[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 45 (Friday, April 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E664]]
        ON THE OCCASION OF THE CENTENNIAL OF THE COUNTY OF MAUI

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. ED CASE

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2005

  Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, today marks a most auspicious day for the 
County of Maui, all of which I am most proud to represent in our 
Congress. The County of Maui, encompassing the four Islands of Maui, 
Moloka'i, Lana'i and Kaho'olawe and their roughly 140,000 residents, 
was created one hundred years ago today. Tonight my colleagues and 
fellow citizens are gathering in the Maui County Building in Wailuku, 
onetime home of my greatgrandparents, Daniel and Kathryn Case, to 
celebrate Proclamation Day and kick off a yearlong celebration of this 
milestone. As our business here keeps me from that ceremony, I have 
forwarded some remarks to be read there, and ask that those remarks and 
my best wishes for Maui County be inserted into the Record. Mahalo!

                  ``Happy Centennial to Maui County!''

       Mr. Mayor, colleagues in public service, and fellow 
     citizens, aloha!
       And Happy Centennial, Maui County!
       I so deeply appreciate the invitation to be your keynote 
     speaker at this great event honoring the one hundredth 
     anniversary to the day of the proclamation of the four great 
     islands of Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i and Kaho'olawe as the 
     county of Maui.
       And I so equally regret that vital votes today in our 
     nation's capitol make it impossible for me to come home in 
     time to be with you personally.
       But please know that I am very much with you in spirit on 
     this great day, and that I truly look forward to joining you 
     at other events in this centennial celebration year.
       Of course, the roots of Maui County lie deep, back 
     generations, centuries and millennia before its creation on 
     April 14, 1905. It gave birth, with its sister counties, to 
     the native Hawaiian people after the voyages from the south, 
     and nurtured and sustained our indigenous culture through its 
     refinement and time of greatest peril. In Post-contact times, 
     it fostered the evolution of Hawaii's economy, through 
     whaling and into sugar and pine, and the evolution of 
     Hawaii's peoples, through in-migration from east and west.
       But it is in the last century that this vital and unique 
     part of our Hawaii has truly come into its own as the county 
     of Maui. From not even 30,000 citizens in 1905, Maui county 
     now is home to around 140,000 of us. From an agriculture-
     based economy, Maui county pioneered the modern tropical 
     resort at Ka'anapali and later Wailea and Lanai, the modern 
     ecotourism movement, and a growing high-tech industry. From 
     the great struggles and rebirth of Kaho'olawe to the Hawaiian 
     language immersion schools of Moloka'i and Upcountry, Maui 
     County led the modern-day renaissance of the Hawaiian 
     people. And in our modern e-world, Maui County now boasts 
     its own universally recognized brand domain: Maui.gov!
       Yet the history of Maui County has always been about its 
     people. From the indigenous Hawaiians, through the great 
     waves of immigrants from Japan and Portugal, whose 
     descendants--the Yoshinagas and Yokouchis, the Tavares and 
     Cravalhos, and so many more--have been so intertwined with 
     the county's progress, to the great migration from the 
     Philippines, which commenced one hundred years ago next year, 
     to the mainlanders and Canadians of recent decades who have 
     made this their home, to our most recent citizens, the next 
     generations from Mexico and Laos and the Marshall Islands: 
     Maui County has always been the epitome of our Hawaiian 
     melting pot, the place that could justly claim credit for 
     having produced so many firsts such as Congresswoman Patsy 
     Takemoto Mink and Governor Linda Lingle.
       And each of us could and can lay claim in some way to our 
     own Maui heritage. Take just two families who lived here one 
     hundred years ago under quite different circumstances. One a 
     Kansan and his wife who moved to Wailuku at the turn of the 
     century--he was the first politician in the family when he 
     ran successfully for Maui County attorney in 1905, then went 
     on to be ``the judge'' for over two decades. And the other an 
     immigrant family from Fukuoka, Japan who moved to Pu'unene, 
     also at the turn of the century, to work in the sugar fields, 
     before moving on a decade later to Kona Mauka on the big 
     island. The first my great-grandparents, Daniel and Kathryn 
     Case and the second my wife, Audrey's grandparents, Sentaro 
     and Shina Hirata.
       Centennials are about looking back, but they are as much 
     about looking to the future, about tying what has been with 
     what is and what can be. And as we look at where we are and 
     where the road ahead lies, we can see clearly some of the 
     paths and challenges we face, while some are more murky, and 
     others cannot be seen at all.
       But if and as we honor the past and recognize how we got 
     here, we cannot but have confidence in our future. And for 
     Maui County it always has been about people--about us. About 
     how we treat and care for each other and for those beyond our 
     shores, and about how together we care for our Aina.
       Maui County's first hundred years have been good because we 
     hewed to the course lit by these principles, and we pause 
     today to say mahalo to all who came before us who deserve 
     credit for guiding us to this point. But we also pause to 
     recommit ourselves to what has made Maui County strong, 
     because success doesn't just happen, and it is now our 
     responsibility to see Maui County's second century off to a 
     good and sustainable start.
       I am truly proud and humbled to represent the very best of 
     our Hawaii and country in our Congress at this watershed in 
     Maui County's rich history, and again truly appreciate the 
     opportunity to take this part in this great celebration. 
     Happy birthday, Maui County, and best wishes for our new 
     century. Aloha!

                          ____________________