognized the excellence that Kahuku’s students had previously achieved at the state level, and decided to answer a request made for monetary support. “When we learned thatKahuku had, by far, more winners at this year’s state history day competition than any other school (24 of the total 69 state winners, with 27 schools participating), we wanted to assist,” said HRI president Eric Beaver. “It's a great honor for these students to represent our community and state by competingwith the nation’s finest in Washington, D.C. – but we realizedthat even with their fundraising efforts, it was a real challenge for most to make this dream happen. We’re glad we could help.”

In between competitions, Kahuku’s team of 17 students joined 36other Hawai‘i students as they visited national museums, memori-als, monuments and historic sites. They met U.S Sen. DanielAkaka and toured the Capitol Rotunda, and met with formerKahuku students serving as Congressional interns.

Aloha! One of the primary goals of our mas-ter-planned community project at Malaekahanamauka is to build homes that are affordable tohouseholds earning 140 precent or less of thearea median income, as defined by the U.S.Department of Housing & Urban Developmentagency. The current median income for a house-hold of four in our area is $73,500 annually.

While typical housing developments havebetween ten to twenty percent of their homes in the affordable category, we areattempting to build the majority of our homes in this category – an unusual andchallenging undertaking.

As we’ve all seen, fee simple market-quality homes are no longer affordable to working people and families in the current housing market. The forces of aglobal market economy, the transfer of wealth from aging baby-boomers andthe movement of money from capital markets to real property have combinedto bring enormous wealth into Hawai`i, driving real estate prices upward andout of reach of most working families. This situation is shrinking the workingclass and backbone of the community, and placing extreme pressure on the busi-nesses and institutions that employ them.

One way that we intend to achieve long-term affordability is by dramaticallyreducing the land cost component through a unique, long-term ground lease.Unlike the traditional ground lease in Hawaii that contains escalating step-upsand periodic renegotiations, we anticipate that this special ground lease will becapitalized and paid once upfront, at the time of purchase. This unique lease willensure affordability to subsequent buyers through controlled appreciation, andwill also allow a priority system designed to help first-time buyers who work inthe community. This unique leasehold model requires a sponsoring landownerthat is willing to receive value out of its land over an extended period of time.

Since the project must generate a reasonable profit to be sustainable, weare conducting another round of studies to analyze the economic feasibility ofthe project.

Estimates thus far indicate that it will be challenging to achieve the unique goalof creating a sustainable development that provides a majority of market-quali-ty homes at HUD-defined affordable prices. Once we are satisfied that the proj-ect is feasible, we will begin the process of obtaining development approvalsand will invite your support and participation in that process, which we hope tobegin soon.

Warm regards,

R. Eric BeaverPresident & CEO

Remembering Hukilau

Historic Win for Kahuku Students in Washington, D.C.Historic Win for Kahuku Students in Washington, D.C.

Pictured in front: Sami Wheeler, Diane Veras, Christin Hoag, Ila Myer, Alana Alulii,Jazmine Emerson, Kawena Bikle. Middle row: Jessica Tew, Chelsie Kamauoha, AmyBangerter, Kira Ho Ching, Christina Hubner, Lorey Ishihara, Marissa Compton, DebbieUlii, Lacy Chun. Back row: Jeremiah Thee, Mr. Ching and Mr. Francis Usher (formerKahuku students/Washington Interns), Jonathan Lautaha, John Nielson.

honoring the past

building for the future

from the president