Ka'u News Briefs Oct. 31, 2011

Redistricting map with Volcano separated from Ka'u and South Kona, could pit Council members Smart and Ford against one another.

COUNTY COUNCIL REDISTRICTING decisions will be considered again this Thursday at 10 a.m. in Council chambers in Hilo. A final decision before public hearings will likely be made by Nov. 10, a tentative date set by the redistricting commission.

Map showing Volcano as part of Ka'u County Council district.

     The group is concentrating on two maps. One would keep Volcano Village with Pahala and the rest of Ka`u in a County Council district now represented by council member Brittany Smart. The other would draw the line in the desert of Ka`u. Volcano would be included in a district that would be mostly Puna. Ka`u would be included with South Kona all the way to Keauhou. This could pit council member Brenda Ford against Brittany Smart should both candidates decide to run in next year’s election. The commission has to change the district lines throughout the island since the population grew 25 percent in ten years and each elected official must represent approximately the same number of residents.
     Comments are being taken by email, letter or in person this Thursday at 10 a.m. in the County Council chambers in Hilo.
     Proposed maps can be seen at: http://co.hawaii.hi.us/council/reapp/index.htm.

KA`U VETERANS OF THE 442ND Regiment from World War II have arrived in Washington, D.C. to receive a Congressional Gold Medal at the Capitol this Wednesday. Tokuichi Nakano and Iwao Yonemitsu are accompanied by family members. Yonemitsu served in the 442nd, Third Battalion, Company L, while Nakano served with Headquarters of the 442nd. The slogan for the members of the 442nd is “Go for Broke.”

Dwight Takamine runs the state
unemployment fund.

THE STATE UNEMPLOYMENT FUND is operating in the black again, according to Dwight Takamini, director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The unemployment fund borrowed money from the federal government to keep operating last December and could have ended up owing $1 million in interest. However, the Legislature crafted a mechanism, signed off by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, allowing the state to pay interest on the money borrowed for the unemployment fund. The Legislature also passed tax savings for businesses. The unemployment fund reserves have improved as the economy has slightly improved, with businesses paying into the fund.

IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY, HAWAI`I IS 12th in the nation, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. Hawai`i earned two extra points for its second straight year in 12th place. The 2011 rankings measure utility, public benefits programs and transportation policies, energy codes for buildings, combined heat and power, state initiatives and appliance-efficiency standards. Hawai`i earned 26.5 out of 50 possible points. See http://aceee.org/research-report/e115.

ML MACADAMIA Orchards, LP has been doing well in the stock market lately. At closing last Friday ML led Hawai`i stocks with a three-percent gain. ML leases and owns macadamia orchards around Pahala and operates a macadamia husking plant just mauka of Hwy 11. The company sells its nuts to Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp., which is owned by The Hershey Company.

Bull Kailiawa and Roast, Inc. owner Brad Wood
meet in Houston. Photo by Julia Neal

KAILIAWA COFFEE from Bull and Jamie Kailiawa was celebrated in Nashville this past weekend with promotions by Roast, Inc., which purchased the Ka'u coffee in a fundraiser called Grounds for Health.
      The purchase by Roast, Inc. for $45 a pound came after Kailiawa was rated one of the top ten coffees in the world at the 2011 Specialty Coffee Association of America annual convention in Houston. Roast, Inc., which operates a roastery and single-cup café, is selling Kailiawa coffee for $7.50 a cup, with $5 going to the Grounds for Health program that offers women’s health care in poor coffee growing regions around the world.

SPOOK NIGHT came early, before sunset last night at
Na`ohulelua Historical Gardens, with characters including
Bishop Desmond Tutu and the ghost of Bob Marley.

HALLOWEEN DAY is a time to be careful when driving through neighborhoods with trick-or-treaters. The HPD has issued tips for trick-or-treat walks around neighborhoods: Supervise children crossing streets; exit cars curbside instead of traffic side; drive slower than the speed limit during trick-or-treat time; watch more closely for children on streets and medians; and be extra careful at driveways and alleyways.

