About The Kaʻū Calendar

Tuesday, October 06, 2015

Ka`u News Briefs Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015

Mealani's Taste of the Hawaiian Range on Friday features goat from Ka`u's Kapapala Ranch. See story below.
Photo by Jody Ferguson
SEARCH-AND-RESCUE RANGERS in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park safely extracted a pet dog from a 20-foot-deep earth crack on Sunday, Oct. 4 around noon.
Park Ranger Arnold and rescued dog, Romeo.
Photo from NPS
      On Saturday evening, the owner of the dog was walking her two pet dogs off leash near Volcano Golf Course and the park boundary when the dogs ran off into a heavily vegetated area. One dog came back, but Romeo, a 4.5-year-old chocolate brown Labrador retriever, did not return. The owner searched into the night but could not locate him. When she returned to the area in the morning, she heard a faint whining coming from deep within an earth crack and called for help.
      Park rangers responded to the call, assessed the situation and determined that a safe extraction could be accomplished by the experienced team. Using high-angle technical rope rescue techniques, Ranger Arnold Nakata was lowered 20 feet into the narrow crack where he found Romeo in good condition. Nakata rigged Romeo with a harness, and the topside rescue team slowly pulled them out of the ground. A grateful Romeo bestowed his rescuers with lots of dog kisses.
      Typically, the national park would not use technical rescue for animals. Dogs and other pets are not allowed in many areas of the national park for safety reasons and for the protection of threatened and endangered species. Authorized service animals are permitted but may be prohibited from certain areas if their presence is detrimental to park management programs, like nene recovery.
      All pets and service dogs must be leashed in the park at all times. Hikers have reported being bitten by dogs off leash on park trails, and other pets have fallen into earth cracks and steam vents and have not survived.
      “We are glad that this rescue had a happy ending, because our pets are like family,” Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando said. “The best way to protect them is not expose them unnecessarily to potentially hazardous areas that are prevalent in a national park.”
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

Hawai`i County used PONC funds to preserve Honu`apo.
Photo by Sean P. King
MEMBERS OF HAWAI`I COUNTY’S Public Access, Open Space & Natural Resources Preservation Committee, which considers properties to purchase for preservation, will have more oversight under a bill the County Council will consider tomorrow. Bill 90 assigns duties to the commission related to maintenance of properties acquired by the county through the Two Percent Fund, which sets aside two percent of property taxes for such purchases. In Ka`u, the county used these funds to preserve Honu`apo and Kawa. The County Council is also currently considering purchase of Kahua `Olohu, the traditional gaming field in Na`alehu. 
       Additional duties and responsibilities of the commission would be:
  • To review, evaluate and make recommendations to the director of the Department of Parks & Recreation regarding applications for stewardship grants from the maintenance fund, within six months of receipt of each application. Recommendations shall address whether grant applicants have the ability to complete their proposed projects according to the project plan, on time and within cost estimates. 
  • To review stewardship grant applications, business plans, agreements and other documentation accompanying grant applications. The commission may also conduct interviews and perform site visits and other activities necessary to formulate a recommendation. 
  • To review stewardship grant recipient performance reports, conduct interviews and perform site visits and other activities necessary to verify that grant objectives are being met. The commission would forward its findings to the director of Parks and Recreation. 
      Hawa`i County Council meets tomorrow at 9 a.m. at Council Chambers in Hilo. Ka`u residents can participate via videoconferencing at Na`alehu State Office Building. The meeting is streamed live at hawaiicounty.gov. Click on Council Meetings.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

Rain in the Pacific could move onshore as Hurricane Ono heads northeast.
Map from National Weather Service
OHO IS NOW A HURRICANE. At 11 a.m., it was 395 east-southeast of South Point and is forecast to continue moving toward the northeast with steadily increasing forward speed through Thursday morning.
      Maximum sustained winds are near 85 miles per hour with higher gusts. Oho is expected to gradually weaken through Thursday morning.
      Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 35 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 175 miles.
     Rain could move into the area as the storm passes offshore, parallel to the Ka`u Coast.
     Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

