quote:
Originally posted by MarkP
Can the Judge just cut to the chase and cut such people out? I doubt it in both cases but I wish I knew more about what the rules are because I see a lot of foolish time-wasting that definitely would get people thrown in jail for contempt if it were a regular courtroom.
Yes the "hearing officer" who happens to be a retired judge can do that. However she is determined to make sure everyone is heard and has an opportunity. Natural attrition has removed many of the trouble makers because they didn't have the stamina after they pulled their occasional stunts.
There are a couple very dedicated jokers. Fergerstrom who angers Amano daily with nonsense about unfairness (withholding documents, Amano attacking him, etc.) Mr. Vicnente who without pause demands from every witness to know which of the 13 US States they are "naturalized to". He also constantly demands to know if they know about the 1849 treaty. He then goes into the crown & king vs illegal state. He does this so much the opposing attorneys just say, "We object to going down this yellow brick road again." And Amano cuts him off. But this happens EVERY TIME.
He greeted Dr. Paul Coleman, a local hawaiian astronomer, "Goodmorning Sponge Bob. Uh, I mean Mr. Coleman". The attorney interrupted, "Your honor, that's inappropriate." Vicente, reponded, "Well he wanted to be informed so I called him Sponge Bob." Amano didn't get it and the attorney said Dr. Coleman has thick skin, so lets just move on.
You can see a typical Vincete performance by watching
http://naleo.tv/VOD/ Jan. 5th Part 2 at the 97:00 time mark. He at least has a sense of humor about the situation unlike Fergerstrom who is a very angry individual.
I would suggest people also watch the Jan. 5 Part 2 testimony of Dr. Coleman because his testimony is very interesting and it challenges a lot of assertions by the petitioners who are very upset with some of the things he points out.
He went up the mountain every year starting in 1987. He points out that only recently (around outrigger and TMT) time frame had he seen any evidence that anyone thought Maunakea was particularly sacred and he didn't witness any religious activities up there.
He gives them all a lesson in how telescopes are not money making endeavors and it is surprising the level of ignorance displayed by two of the petitioners who seem to think the telescope gets pimped out.
He also challenges the petitioners to prove the area is sacred as they claim which pisses many of them off. In fact one petitioner repeatedly cut him off so he couldn't expound on his answers that challenge their assumptions.
He was a sharp witness who they kept trying to discredit his testimony because he was "not a cultural expert" and "was not a religious practitioner". They wanted to show he was a tool by the astronomy industry, but he just told him, "There are a lot of astrophysicists in Hilo but only a few that grew up here. They wanted a local perspective and I made it clear I wanted to testify to anyone who wanted to hear it. That's how I ended up here. I'm not paid to be here. I'm just giving a local boy's opinion." Which they all tried hard to discount because it angered them. They challenged his assertion that "only a few people oppose" the TMT by saying, "didn't you see about 1,000 people block the road?!" He tried to say, "Yes, but didn't you see how few native Hawaiians were there?" but they aggressively tried to talk over him.
Anyway his testimony on Jan 5, Part 2 is worth a watch. You can read his written testimony here
https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/mk/files/2016/10...H-C-17.pdf it's only about 3 pages. In it he says:
quote:
How sacred is Maunakea? How important is it to the Hawaiian people? These are questions which must be answered by each Hawaiian, but my answer is simple. My auntie Morni Mo 'okini Lum is the kahuna nui of the Mo 'okini luakini heiau in Kohala and I consider that heiau to be more important than the summit of Maunakea to our people. In fact, I can point to many other places which I consider to be much more important than Maunakea.
[...]Every effort that I am familiar with, to search these large repositories of knowledge, have found no mention of Mauna o Wakea. In fact, only passing mention of Mauna Kea in a handful of articles usually describing a visit by a dignitary to the summit, have been found in all the hundreds of written texts. The stories often highlight the difficulties involved in travel by horseback-no mention of the sacredness of the mountain can be found! This lack of historical support for the "sacredness" of the mountain is in direct contradiction to the claims of the protesters.
