Ka`u News Briefs Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013

Country road between Na`alehu and Pahala leads to coffee farms, pastures and the Pacific Quest farm for youth. `Aina Koa Pono, turned down this week by the state Public Utilities Commission, would have cleared trees and brush on some 11,000 acres and planted biofuel crops to be trucked to a refinery planned for the edge of Wood Valley. Photo by Julia Neal

IN ITS DENIAL THIS WEEK OF THE SECOND proposed 20-year contract between `Aina Koa Pono and the Hawai`i utility companies to produce biofuel at a refinery above Pahala using feedstock grown in Ka`u, Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission expressed concern about several issues. 

      The PUC questioned AKP’s intended use of microwave depolymerization at its refinery, saying the technology “appears unproven on a large, commercial scale basis.” The PUC agreed with previous statements about Micro Dee’s unproven status by Sen. Russell Ruderman, Mayor Billy Kenoi, energy expert Peter Matlock, Hamakua farmer Richard Ha and Life of the Land director Henry Curtis.

The PUC and others took issue with AKP's Micro Dee refinery process.
Photo from biofuels-solutions.com

      According to AKP, the Micro Dee process would “convert biomass into a crude oil using modular units of a microwave process, compressing to about an hour what in nature takes thousands, even millions of years.” In Oct. 2012, AKP announced that it was planning to bring a 33-ton-a-day Micro Dee unit to its proposed refinery site independent of PUC approval and refine transportation fuel. Last January AKP said the unit would be installed “within the next several months and be operational before second quarter, 2014.” While AKP’s consultant AECOM recently announced that the technology is “optimal for renewable liquid fuel production.”
      Regarding HELCO’s statement that there are no development, technological or financial risks to customers of paying for anything other than the per-gallon price of the biofuel that is delivered to HELCO in accordance with the contract specifications, the PUC said, “The (utility) companies’ reasoning misses the point. The commission’s approval of the contract is a prerequisite for AKP to obtain the funds to finance the project, which includes the use of the Micro Dee technology on a large, commercial-scale basis. Hence, if the commission ultimately approves the contract and the companies’ corresponding requests, HELCO and HECO ratepayers risk being ‘stuck’ with a long-term, twenty-year contract that is designed to provide AKP with a known amount of revenue and a steady revenue stream during the contractual time period when the price of the AKP-produced biofuel is likely to be higher than the price of the diesel fuel that it is replacing.
      “Moreover, the contract, if approved by the commission, will result in a fifty-month period between the contract’s effective date and AKP’s commercial operation date. During this approximate four-year and two-month ‘placeholder’ period, other renewable energy resource options, at potentially lower costs, may not be vetted or otherwise considered by HELCO while a determination is made as to whether AKP … is able to deliver the contracted volume of biofuel to HELCO in accordance with the contract specifications.”
      According to the PUC, HELCO must demonstrate that the project provides cost reduction benefits to ratepayers, directly or indirectly, by improving and maximizing the integration of additional lower cost renewable energy. “AKP’s Biodiesel Supply Contract fails to meet this objective,” the PUC stated.
      The decision and all other documents filed in the docket are available at puc.hawaii.gov. Docket number is 2012-1085. Go to Dockets, Trending Dockets, `Aina Koa Pono and to documents.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

FUNDING FOR PRE-KINDERGARTEN CLASSES is being sought by Hawai`i State Teachers Association. Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported this week that, according to the union, the effort is preserve jobs for teachers and help children who will be too young to enter kindergarten. A new law requires kindergarten students to be at least five years old by July 31, causing an estimated 5,000 children not to be eligible. 

      “Our initiative is to have all children provided with a free pre-kindergarten education with a qualified teacher,” said HSTA president Wil Okabe.
      Gov. Neil Abercrombie applauded HSTA’s announcement, saying he “welcomed the opportunity to work with” the union.
      See staradvertiser.com.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

New Year's Day fireworks in Pahala could return in 2015. Photo by Kris Bakken

NO FIREWORKS for Pahala this New Year’s Day. Rodney Freitas, a licenses pyrotechnic expert who has been sponsoring News Year’s Day night fireworks said this morning that without funding, he cannot continue. He said some promises of funding just came in, but that it is too late to organize purchase of the fireworks and any needed permissions. He said he would be happy to start building a fund for 2015. 

