Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 28, 2012

These diagrams from the Draft Environmental Assessment show sightlines from different areas surrounding
the proposed building site of the Ka`u shelter and gym, the structure in green.

THE KA`U SHELTER FOR DISASTERS to be built in Pahala on the school grounds may include two rooms with air cleaning capabilities, according to the county’s project planner David Yamamoto. Yamamoto recently explained that a multipurpose room separate from the new gymnasium would be 2,832 square feet and could handle 190 people during a bad air event. A recreation room, also proposed for the new complex, would be 1,932 square feet and would provide shelter for 128 people for bad air events and 48 people for longer-term shelter.
      He explained that during a disaster event, be it hurricane, vog, fire, or earthquake, regulations require 15 square feet per person for the short term and 40 square feet per person for longer term, should people be unable to return to their homes. Currently, the plan for the gymnasium, which would serve as the larger shelter for 1500 people for short term and 560 people for longer term, would not include equipment to clean the air.

Rep. Bob Herkes

A MEETING ON VOG will be held by the state Legislature’s task force tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Rep. Bob Herkes, who proposed the task force to tackle problems with air quality and volcanic emissions, said he wants people to come to the meeting to share their experiences with vog so that the state government and Legislature will understand its effects on Ka`u residents and the environment. 

CONCERNING CONSTRUCTION of the shelter and gym to withstand earthquakes, project planner David Yamamoto said that “seismic design will be in accordance with the latest building code, which is the 2006 International Building Code as amended by State of Hawai`i Building Code. A building’s ability to resist seismic forces is difficult to relate to an earthquake magnitude for reason that seismic forces are dependent not only on magnitude but also distance, depth, geological properties along its travel paths” and other factors, he said.

      The EA is available at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html and at Pahala and Na`alehu Public Libraries.
      Comments can be sent to Tammy Kapali, Planner, PBR Hawai`i & Associates, Inc., 1001 Bishop Street, Suite 650 Honolulu, HI 96813 or faxed to 808-523-1402. Comments can also be sent to County of Hawai`i Department of Public Works, Attn: David Yamamoto, Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7, Hilo, HI 96720 or faxed to 808-961-8630.

Rep. Denny Coffman

THE STATE REAPPORTIONMENT COMMISSION is scheduled to meet tomorrow to finalize proposed maps that create new boundaries for state Senate and House seats. 

      Proposed House of Representative boundaries have Denny Coffman representing Ka`u from its northwest border to west of Punalu`u, if he were to run for re-election. Coffman’s current district includes areas from North Kona to Honokohau.
      Coffman was appointed chair of the House Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection after Rep. Hermina Morita resigned to become chair of the Public Utilities Commission. He also serves as a member of the committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce; Housing; Judiciary; and Water, Land & Ocean Resources. Coffman’s information on the Hawai`i State Legislature website says he has been “a leading advocate for environmental protections and renewable energy opportunities for a sustainable future” and that he “is working on legislation to help business people obtain loans from the private sector to create or expand businesses by providing tax credits only if a solid realistic business plan is prepared and implemented.”

Walter Kahiwa, Jr.

A NEW COMMUNITY-RUN SCHOOL is planned for Miloli`i starting in August, according to former public and Kamehameha school teacher Walter Kahiwa, Jr., of Hauoli Kamana`o Church. Speaking at the annual La `Elima event last Saturday at Miloli`i halau, he noted that the dropout rate of children from Miloli`i is high because they spend hours on the bus going to and from school. Kahiwa said that a number of people, like himself, who grew up in Miloli`i, want to mentor this generation of children and will base learning on culture and the environment as well as life skills needed for the outside world. The annual La `Elima event celebrates the fishing village’s survival of a massive earth shift and kaiko`o, or big seas. According to Kahiwa, the church, established in 1842, was left floating during the great earthquake of 1868 when the land subsided below sea level. However, the water lifted the church and helped it “surf” to the new shoreline, undamaged. Villagers used fallen coconut trees as rollers to move it to its current location.

