Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 7, 2012

Surfers are returning to Kawa, with access now available on foot from Hwy 11, said Hawai`i Police Department reserve
officer Bobby Gomes. Photo by Julia Neal

KAWA HAS REOPENED TO THE PUBLIC from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, according to Hawai`i Police Department reserve officer Bobby Gomes. Gomes said that the shore is accessible by walking from the highway. Surfers are already back in the water. The county closed Kawa more than a month ago and removed unpermitted buildings from the land for which it is planning a preserve and park. Police remain on duty at the gate to Kawa’s access trail.

MAKE LONGS A PART OF YOUR DAY will be easier in Pahala next year, as the pharmacy is expected to open in the old Tex Drive-In location in the Pahala Shopping Center. Architectural firm PSM, of Emeryville, CA, is working on renovations to make the location secure and airconditioned. The planning calls for changing the open air facility with sliding doors and louvers to fixed walls and glass with a more traditional store entryway. Longs in Pahala is expected to concentrate on the pharmacy side of its retail services, which are now being handled in a small room in Ka`u Hospital. Longs in other places also carries some foods and household goods, beauty products and office supplies. Longs in Pahala is expected to be open as soon as March. Longs Drug Stores merged with CVS Caremark several years ago.

Ka`u Hospital is one of the employers the district's diversified economy.
Photo by Julia Neal

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC CO. representatives listened to Ka`u residents last night regarding long-term planning. It was the final of three public meetings held this week on the Big Island and was attended by more people than those held in Hilo and Waikoloa. About 50 members of the public came to Pahala Community Center, along with electric company staff, a Public Utilities Commission representative and a state Consumer Advocate representative.
      While the presentation was about overall planning for the future and the mission to decrease use of fossil fuel, the input focused on the proposed `Aina Koa Pono project, which would use pastures and shrub lands between Pahala and Na`alehu to harvest what is there and plant biofuel crops to make biomass for a refinery to be built off Wood Valley Road.
      A presentation by HELCO said the utility and its parent company Hawaiian Electric Co. plan to “Protect Hawai`i’s Culture and Communities and “Protect Hawai`i’s Environment.” Planner Pat Moore said that those who work at the company understand the “need to respect community and comment.

      DENNIS ELWELL, a retired materials scientist at Stanford University, said he objects to the high cost of electricity and to electric bills rising to pay for the `Aina Koa Pono fuel. He said that he particularly objects to rising rates when the HECO top executive earns more than $5 million a year. He said that HECO money should not be used on expensive advertising on television that says what a good job the electric company is doing. For the ratepayers, he said, HECO is doing “a lousy job.”
      RON SELF, an attorney and farmer in Wood Valley, talked about using sun, wind and water (hydroelectricity) to power the Big Island. He said that the flume tunnels from the old sugar companies, which are being revamped for irrigation water for agriculture, could also generate electricity as the water is brought down the mountain. He called biofuel the worst option for electricity and contended that it uses energy to grow and harvest the biofuel crops, and more energy at the refinery. He claimed that there is not enough land in the `Aina Koa plan to generate enough biomass to support the proposed refinery.
      He also suggested that “HELCO should relinquish its monopoly” to allow more competition in creating alternative energies. “There should be competition to drive down the price” of electric bills.

Royal Hawaiian Orchards is one of the largest macadamia growers in
the world. With offices in Ka`u, it plans to manufacture locally
and  take its new brand into retail.  Photo by Julia Neal

