Laie is a small plantation town with a deep-rooted hierarchical system. The history of Laie also has church stake presidents who have been involved in questionable practices from immoral to illegal financial dealings and abuse of position. However most have been upright and honest and decent
Ask the questions you've always wanted to ask. You questions will be sent to the SLC headquarters. No names will be revealed.
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51 comments:
Dear Mr. LDS President,
Hawaii Reserves, Inc and BYU-Hawaii keep saying that Envision Laie is what YOU want. You are the prophet, you have ordained this. Because you want it, LDS church members should obey and support them. Is this true?
We have a lot of concerns and problems with Envision Laie. HRI and BYU continue to ramrod this process through with nefarious manipulation and half-truths. We can show more than ample proof. It goes against your church teachings in our opinion.
Aloha,
Hauula Resident
To Mr Monson:
My understand you are coming to Laie end of this month. I'm a Methodist and I have a lot of good Mormon friends who are honest and upright and they can't explain why HRI acts the way it does. I appreciate what your church collectively stands for.
What I don't understand is why your church continues to allow Hawaii Reserves to ruin your good reputation in Hawaii. Is it because HRI is sugar-coat everything in their management report to you?
I wish you continued health in your leadership. Please read http://www.IndependentKamaaina.blogspot.com because it gives you a good over-view of what's happening in Laie. Thank you.
Dear Mr. Monson,
I know that the Mormon Temple is very important to you all. My question is why you all will neglect Laie and want to build a new community in Kahuku. After you have built your new subdivision, your beautiful temple in Laie will still remain in substandard Laie. Laie will still be embroiled with its flooding and other HRI mismanagement strife. I think the problems in Laie need to be addressed first. Your temple deserves a beautiful and peaceful community. It is not today, thanks in big part to HRI.
Aloha Mr Monson,
How can such a controversial figure like Eric Beaver the CEO of HRI ever be effective as a ecclesiastical stake president? Is this really your church's method of letting HRI control Laie? We know of real-life grievances against him for a very long time and yet he continues to be in power.
Dear President Monson,
Does HRI ever tell you about our regular flooding problems in Laie? We have insurance but it's still very traumatic and stressful and disruptive. HRI wants to control Laie selectively. Every time there is management or maintenance controversies, they are never wrong or responsible. If you complain, HRI considers you their enemies. I want to be very honest with you. The spirit of brotherly kindness leaves me every time I hear him speak at church because his management style is arrogant, manipulative and unChristlike. Sorry to say this but this is a common feeling in Laie. I'm not the only one.
Dear Pres. Monson,
I wish that we do not have so much politics in our community. HRI and now BYU have divided our communities into many camps. I work for one of the church entities. And it is very discouraging to see the pressure that Eric Beaver and now Steven Wheelwright place on us to show up for meetings.I think it's more a personal ego trip for them.They just want to win. They don't care about what Envision Laie is doing to families and neighbors. There is too much bad feelings and intimidation in Laie.
Dear Mr. Monson,
What is your vision of Laie? Do you envision a nice rural community with church members living around your LDS temple? Or do you envision Laie being owned by outsiders? Do you envision old Laie suffering a negative economic upheaval?
I'm asking you these questions for 2 big reasons. Your Envision Laie development will dry up the student rental income that so many Laie residents depend on for decades. If BYU move their students into the Malaekahana area, many Laie residents will have a hard time meeting mortgage payments.
If you take a walk around Laie, you'll soon realize that Laie has 'pent-up housing' because a lot of families are renting to students to help pay mortgage.
Many residents live together to help make the mortgage payments. They cannot split up. If the families split up, there will be great financial hardship.
The consequence will be: A) Envision Laie will end up creating more upheaval and econmical difficulties in Laie. B) Outsiders will buy the majority of home buyers in Envision Laie homes because the typical Laie residents cannot afford it.
Dear Mr. Monson,
Your church spends a lot of money on missionary work. I have neighbors who have sons on missions. I think it is a honorable activity. But I wonder if you are canceling your efforts. You send 'ambassadors' to promote goodwill for your church. On the other hand, you have Hawaii Reserves and representatives like Eric Beaver and Steven Wheelwright who create more animosity than goodwill. They both claim to represent the church. How do you reconcile this fact in Hawaii?
