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Tuesday, October 09, 2018

Kaʻū News Briefs Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Sea Mountain Golf Course, the southernmost golf course in the U.S., may be closed permanently. 
See story below. Photo by Julia Neal
SEA MOUNTAIN GOLF COURSE remains closed, and there is no indication that America's Southernmost Golf Course is planning to reopen.
Image from bigislandguide.com
     A sign in the window at the course check-in, posted back in mid-April, reads "Sea Mountain Golf Course will be closed through April 2018 due to unplayable conditions on the course and machine downs." The sign was amended at some point, with a hand-written "Indefinitely!!"
     Robert Iwamoto and partners, which owns the transportation company Roberts Hawaiʻi, owns the public course; the undeveloped commercial, resort; residential properties at Punaluʻu; and the boat ramp near the more than 70 privately held condominiums near the famed Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach.
     Sea Mountain Golf Course, designed by Jack Synder, was constructed by the old sugar plantation company, C. Brewer, and opened in 1971. It has a slope rating of 129 and course rating of 7.1-USGA. The course has 18 holes and a driving range.

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HOOKING UP TO THE NEW COUNTY SEWAGE SYSTEM will be free to Pāhala residents whose homes are located on the old sugar plantation sewer lines in the town, residents and homeowners who attended the county meeting learned last night .
     The county also reported that cameras will be used by the county to inspect the lateral pipes from homes to the street that were installed in recent years to accommodate the new system. Wherever repairs, adjustments, or new pipes would be needed, there would be no cost to the residents, engineers explained. The cost of installing any new pumps from the six homes that would need them to reach the new sewer line will also be assumed by the county. County representatives said they would strive to engineer the system to prevent as few households as possible from having to pump the effluent to the street pipes.
     County representatives also stressed that the county could be liable to pay more than $32,000 a day in fines if it doesn't close down the gang cesspools in Pāhala that are serving the old plantation homes.
      When asked whether there would be odor, with the land for the system half the size than previously planned, engineer Michelle Sorensen said that there will be no odor in the disposal groves and wetlands of trees and native plants. She said that odor treatment would occur when the sewage first arrives at the treatment plant, before the treated effluent goes into the disposal groves and wetlands.
     Conserving the gateway to Pāhala village by preserving the Norfolk Pines along Maile Street was confirmed by the county.
The proposed Pāhala wastewater treatment system. Photo by Julia Neal
     A meeting was held tonight beginning at 6 p.m. at the Kaʻū Gym activity room to explain the hook up for those whose homes are not on the old plantation system, but are located on the same streets as the future sewer lines. See coverage of the meeting in Wednesday's Ka`u News Briefs.
     Another public meeting and open house will be held tomorrow, Wednesday: 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. for the open house, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for the formal meeting. This meeting will be open to the public, and will cover both the Draft Environmental Assessment for the planned site, and the impact of the planned project on Native Hawaiian cultural and religious practices.
    The Draft Environmental Assessment of the proposed project area is available at oeqc2.doh.hawaii.gov/The_Environmental_Notice/2018-09-23-TEN.pdf, and public opinion is open through Oct. 23. It is also available at Pāhala Library at 96-3150 Pikake St., and Nāʻālehu Library at 95-5669 Mamalahoa Hwy. Both are open weekdays.