      Call Freitas at Big Island Klimate Kontrol, 987-8918, or email info@bigislandklimatekontrol.com.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

FIREWORKS PERMITS ARE NOW AVAILABLE through midnight on New Year's Eve. Each permit costs $25 and entitles the holder to purchase 5,000 individual firecrackers. Multiple permit purchases are authorized. Permits shall only be issued to persons 18 years of age or older, are non-transferable and non-refundable.
      Permits are not required for purchasing novelties and paperless firecrackers. Setting off of fireworks for the New Year celebrations is allowed between the hours of 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Permits must be visibly displayed at the site of use during the time of the firing.
      Hawai`i Fire Department asks everyone to kokua in helping prevent fires and also to avoid the unnecessary injuries caused by fireworks each year.
      Regulations and recommendations regarding fireworks are available at hawaiicounty.gov.

      For more information on purchasing fireworks permits, or use of fireworks, call the Fire Prevention Bureau at 932-2912 (Hilo) or 323-4760 (Kona).

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Aikido ceremony at Old Pahala Clubhouse with yellow belts Troy Gacayan, Kyle Pitcher, Sensai Alan Moores, Melinda Eder, CC Ortega and Fresno Eder. Photo from Pahala Aikido Club

AIKIDO STUDENTS IN KA`U displayed their progress Monday at the Old Pahala Clubhouse, where they earned new belts. Instructor and Sensai Alan Moorse said the students earning yellow belts after the first season of classes and the Fifth Kyu – yellow belt grading – are Troy Gacayan, Kyle Pitcher, Melinda Eder, CC Ortega and Fresno Eder.

Aikido teaches practitioners how to defend themselves without hurting
others, as demonstrated by Fresno Eder in white and Troy Gacayan.
Photo from Pahala Aikido Club

      Aikido meets every Monday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. For more information, contact Moores at 928-0919 or artbyalan2011@gmail.com.

HOLIDAY EVENTS CONTINUE in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. 

      The 14th annual Invitational Wreath Exhibit continues at Volcano Art Center Gallery. Gallery artists, working in a wide variety of media, materials, and techniques, present their concepts of “wreath,” from the whimsical to the traditional. Call 967-7565 for more information.
      During Kilauea Military Camp’s Holiday Challenge through the end of the month, visitors can vote for their favorite decorated cottage. Ballots are available at the front desk.
      Park entrance fees apply.

A GUIDED HIKE AT THE KAHUKU UNIT of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on Sunday focuses on the area’s human history. The 2.5-mile, moderately difficult hikes over rugged terrain is from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 985-6011 for more information.

OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY CENTER HOSTS A PRESENTATION about Mauna Loa’s eruptive history and current status on Wednesday, Jan. 8. Frank Trusdell, U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist who has studied Mauna Loa for two decades, presents his free talk about Earth’s largest volcano at 6:30 p.m. Trusdell’s talk is one of many programs offered by HVO in January, Hawai`i Island’s fifth annual Volcano Awareness Month.
      Mauna Loa, one of Hawai`i’s most active volcanoes, has erupted 33 times since 1843 –most recently in March 1984. During that 23-day-long eruption, lava flows reached to within four miles of Hilo city limits.

Erupting vents on Mauna Loa's Northeast Rift Zone in March 1984 sent massive flows
toward Hilo, reaching to within four miles of city limits. Photo from USGS

       The volcano has now been quiet for almost 30 years. As a result, many Hawai`i residents may not be aware that it is an active volcano. But Mauna Loa will definitely erupt again, and it could be in your lifetime, according to Trusdell.
      “When Mauna Loa erupts, it is capable of disrupting lives and commerce throughout the Island of Hawai`i,” he added.
      In 1950, lava erupted from a fissure on Mauna Loa’s Southwest Rift Zone at an elevation of almost 10,000 feet and reached the ocean in less than three hours. By the time this eruption ended, lava flows had crossed Hwy 11 in three places, burying more than one mile of the road and destroying about two dozen structures. 

      It’s important for all Hawai`i residents to become aware of the volcano’s potential activity so that they are prepared for its next eruption,” Trusdell said.


      For more information about this presentation, email askHVO@usgsg.gov or call 967-8844.  

KA`U HOSPITAL URGES RESIDENTS to complete its Community Health Needs Assessment at surveymonkey.com/s/93HQ5MX. The deadline has been extended to Jan. 31.

SEE THE DIRECTORY 2013 from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at kauchamber.org. 

