By Audrey McAvoy -Associated Press
About 40 protesters filed though Kawaiahao Church during the swearing-in ceremony for Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees yesterday to demonstrate against a plan to build 200 luxury estates at Laau Point on Molokai.
Demonstration leader Walter Ritte said the development supported by OHA would deplete and destroy the best fishing grounds on Molokai.
"It's going to be very detrimental to our cultural lifestyle," said Ritte. "We're here to ask the ... Office of Hawaiian Affairs to support Hawaiians."
Ten protesters flew over from Molokai for the event while the rest joined from Oahu.
Ritte said they want OHA trustees to withdraw a resolution they passed in support of the development in September 2005.
The proposal by landowner Molokai Ranch would transform 500 acres of pristine beachfront land at Laau into a 200-lot luxury subdivision....
The protesters, many wearing red T-shirts, walked through the central aisle of the church sanctuary in silence. They had wanted to carry signs with them but left them outside at the request of church leaders.
The protesters also waved to passing traffic outside the church while holding signs saying "OHA insults Molokai" and "OHA represents developers."
Colette Machado, trustee for Molokai and Lanai, said after the swearing-in ceremony that the project would build only 200 lots at a time when other communities, like Kau on the Big Island, were facing developments that would build thousands of new homes....
"You can't get it any better from any court settlement or any kind of future litigation," Machado said. "It's a reasonable and just approach."
Ritte scoffed at the idea of a trade-off.
"Give up your daughter to save the family - let her be a whore. That doesn't sell on Molokai. That's basically what the deal is," Ritte said. "We're not going to give up anybody in our family. We need the whole family to survive...."