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Most of the lava flow in dark black, produced by the April 1868 Mauna Loa eruption, can be seen in this aerial photo
on the west (left) side of the prominent fault scarp, known as the Kahuku pali. Today, windmills are located along
the pali. Kalae (South Point) is not visible. It is to the right of this photo.
Aerial photo by U.S. Geological Survey, 1954
THE RECORD SETTING 1868 EARTHQUAKE was the hot topic at a recent Coffee Talk by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists at the Kahuku Unit Of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.
Fredrick Schwartz Lyman, a Kaʻū
rancher prior to the 1868 earthquakes,
tsunami, and eruption. Janet Babb read
his writings at the recent Coffee Talk
at Kahuku. Photo from Mission
Houses Museum Archives
     Jim Kauahikaua, a research geophysicist, and geologist Janet Babb, held the audience spellbound as they showed slides and shared modern scientific findings from the largest recorded earthquake in the history of Hawaiʻi island.
     Known as the Great Kaʻū Earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 magnitude on the Richter scale, it struck near Pāhala on April 2, and caused 72 deaths. It also precipitated an eruption five days later.
     "You are sitting on the flow now," Kauahikaua told the audience, adding, "the lava reached the ocean in a matter of hours. After four or five days, it stopped.
     "The earthquake was very powerful. You must remember that a magnitude eight earthquake is 33 times stronger than a magnitude seven," added Kauahikaua.
     He explained that the Kaʻū earthquake and eruption were part of a larger volcanic event that unfolded over 16 days. On March 27, an eruption quietly began in Mokuʻaweoweo, the caldera at the summit of Mauna Loa. Seismic activity increased through the day, and by the afternoon of March 28, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake occurred in Kaʻū, which caused extensive damage from violent shaking. This quake destroyed four or five stone churches and destroyed Captain Brown's stone house, which is thought to be located near mile marker 71 on Highway 11.
     During the following four days, nearly continuous ground shaking was reported in Kaʻū and South Kona. Earthquakes continued at rates of 50 to 300 per day, including a magnitude-6.0 each day, leading up to April 2, when the great Kaʻū earthquake occurred at 4 p.m.
A bronze plaque at mile marker 71 on Hwy 11 marks the loss of
Captain Brown's house. It was destroyed by the March 28, 1868,
 earthquake. The ruin was covered in lava on April 7.
Photo by Annie Bosted
     Babb read a number of accounts from diaries that were written at the time. Perhaps the best description of the earthquakes and the eruption were written by Frederick Lyman who had a ranch in Kaʻū. He wrote:
     "It was impossible to stand, we had to sit on the ground, bracing with hands and feet to keep from rolling over. In the midst of it we saw burst out... what we supposed to be an immense river of molten lava (which afterwards proved to be red earth), which rushed down its headlong course and across the plain below... swallowing up everything in its way, trees, houses, cattle, horses, goats and men. ...After the hard shaking had ceased, all along the sea-shore the sea was boiling and foaming furiously, all red, for about an eighth of a mile from the shore, and the shore was covered by the sea."
     The mudslide of red cinder described by Lyman was located in Wood Valley, north of Pāhala. It is now thought to have covered three miles in three minutes, burying a Hawaiian village and killing 31 people.
The striped pattern on this map of Hawaiʻi Island indicates areas of Mauna Loa and Kīlauea that moved during the Great Kaʻū Earthquake in 1968, according to scientists. Red lines depict rift zones on Mauna loa (left) and Kilauea (right). The approximate epicenter of the quake is shown as a yellow dot. Black arrows show direction of the slip.
Graphics modified from Max Wyss, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 1988
     Kauahikaua explained that modern studies show that a very large part of the Island of Hawaiʻi moved during the 1868 event. "It shifted about 25 feet, or eight meters," he said. (see map of island, above)
     The destruction from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on April 2 was nearly total. Stone buildings and stone walls were destroyed - some as far away as Hilo. The partially destroyed church on Kamaoa Road is the only damage from 1868 that can still be seen.
     The tsunami, consisting of at least eight waves over several hours, was estimated to be more than 20 feet high in Kaʻū. The waves caused damage from South Point (Kalae) to Cape Kumukahi (Kapoho), destroying more than 100 structures, and taking 47 lives. The coastline was completely changed, according to eye witness accounts. Parts of the coast broke off, leaving cliffs; other parts were inundated with land slides, or subsided. Many of the coastal villages were wiped out and were never resettled.
Jim Kauahikaua, research Geophysicist, and geologist Janet Babb, both
scientists at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, talked story about the 1868
earthquake at a recent Kahuku talk story. Photo by Annie Bosted
     The great Kaʻū earthquake unlocked Mauna Loa's Southwest Rift Zone, and on April 7, 1868, an eruptive fissure opened low on the mountain, just above today's Highway 11 and east of Hawaiian Ocean View Estates. According to accounts, the land was covered about five to fifteen feet deep in lava. Those still living in its path "ran for their lives," some escaping the fiery flow by as little as ten minutes.
     Eyewitness accounts from a passenger on a steamer ship describe fountaining about 500 to 1,000 feet high. One described the start of the eruption:
     "At six p.m. … a volume of flame shot up from the mountain Loa… It reached the sea… at nine and a half p.m., when an immense body of steam at once arose, through which flashes resembling lightning were constantly darting as long as we were in sight."
     The eruption started 10 miles from the coast, with flows advancing at the rate of about 2.7 miles per hour - almost brisk walking speed.
     Kauahikaua explained that after the eruption, King Kamehameha V and an entourage of ministers lead a relief effort from April 15 to 23. They landed by boat in Hilo and made stops in Puna and Kaʻū, where they gave food and clothing to about 800 destitute people.
     "It must have been cheering and gratifying to those who had endured the great Kaʻū earthquake to get comfort directly from their king," added Kauahikaua.

