Review underway into human remains placed on Mauna Kea
HILO » A Hilo man who claims to have placed human remains of an ancestor at the site where a giant telescope could be built atop Mauna Kea says he wants to show the area should be protected.
Palikapu Dedman, who is facing potential criminal charges, told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald he placed the remains on a stone altar at the site last September. He said he placed more remains there earlier this month after realizing the first set was missing.
“It’s a traditional process,” said Dedman, an activist involved in geothermal and Native Hawaiian issues. “I had a right to do it.”
Dedman said he plans to seek protective status for the altar as a burial site.
He declined to provide details about how he got the remains but said they belong to relatives from his ancestral home of Kau. State law prohibits the excavation or alteration of a burial site.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has investigated Dedman’s actions and forwarded its findings to the Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review.
Opponents of the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope proposal, including Dedman, say it will desecrate state land.
Harry Fergerstrom, a participant in the contested case for the telescope’s land use permit, recently submitted a “notice of burial claim” for the site. He said a relative told him there are remains of his ancestors near the access road for the project.
“Burials are another area that needs to be explored,” Fergerstrom said.
The Office of Mauna Kea Management said the mountain has been surveyed for burials and other archaeological features. There are no known burials at the site, located at 13,100 feet above sea level, or other telescope sites, according to the office.
21 responses to “Review underway into human remains placed on Mauna Kea”
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So Mr. Dedman claims it’s okay for him to break the law because he’s an activist ?? And let me get this straight, TMT has no right to legally build it’s telescope because he dug up a grave and put the iwi on a pile of stones ??? Geez, these anti-TMT people are almost as interesting and entertaining as Donald Trump !!
Actually, he made a huge mistake because now his claim is dead in the water due to “unclean hands”. Any decent lawyer could now get his claim tossed under the clean hands doctrine.
fo sho! lol
Another indication that the fringe movement objecting to TMT construction is a complete sham. There are no legitimate issues preventing the telescope from being built. There may always be ways to improve stewardship of the site, but creating fake issues to delay the project is a sign of a group that knows it has lost the rational battle.
agree..the protestors are begging for an incident to rally public support. Ige has tried to avoid that. Lot of shibai.
Gezundb@llsh!!!!theight!
Wait, I’m trying to wrap my understanding around this. “It’s a traditional process” to dig up TuTu and take her bones up the road to an observatory and put said bones in a pile of rocks. I’ve done a fair amount of reading and I haven’t come across that one yet.
Using Tutu’s iwi as a strategic tool for activism – HEWA! Talk about not respecting sacred things…
(and I’m sorry for using “Tutu” as an example. I respect my ancestors as well as yours but I was just trying to point out the silly hypocrisy of it all.)
Bring in the bulldozers. Do your jobs. Build the TMT. Don’t worry about illegal bones and grave robbers.
A fascinating legal quagmire.
I like this. So, I can dig up some poor relative’s bones, put them anywhere I like, and call the place “sacred?” So easy. Can I like go to Magic Island and then put the bones down and then say the place is sacred and build one house so I can safeguard the bones? Oh yeah. Always wanted a place near the ocean.
No wonder I cannot muster any credibility for these “protesters.”
If he were to REALLY follow the traditional practices, he would have been put to death by the alii for what he did, because he would have been violating their laws. It’s funny how people like to pick and choose which practices they claim must be followed (conveniently, only the ones that benefit them at any given time).
Palikapu Dedman Criminal Transcript: http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Portals/0/Article%20Attachments/DedmanRalphP%20eCrim.pdf
The guy hasn’t been caught committing a crime since 2004. I guess he decided it was time to beef up his resume.
Doxxers are reprehensible snakes.
can’t exhume a body with out proper authority.
human remains instead of body.
I got that also!
Unless you’re driving a backhoe and have a construction permit.
Not surprised the first set was missing; as if no one would remove them. Any skulls in there?