THE KA`U DIRECTORY DEADLINE for listings and ads for the 2012 edition is today. Published by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce, The Directory provides information on businesses, community organizations, important phone numbers, an events calendar, maps of Ka`u, and many photographs as well as art from winners of the latest cover art contest.
       For an application, visit kauchamber.org or call Ron at 928-6471.

Ka`u News Briefs Oct. 30, 2011

Participants in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park's Digital Mountain: It's My Trail film festival trekked through the
park to document features that inspired them.  Photo courtesy NPS/HAVO

JAPANESE-AMERICAN World War II veterans from Ka`u are joining a group of 21 from around the state to receive the Congressional Gold Medal this week. Tokuichi Nakano and Iwao Yonemitsu are Ka`u recipients who flew to Washington, D.C. to receive the honors. They are accompanied by their wives, Fusae Nakano and Alice Yonemitsu.

Tokuichi Nakano (l) and Iwao Yonemitsu receive a send-off
cake from volunteers who join them to put together
The Ka`u Calendar each month.  Photo by Julia Neal

     When World War II broke out, the young working men were determined to show their loyalty to the United States while this country was at war with Japan. The medals will go to those who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence. The ceremony this coming Wednesday will be led by Speaker of the House John Boehner. 

PACIFIC ISLANDERS AND ASIAN AMERICANS are often thrown into a single statistical category that fails to illuminate their challenges and their accomplishments, according to a story in Civil Beat. A meeting on Friday at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. brought up “ways to combat a ‘glaring invisibility’ of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the federal policy area,” writes Civil Beat reporter Adrienne LaFrance.
     Pres. Barack Obama’s cabinet secretary Christopher Lu said Obama has “appointed more Asian Americans in more significant positions than any other president in history.” However, few Asians and Pacific Islanders have reached top-level federal jobs in administration. Concerning the general population, participants talked about a “model-minority myth perpetuated by presenting statistics about combined groups of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. For example, statistics collected in California show that Samoan children have the largest body-mass index, Koreans tend to go without health insurance, and Hmongs have a low rate of high school graduation.
     Congresswoman Judy Chu said the Asian American/Pacific Islander community has 48 different ethnicities speaking over 300 languages. “We all took different paths to get to different places, and we are facing different sets of challenges.” See more at civilbeat.com. The story is called Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling.

SEN. DAN AKAKA told the statewide meeting of Hawaiian Civic Clubs on Friday that he will work hard for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians until his retirement in January of 2013. He has been working on the Akaka bill for many years to give Hawaiians the same right to govern as American Indians and Native Alaskans, according to a story in this morning’s Honolulu Star Advertiser. Akaka said his mission has been to “upgrade the quality of life for the indigenous peoples. And I see it coming.”

Digital Mountain: It's My Trail film festival winners put their creations on the big screen at Kilauea Visitor Center
last night.  Photo by David Boyle

DIGITAL MOUNTAIN: IT’S MY TRAIL winners were named last night at the finale of the annual student film festival at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The grand-prize winner received a high-definition digital camera. Other top winners received Mac Book Pros. The films show appreciation for the park and particular trails where students find passion for the outdoors and inspiration from culture and wildlife preserved there. 

GRAND PRIZE went to Kukui Keli`iho`omalu for the second straight year. In his film called It’s My Trail, he interviews his grandfather Robert Keli`iho`omalu about the family tradition of fishing, collecting limu and `opihi, and hunting wild goat and fishing along the Kalapana coast and taking the Apua Point Trail which ended at Queens Bath. The film includes historic photos and current day film of the area.    

     See the film at http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsMyTrail#p/u/4/1rO--hE3YF0

FIRST PLACE went to Aiyana Wessels, whose film is called It’s My Trail and Now It’s Yours. “It is important that we have these trails to let everybody else see the beauty too,” she begins. She sayw Thurston Lava Tube is one of her favorite trails. In the park, “I can walk through trails surrounded by plants and craters that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.”
     See the film at http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsMyTrail#p/u/12/sxYJdSmkC-A.