      BOBBY GOMES, a Hawai`i Police Department reserve officer and radio show host, said, “They are going to shove this (biofuels) down our throats.” He asked the representatives of the electric company whether community input matters. HELCO president Jay Ignacio said it does. He said that traditional planning was by calculations, in a vacuum, but that planning has been expanded to better include the community. He noted that the electric company was not required to conduct the series of meetings and chose to do so voluntarily.
      JON ITOMURA, a state Consumer Advocate attorney, was questioned about his agency’s support of the `Aina Koa Pono biofuels project last year before the PUC turned down its first proposal. He said that for the Consumer Advocate “there was not strong support of `Aina Koa Pono in the first docket.”
      He declared, “We are the advocate for the ratepayer.” He was described as being similar to an attorney for the people regarding rates for water, electricity and transportation regulated by the PUC. Itomura said the advocate has to balance the cost to the public with the ability for the utility to survive.
      CHRIS MANFREDI, who represents the company that owns land where many of Ka`u’s award-winning coffee growers are farming, said it was confusing to him why HELCO would consider a proposal that raises costs to the ratepayer given Hawai`i already has the highest electric rates in the country. He said that high electric bills are manifested in higher costs of all goods and services,  in everything purchased, and drives businesses away, hurting employment statewide.
     He said there is a risk of layering biofuel surcharges, should `Aina Koa Pono be approved. Similar projects around the state could ask for surcharges, making electric bills even higher.

Another major employer is Ka`u High & Pahala Intermediate &
 Elementary School.  Photo by Julia Neal

      He also noted that during last year’s `Aina Koa Pono case before the PUC, the Consumer Advocate accused Ka`u people of “NIMBYism” (not in my backyard). Manfredi called the characterization as "disrespectful. If my attorney accused me of NIMBYism, he would not be my attorney for long," said Manfredi. He said that opposition here is not NIMBYism  - the project would not be supported no matter where it is since it proposes to raise costs to the ratepayer.
      LYNN HAMILTON, a retired teacher and resident of Pahala, passed out notes about Pahala’s population, home ownership, and the jobs that are already here. She included macadamia and coffee farms; a coffee mill; cattle ranches; vegetable, flower and tea farms, a pre-school; elementary school; junior high and high school; a hospital and clinic; fire station; policing; churches; gas station; mechanics; grocery stores; bank; social services; construction; landscaping; post office and vacation rentals.
      Concerning the `Aina Koa Pono proposal, she said “the electric company’s thrust is to look at the impact on the community and the environment. What criteria is HELCO using to evaluate the impact?”
      She asked, “What is the effect of 200 to 300 workers coming into the town? Will they rent or purchase housing? What effect will that have on the local people? Pahala is a town where people can afford to live … where children can walk to school and people walk the streets.
      “Hundreds of people will come to town for a couple of years and then depart,” she predicted.
      Hamilton also asked, “What role does HELCO have with AKP regarding commitments? What assurances will there be that AKP will abide by the commitments made during the permit and planning phase? It may not effect HELCO, but it could effect the community,” she said.
      See more in tomorrow’s Ka`u News Briefs.

Another Ka`u CDP Steering Committee meeting takes place Tuesday
at Na`alehu Community Center.

KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Steering Committee holds a business meeting next Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 5:30 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. “The Project Team is completing the CDP as quickly as possible given the broad scope of issues involved and the strong desire on both the community’s and the county’s part to produce the best plan possible,” said planner Ron Whitmore. “Though considerable progress has been made, the draft CDP is not yet complete, so it is not on the meeting agenda for discussion.” He said there will be many forums for public review and comment once the draft is complete. For more information, contact Whitmore at 961-8137 or rwhitmore@co.hawaii.hi.us.

CHRISTMAS EVENTS THIS WEEKEND include a concert by Volcano Festival Chorus. Comfort and Joy begins at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The concert is free, and park entrance fees apply.

PAHALA CHRISTMAS PARADE is Sunday at 1 p.m. All community groups and businesses are invited to participate. Call 928-0808 to sign up.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

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

FIND MORE OF OUR DECEMBER 2012 EVENT PHOTOS ON OUR FLICKR ACCOUNT. 

Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 6, 2012

HELCO's long-term plans, including purchasing biofuel refined from feedstock grown in Ka`u, is the topic at the company's meeting tonight at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Photo by Julia Neal

TONIGHT HAWAI`I ELECTRIC LIGHT CO. takes public input for its long-term planning. The meeting from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pahala Community Center involves a presentation from the utility company concerning its future plans for renewable energy. This is the last of three public meetings during this planning phase, with one this week in Hilo and another in Waikoloa. Pahala was chosen given the proposal for a refinery off Wood Valley Road and a biofuel farm to be established in pasture and shrub lands between Pahala and Na`alehu.