AFTER DARK IN THE PARK tonight presents a new anthology of modern mo`olelo entitled Don’t Look Back: Hawaiian Myths Made New. The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Author Christine Thomas reads from her book and signs copies. Two-dollar donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

VIST OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 27, 2012

A vog-safe multi-purpose room would by located in the proposed ancillary building, according to the
Ka`u Gym & Shelter Environmental Assessment now available for public comment.

THE VOG TASK FORCE meets Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Issues on safe places for the community during bad air alerts will be discussed. Included will be the new community disaster shelter planned with more than $17 million in funding already approved. The new shelter and gym would have one room for 130 people during bad air days. Ka`u Hospital says it cannot serve as a disaster shelter even with its upcoming renovation that will provide air cleaning equipment.
      The task force was proposed by Rep. Bob Herkes to tackle problems with air quality and volcanic emissions in connection with agriculture, human health and the effects of vog on infrastructure, like metal buildings, fencing and vehicles. Herkes said he wants people to come to the meeting to share experiences with vog so the state government and Legislature will understand its effects on Ka`u residents and the environment.

Hawaiian Petrel Photos courtesy of Jim
Denny/hawaiianendangeredseabirds.org

THE RECENTLY RELEASED Ka`u Gym & Shelter Environmental Assessment includes letters from the public.
      Darcy Hu asked planners to consider potential impacts of night lighting on nocturnal seabirds that may be transiting the area. Species include the endangered Hawaiian Petrel, or `Ua`u; the threatened Newell’s Shearwater, or `A`o; and the Band-rumped Storm-petrel, or `Ake`ake. Hu said, “Both adults and young of these species can be disoriented by artificial lights and come crashing to land or circle repeatedly and become exhausted. Once on the ground, these birds are vulnerable to a variety of threats including cats, dogs, rats and cars”
      The report states that the design will specify minimal shielded exterior lighting to prevent potential distraction to night-flying birds. All other exterior lights would be turned on only as needed and designed in accordance with the county’s exterior lighting standards.
      Earl Louis sent a comment to PBR stating, “I live right across of this proposed development. As a resident of 37 years, I feel that this structure would block the view of the hillside of Makanau and Pu`u Enuhe, the hills above Punalu`u.”

      According to the EA, the only unavoidable impact would be obstruction of views for a few residents. “The views of most residents are already blocked by existing school buildings or trees. The benefits provided by the higher ceiling for athletic activities and plantation-style roof line offset the unavoidable impact,” the EA states.

Newell's Shearwater

      The EA is available at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html and at Pahala and Na`alehu Public Libraries.
      Comments can be sent to Tammy Kapali, Planner, PBR Hawai`i & Associates, Inc., 1001 Bishop Street, Suite 650 Honolulu, HI 96813 or faxed to 808-523-1402. Comments can also be sent to County of Hawai`i Department of Public Works, Attn: David Yamamoto, Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7, Hilo, HI 96720 or faxed to 808-961-8630.

NATIVE HAWAIIANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS are 44 percent of those on the waiting list for public housing assistance, according to the county housing agency, which also reports that about 54 percent of the families have children, and seven percent of the families are elderly.
      A Peter Sur story in the Hawai`i Tribune-Herald reports that more than 6,000 people remain on the waiting list on this island alone, and the county only has about $14 million in funding for 1,796 rent vouchers under the Section 8 program for the next fiscal year. The average voucher is for $650, which is provided to private landlords, with the renters making up the rest by paying $350 from other sources. According to the story, the county is encouraging more people to sign up, in case more funding becomes available, even though the waiting time is long. Families who signed up back in 2007 recently received vouchers.
      The county’s annual report on its Section 8 housing program is open for public comment through March 8, the story says.

GAS PRICES IN KA`U continue to climb. This morning at Ka`u Gas in Pahala the price was $4.57 per gallon. At the 76 Station in Na`alehu, the price was $4.57. In Ocean view it was $4.43 at Kahala Gas, $4.40 at Ocean View Market and $4.37 at Kahuku Country Market.

Anne Lee and David Howard Donald have been promoting their Volcano
Project at Volcano Farmers Market for three years.