Aloha Mr. Monson,
I have heard you on TV and you seem like a very upright and decent man.
Here is my question for the day ----do you think that Laie, Hawaii should look like Utah? The reason why I ask this question is because your new shopping center looks like a shopping center in Utah.
If I close my eyes and not see the sign "Laie Village Center", I could be in Utah. California or even . .. . Waikele, Hawaii.
Dear Mr. Monson,
Welcome to Hawaii. Are you training Mormons in Laie to be self-reliant and enterprising? Or would you lure the Mormons in Laie with entitlements and dependence on your church? HRI is furiously advocating a message of dependency with high hopes of 'affordable' housing and "good jobs". This cannot be sustainable in any setting.
Dear Mr. Monson,
Where else in the world do you offer this entitlement?
Out-of-Laie Mormons consider Laie Mormons nothing but a bunch of whiners and losers waiting around for a hand-out from the church.
Some have naively waited for the last 20 years.
What makes these Laie Mormons have special status?
You can not have enough 'affordable houses' to give everyone who wants one in Laie. How are you going to decide what gets one?
Will this only create more animosity and contention in Laie and among your church membership?
Dear Mr. Monson,
In all of the meetings, interviews and radio shows I have participated in, read and heard, nobody from the Envision Laie team has been able to answer this question. Perhaps you can articulate a response that addresses the issue of economic development in Koolauloa. The question is:
How does the proposed expansion of BYUH and PCC and the resulting need for additional affordable homes provide new opportunities for residents and contribute to a growing and diversified economy in the Koolauloa region?
Its clear from the surveys, although misinterpreted in the analysis, that the people of Koolauloa want to create new business opportunities that will allow them to work near their homes and that will contribute to the economic growth of their communities. We don't want more of the same because we already know what that looks like.
Its time for economic change in Koolauloa. We have opportunities to create new economy companies in digital media and green energy. Agriculture is more important now than it has been for the last 50 years. We have a university, BYUH, that with some visionary leadership could create a new Laie, not just bigger one. ECONOMIC GROWTH DOESN'T HAVE TO MEAN POPULATION GROWTH!
Aloha,
Dear Mr. Monson,
I live along Kam Hwy. Every night, except on Sundays, i have to suffer the noise and the traffic brought about by PCC tourists. Sometimes I wait for as long as 20 minutes to get onto Kam Hwy.
Have you surveyed our 2-lane Kam Hwy? It's not like those highways in Utah. There is no way to expand Kam Hwy in many places due to the ocean and homes along it.
Can BYU and PCC be a good neighbor and not shove this project down our throats?
Dear Mr. Monson,
Eric Beaver of HRI canceled the Workforce project in April 2008 due to slow economy, lack of community support and other developments. He dragged the community through with consultants for years. It came to an abrupt stop.
Steven Wheelwright who is a Hawaii transplant for the last 2 years is now spearheading the development of a new community in our neighborhood. They hired a consultant company based in Maryland.
The conditions remain the same. But now their new PR soundbites are claiming 'overwhelming support'.
For an objective analysis - their survey is skewed. Those workshops were stacked and highly manipulated. They count every one present as supporters. They intimidated residents in signing their petitiions
Their public relations war in our island is nefarious and disingenuous to careful listeners.
I feel this nefarious style of doing business is below the belt and unchristian.
Are you aware of these dirty tricks that developers play? Would you condone such behavior?
Dear Mr. Monson,
Welcome! We consider you as a friend even though HRI considers those who oppose them their enemies.
Mr. Monson, do you know that Turtle Bay Resort (Del Webb) first started out as a hotel fit for a casino? When you enter the hotel, you'll see a big open space fit for such. But it did not come about. Not yet. Keep the Country Country supporters are fighting against Turtle Bay Resort's five more new hotels for many reasons. One is we do not want the possibility of casinos in this part of our neighborhood. The others include traffic, infrastructural concerns etc.