      During the Monday meeting, incoming state Senator Russell Ruderman was represented by Richard Bidleman. Bidleman announced that Ruderman will be taking his opposition to expanding geothermal to the Senate. He said Ruderman believes that solar is the preferred sustainable energy source for Hawai`i rather than geothermal. Bidleman also addressed the high costs of electricity, saying that HELCO has a responsibility to stockholders who have invested in the company, but because they are a public monopoly, they also have an obligation to ratepayers. Bidleman said later that his own home is on net metering with HELCO, feeding power created from solar back into the grid. He said he has lived off the grid with solar and on the grid with solar and prefers to be making power to feed into the utility so he doesn’t have to maintain batteries to store energy for his home.

KAHU 91.7 FM COMMUNITY RADIO IS DISMANTLING ITS ONLY TOWER, according to a press release sent out statewide. The release from Christine Kaehuaea, who says she is the owner, president/director and station general manager, states that KAHU “is in the process of dismantling its only tower site in Na`alehu, in the southern region of Hawai`i Island due to the station’s increasing operational expenses over the last year and lack of consistent public, local business and corporate funding.”

Some transmission equipment moved from KAHU 91.7 FM radio station
to a site near Na`alehu in Oct. 2011 will return to the station, says general
manager Christine Kaehuaea. Photo by Julia Neal

      She writes that she and her management team “have decided to strip the station down to its studs and stabilize the foundation of the organization with a new simplified direction.
Upon FCC (Federal Communications Commission) approval in December, antennas and equipment will be removed from the Na`alehu tower, with some pieces being liquidated and some re-installed at the radio station in Pahala.”
      Says Kaehuaea: “The downsizing will reduce the overall budget and allow for more focus on funding acquisitions, while ensuring a reduced but consistent FM broadcast from its transmitter in Pahala.
      “Continued servicing of KAHU 91.7 FM’s global community will remain in tack with the ability to ‘listen live’ via any mobile device or computer as the station slowly rebuilds during the next two years.
      “Downsizing will enable our station to lower its expenses while still providing service,” Kaehuaea says, “with our monthly expenses at approximately $8,500, coupled with the lack of consistent and substantial funding, we’ve had to weigh our options to either downsize and regroup or risk permanent closure by the end of December 2012, which would heavily impact the communities we literally serve in the District of Ka`u, especially in the event of an emergency. “With all of the people that have invested in keeping us on the air, I’m proud to say that we’ve chosen to keep swimming.”
      Kaehuaea also says that “as a Native Hawaiian owned and operated community radio station, KAHU 91.7 FM is the only radio station heard from Volcano to Na`alehu and impacts 11,225 residents from Ocean View to Volcano and down to Kalapana, as well as approximately 398,695 visitors that pass through the Ka’u.”
      She also states that “co-owner of KAHU 91.7 FM and director of Ka`u Community Radio Inc., Wendell J. Kaehuaea, has retired from daily radio station operations.”
      Kaehuaea said that recently the radio station has been receiving help from members of `O Ka`u Kakou. OKK has donated some money and helped clean up the parking lot across from the where the station is sponsoring the Wednesday farmers market. On her own, Nadine Ebert has a morning show on Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon.

OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS encourages Native Hawaiian students and young professionals to apply for a full-ride scholarship for the spring 2013 semester at George Washington University. The recipient would also have an opportunity to work on Capitol Hill. Applications for the scholarship, sponsored by the Native American Political Leadership Program, are due Saturday, Dec. 15. For more information and to apply online, visit semesterinwashington.gwu.edu. 

TESTIMONY REGARDING THE PROPOSED CONTRACT between `Aina Koa Pono and HELCO is available on the Public Utilities Commission website.

CHRIS MANFREDI, OF KA`U FARM & RANCH CO., which he says leases approximately 6,000 acres of coffee farms and ranches to nearly 40 families in Ka`u, sent testimony in opposition of the project.

