Good Friday a holiday for all

The case of Cammack v. Waihee may not evoke Easter season imagery, but it is the reason Good Friday is legally defended as a state holiday.

The lawsuit, which challenged the state’s designation of a religious holiday as an official day off, was decided by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991. The court found a state interest in decreeing a spring holiday, and in using one that many take off, anyway.

There is also a secular benefit the public can celebrate, of course: free street parking.

Guarding Native Hawaiian culture

On Monday, the state Senate is slated to vote on a resolution to form a task force to develop a legal system that protects Native Hawaiian cultural intellectual property. Also in the mix: cultural expressions, which include art forms ranging from hula to wayfinding, and protection of traditional crops from genetic engineering. The measure was prompted, in part, by debate that erupted last summer when a company that had registered “Aloha Poke” for its use only and sent cease-and-desist letters to businesses with similar names in Hawaii and elsewhere. The response in some Native Hawaiian circles was fast and fiery.