Some facts in a March 4 letter have to be cleared up. In quoting me, the writer did not understand what I said.

The building of her "diamond in the sky" was not of my choosing. Rockwell, which built the "diamond," already had chosen the area and I was hired as a cultural monitor.

During a four-week period that I was ill, they removed 150 tons of rock from Haleakala and took it down to Puunene to be crushed to build this "diamond" after promising that it would keep everything on site.

The pohaku (rock) cinders and everything found on the site are sacred to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of the volcano. I made them return the crushed rock to be used at the National Park because it could not be returned to the top.

Please keep your "haole's dream" on the Mainland. This is Hawaii. We don't need artificial symbols for reverence. It's like telling Native Americans to use the White House as a "sparkling point" of light, or anyplace on the Mainland for that matter. It all belonged to them, like Hawaii and our land; now we have to live with it.

Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr.
Pukalani

Observatories sparkling in the sun might prove useful

Letter to the Editor
The Maui News
Friday, March 04, 2005

I and my husband attended a wonderful movie, "Haleakala: A Sense of Place," at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center Feb. 20.

Hawaiian leader Kahu Charles Maxwell Sr. made several comments on his concern for lack of reverence of Hawaiian culture in honoring "Haleakala," which has great meaning as one of the most holy spots on the island.

Since Uncle Charlie was very ill and could not attend a "very important meeting many years ago" on the placement of observatories on Haleakala, they were placed on a very "sacred site." My belief system says there are no accidents.

My dream solution is: Two hours before sunset and two hours before sunrise, the observatories sparkle as a diamond in the sky. It is beautiful, a diamond on this sacred site. Have this catching of the sun be a signal to all Hawaiian people of Maui to say their prayers to Haleakala.

Let it turn bad feelings to good allowing this important facility built on an important sacred site and be a gift to the Hawaiians Ð a sparkling point of light giving reverence to their ancestors.

This is but a haole's dream, given to all freely and respectfully.

Alice Livermore-Nakagawa
Wailuku

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