We know that Hawaii Reserves and the Kuilima Resort are working closely hand in hand to develop this whole region.We are against urban sprawl.
Oahu has a General Plan for the whole island. Our region is slated for low growth to protect our rural areas and our sense of place. Honolulu and Ewa and Koolina areas are slated for big developments like the Disney hotel. Places in Ewa has projected growth of about 30,000 homes. There are about 1000 foreclosures in Oahu today.
In Utah you have a captive tourist audience attending your General Conferences and such. Here in Hawaii, there must be a need to protect Hawaii's unique sense of charm and allure. Please respect this planning for Oahu. This will also help protect your Polynesian Cultural Center. People come to this side of our island because it's still rural and it still maintains a sense of place for Hawaii.
Cement this rural area with five new resort hotels, a new Envision Laie subdivision of 1200 homes and shopping centers and offices, what have you got? Nothing but a generic little Utah and an exclusive Ka'anapali in Maui.
Development is not the answer to everything. Above all, the affordable housing that is used as the bait will not be affordable to most locals. We know this for a fact. The policeman and the nurse and the teacher can afford about $250,000
The complexion of this whole rural region will be forever ruined along with PCC. Tourists will most likely go to Paradise Cove which sits on 14 acres of beachfront and much closer. They would not want to mess with congested traffic on little Kam Hwy that leads them to PCC.
Aloha Mr.Mondon,
I really don't know how much you know about the details and the controversies of Envision Laie.
I hope that you will assign some independent people who understand Laie and Hawaii to give you an honest and unbiased perspective from the financial to social to cultural to the church side of this.
I have many good friends in Laie. Laie is a very polarized village. They will not reveal this to you but Laie has two levels of interactions.
One is the public image that every Laie is supposed to espouse. Every thing is supposed to be well in Zion. They even peacefully wear the campaign T-shirts despite personal misgivings.
The other is the private side. They are very unhappy and discouraged.Some chose to not attend church any more. We have them in our fellowship. Many feel it is helpless because their voices will never be heard or the sacrifice to oppose is not worth it.
They do not dare oppose because they work for one of your church entities. They don't want their church membership or standing questioned. They need that temple recommend renewed every two years. If they do not receive that temple recommend, their jobs will be terminated.
Eric Beaver has indirectly or directly retaliated one way or another to those who opposed him in Laie. There are substantiated incidences. This has happened before. This is not rumors. If you want information, let me know on this page and I will provide it for you after I asked for permission to reveal publicly. Some are already publicly written about.
Laie maintains a culture of a very close-knitted priesthood enclave. I was very surprised to hear Eric Beaver spoke of 'priesthood loyalty to him' at a community funeral. Many found that offensive. They took it to mean that the men in Laie needs to support him. By implication, others who questioned or opposed him were lacking. There is a lot of abuse at the pulpit. It is used to bully but also to announce HRI's
various for-profit projects.
Having said this about one of your church leaders, we also hear praises for Von Orgill, the president of your Polynesian Cultural Center. We understand he's also a Stake president over the students.
Mr. Monson, you know HRI has a history of ongoing controversies. Please don't consider this as opposition or disrespect of your church. I want to raise these enormous problems because your congregations will not do it. How are you going to relieve the people of Laie of this unhappiness and burden?
I remain,
A friend of most Mormons
Aloha!
Strange. HRI/Zions asked the city and county to designate their Master Plan on the 1999 Ko'olauloa Sustainable Map. It was the inspired plan then. I believe Mr. Beaver was involved at that at that time.
Today HRI is saying PCC and BYU do not want to be 'land-locked'. These entities have nobody to blame but themselves. BYU/PCC/HRI campaigned for the designation on the map.
Now they insinuate it was the city's fault. HRI needs to come clean on this.
My question is: In another 10 or 20 years, will it be another problematic designation? Who are they going to blame next?
Is this a typical developer's dream community or is this an inspired vision to help the Mornons in Laie?
If this is so, are Mormons the only chosen ones in Ko'olauloa?
Should the sentiments of those along the Ko'olauloa be considered in this "inspired plan"?