SECOND PLACE went to Pua Swift, who chose Devastation Trail. She says that when she looks at the cinder cone she imagines what lies beyond it and wonders if there is a whole world just on the other side. She said she is inspired by the “tranquility of this trail” and finds “beauty in the simplicity of it.”
     Swift said Devastation Trail reminds her that “we are the next generation and we have the job of making sure that this trail is here for the generations to come.”
     See the film at http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsMyTrail#p/u/12/sxYJdSmkC-A.

THIRD PLACE went to Briana Tucker-Archie with a film on Kilauea Iki Trail called Just for A While. “She goes to get away, to see something special…She goes to escape, even if it’s just for a little while. The sky is her company…. The wonders of Pele and Mother Nature have never failed to astonish her. She realized the beautiful caldera is the only think that didn’t shrink over the years, just as mind-blowing as the first time she saw it.
     See the film at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Mountain-Its-My-Trail-Film-Festival/192624127465196.

Kathleen Kam's Akebono Ka`u will grace the
cover of The Directory 2012.

THE KA`U DIRECTORY DEADLINE for listings and ads for the 2012 edition is tomorrow, Oct. 31. Published by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce, The Directory provides information on businesses, community organizations, important phone numbers, an events calendar, maps of Ka`u, and many photographs as well as art from winners of the latest cover art contest. For an application, visit kauchamber.org or call Ron at 928-6471.

HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES mean that the Hawai`i Police Department is setting up DUI checkpoints and promoting the slogan Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over. Police also issued tips for trick-or-treat walks around neighborhoods: supervise children crossing streets; exit cars curbside instead of traffic side; drive slower than the speed limit during trick-or-treat time; watch more closely for children on streets and medians; and be extra careful at driveways and alleyways.

CHICKEN SKIN GALORE will permeate Na`ohulelua Historical Garden’s Spook Night from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. today. The garden is on Kama`oa Road, 1.7 miles from Hwy 11. Parents are invited to bring children. Participants are asked to bring pupus for six, sweaters and flashlights. Prizes for best story, best costume and for showing up alive! For more information, call 929-7236 and ask for Igor or Loke.

NEXT SUNDAY, NOV. 6, is the deadline for public comments on Nani Kahuku `Aina’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for its Kahuku Village resort development. The Draft EIS can be seen on the state Department of Health website under the Office of Environmental Quality Control. It is titled Kahuku Village DEIS. It is also available at the Na`alehu Public Library.
     The plan calls for state Land Use Commission reclassification of Conservation land near the ocean to Urban for hotel, condominium, estate, housing, golf course and commercial development. The resort would be set on the coastal section of 16,000 acres between the Kalae South Point bluff and Ocean View Ranchos, makai of the Kahuku section of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. It would be constructed on the coastal plain below Kahuku Ranch. The developers have promised Hawaiian and wildlife educational centers and protection of the turtle nesting grounds at Pohue Bay. They have offered land for community buildings, including a veterans center.
     At his recent forum in Pahala, Sen. Gil Kahele urged everyone to submit their comments, pro or con. The developers are required to respond to all comments received by the deadline. 

Ka`u News Briefs Oct. 29, 2011

Students analyze the earth at a soil conservation contest yesterday on Olson Trust lands.  Photo by Julia Neal

ANALYZING THE QUALITY OF THE SOIL was a contest and a field trip to Ka`u for three groups of school students yesterday. Students from Kamehameha, Konawaena and Pahoa High Schools gathered at Olson Trust lands for the annual soil-judging contest, sponsored by soil conservation districts. The exercise is designed to teach students how soil features impact land use. Pits were dug in several locations. Students completed soil test sheets and drew conclusions about soil type and best and worst use of the land. 