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

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Ka`u News Briefs Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013

Near the site of the proposed `Aina Koa Pono refinery on the edge of Wood Valley is the proclamation in stone declaring Malama Aina,
where the Edmund C. Olson Trust plans diversified agriculture and has begun leasing property to more farmers
for coffee and other crops. Photo by Julia Neal

DENIED IS THE DECISION ON THE  `AINA KOA PONO PROPOSAL, the state Public Utilities Commission posted on its website yesterday. “The contract price for the `Aina Koa Pono-produced biofuel is excessive and not cost-effective at present and for the foreseeable future, and thus, is unreasonable and inconsistent with the public interest,” the PUC said in its denial of the proposed 20-year, fixed-price contract between AKP and Hawai`i utility companies. The biofuel would have been produced at a microwave refinery that would have been built above Pahala on the edge of Wood Valley using feedstock grown on lands between Pahala and Na`alehu. AKP proposed to clear and farm 8,000 acres from Edmund C. Olson Trust and some 4,000 acres from the Mallick family.
     Hawai`i County participated in the case before the PUC, using its county attorneys, energy staff and consultants to oppose the proposal for the utility to purchase 16 million gallons of biofuel a year from AKP for 20 years.  Mayor Billy Kenoi stated  that the county is not interested in alternative energies “unless they result in a lowering of utility bills, not raising of them.”
     Also arguing against the AKP contract was consumer and environmental group Life of the Land, which received legal standing as an intervenor in the case.

      The utility companies first filed an application for the contract almost three years ago, in Jan. 2011. After the PUC denied it in September of 2011, the utilities re-negotiated with AKP and submitted a new proposal in Aug. 2012 with a lower per-gallon and still undisclosed biofuel price. The PUC pointed out that the lower price “does not necessarily mean that the new biofuel price is reasonable and in the public interest.”
      The commission also said, “The excess level of the biofuel price … is further evidenced by the (utility) companies’ request to establish and implement their proposed Biofuel Surcharge Provision, which is designed to authorize HELCO to pass through to HELCO’s and HECO’s ratepayers the difference between the cost of the biofuel and the cost of the fossil fuel that the biofuel is replacing, in the event that the cost of the biofuel is higher than the cost of the fossil fuel.
      “The companies have failed to convince the commission that the contract, if approved by the commission, will lead to lower and stable electricity costs for HELCO ratepayers. Instead, under the reference petroleum diesel price forecast scenario, the AKP-produced biofuel will consistently exceed HELCO’s forecasted petroleum diesel prices for most of the twenty-year contract term. Thus, the companies’ projected cost savings are not expected to occur until the latter part of the twenty-year contract term.”

`Aina Koa Pono's plan,which was turned down by the PUC this week, could have displaced cattle ranchers between
Pahala and Na`alehu. Photo by Julia Neal

      While the commission recognized that the contract is intended to reduce the state’s reliance and dependence on fossil fuels, including the volatility of fossil fuel prices and supply limitations the amount of funds that are expended for importing fuel and greenhouse gas emissions, “the evidence regarding the external benefits of the AKP Project is not sufficient to convince the commission that the contract is reasonable and in the public interest.”

      In the first docket, the commission expressed its concerns that HELCO’s commitment to purchase an annual minimum quantity of AKP-produced biofuel has the potential to displace or curtail more economical, existing renewable energy resources or restrict the addition of other new low-cost, fixed price renewable energy projects. “Such a commitment, moreover, appears to benefit AKP, to the ratepayers’ detriment,” the PUC stated. “The commission’s concerns have not been alleviated by the companies’ filings in this proceeding.”
      The PUC also expressed concern that neither an independent, third-party assessment of economic impacts and potential externalities nor an environmental assessment have been produced for its review and consideration.

    “The commission rejects as unpersuasive and without merit the companies’ assertion that it is more appropriate to address externalities that relate to the AKP project in other forums and processes. Here, it is clear that AKP’s ability to obtain project financing is dependent upon the commission approving the contract. Without such approval, AKP will be unable to proceed with the project. Thus, the project and the contract, for purposes of considering the externalities in evaluating the contract, are intertwined.

      “While the Companies correctly note that the contract is for biofuel that will be manufactured within the state from a locally produced feedstock, the economic, environmental, social and other impacts associated with such an operation remain largely unknown and un-quantified at this time. The identification of the source crops is also unknown.” 

      Another unsupported presumption in the contract, the PUC stated, is the utilities assessment that AKP’s facility would create a direct economic benefit to the state in the form of a net increase in jobs and revenue taxes “because local biofuel production has a labor intensive agricultural component."
      The PUC was also not persuaded by the argument that its approval of the contract is necessary to enable the development of a large-scale, local biofuels production facility. “The commission’s rejection of the Biodiesel Supply Contract does not prevent AKP from pursuing a scaled-down version of its proposed bio-refinery project for the purpose of supplying biofuel to the transportation and other non-utility generation sectors.” Here, the commission concluded that ratepayers should not be required to “ensure the economic returns necessary to attract project financing” for the construction and development of AKP’s bio-refinery.
      Ka`u News Briefs will report on more from the PUC’s decision in upcoming days.

