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Meeting on Stryker brigade draws ire

WAIANAE, Hawaii — The Army’s first attempt to hold a public meeting about the basing of a Stryker brigade in the islands suffered a setback Monday night when William Aila and other Hawaiian activists boycotted the gathering, saying the Army was stifling public discussion.

Other activists stayed but spent much of the time complaining they weren’t being allowed to express their views at the meeting held so the Army could prepare an environmental impact statement.

The gathering at Waianae District Park was the first of five scoping meetings scheduled for Hawaii on whether the Army should station a Stryker brigade here or in Alaska or the mainland.

Army officials set up placards explaining why they needed to create Stryker brigades, and outlining the difference between the vehicle-centered units and infantry-centered light brigade units.

Army officials refused to answer questions posed by residents in front of the others. Instead, the Army asked community members to submit their questions and concerns in writing, in declarations before one of several court reporters present, or in statements to a video camera.

Paul Thies, chief of environmental planning at the U.S. Army Environmental Command, said officials wanted to be able to give thoughtful, considered answers to the questions and that was why they did not want to provide answers at the meeting.

Aila, the Waianae Harbor master, said the Army was trying to control the discussion.

“This is not the way to scope in Waianae,” Aila said. “These people over here aren’t going to be able to hear me ask questions that will stimulate in their heads other questions.”

Later, after Aila left, others tried to set up an open hearing by using the public address sound system at the community center, but a meeting facilitator unplugged the microphone.

Activists then brought out a megaphone and used that instead.

Annelle Amaral, the meeting facilitator, said the amplified sound was preventing the court reporters from hearing and recording comments from the public.

“Court reporters have to hear what’s being said to keep a verbatim record,” said Amaral, a Native Hawaiian hired by the Army to help run the meeting.

David Henkin, a lawyer for Earthjustice, which is representing three Native Hawaiian groups in a lawsuit to stop the Stryker brigade in Hawaii, said the Army has an obligation to actively seek public input as part of the environmental impact statement process.

“In Hawaii, and in particular in this traditional community on the Waianae Coast, people feel most comfortable having a dialogue, having a conversation, sharing. Without sharing there’s no real communication of the community’s concerns, an opportunity for people to hear from others, hear the answers given to others,” he said.

The Army collected between 20 to 25 written and verbal declaration at the Waianae meeting.

The Army is holding the scoping meetings to comply with a federal appeals court order from October that said the service violated environmental law by deciding to base the Stryker brigade in the islands without first considering a variety of alternatives.

The Army plans to hold meetings this week in Honolulu, Haleiwa, Waikoloa and Hilo.