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Sunday, October 06, 2013

Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013

Ka`u Trojans traveled to Kalaupapa Lookout on Moloka`i yesterday morning before their game against Moloka`i
Farmers. ka`u High played its first regular season off-island game in the new eight-man football schedule.
Photo by Tanya Ibarra
HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY’S MONITORING capability “will degrade over time,” according to the latest weekly Volcano Watch. Because of reduced staff, only critical sensors will be maintained, and all other instrument network maintenance will cease. 
      Basic volcano monitoring will continue, as will forecasts and regular updates of volcanic activity.
HVO continues seismic monitoring during the federal
government shutdown. Image from HVO
      The HVO website (hvo.wr.usgs.gov) will remain functional, but only those pages containing information about current volcano hazards will be maintained.
      Because the majority of the HVO staff has been furloughed, the Sunday Volcano Watch column will be suspended, but weekly Kilauea updates and felt earthquake reports will continue.
      HVO said Hawai`i County Civil Defense Agency is now the point-of-contact for the Great Hawai`i Shakeout, which is coming up on Thursday, Oct. 17 to raise awareness of earthquake safety.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

U.S. SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ is co-sponsoring the Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy Act of 2013 (STORAGE). This bipartisan bill promotes the deployment of energy storage technologies, which will accelerate the deployment of renewable energy.
      “The STORAGE 2013 Act is a smart piece of bipartisan legislation that would allow more renewable energy to be integrated onto the grid, increasing reliability while continuing to expand our clean energy economy,” Schatz said. “By promoting the development of energy storage technologies, we will be making strides toward easing our national dependence on foreign oil and creating good, clean energy jobs at home in Hawai`i,” he said.
      The STORAGE 2013 Act offers investment tax credits of up to 30 percent for energy storage facilities installed by utilities, businesses, and homes.
      The bill is designed to be technology-neutral, with qualifying equipment that includes batteries, flywheels, thermal systems and smart-grid-enabled, plug-in electric vehicles.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Brittleness of aging newspapers is evident in this
photo of a 1917 issue of O Luso. Photo from HHS
ANYONE FINDING PORTUGUESE AND OTHER ETHNIC newspapers and magazizines published in Hawai`i may want to contact the Hawaiian Historical Society, which has been scanning them so the public can see them digitally and even search them online. 
      Hawaiian Historical Society’s goals are to preserve and make the historical newspapers more accessible to the public, according to a story in Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “By digitizing the newspapers, the public will not need to handle the brittle pages, which causes further deterioration. And by putting them online, they will be available to more people around the globe,” said reporter Craig T. Kojima.
      Barbara Dunn, administrative director and librarian, said, “As the Hawaiian Historical Society, we really want to make all these materials available with free and open access.”
      The society’s current project, which focuses on historic Portuguese-language newspapers, is the first step toward digitizing all of the society’s holdings, which includes 64 newspapers published in English, Hawaiian and Portuguese.
      Historic papers and other ethnic memorabilia will be on display at Ka`u Plantation Days this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pahala Plantation Manager’s House.
      See more at staradvertiser.com.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Dr. Ishmael Stagner with Halau Hula Leionalani on Lana`i yesterday.
Stagner has a long hula lineage.
HALAU HULA LEIONALANI, FROM PAHALA, hopped the ferry this morning from Lana`i after sharing culture, dance and music with Lana`i over the last four days. On Lana`i, the halau met with Dr. Ishmael Stagner, author of the book Kumu Hula, Roots and Branches. Stagner was one of the only male hula dancers in the 1950s and organized one of the first male hula troupes at Polynesian Cultural Center. He spent years collecting the history and stories of kumu hula, from Frank Hewett to Pua Kamealoha Gomes and Hattie Lea Nuhi Au. They also teamed up with Cyril Pahinui and sister dancers from O`ahu, Japan and Lana`i. 
      On Lana`i, the Ka`u contingent enjoyed local recipes for deer meat and other local delicacies. Accompanying them was Wendell Kaehuaea, who filmed the event for public television, and Bobbie Tucker, who helped fund the cultural exchange along with Olson Trust, Science Camp and many individuals donating through a bake sale and other fundraisers.
      Kumu Hula Debbie Ryder said she hopes the Lana`i group will be invited to the next Ka`u Coffee Festival, where they have danced for the last three years.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

