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"The latest news is UH and TMT are trying to avoid yet another contested case hearing, this time on the sublease. They are appealing to the State Supreme Court to rule on it."
There's a lot going on behind the scenes right now. I can't say more other than mid-January should be interesting and April ought to be when the final decision will be made by the TMT.
In the meantime, my comment to Leo was simply to find out if he or she was really interested in the discussion. The BLNR decision was worth discussing until it was taken over by a troll and am yet to be convinced one or two others have any interest in the process.
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The BLNR decision was worth discussing
Yes, I agree.
The entire case over time has become complex and convoluted. I have to admit it's been difficult to follow, with multiple plaintiffs and multiple court venues. From Eric1600's most recent link:
as a matter of judicial economy and to avoid duplication or conflicting results it is appropriate to allow the Supreme Court to fully consider the fully briefed appeal and await the decision-making process.”
Which, I suppose is the intention of the protestors. Delay, scatter arguments in every possible direction, and hope one of the rulings is slightly favorable to their position.
"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -James Madison, The Federalist Papers, 1787
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Thanks for the link TomK. It's informative and I'll read it at my leisure. I'll tell you this, I support the TMT but the mudslinging on this thread became too distracting to the discussion. Who's wrong/right or who the troll is/isn't became irrelevant. Personal tongue lashing was/is wrong on all sides. Too bad it came to that for gypsy.
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Thank you for that, Leo. I've tried hard to keep things on-topic but when you have such an active troll trying to change the subject every time some news gets posted, it became difficult, especially when it was made personal.
As for my recent comment, I'm unable to say more but watch for news about the IfA in January. There is also the news Eric posted. Not being a lawyer I find it hard to comment on how significant this is, but we are now coming close to the time when the TMT needs to make a decision whether to continue in Hawaii.
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Ha - I should have checked my email, before posting. The IfA news is Hasinger is leaving as the director.
http://www.hawaii.edu/news/2017/12/14/ha...astronomy/
It would be wrong for me to post my personal opinion about this here, but I don't feel particularly unhappy right now...
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I only know him through some of the IfA outreach and I thought he did a good job with the community.
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That may well be true, but the second-in-charge is a lawyer with no astronomical expertise and it comes when TMT issues become important once again.
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Once again, the topic of the MK observatories not paying rent becomes an issue, and once again, I'll point out that they pay an enormous amount of rent.
"
Mauna Kea Deserves New Management"
"
To this day, no observatory pays more than $1 a year for use of the mauna. This means that taxpayers and students are left to foot the bill for the management of natural and cultural resources."
http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/12/mauna-k...anagement/
All MK observatories pay rent via observing time which is 15% of their observing time. This comes to millions of dollars per year that are invested in research at UH, teaching students and UH managing the summit area plus investing in the Imiloa and the MK VIS which is one of the most popular tourist spots on the island. Whether UH have invested that money wisely is another issue, but the MK observatories
do pay rent and it's an awful lot more than $1 a year.
If you take that away and start charging rent that goes to some organization that has done nothing for anyone, even those they represent, not only do I think that'd be illegal, it would be a mechanism to take funds away from education and give it to a group of people who have no interest in anything other than having more money in their own pockets.
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TomK @23:35:05, 12/18/2017-
Constitutional Convention, abolish OHA.
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FYI there has been some "peace making" of sorts behind the scenes as well.
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2017/1...mauna-kea/
However the protectors came ready with a few complex proposals (75+ pages) including the MKAH and Royal Order report "Mauna Kea – The Temple: Protecting the Sacred Resource". In the end it was decided it was too complex to decide anything now. Who knows if another meeting will occur but there is a cultural aspect behind the contested case that was mandated and this meeting was basically to work on that.