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EVERY VOTE COUNTS has never been more true than during the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 6. On the ballot are two questions: "Shall there be a convention to propose a revision of or amendments to the Constitution?" and "Shall the legislature be authorized to establish, as provided by law, a surcharge on investment real property to be used to support public education?"
     The caveat in this question is that, if the voter leaves the questions blank – or marks both "yes" and "no" on their ballot – their vote is counted as a "no." Only a definitive "yes" vote counts toward a convention or toward the tax for education becoming a law.
     A 1997 Hawaiʻi Supreme Court decision is what requires definitive approval from voters for constitutional ballot questions. The reasoning is that ballot questions should only pass if the majority of voters are actively for the measures in question.
     The last time a ballot question asked for a Constitutional Convention, in 2008, ballots only presented a 35 percent affirmative vote.
     See more at elections.hawaii.gov.

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Maria Aurelio wears a lei as she becomes an LPN
and seeks higher education to become an RN.
Photo from Kaʻū Hospital Foundation
MARIA AURELIO, LPN, of Pāhala has successfully become a Licensed Practical Nurse and said she will seek to become a Registered Nurse. This summer she was also recognized during the graduation ceremony as the most outstanding LPN student. During her training, she assisted the medical staff at Kaʻū Hospital.
     The Kaʻū Hospital Foundation issued a statement: "We are so fortunate to have Maria and wish her well in pursuing her next level of training as a Registered Nurse. Congratulations!!"

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Print edition of The Kaʻū Calendar is free to 5,500 mailboxes 
throughout Kaʻū, from Miloliʻi through Volcano, and free on 
stands throughout the district. Read online at kaucalendar.com
KAʻŪ TROJANS FALL SPORTS SCHEDULE
Football:
   Sat, Oct 13, 12pm, BIIF Semi-Finals at Kamehameha, Kohala vs. Pāhoa
   Sat, Oct 20, 1 pm, BIIF Finals at Pāhala Ball Park - Higher vs. Kaʻū
Girls Volleyball:
   Wed, Oct 10, 6pm, @ Parker
   Fri, Oct 12, 6pm, host St. Joseph
   Mon, Oct 15, BIIF DII Qtr - Higher
   Wed, Oct 17, BIIF DII Semi-Finals @ Kona
   Thu, Oct 18, BIIF DII Finals @ Kona
Cross Country:
   Sat, Oct 13, BYE
   Sat, Oct 20, 9am, BIIF @ HPA
   Sat, Oct 27, 8:30am, HHSAA

NEW and UPCOMING
DISCOVERY HARBOUR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION HOSTS AN ARTS AND CRAFT BAZAAR on Saturday, Oct. 27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Discovery Harbour Community Center. The event features homemade and handmade wares. There are limited tables available inside the community center, with options for outdoor sites, weather permitting. For more info or to reserve a space, call 929-9576.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10
AdvoCATS, Wed., Oct. 10, 7am-5pm, Ocean View Community Center. Free Cat Spay & Neuter Clinic. 895-9283. advocatshawaii.org

Volcano Bay Clinic Mobile Health Unit Visits: Dental, Wed., Oct. 10, 8-5pm; Medical, Thu., Oct. 25, 1-5pm, Cooper Center, Volcano Village. Must be Bay Clinic, Inc. patient. Call 333-3600 to schedule appointment. See Cooper Center August newsletter for details. thecoopercenter.org

Pāhala Sewage System - County Dept. of Environmental Management, Wed., Oct. 10, Open House: 5:30pm, Meeting: 6-7:30pm, Ka‘ū Gym Multi-Purpose Conference Room, Pāhala. Mary Fuji, 962-8038

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11
Story Time with Auntie Linda from Tūtū & Me, Thu., Oct. 11, 10:30-noon, Nā‘ālehu Public Library. 929-8571

Hawaiian Civic Club of Ka‘ū, Thu., Oct. 11, 6:30pm, United Methodist Church, Nā‘ālehu. Pres. Berkley Yoshida, 747-0197

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12
Free Community Dance, Fri., Oct. 12, 7-10pm, Cooper Center, Volcano Village. Minors allowed with supervision only. Alcohol-free event. Variety of music. Coffee, tea, water, and snack provided. Free admission; donations appreciated. 967-7800, thecoopercenter.org

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13
First Annual Super Saturday Five-on-Five Tournament, Sat., Oct. 13, Ka‘ū District Gym. Event hosted by Hokulele Basketball Club – youth from 5 years old to high school, sponsored by families and players. Free admission to watch. For more or to join, text or call President Ravel Kaupu, 319-0687.

CANCELLED: Pancake Breakfast & Raffle, Sat., Oct. 13. 939-7033, ovcahi.org

Pastel On-Site Landscape Painting Workshop with Patti Pease Johnson, Sat., Oct. 13, 9-12:30pm, Volcano Art Center's Ni‘aulani Campus, Volcano Village. Held outdoors, weather permitting - otherwise, indoors with reference photo. Students complete one 9"x12" project. $45/VAC member, $50/non-member, plus $10 supply fee. Beginner and intermediate artists welcome. Register online, volcanoartcenter.org, or call 967-8222.