Chris Manfredi

      “The applicant uses the Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook high estimate to calculate the cost assumptions to the ratepayer through the biofuels surcharge,” Manfredi writes. “This estimate pegs the price from $175-200 per barrel for the life of the contract. It’s unreasonable to ask the public to pay a higher price for biofuels based on this projected estimate. The low estimate hovers around $60 per barrel, and the AEO reference used in 2012 is approximately $90-130 for the same period. Cherry-picking the high estimate makes an unfair and overreaching assumption. This approach fits the AKP narrative that claims their project would stabilize the cost of energy and minimize price spikes. Raising the cost to continually high levels to eliminate price spikes is clearly not consistent with the public interest.
      “Despite claims, the technology licensed by AKP is unproven. Nowhere in the world is microwave depolymerization being utilized to produce biofuels on the scale described by AKP. It is premature and unreasonable to ask ratepayers (to) participate in a process that stretches the limits of technical plausibility. The European Union Joint Research Centre has a methodology by which the viability of emerging biofuels technologies may be measured. The PUC has a duty to seek out industry professionals to analyze feasibility and to obtain third-party verification of the technology upon which the application is based. Alternatively, the applicant should first demonstrate the feasibility of the technology and the agricultural plan, and allow costs to stabilize before asking the public to participate.
      Other topics covered by Manfredi include impacts on the livestock industry, air quality, watersheds and use of public roadways.

      Manfredi concludes, “The project poses threats to food production, bio diversity, and a diversified local economy. History has taught us that monocropping leads to boom and bust cycles that are dependent on economic and biological influences that are often beyond our control. A diverse economy for Ka`u is the sure way to advance a resilient, sustainable community.
      Manfredi’s entire letter, as well as other testimony, can be read at puc.hawaii.gov/dockets. Docket number is 2012-0185.

Richard Onishi

STATE REP. RICHARD ONISHI is holding public meetings to gather input about residents’ concerns and issues that he can take to the state Legislature. Sunday’s meeting will be at Pahala Community Center from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Other meetings are tomorrow at 7 p.m. in Hilo AJA Hall and Monday at 7 p.m. at Kea`au Community Center. His contact number is 808-586-6120. 

KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Steering Committee holds a business meeting next Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 5:30 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. “This is a business meeting and not intended as a community forum to discuss draft CDP materials or strategies,” said long-range planner Ron Whitmore. 

      The two business items are an update on CDP production and an orientation to the CDP background analysis. “Public comment on agenda items is always welcome and encouraged,” Whitmore said.

MAILE YAMANAKA PRESENTS a brief history of Hawai`i in Myth, Chant, Dance & Song from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Hula from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.; and Keiki Hula from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow at Volcano Art Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, Call 937-4249 for more information.

PAHALA COMMUNITY CEMETERY CELEBRATION takes place tomorrow at 10 a.m. to commemorate completion of renovations. `O Ka`u Kakou led the renovation efforts, with Olson Trust II, Island Rock Masonry, Ka`u Andrade Contracting, Inc. and Taylor Built Construction, Inc. contributing money, material and/or machinery. Various community groups volunteered labor.

Sign up to participate in Pahala Christmas Parade this Sunday.

SENIORS ARE INVITED FOR LUNCH & BINGO tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Organizers ask participants to bring a donation of canned or non-perishable food. For transportation, call Carol Massey at 929-9001 or Wayne Kawachi at 937-4773.

COMFORT AND JOY is the title of Volcano Festival Chorus’ concert on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The concert is free, and park entrance fees apply. 967-8371

PAHALA CHRISTMAS PARADE is Sunday at 1 p.m. All community groups and businesses are invited to participate. Call 928-0808 to sign up.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

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

FIND MORE OF OUR DECEMBER 2012 EVENT PHOTOS ON OUR FLICKR ACCOUNT. 

Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 5, 2012

Wind power generates more electricity than needed in homes for Ka`u, but not all is purchased by the electric company.
 Photo by Peter Anderson

HAWAI`I ELECTRIC LIGHT CO. held the first in a series of public meetings last night, designed to take public input regarding its long-term planning. Another meeting will be held at Waikoloa tonight at 6 p.m. and another at Pahala Community Center at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Barry Mizuno was the only
Aloha Advisory group
member on hand.