Aloha,
Will your faculty and congregation be punished in any way shape or form if they disagree with your Envision Laie development? Mahalo.
Hello Mr.Monson,
In the same line of thought as above. I've heard among your membership state that this Envision Laie is the 'will and mind of the Lord". To me, this is a very worrisome mentality. You are are very concerned about same-sex marriage which we are too. Your church argue that there are traditions and institutions of good thoughts that we should uphold. WE agree with you.
Mr. Monson, we who live in this rural area have traditions and institutions of good thoughts that we wish to uphold too.
We wish to respect and uphold the General Plan that Envision Laie ignores.
We wish to respect and uphold the agricultural designations that give us diversity on this island. When your church bought this, you knew it was zoned agricultural.
We wish to respect and maintain our island living away from the busy towns like Waikele and Kaneohe.
We could go on but we think you'll understand. Aloha.
Aloha!
The 'pent-up' housing that HRI keeps demonizing is student rentals. More than 50% of Laie property owners depend on student rentals to help pay their bills. Eric Beaver and Steven Wheelwright have not considered this reality. The Envision Laie will create great financial hardship on many in Laie.
It is also our culture to have families live together. Is this so bad?
Mr. Monson, there are a lot of discrepancies between fact and rhetoric in this development.Is this what you the prophet really envision or is this the dream of a greedy developer who do not understand the differences between Utah and Hawaii?
1. there is a reason for pent-up housing. Your Laie people depend on that student income. I have a rental property and they still struggle with their cheap rents after bringing in students.
2. HRI uses emotional sound bites to create division and contention among your people. HRI keeps demonizing against outsiders buying in Laie. Envision Laie will provide much opportunity for oursiders.
3. HRI demonizes vacation rentals. Envision Laie also has that. You may want to know it is illegal right now for that.
4. The HRI survey contradicts many of their arguments for this new community.
5. They claim that have 'overwhelming support", they don't.
6. They claim the nurses, they want to provide for school teachers and the policemen. My neighbors work in these fields. the bank told them they can afford $200K MAX.
They claim it is your prophetic desire. Somehow we have this feeling that you are too smart of a leader to buy this package. It will spell disaster for Laie financially. It will also engender more animosity towards your church.
It will turn this region into "Little Utah" which is counter-productive to our rural region and PCC.
Dear Mr. Monson - my question is why HRI and BYU-Hawaii think they are always above the law and order in our Hawaii Ohana.
=================================
Printed in today's Star Bulletin
"BYU's vision conflicts with city
At a Honolulu City Planning Commission hearing in the early 1980s, a Brigham Young University representative presented a plan for extensive development in Laie, extolling the many features of the plan to develop the area. When asked how the proposal fit into the city's overall General Plan for Oahu, the representative was speechless. He had no knowledge of the plan. It now looks as if history may be repeating itself. A new proposal from BYU affiliates shows either no knowledge, or a lack of respect for the city's long range planning for our island.
According to the city Department of Planning and Permitting, the General Plan already accommodates all projected island growth. The City's Sustainable Communities Plan for the area permits little growth because the growth is directed to other areas of the island such as the Ewa "second city."
A large development in Laie would mean that the entire General Plan would have to be redesigned, and most of the city's growth policies modified, not just an amendment to the Sustainable Communities Plan. The General Plan is well on its way to fruition, and represents multimillion dollars of investment of taxpayer money for infrastructure. Think of the cost of the new parks and schools in Kapolei, the cost of the new freeway interchanges, and the Honouliuli sewer plant expansion that taxpayers have already funded, not to mention the justification for the rail system.
The General Plan considered all of these factors, and many others; that is why the area is only designated for minor development. It should stay that way."
Charles A. Prentiss, Ph.D.
Former executive secretary,
Honolulu Planning Commission
August 3, 2009 12:54 PM
Dear Mr. Monson,
Can you please help clear up this confusion? HRI is a for-profit corporation.
----Do you or your office personally get involved in this management?
-----Based on the monumental arrogance and mistakes that have been taken place, we want to think not.
-----But HRI is now publicly stating that it (Envision Laie) has the blessings of the church.