The wekiu bug on Pu`u Haukea,
Mauna Kea. Photo by Kari Magnacca

THE WEKIU BUG, which lives at the highest elevations on Mauna Kea, needs no protection as an endangered or threatened species, the federal government has ruled. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, populations are stable, and the tiny wekiu are living on 16 pu`u - cinder cones - rather than just the six that were previously reported. 

     The name wekiu means the summit, and this bug lives at 11,500-feet elevation or higher. The wekiu survive extreme weather on a frozen earth, with blazing sun and snow, and sometimes hurricane force winds.
     Though the wekiu is a seed bug, there are few seeds at the Mauna Kea summit to drill and suck for sustenance. Instead, the wekiu uses its straw-like mouth to pierce insects blown and freeze-dried by cold winds up the slopes to where they live.
     The Mauna Loa bug, which is similar to the wekiu, is a completely different species. The only other animals living at the top of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are a few spiders and caterpillars.

The Digital Mountain Film Festival wraps up tonight
with public screenings at Kilauea Visitor Center.

IT’S MY TRAIL, THE DIGITAL MOUNTAIN FILM Festival, announces its winners tonight at a public celebration at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. A potluck dinner will be held at 5 p.m., followed with the big-screen premier of the student films and announcement of the winners. Prizes include MacBook Pro laptops and Olympus digital cameras. See the films at www.youtube.com/itsmytrail. Support comes from Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai`i Natural History Association, the National Park Foundation and many others. 

KA`U FLOWER GROWERS, COFFEE GROWERS and creators of cultural crafts and other products are invited to sign up to participate in the largest flower and product show in the country,  which will take place March 3 – 11 in Philadelphia. The theme of the show is Hawai`i – Islands of Aloha, and is expected to draw more than 400,000 people. The Hawa`i Tropical Flower Council, Hawai`i County Department of Research and Development, Hawai`i Tourism Authority and Hawai`i Visitors Bureau will help support ten booths featuring a Hawai`i Market Place. Products will be sold there. The hui or company must have a website with active shopping cart. To submit your product idea, contact Chelle Pahinui at 896-1911. 

Report red wooden blocks washing
ashore or floating in the ocean.

RED BLOCKS FLOATING in the ocean should be reported to University of Hawai`i researchers who are studying currents around the Big Island. They released wooden drifters at many locations last week and are hoping that sightings will be reported to 937-4289 or hilodrifter@gmail.com. 

HALLOWEEN WEEKEND has brought out the Hawai`i Police Department to set up DUI checkpoints around the island. The campaign is nationwide and called Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over. According to HPD, 72 percent of traffic fatalities this year on the Big Island involve alcohol, drugs or both. The HPD has also issued tips for Trick-or-Treat walks around neighborhoods: Supervise children crossing streets; exit cars curbside instead of traffic side; drive slower than the speed limit during trick-or-treat time; watch more closely for children on streets and medians; and be extra careful at driveways and alleyways. 

CHICKEN SKIN GALORE is promised at Na`ohulelua Historical Garden’s second annual Spook Night on tomorrow from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The garden is on Kama`oa Road in Wai`ohinu, 1.7 miles from Hwy 11. Parents are invited to bring children. Participants are asked to bring pupus for six, sweaters and flashlights. Prizes for best story, best costume and for showing up alive! For more information, call 929-7236 and ask for Igor or Loke.

THE KA`U DIRECTORY DEADLINE for listings and ads for the 2012 edition is this Monday, Oct. 31. Published by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce, The Directory provides information on businesses, community organizations, important phone numbers, an events calendar, maps of Ka`u, and many photographs as well as art from winners of the latest cover art contest.
     For an application, visit kauchamber.org or call Ron at 928-6471.

THE FALL FLING ARTS & CRAFTS FAIR is next Saturday – one week from today. Ka`u School of the Arts is calling for local artists to participate at Punalu`u Bake Shop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Booth fees are $25. Contact Robert Domingos at mingokau@gmail.com or Jym Duncan at 929-8694.