Background Information
In late 2001, a Task Force Committee was formed by the Dept. of
Land & Natural Resources to come up with recommendations for
a updated plan for Makena State Park of which Little Beach is a
part. Dick Hyers asked to serve and was appointed to the committee
to have the interests of FOLB/MSS voiced. There were a few closed
meetings of the committee but the biggest ruckus came at a meeting
that was open to the public in order to “take public testimony”
regarding the park. Prior to this meeting there was an article in
the Maui News saying that Native Hawaiians wanted to use Little
Beach but could not as “nudity” was not part of their
culture and offends them. The suggestion was to “share”
Little Beach and “allow nudity” a couple of days a month!
This idea was rejected out of hand as unworkable and a bit silly.
The
public meeting was attended by over 200 people mostly clothing-optional
use supporters. There were two Native Hawaiian women that “testified”
against clothing- optional use. One of them called the pro clothing–optional
use people (about 180 of the 200+ in attendance) “just a bunch
of haoles.” She also stated that “our people (meaning
Native Hawaiians) don’t come out to meetings.”
The results of the Public Meeting where inconclusive but of the
85+ testifiers, most were pro-clothing-optional use for Little Beach!
Since that Public Meeting there have been numerous newspaper articles
and letters to the editor in both the Maui News and the Honolulu
Advertiser. ( I have written 5 Letters but only 2 have been published.)
As you can see a lot has been going on.
The latest move by Charlie Maxwell, a “Hawaiian Activist”
and committee member is to support ‘Na Kapuna ‘O Maui’
in their efforts to make the entire Makena State Park a state or
national cultural site in hopes that such a designation will result
in a “higher level of enforcement” (sic: stop clothing-optional
use of Little Beach) Na Kapuna ‘O Maui is a group of Hawaiian
elders that want to “bring the culture back to the beach.”
We are looking into the possibility of retaining an attorney in
order to ascertain the ramifications of listing the Park as
a State or National Historical/Culturial Site. The 'Na Kapuna
'O Maui' group has already done so and his statement was (sic) 'such
a designation would bring a higher level of enforcement' within
the Park.
PARK COMMITTEE UPDATES
Summary from
12/05/01 Meeting
(Adobe Acrobat PDF file, 38K)
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
As of September, 2002, things have calmed down. Little Beach is
just as popular as ever. No pertinent news from the Task Force Committee. Charlie
Maxwell has moved on to other "issues." Beach business
is back to normal.
The best thing to do is to keep on coming to Little Beach! Support
the clean-up efforts and enjoy the sun, sand and surf!
Watch this space for further developments!
FOOTNOTE: Charlie Maxwell passed away in February 2012.
Send your financial
support to
and make checks payable to: |
Friends of Little Beach/Maui SunSeekers
P.O.Box 841
Pu'unene, HI 96784 |
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