-----Is this HRI dropping names to coerce the LDS membership to comply and support without debate?
------Is Envision Laie "the mind and the will of the Lord" as mentioned before.
Mahalo.
Greetings to you! Could you kindly consider the following and comment?
From the http://www.IndependentKamaaina.blogspot.com
about the Hawaii Reserves Laie Envision Special Neighborhood board #28 meeting at the Laie School Cafeteria.
-----
With all due respect to the few outgoing kupunas who spoke at the Neighborhood board meeting. How many of them and their family members received $100 for talking with the consultants?
One Kupuna described exactly the problem and gullible mindset of so many nice kupunas. She said she never had problems with anything. That's why Hawaii is the way it is today.
They just listen to HRI "Kupuna" like Kela Miller and they trusted her. Their trust and their loving ways are being exploited. Maybe they should question where she is coming from?
There is nothing much left of Hawaii and now some of these live aloha kupunas are supporting big business who will wipe out our Hawaiian system of Ahupu'a.
If Hawaiians and supporters of local ways don't stand up and say no to this Laie Envision, there will be nothing left.
Yes, the world is changing. We have to use our hearts but we must also use our minds that the good Lord has blessed us with. There are many kupunas who don't feel good about this but it's not their nature to disagree in public.
Greetings! Please comment.
-------
August 3, 2009 10:30 PM
Anonymous Laie Resident said...
I don't trust HRI. Period.
August 4, 2009 12:27 AM
Anonymous Not fair said...
What about me? I don't have any house but I don't live in Laie. A lot of the people who testified for Laie Envision last Thursday (7-30-2009) already have a home. Harry Brown has an affordable home in Kahuku and another home in Maui. Someone told me OHA land. Is the system broken that one man can have 2 subsidized homes? How did he do that? Show me the tricks.
August 4, 2009 12:57 PM
Greetings! There are my own opinions.
#1. HRI and BYU are promising jobs and affordable housing in exchange for support. Is this truly sustainable?
It's not good to put everything in one basket. Why enslave these islanders? There is no imagination, no understanding of the world's economy. BYU should promote education and retooling for local residents, young and old. The goal should be to empower the community of Laie, not further enslave them by brainwashing them that they have to live, work in Laie. Some of these islanders have worked for decades with minimal wages. Now PCC and BYU are encouraging the next generation to do the same - stay in Laie only. When PCC or BYU have to cut wages or consolidate, too many Laie families suffer. This cannot be humane planning. Providing a fish is not the answer to sustainability. There will always be an endless line for this. (Minimal wages should be only for students and high school students, adults should be encouraged to go out into the world. Oahu is a small island. People in Utah drive longer distances and think nothing of it.)
Dear Mr. Monson,
The following comments are taken from the Hobolulu Advertiser. What do you think of it? Mahalo.
QUOTE:
For the last 18yrs BYUH has been allowed to build Affordable Housing on the 250 acres behind BYU- and has not!
Now in their ENVISION LAIE Plan these 250 acres will be "Cabins for visiting faculty & guests"
There is also PLENTY of room to build more Dormitories at BYU and still keep it beautiful. This would free-up housing for the local community!
If Wheelwright really wants local people to have Affordable Housing then just have BYU/PCC/HRI pay locals a good salary! There is plenty of Housing in Hauula, Kahuku, all up for sale at all different prices!
Instead Wheelwright wants to build a whole new town at Malaekahana! Affordable Housing ? or a Retirement Community for Baby Boomers from Utah!
Dear Mr. Monson,
Your church history is one of persecution as a minority group in places like Illinois. You all were treated badly and unfairly. You endured political, social and business tyranny.
Now it seems the table has turned. You occupy Laie. Most of your 8,000 plus residents are Mormons. With your numbers, your HRI and BYU insists it can bully and manipulate Envision Laie through.( This is not to say that they enjoy overwhelming support. Most of Ko'olauloa do not support this new community. But they are saying they have overwhelming support anyways)
Do you think this is fair and christian-like for them to think and act this way?
