Police named the 12 individuals arrested and charged Wednesday with obstructing Mauna Kea Access Road while protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
Police named the 12 individuals arrested and charged Wednesday with obstructing Mauna Kea Access Road while protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
According to the police arrest log, they are: Gene S. Tamashiro, 58, Kawika A. Hassard, 36, and Michalynn Kauilani Trainer, 44, of Hilo; Chase Kahookahi Kanuha, 26, and Joseph Alapai, 54, of Kailua-Kona; Hualalai Keohuloa, 35, of Waimea; Ulises Rafeal Consuegra, 44, of Holualoa; Michel Dawn Prevost, 60, of Hakalau; Andre L. Perez, 44, of Pearl City, Oahu; Lori Ann Parizal, 45, of Waipahu, Oahu; Samuel Kaleikoa Kaeo, 49, of Kula, Maui; and Kaapunialiionalanikiekie Aiwohi, 25, of Wailuku, Maui.
The 12 were arrested for blocking access of construction workers trying to reach the summit of Mauna Kea to build the controversial observatory. The protesters, who call themselves “protectors” — most of them Native Hawaiians — hold the mountain as sacred.
Consuegra was arrested by the Hawaii Police Department; the others were taken into custody by enforcement officers for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
All were released from custody after posting $250 bail on the obstruction charge, a petty misdemeanor that carries a maximum 30-day jail sentence. Most were given dates of July 16 in Waimea District Court; at least one was given a July 23 court date, according to the police log.
Trainer, a local singer and entertainer, wrote on Facebook she will plead not guilty July 16.
“I am aloha ‘aina,” Trainer wrote. “I not sure why they when arrest me since they asked me to move and I replied, ‘ae’ (yes) and at the same time Officer (DLNR branch chief Lino) Kamakau grabbed my elbow and said, ‘so you not going move? You arrested. No more chance for you!’”
Trainer wrote she forgives Kamakau because “he was feeling the pressure and kaumaha (weight or grief).” She said she was treated for an asthma-like panic attack in the paddy wagon, and praised the professionalism and courtesy of the emergency medical technician who treated her and the police officers who helped after she was stricken.
Trainer also thanked her teenage daughters, who “combined their savings” to bail her out of jail.
She said she stood “ready to ascend” the mountain again Thursday.
“June 24, 2015. I will not forget,” Trainer wrote. “I am not ashamed for how I presented myself. I aloha my ‘aina. … I will present myself in kapu aloha as I always strive to do.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.