Keiki await the gift-giving, from educational toys
and games to three-wheelers, bells and bags
of rice and other food. Photo by Julia Neal

      The decision and all other documents filed in the docket are available at puc.hawaii.gov. Docket number is 2012-1085. Go to Dockets, Trending Dockets, `Aina Koa Pono and to documents.

IN ORDER TO OBTAIN AS MUCH INPUT from the community as possible, Ka`u Hospital has extended the deadline for its community health needs survey until the end of January. There are many ways to participate: via the Internet at surveymonkey.com/s/93HQ5MX or by completing a paper survey being distributed by members of the hospital’s community advisory board. Surveys are also available at the hospital’s rural health clinic. The purpose of this survey is to help the hospital understand the needs and expectations of the community with respect to health services so that it can direct efforts more effectively in planning for the future. “In particular, we want to know what additional services are needed that aren’t provided now at the hospital, what we do well, what we should be doing differently and what the barriers are to getting the care you need,” said administrator Merilyn Harris.
      Those who do not wish to complete a survey but who would like to provide a comment or suggestion can contact Harris at mharris@hhsc.org.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE TREE, honoring the late Keala Kailiawa last night, drew keiki and adults to enjoy a meal, listen to music and share gifts around the village tree at Pahala Plantation Cottages. Sponsored by Olson Trust and Bull and Jamie Kailiawa, the Jade Moses famiily, Pahala Plantation Cottages, Keoki Kahumoku, Thomas King, Mike Munnerlyn and O Ka`u Kakou, the event drew from donations by many members of the community.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Ka`u High teacher David Berry plays music with fisherman Guy Sesson

and musician and teacher Keoki Kahumoku at

Christmas Around the Tree.  Photo by Carrie Berry 

DR. DOEDE DONAUGH, WHO IS LEAVING BAY CLINIC’S Ka`u Family Health Center at the end of this month, will be joining Ka`u Rural Health Clinic half-time in late January. “Ka`u has so few medical providers that we didn’t want to lose this opportunity,” said Ka`u Hospital administrator Merilyn Harris. “We have a lot of respect for her. She has been part of our medical staff since she came to this area, and we have found her to be a very caring physician who goes the extra mile for her patients – just the kind of provider our community deserves.”

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

GARY GILL IS HAWAI`I’S NEW INTERIM HEALTH DIRECTOR, appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie to temporarily replace Loretta Fuddy, who died in a plane crash on Dec. 11. 

Gary Gill

      “During this interim period, Gary is ready to ensure that the important work of the Department of Health continues without interruption,” Abercrombie said. “He shares my utmost confidence and that of the entire Department of Health `ohana in moving the department forward until a permanent director is identified.”
      Abercrombie has until Feb. 9 to appoint a permanent director.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.   

VOLCANO SCHOOL OF THE ARTS & SCIENCES supporter Ross Rammelmeyer is asking those interested to sign a petition calling for funding of a new facility for the charter school. “VSAS students learn in rotting tents and WWII quonset huts reached by a rutted dirt and cinder road,” the petition states. “The school auditorium is a sheet of vinyl on large hoops, open to the rainforest weather on both ends. The playground is a former plantation equipment dump. Shards of metal continually work their way up underfoot where the children exercise and play at recess. The school is on leased land with high, annually increasing rent. The school’s burgeoning lease is the second highest line item in the school budget. As the rent increases, the school is forced to decrease enrollment to make ends meet.”  

      The petition states, “We are struggling to educate our children in one of the fastest growing areas in the state. We have given to the state land on which to build a decent new school. Our present ‘Third World’ school is already producing better-educated children than nearby public schools. We have cobbled up $156,000 to contribute to our ‘bootstrap’ building effort. We have been successful in having our Legislature re-appropriate funds for a decent, safe school only to have the effort arbitrarily strangled by our governor.”
      According to the document, the state Legislature has twice appropriated $618,000 of state construction and improvement funds, but Gov. Neil Abercrombie has not released the funds.
      The petition is available at petitions.moveon.org/sign/governor-abercrombie-5?source=c.em.cp&r_by=.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

HOLIDAY MEALS ARE AVAILABLE today at Ka`u venues.
      Hana Hou Restaurant in Na`alehu offers holiday lunch, with Christmas dinner available from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Call 929-9717 for reservations.
      South Side Shaka’s in Na`alehu has regular menu items until 8:30 p.m. Call 929-7404.