Hi Mr. Monson,
I've been told that BYU faculty has been offered a very sweetheart deal to buy its faculties homes. The faculty who buys outside can also benefit. They are given $10,000 to help with down payment. There is also cash to help with closing costs. They are also receiving a monthly stipend of $400 for some years.
If the faculty members who have the good- paying jobs in Laie needed this much help, this does not bid well for the rest of the community. I seriously doubt that the 'affordable' housing will be helpful to Laie. Unless, it's priced at below $250,000.
With this great financing program, how many faculty members are or able to take advantage of this? Will the church offer this to other Laie residents? Thank you.
To Mr. Monson,
May I suggest that you be more involved in this? Hawaii Reserves is dropping your name to get support from your church members. Are you aware of this?
Are you aware that there are lots of half-truths and misrepresentation (LIES) by your church representatives? In a interview with the Hawaii public radio, Eric Beaver from Hawaii Reserves and also one of you top level church leaders LIED. He stated that the Hauula Community Association supported Envision Laie. But they never did. It was a blatant lie. Why do you continue to allow these people to destroy the good name of your church?
Mr. Monson,
Why do you have the HRI president also be the church stake president of Laie? This creates a big abuse of authority? Do you do this on purpose to control the natives in Laie? You have a former Polynesian Cultural President who was also the church stake president. That man ended up in a big scam and went to jail.
With best regards,
Hawaii Resident
That is the most one side 'survey' I've ever seen.
AUWE
Auwe, are you posting this question to the church president? If you think this is the most one side survey you ever seen, you have not taken the Envision Laie survey by HRI. Questions lie do you think your church membership will be question - yes, no, may is one side-sided? Brother there are multiple choices. You can skip the question if you like. Envision Laie survey never let you do that.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20091230_Roadblock_continues_despite_7_arrests_in_Laie_land_dispute.html
What do you think of this Kuleana land grab? Aloha
Dear Mr Monson,
Are special church leaders and the Hawaii Reserves Inc CEO allowed to lie to get what they want?
We HEARD Eric Beaver LIED on air during the Hawaii Public Radio in November 2009 that the Hauula Assoc. supported them.
Please check the facts. Neighborhood Board Minutes exposed this LIE 11/12/09 minutes pg 7. Just because Moana Kalua'u worked for Hawaii Reserves does not give her the right to represent HRI. Other board members were against it.
HRI needs to fix Laie flood problems etc first. HRI advertising it is selling sandbags for 50 cents in the Neighborhood Board minutes is ridiculous!
Laie people deserves more respect.
Dear Mr. Monson,
Is your church ashamed of Laie and want to just forget about it? I don't understand why you are not interested in fixing up Laie. It's a dump -flooding,mismanagement and all.
Mr Monson,
Do you think it is right for your church to gang up and impose what you want on other communities? We have been told your HRI Eric Beaver is working behind the scene to get church members to run for public office. These efforts are to promote HRI business agenda.
I am an alumni and I think Pres Wheelwright is doing a terrible job.
http://www.ratedesi.com/video/v/ri-vxPbg6sw/My-homeless-days-at-BYU-Hawaii
All he cares about is money. He caters to the rich mainland haoles.
Hawaii Reserves made such a big deal of the bike-way. Some crooks they are! What's happening now? This bike path starts in Malaekahana ranch and will end in Malaekahana Ranch. It's just a phony ploy for some good news. What a bunch of deceitful people.
Laie Dude ----there is bs about this. Hawaii Reserves wants the boy scouts to do the bike path for free. HRI should get slapped on their face. So stupid and penny pinching like this --- asking the boy scouts to work with hot tar. Fire them all! How about Bobby Chang and Jr Primacio do the work --- they posed for the camera.
Steven Wheelwright came to BYU-Hawaii 2 years ago. Students could not wear slippers. Students had to dress in business clothes and look like mainland smuuck. Long-time workers got kicked out. He brought in his haole gang.
