Kauai property owner target of online ‘threats’ after iwi found at construction site

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – On Kauai’s North Shore, the landowner where ancestral remains have been discovered told Hawaii News Now he’s been getting online threats.
Descendants of those burials said they want everyone to come together to protect the iwi kupuna.
In Wainiha near Hanalei, video of this Oneone Road property called Hale Makai Cottages showed where construction is at a standstill and orange flags mark the areas of iwi kupuna.
At least six iwi kupuna were discovered during a cesspool conversion project, said those with cultural ties to the area.
Megan Wong is a cultural descendant of the Naue burials and said, “That area is completely dug up, and there’s sand piles. We are finding bone fragments all over that area.”
“It just feels like a crime scene and you don’t know how to put it back together,” she added.
Kauai Police Department arrested three people including Wong after KPD said it responded to reports that several people had been on site for four days.
“We are asking for the law to protect the descendants to practice their cultural rights and some of those cultural rights are to enter, visit iwi kupuna, and to do ceremony,” said Wong.
Last week, the state Department of Health issued a stop work order so the State Historic Preservation Division can initiate and complete their investigation.
The property owner, Chris Arreguin, said he and his family have been the target of online “misinformation” and “threats.”
“We’ve had many instances of trespassing and destruction of property,” said Arreguin in a statement to Hawaii News Now.
He said they were instructed by DOH to upgrade from cesspools to septic tanks and followed state and county protocols.
“We recognize that people have questions with the process and procedures as directed by DOH and SHPD, but abuse and threats toward anybody is not an acceptable reaction,” said Arreguin.
The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation is involved with the case.
“The government heard the cries of descendants, heard that there were concerns, sufficient enough that it was appropriate to just pause the work,” said Makalika Naholowaa, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, executive director.
“Were all these processes followed because the descendants and community were very much aware that there’s burials here and so that’s really the outcry,” Naholowaa added.
In the meantime, Wong says the owner is not on Kauai and is encouraging kapu aloha as the community is searching for a peaceful resolution.
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