Realms & Divisions of Kahuku, Sat., Oct. 13, 9:30-11:30am, Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Moderately difficult, two-mile, guided hike on a new Kahuku Unit trail, Pu‘u Kahuku, explores the traditional Hawaiian classification system. Bring snack. nps.gov/hawaiivolcanoes

Zentangle: Ghosting Workshop with Lydia Meneses, Sat, Oct. 13, 10-1pm, Volcano Art Center's Ni‘aulani Campus, Volcano Village. Adds haunting aspects and mystical-whisper feelings to artwork using light touch of mini graphite pencil. All materials supplied or available for borrowing. Open to all levels, no Zentangle or art experience necessary. $30/VAC member, $35/non-member, plus $10 supply fee. Bring light refreshment to share. volcanoartcenter.org, 967-8222

Hula Kahiko - Liana Aveiro with Hālau Malanai, Sat., Oct. 13, 10:30-11:30am, hula platform near Volcano Art Center Gallery, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Hula performance. Free; park entrance fees apply. 967-8222, volcanohula@gmail.com, volcanoartcenter.org

Nā Mea Hula w/Kumu Kaho‘okele Crabbe, Halauolaokalani, Sat., Oct. 13, 11-1pm, Volcano Art Center Gallery porch. Hands-on cultural demonstration. Free; park entrance fees apply. 967-8222, volcanohula@gmail.com, volcanoartcenter.org

Oktoberfest, Sat., Oct. 13, 3-6pm, Cooper Center, Volcano Village. German foods: bratwurst, sauerkraut, German potato salad, stew, spätzle, schnitzel; local beer, wine, cider for the keiki; and games and prizes. Entertainment provided. Volunteers welcome. Sponsored by Cooper Center Council. thecoopercenter.org, 967-7800

Palm Trail, Sat., Oct. 14, 9:30-12:30pm, Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Moderately difficult 2.6-mile loop traverses scenic pastures along an ancient cinder cone, with some of the best panoramic views Kahuku has to offer. nps.gov/hawaiivolcanoes

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15
Discovery Harbour Neighborhood Watch Meeting, Mon., Oct. 15, 5-6:30pm, Discovery Harbour Community Hall. 929-9576, discoveryharbour.net

ONGOING
Tūtū and Me tuition-free traveling preschool, for keiki birth to five years old and their caregivers, is temporarily moving their Pāhala site program for Oct. 23, 25, and 30, and Nov. 1, to the River of Life Assembly of God church. The group still meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. They will be back at Pāhala Community Center on Nov. 6. The Nāʻālehu location remains at Kauahaʻao Church in Waiʻōhinu, Mondays and Wednesdays, from 8:45 to 10:45 a.m.
     Tūtū and Me also offers home visits to aid caregivers with parenting tips and strategies, educational resources, and a compassionate, listening ear. Visits last 1.5 hours, two to four times a month, total of 12 visits. Snacks are provided.
     To enroll in either free program, fill out enrollment forms found at pidf.org/programs/tutu_and_me/enrollment_forms, or call Linda Bong at 929-8571, or Betty Clark at 464-9634 or eclark@pidfountation.org.

Open Enrollment for Harmony Educational Services lasts through Oct. 15. Partnered with four local public charter schools, the program offers benefits of homeschooling with resources available to public schools. Interested families can contact Ranya Williams, rwilliams@harmonyed.com or 430-9798. harmonyed.com/hawaii

Volunteers Needed by St. Jude's Episcopal Church for community outreach, especially soup cooks and shower organizers, towel laundry, alter guild, and for the computer lab. Volunteers do not have to be members of the church. "Volunteering for St. Jude's Saturday Shower and Soup ministry is an opportunity to serve God in a powerful way," states St. Jude's. Contact Dave Breskin, 319-8333.

CU Hawaiʻi Federal Credit Union's Nāʻālehu Branch is taking applications for a Member Service Representative.
     The job description reads: Serve as a liaison between the member and the Credit Union. Provide a variety of financial services to members including savings, share drafts, and loan transactions, as well as sales of merchandise items: money orders, traveler's checks, postage stamps, etc., in accordance with Credit Union procedures and policies. CU Hawaiʻi offers medical, drug, dental, vision and retirement benefits.
     Mail, hand-deliver, or fax application to: CU Hawaii Federal Credit Union, Attn: Human Resources, 476 Hinano Street, Hilo, HI 96720, Fax (808) 935-7793. Applications can be downloaded online at cuhawaii.com/about-cu/career-opportunities.html

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