KA`U RANCHERS, FARMERS AND LANDOWNERS are invited to a public workshop in Hilo on Monday, Oct. 28 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center. According to a statement from the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the purpose is to increase the USDA, NRCS outreach to historically underserved farmers and landowners in Hawai`i. This includes ensuring that underserved farmers and landowners have access to and understand the conservation benefits derived from participation in NRCS Conservation Easement, Stewardship, Environmental Quality Incentives and Agricultural Water Enhancement programs which are provided through the federal Farm Bill.
      The workshop will focus on, but not be limited to Asian, Pacific Island and female landowners and producers. “These are all groups that have traditionally lacked access to the assistance available to farmers and ranchers elsewhere due to their race, gender, ethnicity, or relative lack of language proficiency,” the statement says.
      To register, call Big Island RC&D Council at 935-8426 or email brcd@hawaii.rr.com. The location is scheduled for the USDA Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center, 64 Nowelo Street, Hilo, starting in the morning, with site visits in the afternoon.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Honu O Ka`u is the winning art for the cover of The Directory 2014. The carved gourd,
created by Susan Condie Jennings, of Ocean View, will be on display this Saturday at
Ka`u Plantation Days in Pahala. Photo by Peter Anderson
THE IPU, THE ART OF THE GOURD rose to take first prize in The Directory cover contest, sponsored annually by Ka`u Chamber of Commerce. Announced yesterday, the winning artwork, called Honu O Ka`u, by Susan Condie Jennings, of Ocean View, took first in both the popular and judges’ voting. 
      Jennings applied her art to the 18-inch-tall gourd by dying it inside out with Ka`u Coffee. She used the Ni`ihau method of gourd artistry, harvesting the gourd while the skin was still green. She drew a design into the skin and carved out the area to remain light colored. To provide the dark color of the design, she filled the gourd with black Ka`u coffee which dyed the skin left on the gourd. After several weeks, she poured out the coffee and scraped off the remaining skin, leaving the dark pattern. She dried the gourd and finished it with a tung oil, made from a relative of the Hawaiian kukui nut. Every other Wednesday, Jennings sells her ipu at the Ho`oulu Farmers Market and Artisans Fair at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa, which supports Kumu Keala Ching’s halau. The winning gourd will be on display and for sale at Ka`u Plantation Days this Saturday, Oct. 12 at Pahala Plantation Manager’s House following the pa`u parade. To make an appointment, call her at 929-7255 or email finartgourds@yahoo.com.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

FIRE PREVENTION WEEK STARTS TODAY. This year’s message is Prevent Kitchen Fires. According to the National Fire Prevention Association, more fires start in the kitchen than any other part of the home. To learn how to prevent kitchen fires, take a trivia quiz at nfpa.org.   

HI TEA EXHIBIT OPENS FRIDAY at Volcano Art Center’s Rainforest Gallery in Volcano Village. The juried art exhibit celebrates Hawai`i’s unique tea industry in collaboration with Tea Hawai`i & Company’s first annual Community Cup Tour. Call 967-8222 or email volcanoartcenter.org.

KA`U PLANTATION DAYS IS THIS SATURDAY. Sponsored by Ka`u Multicultural Society, the event begins with a parade at 9 a.m. with pa`u horses and riders, cane trucks, classic vehicles, students and musical, cultural and agricultural groups. Following the parade are history and ethnic displays, music, dance, food and Ka`u coffee as well as Miss Hawaiian Islands at Pahala Plantation Manager’s House until 3 p.m.

Trojan coach Kainoa Ke watches his eight-man football team take on the Farmers of Moloka`i yesterday on the
Friendly Island. Photo by Tanya Ibarra

KA`U HIGH TROJANS EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL team and Coach Kainoa Ke return home today with football staff and family and friends. They traveled by boat and plane to take on the Moloka`i Farmers yesterday on the Friendly Island. With much community fundraising and moral support, the Trojans were able to play their first off-island game in the new eight-man format. Moloka`i has been playing eight-man in a league in Maui County and overcame the Trojans 46-6 on the Farmers’ home turf. Randall Kahele, Jr. scored a touchdown on a defensive take-away, 49-yard run.
Trojans huddle on Moloka`i yesterday, where they playesd the Farmers in
their first Neighbor Island eight-man football game.
Photo by Tanya Ibarra
     The experience of traveling to play football took the Trojans across a channel from Maui to Kaunakakai on Moloka`i by ferry. They camped out in the Moloka`i High School gym and were able to tour parts of the island, including a trip to Kalaupapa Lookout. The Trojans looked out to the tallest sea cliffs in the world, some 4,000 feet high. They also looked over the tongue of land where Father Damien, now a s                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  aint, ministered to Hansen’s disease patients, who were required to live there.
      Ka`u hosts Moloka`i for the Trojan’s homecoming game on Friday, Nov. 8. Next game is Friday, Oct. 25, away at Kealakehe.

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