THE VOLCANO PROJECT recently celebrated its third anniversary promoting the idea that its nonprofit educational organization should operate the Volcano House hotel, camping, restaurant, bar and gift store operation within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Founders of the Volcano Project David Howard Donald and Anne Lee have met with the public every Sunday at the Volcano Farmers Market for 157 weeks and collected more than 1,500 names on petitions and more than 55 letters from community leaders and public office holders urging support of their project. They said they want to “thank the thousands who have come by, sharing their comments and time, offering advice, encouragement, and support, and we especially thank Linda Ugalde, president of Cooper Center Council and Volcano Farmers Market.” The Volcano Project team says that “a nonprofit, with no shareholder dividends to pay, can use 100 percent of the profit to double Volcano House employment over that of a mainland corporate concessioner, serving park visitors more attentively and creating badly needed jobs in our depressed economy. Our plan to create a hospitality school, teaching industry life skills to residents and youth, at affordable tuition, is an invaluable benefit to our rural society, especially in these difficult times.” Donald and Lee point to “overwhelming support from politicians, organizations, institutions and residents.” 

       The National Park Service regional office is expected to soon announce which one of several entities applying to manage the concessions has been selected. The facility has been shut down for more than two years during a renovation and selection process.

THE CONSTANT SWARM OF EARTHQUAKES halted over the weekend between Saturday just after midnight and Sunday at 2 p.m., with little activity through Monday morning, according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists. The swarm was near the Namakanipaio campground where the Kilauea and Mauna Loa plates meet.

NOELANI HO`OPAI, of Kamehameha Schools East Regional office, will be at Na`alehu United Methodist Church social hall today from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. to help Hawaiian families complete applications for any summer enrichment program and Ho`oulu Data Center. 

A NEW ANTHOLOGY of modern mo`olelo entitled Don’t Look Back: Hawaiian Myths Made New is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Author Christine Thomas will read from her book and sign copies. Two-dollar donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

SEE OUR SPONSORS AT KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM AND PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 26, 2012

State reapportionment that created a fourth state Senate seat on the Big Island could face federal challenge.

WILL THE NEW STATE SENATE SEAT for the Big Island stand up to federal scrutiny? Not so sure, says retired judge and state Reapportionment Commission chair Victoria Marks. Only two states, Hawai`i and Kansas, exclude military personnel and out-of-state college students from the population base of voting districts. According to an editorial in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the Kansas Constitution drops nonresident military personnel and nonresident college students before apportioning districts for state representatives and senators. “Out of a population of 2.8 million, those total less than 120,000, of which fewer than 14,000 were subtracted from the Kansas census in determining district boundaries. Nonresident military in Hawai`i number about 120,000, in a population of 1.3 million.” Dropping them led to the creation of a new Senate seat on the Big Island for which state Rep. Bob Herkes has announced his campaign.

State reapportionment also divided Ka`u into two
state House districts.

      Marks, however, told the Star-Advertiser that a federal challenge could quote the 14th Amendment, stating that “representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state.” Said Marks, “I think if there’s a federal lawsuit that’s brought, there is some potential that the state constitutional position may not withstand federal constitutional scrutiny.”
      The exclusion of the military led to a new state Senate seat from Punalu`u through Pahala and Volcano and Puna. It also changes boundaries for the state House of Representative, leaving two newly drawn House districts representing Ka`u – from South Kona to Honu`apo and Punalu`u into Puna, with no announced candidates to date.

A COFFEE BERRY BORER VIDEO will soon be distributed to Ka`u coffee farmers by the Kohala Center and Kamehameha Schools. The film is in English and Spanish and covers methods of farm management to push back the pest that has devastated many farms in Kona. The farmer-to-farmer video explains that the beetle has spread at an alarming rate through Kona, threatening the survival of Hawai`i’s premier specialty crop. With farmers still discovering the beetle infestation and others reporting a total crop loss in Kona, “information is needed to saturate the community immediately,” said Suzanne Shriner, member of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association.