Everybody hated him. He had no aloha. People can't wait for him to go home. I cannot believe now they are trusting him with promises of affordable housing. How stupid can we be?
http://www.thehawaiiindependent.com/story/koolau-loa-neighborhood-board-support-for-envision-laie-ruled-null-and-void/
FOUNDER'S WEEK/HOMECOMING 2011
Theme: Learn, Lead, Build
The 2011 Founder's Week/Homecoming festivities kick-off on Tuesday, February 8, with a campus Devotional and end on Saturday, February 12, with the traditional crowd pleasing Foodfest.
The Devotional speaker will be Bruce Hobbs, Managing Director of University Relations and Services at BYU-Idaho, followed immediately by a casual kickoff event in the Aloha Center. In honor of our founders, like President McKay, and to show respect to our guest speaker, we request everyone Dress for Respect that day (Church dress is recommended), but other signs of respect, such as wearing a collared shirt and choosing long pants instead of shorts are also in the right spirit.
=================================
What is President Steven Wheelwright trying to do? Change us into BYU-Idaho? Show respect? Can he show respect by giving us an alumni speaker instead of someone from Idaho?
The worldliness damage Beaver and Wheelwright are bringing to Laie are not known to many. It will be too late when we wake up. The Marriott Hotel will ruin Clissolds Beach.
In the recent dedication of the Laie Hawaii Temple President Monson prayed specifically for you: “Our Father, strengthen the youth who walk in a world saturated with the sophistries of Satan. Give them the courage to stand firm for truth. Bless them with a lengthened view of their eternal possibilities.” (Dedicatory Prayer of Laie Temple, LDS Church News)
President Monson is praying for you. He knows Satan is trying to defeat you. If you let him, Satan will gently lead you down a path that will rob you of your blessings. But Heavenly Father is mindful of us. We can know right from wrong. “For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.” (Moroni 7:15)
Always remember that God is with you. Though these islands are in the middle of the ocean, He has directed the work here. He sent His missionaries. He established His Church. He placed the temple here. This is His university. He brought you here. Through the years, millions of people have dreamed of coming to these islands. Make no mistake, Satan is also aware of BYU-Hawaii and of the work the Lord is doing here. He is here placing distractions and temptations in your way: casual behavior, worldliness, alcohol and drugs, pornography, and immorality.
Part 2 ( Part 1 below)
As a Koolauloa resident, I can assure you that the “Envision Laie” process did not represent the region. Far from it. And the needs of BYUH also should not be allowed to define the region.
There’s already at least one hidden time bomb. Before buying our house in Kaaawa twenty years ago, we looked at homes in Punaluu and beyond, including several along the highway. At some point, our realtor had to disclose some “fine print”–a “highway easement” that would allow the state to take something like 15 feet off the front yards of those roadside lots for future expansion of Kamehameha Highway. Would the increased traffic flow of the proposed Envision Laie project be enough to trigger use of this easement? I don’t know, but if I lived along the highway, I would certainly be worried.
Then there’s that “scientific survey” done as part of the Envision Laie process. Both Meda and I were surveyed independently at different times by phone, and both of us had the same reaction. The survey questions were horribly biased. Overall, the survey was like one of those campaign “push polls” designed to steer voters towards a particular candidate. Most of the questions were of the “forced choice” variety, but the choices were carefully selected to elicit support for the Mormon project.
The questions went along something like this: “Do you think (a) that
Envision Laie should be supported, or (b) should all our children have to live on the mainland?”
Both of us, independently, told told the pollster that the many questions were too biased to answer properly. I doubt those comments were recorded.
In any case, that’s enough venting for this Christmas Eve morning.
Last week that President Steven Wheelwright of BYU-Hawaii finally succumbed and brought back Ivy Kahalepuna as the President's Secretary.
Who will believe him now?
He brought his white Idaho gang and displaced local employees. But his EnvisionLaie pet project needs brown-faced support yeah? We are now all his convenient 'ohana'. LOL. LOL.
Who's next? His haole Idaho Vice President Max Checketts? His haole university public relations guy Michael Johanson?
The Civil Union passed the Senate today. I guess nobody is interested in moral issues like same-sex marriage anymore. Going after the almighty dollars like EnvisionLaie is more profitable, yeah?