A SECOND EDITION OF NA WAHI PANA O KA`U is to be issued. Ten years ago, the second-year students of Mrs. Maile Moulds-Carr’s Hawaiian Language Class at Ka`u High School completed an oral history project with funding through the Hawai`i Council for the Humanities. The result of the project was the book Na Wahi Pana o Ka`u: The Celebrated Places of Ka`u
      The second edition will be reprinted in December with a slight change in its title — Na Wahi Pana o Ka`u: The Legendary Places of Ka`u, several corrections, an addendum page and additions of a summary and comments from authors Van James and Nalani Bernardo on the back cover. Bernardo was a former Ka`u High School teacher.
Profits from the sale of the second edition
will go to student scholarships.
Image from Maile Moulds
      “I remember getting the notice about the approval of our grant by the Council just before school restarted,” Moulds-Carr said. “Since the writing of the grant, the school had gone from block scheduling to the present schedule with its shorter periods. I was going to refuse the grant.”
      “‘Don’t you dare,’ acting principal Josephine De Morales said.
      “Since the video camera we were using had a 30-minute disk, it actually worked out quite well. The Council had said that normally they don’t grant oral history monies to high schoolers, but since there was so little in print on Ka`u, they did in this case.”
      Places covered in the book are Kapapala Ranch, Punalu`u, Kawa, Honu`apo, Makanau, Ka Lae, Wai`ohinu and Kahuku Ranch. Kupuna interviewed were Abigail “Gramma” Api, Gordon Cran, Pele Hanoa, Christopher Bengay, Thomas Kaniho, Mae Akamu, Takumi Shirakawa, Carl Bredhoff and Dave Ka`awa.
      Students recorded their interviews of kupuna on cassette tape and video. Individual chapters were written by Shanda-Jo Kahahane, Sacha Malepe, Kirsten McClure, Clayton Haina, Jr., Camilyn Hashimoto, Kiliona Bounos, Keoni Ako, Noel Smith, and Ku`ulei Ka-ne.
      In view of the student work, all profits from the sale of this second edition will be applied to student scholarships.
      The edition is being printed by CreateSpace, the self-publishing branch of Amazon.com. It should be available in December from Amazon.com, Basically Books and Lyman House Museum in Hilo.
      Those interested may also contact Moulds-Carr at rayandmaile@msn.com for copies or possible other outlets.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

BUY YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE for Friday’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range at Hilton Waikoloa Village. Kapapala Ranch, run by the Cran family, is a goat producer, and Galimba’s Kuahiwi Ranch is a beef producer for the event.
Kapapala ranchers Bill and Lani Petrie herd goats. Photo by Jody Ferguson
      Purchase your tickets online for $45 until 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards are accepted.
      Tickets are $60 at the door. Entry to Cooking 101 with Chef Roy Yamaguchi at 3 p.m. is $10, while the 1:30 p.m. class with Chef Peter Merriman, geared toward college culinary students, is free.
      Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range and Agriculture Festival provides a venue for sustainable agricultural education, encouragement and support of locally produced ag products.
      Time for this year’s evening Taste is 6 pm. to 8 p.m., and the annual agricultural showcase will again sprawl both inside and out of the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Culinary adventure seekers can taste and enjoy all the cuts of pasture-raised beef – everything from tongue to tail – prepared expertly by Hawai`i chefs. While tasting, attendees can meet Hawai`i’s food producers at booths and talk story with the ranchers and farmers who make a living growing our food. They can also enjoy exhibits presenting topics related to local agriculture and food sustainability, including the University of Hawai`i’s Mealani Research Station.

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

For Affordable Computer Help, call John Derry at 936-1872.





See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_October2015.pdf.
See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf
and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf.