Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 10, 2012

HELCO released its draft Request for Proposals to add 50 megawatts of geothemral power to the island grid, which would provide
electricity to most houses on the island. Photo from HELCO

MORE GEOTHERMAL for the Big Island is proposed by Hawai`i Electric Light Co., which filed a draft plan on Friday with the state Public Utilities Commission and released a draft Request for Proposals for potential geothermal developers. The plan calls for increasing geothermal production to 88 megawatts, which could power an estimated 57,200 housing units - most of the households on the island. The plan says geothermal would be “renewable, dispatchable energy” with “firm capacity.”
      HELCO plans to issue a final RFP by the end of this year or early in January. HELCO will ask geothermal developers to submit proposals that would be due 60 days after the final RFP is published. The winning bidder would be announced next summer. HELCO would submit a proposed contract to the PUC by Spring of 2014.  The plan calls for achieving “a target date for commercial operations between 2018 and 2023 or earlier.” The contract could be for up to 20 years.
      HELCO President Jay Ignacio said: “The primary goal is to lower rates for our customers through the use of a renewable energy source like geothermal,” noting that geothermal is “available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can be dispatchable. We can control its output and it can respond to grid needs.”
      The proposal calls for 50 additional megawatts to be used on this island. It does not include a cable to send geothermal energy to other islands. Locations for producing geothermal are not restricted to Puna where Puna Geothermal Venture is already approved for 38 megawatts. Geothermal hot spots have been identified in the Ka`u Desert, near South Point, Hualalai Volcano above Kona and other places on the island. A statement from HELCO says that the added geothermal power “must also blend operationally with other resources, including renewable energy from wind, solar, biomass and hydro.”

HELCO's proposal for increased geothermal says it will have to blend with other renewables like wind energy at South Point.
Photo by Peter Anderson

      Last year HELCO asked for information on developing geothermal to be provided to the utility and received 20 responses. The Geothermal Working Group released a study saying that geothermal could provide 500 to 600 megawatts, less expensively and cleaner than using oil, generating much more than the island’s electrical needs. The statement from HELCO says that interested parties, including bidders, can read the proposal to the PUC and the draft RFP at www.helcohi.com and may submit comments on the Draft Geothermal RFP to the HELCO Geotheral RFP email at GeothermalRFP@helcohi.com and to the PUC. HELCO has set the tentative date of Wednesday, Dec. 5 for a webinar technical conference on the subject of geothermal. Questions to be discussed during the webinar must be submitted in writing and signing up for the webinar will be through the website www.helcohi.com once the time of the conference is determined. 

      The County Council and Planning Commission are discussing monitoring and analyzing possible health risks of living near geothermal operations, concerning emissions from blowouts and constant low level emissions. Another area of study is the risk of dependence on geothermal and planning for back up generation of power, should a large earthquake or lava cut off a geothermal well.

STATE CONSUMER ADVOCATE Jeffrey Ono has asked for public input on whether Hawai`i county residents would support the proposed `Aina Koa Pono biofuel project if there were no electric bill hikes on the Big Island associated with the project. Ono brought up the question at last week’s public hearing on the proposal to build a refinery, develop a biofuel farm and produce diesel to sell to HELCO. 

Richard Ha opposes raising electric bills on
O`ahu to pay for `Aina Koa Pono.
Photo by Julia Neal

      Richard Ha, a supporter of geothermal and opponent of HELCO purchasing `Aina Koa Pono diesel for the HELCO power plant in Keaohole, responded in writing: “Would we change our minds if all the costs were given to the O`ahu rate payers?,” the answer is no! I think that giving AKP a 20-year contract will forego the opportunity of developing lower cost alternatives. And it will take up valuable time. Liquid natural gas is an option. Ocean energy might be ready within the 20-year period. “Geothermal is an affordable, proven technology. For instance, there is an 11 cent difference between geothermal and oil today. We could replace liquid fuels with 80MW of geothermal electricity, and apply that savings to pay the remaining debt of the Keahole 80 MW liquid fuel burning plant.(80 MW is equal to 80,000 kilowatts. That 11 cents/kilowatt hour savings multiplied by 80,000 kilowatt hours equals $8,800 that you save each hour. And the savings per day is $211,200. That times 365 days equals an annual savings of $77 million. That is enough to write off the plant and still give the rate payers a break.),” writes Ha.
      Ha writes that “Most of the time, making electricity has to do with making steam to turn a turbine. You can burn coal to make steam, or you can burn oil to make steam. You can burn firewood to make steam, or use the steam from underground – that’s geothermal.  AKP takes the long way. They grow plants using fossil fuels, then they use electricity to make microwaves to vaporize the plants, then take the liquid that rises and convert it to a burnable liquid, and haul it to Keahole, where they burn it to make steam. It isn't surprising that it is expensive.
      “More than a few engineer folks tell me that this process uses more energy than it makes. And if that is the case, it will always be more expensive than oil. This is not a good bet for us,” says Ha. See more at http://hahaha.hamakuasprings.com/. See `Aina Koa Pono’s testimony and proposal at www.hawaii.puc.com and its website at www.ainakoapono.com.

Wallace Ishibashi, of the ILWU

THE BIG ISLAND COMMUNITY COALITION released a newsletter yesterday thanking citizens for “helping to demonstrate to the Consumer Advocate that folks on the whole Big Island are concerned about the rising electricity rates. With your help, the Public Utility Commission’s hearings in Hilo and Kona strongly made the point that people cannot take continuously rising electricity rates and that the Consumer Advocate should be on our side.” The newsletter points out that deadlines to submit letters to the PUC is Nov. 30 on both the proposed 4.2 percent rate hike proposed by HELCO and the separate application for the contract with `Aina Koa Pono that would raise electric bills by an average of $1 per month per household. 

      The newsletter says that the $1 average increase in the electric bill per household “does not stop simply at our monthly bill. It is reflected in virtually all goods we purchase and all services we receive. A 1 percent or even $1 increase to us comes back to us in either more costly or reduced service for essential services from our government. Just look at the uproar that a potential tax increase causes – such increases are now virtually unthinkable to our political leaders. 

OHA Trustee Bob Lindsey

      “In a community that pays four times the national average for its power is it any mystery why our long term economy is stalled? Is it any question why many of our citizens are stuck living like they are in a third world country? And yet we are now being asked to pay an additional surcharge – for the ‘benefit’ of buying fuel at twice today’s market cost. It is hard not to wonder if we have found ourselves living with Alice in her Wonderland.” 

      The newsletter points to geothermal and imported natural gas as lower cost options currently available and solar, wave action and other alternatives becoming more affordable soon.
      The Steering Committee of the Big Island Community Coalition is comprised of state contractors licensing board member John E.K. Dill; vice president of student affairs at University of Hawai`i, Rockne Freitas; state Board of Agriculture member and farmer Richard Ha; union leader in the ILWU, Wallace Ishibashi; geothermal proponent Ku`ulei Kealoha Cooper; former military attorney and renewable energy advocate D. Noelani Kalipi; executive director of `Imiloa Observatory, Ka`iu Kimura; the Big Island’s Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Robert Lindsey; Big Island rancher H.M. Monty Richards; Dean of University of Hawai`i – Hilo School of Business and Economics Marcia Sakai; Kamehameha School – Keaau Principal Kumu Lehua Veincent and W.H. Shipman President Bill Walter. See www.bigislandcommunitycoalition.com.

SONNY LIM, JOHN AND HOPE KIAWE, DIANA AKI, THE KAHUMOKUS, JAMES HILL and many more Hawaiian musicians and dancers celebrate Veterans Day until 4 p.m. this afternoon on the grounds of Pahala Plantation House. The concert is free and is the culmination of the Hawaiian music workshop all week where students came from around the world and local youth received scholarships to study with Hawaiian music masters. 

Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 9, 2012

Petrels who nest in the mountains above Ka`u are at risk of becoming disoriented during this season of fledglings taking their first flights.
Photo from HVNP/ Jim Denny

THE PROPOSED 4.2 PERCENT HELCO RATE INCREASE before the state Public Utilities Commission is the target of another quest for intervention by consumer and environmental group Life of the Land. In his motion, filed yesterday with the PUC, Life of the Land Executive Director Henry Curtis writes that the PUC has already urged HELCO to adopt a “shared sacrifice” policy rather than loading the burden of increased costs of producing electricity onto ratepayers. Life of the Land points to a PUC order to HELCO, which states “….the commission is not persuaded that HELCO has sufficiently considered and implemented aggressive cost-cutting measures to help reduce its rate increase request…Considering and implementing cost-cutting measures …should be a standard component of HELCO’s business practices.”
      Among cost cutting measures, Life of the Land notes, is establishing a smart grid to make delivery of electricity more efficient. Life of the Land states that HELCO’s proposed rate hike “is not reasonable, not in the public interest, and is not a cost effective use of ratepayers funds.” The motion states that Life of the Land’s mission “is to preserve and protect the life of the land by promoting sustainable land use and energy policies and to promote open government through research, education, advocacy, and, when necessary, litigation.”
      Life of the Land puts forth its concern for “the Utility’s continued emphasis on rate-payer financed dividends paid to shareholders in excess of company earnings, which forces the utility to raise rates. A public utility should be at least as concerned about ratepayer impacts as it is with executive pay and payments to shareholders.”

With the Big Island already meeting required renewable energy targets, smart grids are suggested by Life
of the Land in order to distribute  electricity more efficiently. Image from horizonenergy.blogspot.com

      Life of the Land also points to renewable energy already in place and approved for sale to HELCO. “The utility’s current renewable portfolio standards requirement (dictated by the state) is 40 percent by 2030. HELCO has already exceeded the 2020 requirements of Hawai`i Revised Statute 269 in the amount of renewable energy it accommodates on its grid, and has or could shortly meet its 2030 requirement.” Life of the Land reports HELCO penetration of renewable energy on the Big Island as 36.7 percent in 2011, 39 percent in 2013, some 48 percent with the Hu Honua bioenergy plant going online in Pepekeo and 70 percent in the near future with additional geothermal added to the grid. Writes Life of the Land, “Another reason for exceeding the 40 percent by 2030 RPS requirement is to reduce consumption of imported oil. But at what price? Should one exceed the legal limit if the options have a higher price, higher environmental impacts, and/or higher cultural impacts? Meeting or surpassing the RPS level should lead the utility to look for cost effective indigenous renewable energy resources that have a small footprint.”
      Life of the Land was recently accepted by the PUC as intervener in opposing separate electric bill hikes proposed by `Aina Koa Pono, which plans a refinery and biofuels farm in Ka`u.
      According to Life of the Land, “Biofuels can have enormous environmental repercussions, ranging from impacts on water use, land use, air emissions, transportation, energy consumption, genetic engineering, climate change, pesticide contamination, non-point source pollution, increase or decrease in jobs and/or an increase or decrease in labor union employment, competition with food and/or ranching operations, health impacts, monocropping, etc.”
      The organization contends that the 4.5 percent rate increase, separate from the `Aina Koa Pono proposal, “will in part be used to finance biofuel/biomass studies, promote biofuel/biomass solutions, and finance biofuel/biomass power purchase agreements.”

Calf production drops when trichomoniasis infects pregnant cows. Photo by Julia Neal

VENEREAL DISEASE AMONG CATTLE is being controlled by testing bulls, which are destroyed when they come up positive. Tests are done on some ranches before allowing the bulls to breed and at slaughterhouses around the state to find out which herds are infected.
       A story in today’s Hawai`i Tribune Herald quotes rancher Kyle Soares, who in 2010 became the first to discover the disease on this island. Called trichomoniasis, the bacterial infection that travels from bull to cow and cow to bull can cause infertility and pregnant cows to abort and the fetus to mummify. The story says that eight ranches are under quarantine on the Big Island, six of them in Ka`u.
      According to ranchers, the disease is usually found in older bulls, which are pulled from the herds when tested positive or when they naturally become too aggressive. Younger bulls, which usually test negative, are kept for breeding. Over time, the herds become clean as infected cows take a rest from breeding and the bulls are taken out. In the meantime the infected ranches are quarantined from sending their cows and bulls to other ranches.
      Soares told Hawai`i Tribune Herald that he would like the state to adopt a regular testing program for bulls, saying such programs have worked in western states where the disease is more prevalent.

FLEDGLING HAWAIIAN PETRELS are getting ready for their first flight. “It’s a precarious time of year for one of Hawai‘i’s rarest endemic seabird species,” says a statement from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, which “is is keeping a watchful eye on its small population.”
      The ‘ua‘u, or Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis), is a federally endangered native seabird, and the only known nests on Hawai‘i Island are within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on the lower alpine and subalpine slopes of Mauna Loa. Wildlife biologists estimate that only 50 to 60 breeding pairs are left here. 

Fledgling petrels can be grounded by streetlights, vehicle and buuilding lights.
Photo from National Park Service

     In November, young ‘ua‘u leave their nests for the first time and fly at night to the ocean searching for food. A primary threat to fledglings are bright urban lights that cause them to become disoriented and fall to the ground or collide with structures. Once grounded, it is difficult for ‘ua‘u to take flight, leaving them extremely vulnerable to cats, dogs and mongooses.
      While a primary threat on other islands, groundings are not as common on Hawai‘i Island, likely due to a much smaller population of ‘ua‘u combined with minimal urban lighting, particularly in and around the national park. The last grounding in the park was in 2006. As a result, the park modified existing lighting to be downcast and shielded on the top, and the park pays careful attention to all new lighting to ensure it meets requirements to minimize disorientation.
      “‘Ua‘u numbers are so low here that the odds of encountering them are rare. The fact that we have only a handful make it important that we protect these remaining few,” said Dr. Rhonda Loh, Chief of Natural Resources Management for the park.
      Adult ‘ua‘u arrive on land in early spring and nest in underground burrows, entering and leaving after dark. The female lays a single egg in May. Both parents take turns incubating for 60 days and then feed the chick until it fledges in November or early December.
      ‘Ua‘u are 16 inches from head to tail, have a three-foot wingspan, and are dark grey on top and white below. They make a variety of calls and one sounds just like its name: oo-AH-oo.
      Anyone finding a grounded seabird in the national park, can call dispatch at 985-6170. Outside the park, contact the Department of Land & Natural Resources Division of Forestry Wildlife 974-4221. For more information, videos and sound recordings of ‘ua‘u, visit the Pacific Island Parks blog, http://pacificislandparks.com/2012/11/02/hawaiian-petrels-get-ready-for-first-flight/.

A CROP INSURANCE WORKSHOP will be held on Monday, Nov. 11at Pahala Community Center. Sponsored by University of Hawai`i College of Tropical Agriculture and Horticultural Research, it is open to everyone from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The workshop will also take place 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at the Kona Cooperative Extension Service in Kealakekua.
      Deadline to apply for crop insurance policies with coverage beginning in January is Dec. 31. Hawai`i has policies for AGR-Lite, macadamia nut tree and nut, banana tree and fruit, coffee tree and fruit, and papaya tree and fruit. Those interested can email andreak@hawaii.edu or call 322-4894. 

PROCESS PAINTING - SPIRIT OF CREATIVITY is Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. Patricia Hoban teaches - $45 for the general public, $40 for VAC members. A $5 supply fee is assessed. For more, call 967-8222.

DREAMTIME CONCERT starts at 7 p.m. Saturday at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. John Dumas plays handmade flutes and didgeridoos, rattles and drums and chants. The concert is $12 for the general public and $10 for VAC members. Call 967-8222 for more.

A FREE CONCERT HONORING VETERANS is offered at the Pahala Plantation House this Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Center for Hawaiian Music Studies presents Keoki and Moses Kahumoku, John and Hope Keawe, Sonny Lim, Diana Aki, James Hill, Bolo, Andy Andrews, Darci Baker, Anne Davison, Lopaka Naihe, Robert Kennedy, Peter DeAquino and Andy Rising, along with workshop students. Water and plate lunches will be available for purchase. For more, call Tiffany Crosson at 938-6582.

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK waives entrance fees during Veterans Day holiday weekend this Saturday through Monday, Nov. 12.

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP'S VETERANS DAY OPEN HOUSE is Sunday, Nov. 11. KMC invites all park visitors to experience how KMC supports America’s troops by utilizing any of KMC’s facilities and services. 

Iwao Yonemitsu and Toku Nakano, Ka`u vets of the 442nd,
 attend KMC ceremonies. Photo by Julia Neal

A VETERANS DAY CEREMONY is Sunday afternoon, at 3 p.m, by KMC's flagpole. A Veteran's Day buffet will follow at 4:30 p.m. at KMC's Crater Rim Cafe. The menu offers prime rib, spinach and mushroom fettuccini, breaded ono, roasted rosemary red potatoes, bacon green beans, French onion soup, rice, fruit cocktail cake, ice cream and beverage. Entry for the buffet is $23.95 for adults and $12.50 for children 6-11. Public is invited to attend.

SUNDAY WALK IN THE PARK is set for Nov. 11 in the Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Friends of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park explore Palm Trail, a 2.6-mile loop with some of the best panoramic views Kahuku offers. Free to members; membership available at event. Call 985-7373 or email admin@fhvnp.org for more.

PEOPLE & LAND OF KAHUKU is Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park between miles 70 and 71 on Hwy 11. The guided 2.5-mile moderately difficult hikes over rugged terrain focus on the area’s human history. The hike is also offered Nov. 25. For more, call 985-6011.

LUNCH WITH A RANGER is also Sunday, starting at 12 p.m. in the Kahuku Visitor Greeting Area. Rangers choose varied topics ranging from land management and conservation issues to environmental and cultural history and guide an open discussion with visitors over a bring-your-own-bag lunch. Check the Activities Boards at the Kahuku Visitor Greeting Area for the day’s Lunch With a Ranger topic and location. Lunch with a Ranger is also offered Nov. 18.

MEDICINE FOR THE MIND is Sunday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. Free Buddhist healing meditation for beginners and advanced. Call Patty Johnson for more, 985-7470.

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

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 8, 2012

Mitch Roth and his wife Noriko Yamada Roth during the campaign. Roth won the election by .2 percent over Lincoln Ashida.
Photo from facebook.com/mitchroth1

NEW COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY MITCH ROTH promises more problem solving and community work in preventing crime. Roth, a longtime deputy county prosecutor with a history of working in crime prevention and mentoring of Neighborhood Watch and other citizen initiatives, won the general election on Tuesday. The victory was narrow with Roth taking 44.4 percent of the vote with a total of 28,311 votes in his favor and runner up Lincoln Ashida bringing in 44.2 percent of the vote with a total of 28,184.
      During his campaign Roth said he wants to make neighborhoods safe by closing drug houses, recording drug forfeitures so that drug money fights crime, performing nuisance abatement and doing hands-on community training. Roth said he wants to change the culture of the Prosecuting Attorney's office. Roth said prosecutors should be more than case processors. “They should be problem solvers.”

COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENTS:

TWO PERCENT: AMENDMENTS TO THE COUNTY CHARTER public land stewardship laws passed in the general election. One for the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation fund won 55 percent of the vote, with 35,069 in favor. The other, a fund for maintaining public lands managed by the county, won with 36,057, representing 56.5 percent of the vote. The two amendments make it clear that 2 percent of property taxes in Hawai`i County will go toward purchasing easements and lands for public parks, preserves, rights of way, and preserving natural resources. The other sets up a fund to take care of these places owned and managed by the county and community groups.  Examples in Ka`u include Honu`apo and Kawa.

A GAME MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMISSION will be established with a charter amendment passing with 58.6 percent in favor, casting 37,366 votes. Proposed by out-going County Council chair Dominic Yagong, the amendment gives hunters and game management officials a forum to interact and make recommendations regarding hunting when public policy issues and new developments arise. Issues discussed at public hearings on the proposal included aerial hunting of sheep, pigs and axis deer, rather than allowing local hunters to eliminate these invasive species from protected areas.

THE COUNTY COUNCIL, BOARD OR COMMISSION SHALL PROVIDE NOTICE of any regular, special, rescheduled or emergency meetings, according to the provisions of the Hawai`i Revised Statutes charter amendment passed with 62.1 percent or 39,599 votes in favor and 24.8 percent or 15,813 votes opposing. This charter amendment, which passed on Tuesday, eliminates a requirement for six days notice for meetings online and on radio, which is seen as a hurdle when emergency meetings are required.

COUNTY REDISTRICTING COMMISSIONERS will be prohibited from running for County Council the year following the redrawing of the district lines for elected officials. The amendment received 62.8 percent in favor, 40,048 votes, and will affect redistricting in 2021, following the 2020 U.S. census.

VOTERS TURNED DOWN an amendment that would have given the County Council the power to establish special funds without permission from the mayor. The general election results showed 64.8 percent against, with 41,324 votes cast in opposition.

IN ORDER FOR STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS TO PASS Hawai`i law requires at least 50 percent of the total votes cast be in favor. None passed on Tueday.

THE HAWAI`I DAM AND RESERVOIR OWNERS ASSISTANCE AMENDMENT failed to pass even thought there were 48.7 percent (212,395) yes votes and 40.3 percent (175,952) opposing votes. The amendment would have authorized the State to issue special purpose revenue bonds and use the proceeds from the bonds to assist dam and reservoir owners make their facilities compliant with current safety standards.

THE HAWAI`I APPOINTMENT OF RETIRED JUDGES AMENDMENT nearly passed the 50 percent requirement, with  49.6 percent (216,655) of the votes n favor 39.9 percent (174,190) against. The amendment would have authorized the Chief of Justice of the  Hawai`i Supreme Court to appoint retired judges to temporary stations, even after the mandatory age of retirement.

A CROP INSURANCE WORKSHOP is offered, by University of Hawai`i College of Tropical Agriculture and Horticultural Research, in Pahala on Monday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Pahala Community Center. The workshop is also offered from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at the Kona Cooperative Extension Service in Kealakekua.
      Bonnie Lind provides a presentation and answers audience questions and concerns. Anyone interested in leaning about crop insurance, has questions about it or has any questions about a current policy is encouraged to attend one of the workshops. Lifectahr.blogspot.com says the "deadline to apply for crop insurance policies starting Jan. 2013 is Dec. 31, 2012. Crop Insurance doesn't have to be expensive. One grower pays under $40 a year for her coffee insurance." Hawai`i has policies for AGR-Lite, Macadamia Nut tree and nut, Banana tree and fruit, Coffee tree and fruit, and Papaya tree and fruit.
      Those interested in attending are asked to respond by emailing andreak@hawaii.edu or by calling 322-4894. Leave a message with names of attendees, the workshop location and time and a contact number.

One of Patricia Hobans students paints in the workshop.
Photo from Patricia Hoban

PROCESS PAINTING - SPIRIT OF CREATIVITY is Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center's Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. Patricia Hoban teaches an explorative art process that encourages participants to experiment, explore, discover and play. No previous art education or experience needed. The class is $45 for the general public, and $40 for VAC members. A $5 supply fee is also assessed. For more, call 967-8222.

DREAMTIME CONCERT starts at 7 p.m. Saturday at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. John Dumas brings his mystical Shamanic Journeys to concert-goers through the use of his handmade flutes and didgeridoos, rattles, drums and chanting. The concert is $12 for the general public and $10 for VAC members. Call 967-8222 for more.

A FREE CONCERT HONORING VETERANS is offered at the Pahala Plantation House this Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Center for Hawaiian Music Studies presents many musicians, students and participants in the Kahumoku `Ohana Hawaiian Music & Lifestyle Workshop, which is currently in session this week. Water and plate lunches will be available for purchase. For more, call Tiffany Crosson at 938-6582.

FEE-FREE DAYS, where Hawa`i Volcanoes National Park waives entrance fees during Veterans Day holiday weekend are this Saturday through Monday, Nov. 12.

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP'S OPEN HOUSE is scheduled for Veterans Day, Nov. 11. KMC invites all park visitors to experience how KMC supports America’s troops by utilizing any of KMC’s facilities and services.

A VETERANS DAY CEREMONY is held Sunday afternoon, at 3 p.m, by KMC's flagpole. A Veteran's Day buffet will follow at 4:30 p.m. at KMC's Crater Rim Cafe. The menu offers prime rib, spinach and mushroom fettuccini, breaded ono, roasted rosemary red potatoes, bacon green beans, French onion soup, rice, fruit cocktail cake, ice cream and beverage. Entry for the buffet is $23.95 for adults and $12.50 for children 6-11. Public is invited to attend.

SUNDAY WALK IN THE PARK is set for Nov. 11 in the Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Friends of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park explore Palm Trail, a 2.6-mile loop with some of the best panoramic views Kahuku offers. Free to members; membership available at event. Call 985-7373 or email admin@fhvnp.org for more.

PEOPLE & LAND OF KAHUKU is Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park between miles 70 and 71 on Hwy 11. The guided 2.5-mile moderately difficult hikes over rugged terrain focus on the area’s human history. The hike is also offered Nov. 25. For more, call 985-6011.

LUNCH WITH A RANGER is also Sunday, starting at 12 p.m. in the Kahuku Visitor Greeting Area. Rangers choose varied topics ranging from land management and conservation issues to environmental and cultural history and guide an open discussion with visitors over a bring-your-own-bag lunch. Check the Activities Boards at the Kahuku Visitor Greeting Area for the day’s Lunch With a Ranger topic and location. Lunch with a Ranger is also offered Nov. 18.

MEDICINE FOR THE MIND is Sunday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. Free Buddhist healing meditation for beginners and advanced. Call Patty Johnson for more, 985-7470.

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

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.