I watched the Mormon Conference on Olelo channel to see what the Mormon church preaches. It did not sound too bad. There is a big disconnect between the caring here and the caring heard over the pulpit.
I would like to know who has oversight for Hawaii Reserves and its questionable policies.
http://www.Corruptioninlaie.com
Thanks Eric Beaver, Steven Wheelwright and Von Orgill. Laie has changed.
LAIE—Tension resulting from local politics allegedly resulted in physical violence yesterday between an opponent and supporter of the Envision Laie development.
Act 2
Kent Fonoimoana of the Defend Oahu Coalition (DOC), an opponent of the proposed Envision Laie development, filed a police report yesterday alleging that he had been physically assaulted by Junior Ah You, the longest standing member of the Laie Community Association (LCA) and supporter of Envision Laie.
“It’s over Envision Laie,” Fonoimoana said of the alleged assault. “He [Ah You] pushed me up against the fence, put both hands around my neck, and head-butted me while threatening me.”
Fonoimoana said he had stopped at Tita’s Grill in Kahuku, a restaurant owned by Ah You, after the LCA member invited him over shortly before via telephone.
Ah You, a former professional football player, works in government relations for the LCA, and is involved with the Envision Laie development as well as the Malaekahana Bike Path, a smaller project part of the development.
Just before the meeting with Ah You, Fonoimoana stopped at the Kahuku Police Station to document the alleged threats Ah You had made toward him on the phone. However, the police advised to “keep a journal and document the threats” Fonoimoana said.
“Junior [Ah You] called me accusing me of calling him a liar at a recent Neighborhood Board meeting,” Fonoimoana said. “I explained it wasn’t me and he apologized. He then said I should cease and desist my oral opposition to the Envision Laie project.”
“I said, you have your opinion and I have mine, it’s not proper to be telling me what I can or can’t say,” Fonoimoana added.
Fonoimoana alleged that Ah You began to threaten him again by saying: “The bottom line is you might be the first Fonoimoana I might have to knock out.”
According to the DOC co-chair, the conversation ended with Ah You inviting him to his restaurant across from Kahuku High School to talk things out. That’s when Fonoimoana stopped at the Kahuku Police Station to document the threats.
He left, saying he was unsure about stopping to talk to Ah You.
“I drove through Kahuku and saw my cousin at the restaurant so I thought it would be a good time to talk. We both apologized, then I said I didn’t appreciate the threat to be knocked out,” Fonoimoana said.
According to Fonoimoana, Ah You said, “You don’t think I can?”
Fonoimoana said it was when he tried to leave that Ah You pushed him against the fence with both hands around his throat and head-butted him.
“I was wearing my green ‘Keep the country country’ shirt and he told me to take it off. They [Envision Laie supporters] don’t like seeing those green shirts,” said Fonoimoana.
According to Fonoimoana there were several witnesses to the assault including his cousin. He left and filed an assault report with the police. He said the assault took place at approximately 4:00 p.m.
Regarding Envision Laie Fonoimoana said, “This is an indication of how they’re playing.”
Efforts made by The Hawaii Independent Tuesday morning to obtain a copy of the police report were unsuccessful. HPD said the report was in transition from the Kahuku station to the Honolulu station, making it unable to give out at the time.
A call made to Ah You was unreturned at the time of publication.
Envision Laie is a project headed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) that will, most significantly, create a set of new subdivisions collectively called Malaekahana just west of Laie that will rival the populations of the other towns in the Koolauloa region. This massive plan will most likely include widening parts of Kamehameha Highway, which will require condemning some properties along that road, as well as seizing some kuleana lands for roads that connect BYU to these other developments upland supposedly to lessen impact on Kamehameha Highway. The population increase will be considerable- Bringham Young University Hawaii alone expects to increase its student enrollment from 5,000 to 10,000 in the coming years.
Act 3
Community complaints are mainly two-fold: One is that the Public Advisory Committee, a community panel, drew up its own Sustainable Communities Plan (SCP) in the middle of last year, and the group, made up of a diverse segment of the Koolau Loa region, did not allow Envision Laie to be put on the SCP—the document that gives the City and Department of Planning and Permitting the right to OK the project.
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