Ka`u News Briefs Oct. 21, 2012

Cultural tourism advocates met in Pahala on Friday. Left to right are Emi Aoi, of JST travel ; Heather Kanahele, of Kanahele Jewelry; `ukulele instructor BJ Soriano; quilting teacher Donna Masaniai; musician Kahea Dolan; weaver Leviette; massage therapist and yoga teacher Noa Caiserman; musician, composer and radio personality Demetrius Oliveira; singers, musicians and hula dancers Phoebe
and Bobby Gomes; Hale Nani owner Minako Yamazaki; and Ka`u Community Radio manager Christine Ka`ehu`ae`a.  
Photo by Myra Sumida

CULTURAL TOURISM AND AGRITOURISM were the focus of small-group meetings in Ka`u over the last week. A cultural tourism meeting was held at Hale Nani in Pahala where representatives of weaving, Hawaiian jewelry making, quiltmaking, `ukulele, guitar, Hawaiian singing, massage therapy and guest houses gathered to talk about the kind of tourism that is based on cultural exchange.
      Minako Yamazaki, owner of Hale Nani in Pahala, and Emi Aoi, of JST Travel Co. in Nagoya, Japan said that a niche of Japanese return visitors is looking for deeper cultural experience rather than the crowded tourist situations. Aoi reported on thousands of halau, studying hula in Japan, encouraging appreciation of the Hawaiian cultural experience. These Hawaiian enthusiasts would be a perfect fit for the small-scale Ka`u accommodations and classes, she said.
      On Saturday, an organizing meeting was held for agritourism training under a grant from U.S. Department of Agriculture. Participants talked about keeping their operations scaleable to the neighborhoods and small enough so that visitors have a rich experience connecting to the land, people and agriculture of Ka`u. Among participants are growers of Ka`u Coffee, orchids and protea. The program will last through June and is being led by the Hawai`i Agritourism Association.

NO ARCHITECT OR ENGINEERING STAMP will be needed for solar photovoltaics on homes, with a bill initiated by County Council member J Yoshimoto passing unanimously last week. Contractors have been complaining to Council members that the added time and cost for a structural engineer or architect review has been holding back the burgeoning solar industry. The bill does not eliminate the requirement for a building permit, and county Public Works says that county staff time, rather than architects and engineers reviewing and approving the plans, could make the building permit process take more time.

Lava in the Halema`uma`u vent has been rising and falling over the last week and could spill onto the crater floor. Best views are from Jaggar Museum inside Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.  Photo from USGS

KILAUEA VOLCANO is the target of study through a 2012 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Geochemist Terry Plank will receive $100,000 a year for five years through what is known as the “genius grant.” Her specialty is researching activity deep inside the planet and how it contributes to the life of the world’s most explosive volcanoes. Her academic affiliation is with Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She is also a Columbia professor.

Terry Plank studies the changing personality of Kilauea
Volcano.  Photo from Columbia University.

      Plank’s science related to Kilauea Volcano includes development of a chemical proxy to measure the heat of plates beneath volcanoes and how measuring the temperature may be able to predict explosions. She also studies the amount and water inside volcanoes before they explode.
      She researches the history of Kilauea Volcano to determine what causes its apparent shift in personalities, from angry and destructive explosions in the past to the gentle oozing of lava today. Plank and researchers have gathered cinders and ash from Kilauea to measure tiny inclusions that reveal the amount of water and carbon dioxide in the magma during the explosive eruption more than three centuries ago.
      Kilauea is currently putting on a show, with lava rising and falling in the Halema`uma`u vent, and some volcano watchers predicting it will spill onto the floor of the crater. Best views are at night at Jaggar Museum with the overlook open 24 hours a day.

Dr. Anita Ciarleglio

UNIVERITY OF HAWAI`I – HILO’S pharmacy program has earned national accreditation for its residency program in community pharmacy, giving licensed pharmacists opportunities for further training here in the Hawaiian Islands. 

       “Pharmacy residency programs are similar to training that allows medical doctors to gain postgraduate training,” noted Anita Ciarleglio, assistant professor in College of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmacy Practice.
      Accreditation by both the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American Pharmacists Association is necessary for the program to be considered a validated educational experience.
       “Receiving a three-year accreditation was a coup for us because we’re so new,” Ciarleglio said. “It means we can continue to concentrate on patient care while giving licensed pharmacists from all over the country the experience they need to get on with their careers and gives them credentials to compete for jobs.”
      Community pharmacy training teaches pharmacists to act as liaison between the community, the hospital and the physician and provide a continuity of care.
      Hawai`i’s College of Pharmacy at UH-Hilo is the only school for pharmacists in the Pacific. In addition to its Residency Program, degree programs include the Doctor of Pharmacy, the Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Master’s in Clinical Psychopharmacology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Pharmacy Studies, which are available to students enrolled in the Pharmacy program. Pharmacy students have held outreach programs into Ka`u and South Kona.

AUDITIONS FOR THE AWAKENING OF EVERYONE take place today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House. The cast for the modern revival of a 15th century Greek morality play includes about 15 characters. Call 928-0007 for more information.

SEASONED AND NOVICE COMEDY TALENTS of all ages are invited to audition for Volcano Art Center’s upcoming cabaret Ho, Ho, Ho! Ha, Ha, Ha! - Comedy at Kilauea today from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Holiday themes are appreciated, but not mandatory. For more information, visit volcanoartcenter.org or contact Tanya Aynessazian or Julie Callahan at 967-8222 or info@volcanoartcenter.org. 

A FORUM FEATURING state Senate candidates Russell Ruderman and Daryl Lee Smith and County Council District 6 candidates Maile David and Brenda Ford takes place at Cooper Center in Volcano Village tomorrow at 6 p.m. The event is sponsored by League of Women Voters. For more information, call Margaret Drake at 967-7295.

Palila, or Hawaiian finch. Photo from NPS

THE PROGRAM AT TUESDAY’S After Dark in the Park is entitled The Palila’s Future: Restoring a Mamane Forest on Mauna Kea. Jackson Bauer, Mauna Kea Forest Restoration Project volunteer coordinator, discusses the restoration of this rarely visited forest that harbors the critically endangered Hawaiian finch, whose populations have been severely degraded by over 200 years of damage by grazing animals. The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.