Coffee berry borer management is the topic of a new film.
Video images from youtube.com

      It has been shown in Kona that when 700 farms are in close proximity, the beetle crosses farm boundaries with ease. “Cooperation within the community is imperative to reduce everyone’s losses,” Shriner said.
      Directed by Gary Sprinkle and featuring Shriner and Andrea Kawabata, UH-CTAHR extension agent, the video demonstrates three main aspects of CBB management: Sanitation — removing cherries from the orchard in a timely manner; spraying the Beauveria bassiana fungus — the only legal, effective pesticide for CBB; and trapping — to help identify trouble spots.
      The Kohala Center connected a small group of Kona coffee farmers who researched and condensed the basics of Integrated Beetle Management from other coffee growing regions, with Kamehameha Schools, which had the capacity to magnify the quality of this project and access difficult to reach segments of the farming community.
      Kamehameha Schools, which happens to be landowner of 70 percent of Kona coffee farms, was the primary funder of the video. Kona Coffee Farmers Association, also a funder, had worked with the state Department of Agriculture to approve the commercial Beauveria bassiana fungus in Hawai`i.
      UH-CTAHR joined the project, adding to and verifying the scientific veracity of the instructional material.
      The video is online at www.youtube.com/KamehamehaSchools in both English and Spanish.

RESIDENTS CAN COMMENT on the Ka`u District Gym & Shelter Environmental Assessment through March 23. The report calls for buildings at the site to be made of cement to harden them against “low Category 3 hurricanes.” Category 3 hurricanes have gusts at a maximum of 155 mph. At least one 2,000-square-foot room, which could shelter 120 people during a short-term hurricane or air quality emergency, would be equipped to clean the air from vog. However, the main gym, with the ability to shelter 1,500 people for a short-term disaster and 560 people for temporary housing after a disaster, would be without air cleaning equipment, according to the proposal. The EA states that Civil Defense is comfortable with providing clean air for 120 people.
      The EA is available at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html and at Pahala and Na`alehu Public Libraries.
      Comments can be sent or faxed to Tammy Kapali, Planner, PBR Hawai`i & Associates, Inc., 1001 Bishop Street, Suite 650 Honolulu, HI 96813, Fax 808-523-1402; or County of Hawai`i Department of Public Works Attn: David Yamamoto, Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7, Hilo, HI 96720, Fax 808-961-8630.

THE EARTHQUAKE SWARM at the Ka`oiki fault line near Namakanipaio Park diminished during the last 24 hours. Closest buildings were at Volcano Golf Course subdivision and Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Some items were reported falling off shelves, along with a rock fall in Halema`uma`u Crater. There were more than 100 quakes during the swarm, the strongest registering 4.3, 4.1, 3.9 and 3.0. The same fault line where the plates of Kilauea and Mauna Loa meet created swarms in 2006, 1997, 1993 and 1990, following a 6.6 magnitude quake in 1983 that caused more than $7 million in damage between Ka`u and Hilo, and leaving fissures in roads and crumbling trails in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. See tux.wr.usgs.gov for maps and information on quakes here.

NA MEA HAWAI`I takes place today at Honu`apo Park, with Hawaiian crafts, games, and hula from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Ka `Ohana O Honu`apo will sell T-shirts, water and juice, the Hawaiian Civic Club will sell hand-made Hawaiian items, and `O Ka`u Kakou will sell shave ice and hot dogs.

CHRISTINE THOMAS READS AND SIGNS her new anthology of modern mo`olelo, Don’t Look Back: Hawaiian Myths Made New, at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday at 7 p.m., at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. A $2 donation supports park programs, and park entrance fees apply. 

A VOG TASK FORCE MEETING will be held on Wednesday at Pahala Community Center at 5 p.m. The task force was proposed by Rep. Bob Herkes to tackle the problems with air quality events and volcanic emissions in connection with agriculture, human health and the effects of vog on infrastructure, like metal buildings, fencing and vehicles. Herkes said he wants people to come to the meeting and share their experiences with vog so that the state government and Legislature will understand its effects on Ka`u residents and the environment.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.