      Last night, the company presented elements of its 20-year outlook with several scenarios. The meeting was held at `Imiloa in Hilo and was attended mostly by community members who are passionate about various alternative energy futures for the island. The meeting was designed for the members of an Aloha Advisory Board to HELCO to take information from the public. However, only one member, Barry Mizuno, a former Puna Geothermal Ventures manager, and now independent energy consultant, was in attendance among the more than 30 members of the public and representatives of the utility.

      HELCO representatives said that planning for the future involves preparing for many possible scenarios and named several:
      BLAZING A NEW FRONTIER takes into account a future in which oil prices are very high and sentiment is to expand clean energy. “Community sentiment motivates policy makers to progress briskly and boldly toward integrating renewable energy to mitigate the rising ad high cost of fuel generation on electricity rates.”
      STUCK IN THE MIDDLE is another scenario describing “a world in which oil prices grow from 2012 levels and where interest in meeting clean energy goals continues and yet remains mired in indecision. Different visions of how to achieve a more viable energy future, coupled with frustration over current economic conditions, lead to continuing debate on solutions and little policy changes.”
      NO BURNING DESIRE describes a “world in which oil prices are lower than 2012 resulting in little interest toward meeting clean energy goals. Complacency rides high as the motivation toward clean energy future of increased renewables wanes.”
      MOVED BY PASSION is a “world in which oil prices grow from 2012 levels but sentiment to support or expand clean energy goals is driven more by principles than need, especially since the economy is growing. Visionary leadership and a spirit of compromise continue to make Hawai`i a leader in renewable energy generation, albeit at a more considered pace.”

      During the public input session, HELCO representatives explained that 39.5 percent of the electricity created here is dependent on burning oil and that most of the oil comes from Indonesia to the refinery on O`ahu. Less than four percent comes from the Middle East.

John Ota asked whether HELCO and
the PUC keep rates high.
County Council photo

      JOHN OTA asked why the high amount of alternative energy being used on the Big Island is costing the same as oil-produced electricity. He accused HELCO and the PUC with keeping electric rates high. He asked whether the utility will “just grow bigger and bigger? And who is going to pay it? The customer. Who is going to suffer? The customer.”
      CORY HARDEN talked about environmental impacts of various energy scenarios, including alternatives to oil. She talked about solar roofs as an approach to lower risk of large energy producers, like geothermal being cut off and leaving large populations in the dark. She said that micro energy productions could be studied, from flags waving, producing small amounts of energy to tiny wheels at the bottom of rainspouts turning to make electricity. She said that she also hopes planning will take into consideration such risks as putting power plants close to the ocean where they could be wiped out by tsunamis.
         JON OLSON said many people going off the grid “decide not to deal with the electric company at all.” From an accounting perspective, he said, “if I own a system, it is an asset. If I pay HELCO, it is a liability.”

       ONE CITIZEN asked why HELCO isn’t investing in owning more alternative energy facilities, rather than depending on outside companies to own them. She reminded the group that HELCO began with 100 percent renewable energy from the hydroelectric plant on Wailuku River in Hilo.
      HELCO president Jay Ignacio contributed more history, mentioning the sugar companies that used to make electricity by burning bagasse, the byproduct of sugar cane harvesting. He said HELCO may be looking at doing a wind farm at some point.

Jon Olson

      ROGER MEEKER, an attorney and property developer, noted that wind generates about 13 percent of HELCO’s power for the Big Island. On Maui at the beginning of 2013, a third wind farm will go online, and Maui will have 72 megawatts, which is 38 to 39 percent of Maui’s total grid, Meeker said. He asked whether this could happen on the Big Island – to incorporate more wind for the grid. 

      He also pointed to a “curtailment policy” when there is more wind and hyrdroelectric energy produced that the electric company will purchase. Ignacio explained that those producing wind and hydro understand that HELCO cannot always take all the power available and that those signing contracts with HELCO are aware of the situation. Some potential windmill ventures decline to sign a contract and abandon their project before investing in it because of the curtailment clause, he said.
      Meeker also explained that the oldest renewable energy source with a HELCO contract is the last to be curtailed. The newest renewables are most likely to have less energy purchased by the power company. This makes it increasingly more risky to invest in renewables, said Meeker.
      See more in tomorrow’s Ka`u News Briefs.

