Kaʻū News Briefs, Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Glenn Okumura, of Pāhala Hongwanji, observes the monster truck from Hilo Products pulling up with vegetables and fruits for Kaukau 4 Keiki to provide nutrition for children out of school for the summer. The program is organized by Vibrant Hawai'i.
Photo by Julia Neal

Food was staged at Pāhala Hongwanji kitchen and distributed to Pāhala
 families who drove through. Photo by Julia Neal

SIX WEEKS OF FREE KAUKAU 4 KEIKI began at in the Kaʻū area this week with distribution in Pāhala, Nā'ālehu, Ocean View and Miloli'i on Wednesday afternoons. Distribution in Volcano is on Monday afternoons.

    There are 35 Resilience Hubs and Resilience Alliance Partners participating in the program around the island. The aim is to cover keiki nutrition during the summer when children are out of school and away from school cafeterias where many of them receive free breakfasts and lunches.

    Packages for each Kaukau 4 Keiki family include seven days of USDA approved shelf stable foods and boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables. Breakfast and lunch items are provided each week of the program. Menus are provided to the families, suggesting ways to prepare the most nutritious meals with the foods that are distributed. Kaukau 4 Keiki is a USDA Summer Food Service Program. While registration is closed, families can sign up for a waitlist at https://form.jotform.com/231646420097152

GIVE volunteers help out with Kaukau 4 Keiki food distribution on Wednesday at Pāhala
Hongwanji. The group of college students also volunteered at Kawa to clean up 
the beach and at O Kaʻū Kakou's community garden. Photo by Julia Neal

        The Pāhala  distribution is led by co-captains Marlene Freitas and Julia Neal, along with Pāhala Hongwanji's Glenn Okumura. About 25 college age students from the visiting GIVE volunteer organization helped out along with volunteer residents of Pāhala.                 The Nā'ālehu distribution is led by Marcia Masters. 

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ALLA KOSTENKO AND LOUIS DANIELE ARE NAMED TO HAWAI'I COFFEE ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS. According to Hawai'i Coffee Association, Kostenko represents A Coffee Farm. Daniele is manager of Ka'u Coffee Mill.

     In the past, she worked as an assistant to former Hawai'i Coffee Association Executive Director and Kaʻū Coffee Festival organizer Chris Manfredi and helped to produce a short film on the history of Kaʻū Coffee. She also helps to produce the annual Hawai'i Coffee Association Conference.

    Kostenko also worked as manager of Kaʻū Mountain Coffee Farm in Wood Valley and with the former owners of the post-sugar plantation coffee lands where Kaʻū Coffee farmers bought their parcels above Pāhala. She currently works with Jim McCully to develop a Kaʻū Coffee farm along Kalaiki Road above Pāhala.

    Hawai'i Coffee Association recently held its annual meeting on Kaua'i and named Fred Crowell of Kaua'i Coffee Company, LLC its new president. Vice-president is Tom Greenwell, of Greenwell Farms Treasurer is Abby Munoz, of Monarch Coffee. 

The new wet mill at Kaʻū Coffee Mill
will process 10,000 lbs. an hour.
Photo from Kaʻū Coffee Mill

     Daniele, in addition to managing Kaʻū Coffee Mill, is a member of Hawai'i County's Windward Planning Commission. Before his entrance into the coffee business he owned a landscaping company. He has been a resident of Hawai'i for 32 years, living in Kaʻū for the last 20 years. 

    He has represented Kaʻū Coffee at Specialty Coffee Association Conventions from Boston to Seattle. He worked on the Kaʻū Coffee Festival for may years hosting numerous events from the Miss Kaʻū Coffee Pageant  Kaʻū Coffee Recipe Contests, and the Mountain Water Hike to Stargazing in the mountains above the Coffee Mill and tours of the coffee and macadamia plantations.

     Daniele gave an update on Kaʻū Coffee Mill: "Right now we are expanding our capacity to mill coffee with the installation of a new wet mill that will be able to process 10,000 lbs. per hour. This will reduce processing time by more than half, with an innovative conveyer belt system that loads directly from the wet mill into the driers."

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LT. BOBBI-JO SAGON has graduated from the prestigious FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA. Hawai'i Police Department made the announcement that Sagon is one of 238 law enforcement officers from 47 states, the District of Columbia, and 25 countries who graduated from this year’s program in June.
    Internationally known for its academic excellence, the FBI National Academy is a 10-week program of professional study and physical training for U.S. and international law enforcement managers. Attendees are nominated by their agency based on demonstrated leadership qualities.

Bobbi-Jo Sagon

    In addition to the professional training, FBI National Academy attendees undergo fitness training and graduates undergo their final fitness challenge on the Yellow Brick Road, a grueling 6.1-mile run through a hilly, wooded trail built by US Marines. Along the way, Academy attendees must climb over walls, run through creeks, jump through simulated windows, scale rock faces with ropes, crawl under barbed wire in muddy water, maneuver across a cargo net, and more.
    On average, Academy attendees have 21 years of law enforcement experience. Since 1947, HPD has nominated several officers to attend the Academy, with nine graduates currently ranging in rank from Lieutenant to Police Chief.
    “We are all extremely proud of Lieutenant Sagon and the work she put in to accomplishing this significant milestone,” said Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz. The Chief also graduated from the FBI National Academy during his tenure with the Honolulu Police Department.
    “The FBI National Academy is such an exceptional place, filled with discussions and ideas about modern policing. I’m

looking forward to hearing what ideas Lt. Sagon has from her time there, and to seeing how we can implement them moving forward.”
    Sagon is assisting with the transition of Animal Control services from the police department to the newly formed Animal Control and Protection Agency. Shehas served with the Hawai'i Police Department for more than 17 years, starting her career as a patrol officer in South Kohala. She was later assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Unit. In 2016, she was promoted to detective and worked in both the Area I Criminal Investigation and Juvenile Aid Sections before being promoted to Lieutenant in 2021, when she was assigned to Kona Patrol.
    “I am honored to have been selected to attend the FBI’s National Academy,” said Sagon. “The training, experience, and knowledge I gained, particularly on the topics of leadership, are invaluable and has provided me with a better understanding and awareness of humanity as a whole.”

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Marlene Hamilton is missing.

MARLENE HAMILTON, OF OCEAN VIEW IS MISSING. Hawai‘i Island police are asking for public assistance. She was reported missing on June 4. Hamilton has no permanent address and is known to frequent Punalu‘u Beach Park and surrounding areas in Ka‘ū. She is also wanted by police for an outstanding bench warrant.
    During the course of their investigation, police determined that Hamilton has recently been seen in good health by numerous witnesses. However, they have been unable to physically locate Hamilton.
Hamilton is described as a Caucasian with a thin build, 5 feet 7 inches tall, 110 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Police ask anyone with any information on Hamilton’s whereabouts to call the police department’s non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311, or Ka‘ū Patrol Officer Russ Fiesta at (808) 939-2520.

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