TESTIMONY REGARDING THE PROPOSED CONTRACT between `Aina Koa Pono and HELCO is available on the Public Utilities Commission website.

`AINA KOA PONO PARTNER CHRIS ELDRIDGE submitted a letter to the PUC to “clarify misconceptions” and respond to “questions and misstatements” which he says were in some of the public testimony sent to the PUC.

Chris Eldridge

      “Issues of cost were raised a number of times in testimony,” Eldridge writes. “As the PUC is aware, AKP is constrained from discussing costs by our agreement with the utility. We rely on the Commission to sort out the misinformation in opponent testimony.
      “One point we do want to make, however, is that there is a misleading number expressed in both testimony and recurring commentaries in the general and online media. Our product is being erroneously compared to the cost of a barrel of oil and likening it to $200 a barrel of oil, with oil now at about $110 (Brent Crude; HELCO estimates a higher cost of about $126) a barrel.
      Any estimates of our costs (and we do not agree the $200 a barrel cost for our product) must be compared to the cost of a barrel of diesel including shipping costs to the Big Island. Diesel is a refined product, and its cost is considerably higher than a barrel of oil.
      “Opponent testimony also alleged approval of this contract would set a bad precedent for other biofuels proposals,” Eldridge says. “We would argue this is not the case. Discussion in the industry is that stimulation of the industry will necessarily require initial higher-cost projects that will drive demand and subsequently lower costs.
      “Another cost point raised by opponent testimony is higher electric rates mean tougher climate for small business,” says Eldridge. “We understand this concern and reiterate that the additional cost for AKP’s diesel to Keahole is ONLY if the cost of comparable imported diesel hasn’t increased beyond AKP’s price. Over the last six years or so, petroleum prices have increased more than 300 percent higher than federal forecasts. (USEIA forecasts)
            Other topics addressed by Eldridge include:

• AKP’s selected feedstock crops; 
• Questions of how ranchers will be accommodated; 
• The notion that AKP will import raw materials from the mainland or haul trash to Ka`u to be processed at the biorefinery; 
• Questions about the amount of biofuel that will be produced from the 12,000 acres used to cultivate feedstock crops; 
• Why Keahole power plant isn’t converted to geothermal; 
• Who would assume the costs of Keahole being modified to handle the biofuel; 
• Whether AKP’s Environmental Assessment will meet state and federal standards; 
• The possibility of an Environmental Impact Statement; 
• Whether some of the biofuel will be used by the military; 
• The social impact the project will have on the area in terms of jobs; 
• Whether people will want to visit or stay in an area because of AKP’s biorefinery. 

Maile Yamanaka at Volcano Art Center. Photo by Marsha Hee

      Eldridge’s entire letter, as well as other testimony, can be read at puc.hawaii.gov/dockets. Docket number is 2012-0185.

ON FRIDAY AT VOLCANO ART CENTER in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, Maile Yamanaka presents a brief history of Hawai`i in Myth, Chant, Dance & Song from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Hula from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.; and Keiki Hula from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Call 937-4249 for more information.

SENIOR LUNCH & BINGO takes place Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Organizers ask participants to bring a donation of canned or non-perishable food. For transportation, call Carol Massey at 929-9001 or Wayne Kawachi at 937-4773.

Kilauea Military Camp Theater hosts Volcano Festival Chorus Saturday.

VOLCANO FESTIVAL CHORUS PERFORMS a selection of holiday music entitled Comfort and Joy on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Presented by Kilauea Drama & Entertainment Network, the chorus is under the direction of Roch Jones with accompaniment by Cinnie Decker. Park entrance fees apply. 967-8371 

PAHALA CHRISTMAS PARADE is Sunday at 1 p.m. All community groups and businesses are invited to participate. Call 928-0808 to sign up.

KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE meets Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 5:30 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. More information is available at kaucdp.info or from Ron Whitmore at 961-8137.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

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

FIND MORE OF OUR DECEMBER 2012 EVENT PHOTOS ON OUR FLICKR ACCOUNT.