SEE THE DIRECTORY 2013 from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at
http://www.flipsnack.com/5B55ECEC5A8/ftjs7qwe
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

Ka`u News Briefs Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013

Christmas decorations light up Kilauea Military Camp's front row of cottages throughout the month, with Ka`u residents invited to vote for their favorite. Photo by Dave Berry

HEAVY COMPETITION FOR BIOFUEL RESOURCES on the island moved one step closer to reality as the state Public Utilities yesterday approved Hawai`i Electric Light Co.’s contract with a company that plans to produce up to 10 percent of the island’s power requirements. Hu Honua Bioenergy plans to burn biomass trucked in from around the island to its oceanfront Pepeekeo plant, following completion of the renovation of the old sugar mill. The PUC filed its approval yesterday afternoon, permitting a 20-year purchase power agreement.

      Unlike the `Aina Koa Pono proposal for Ka`u, which would use some 11,000 acres between Pahala and Na`alehu, displacing ranchers to grow biofuel crops, Hu Honua plans to purchase farmed eucalyptus and other biomass from diverse sources. Also unlike the `Aina Koa Pono plan, Hu Honua will generate electricity directly to HELCO power lines. `Aina Koa Pono would make the biomass into pellets and process them in 27 microwave processors, each the size of a shipping container, and send the resulting gas up a cooling stack to make biodiesel. The refinery would be on the edge of Wood Valley, and the biofuel would be trucked the two-hour trip along Hwy 11 to HELCO’s power plant near Kona Airport. 

     See testimony from all sides of the `Aina Koa issue by searching this blog and reading the PUC docket at puc.hawaii.gov. Docket number is 2012-1085.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

`AINA KOA PONO MADE ANOTHER PUSH this week with a statement by its consultant AECOM that it has again announced that AKP’s microwave depolymerization process is “optimal for renewable liquid fuel production.” Pacific Business News reports AECOM saying that the process is environmentally sound, producing “substantially less carbon” and requiring “less energy than current petroleum technologies.”
      According to the story, Shawn Kelly, Aecom’s vice president of Energy, said “It appears that the AKP project can be replicated throughout the Islands.”
      See bizjournals.com/pacific.

      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Duane Kanuha

A VOTE BY A BIG ISLAND MEMBER of the state Land Use Commission has been thrown out by the state Supreme Court, stopping an O`ahu development in a decision concerning land use statewide. 

      Although the Senate rejected Duane Kanuha’s nomination for a second term on the LUC in 2010, Gov. Linda Lingle retained him as a holdover appointment. A lawsuit by Sierra Club Hawai`i challenged the validity of Kanuha’s vote on the Koa Ridge development, which called for reclassification of agricultural land. Sierra Club claimed that, because his nomination was rejected, he was not entitled to serve on the commission.

      Kanuha is currently Hawai`i County Planning director.
      “This is a victory, not only for protecting some of the most productive farmland on O`ahu, but in that it protects the right of the public to have a fair and balanced Land Use Commission,” said Robert D. Harris, director of Sierra Club of Hawai`i. “Hawai`i’s citizens and future generations deserve a Land Use Commission that is fair, balanced, and duly-appointed.”
      See sierraclub.org.

      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

REAP IS THE RURAL DEVLOPMENT ENERGY PROGRAM that is helping farmers, from taro growers making taro burgers to cattlemen needing power to pump water.

      U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development state director Chris Kanazawa, based in Hilo, said this morning that “the REAP program is Rural Development’s flagship renewable energy program. As part of President Obama’s energy strategy, Rural Development continues to work with farmers, ranchers, and rural businesses to help save energy and improve their bottom line.”

      He gave the example of taro farmer Holbrook Beck, who operates a 20-acre farm to supply Taro Burgers for local and mainland customers. Whole Foods is requesting them by the container-full, Beck said. He said his taro is non-GMO and pesticide free. Kanazawa announced today that Beck and one other Hawai`i agriculturalist recently received REAP funding.
      Under the REAP program, qualified applicants may receive a 25 percent grant and 50 percent low-interest loan to either increase energy efficiency for existing systems or to create new energy efficient systems.

Holbrook Beck, who grows taro for taro burgers, receives REAP funding.
Photo from USDA

      The Rural Energy for America Program, authorized through the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, provides assistance to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to complete a variety of projects. Offering both loan guarantees and grants, the REAP program helps eligible applicants install renewable energy systems such as solar panels or anaerobic digesters, make energy efficiency improvements such as installing irrigation pumps or replacing ventilation systems, and conduct energy audits and feasibility studies.
      Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack noted that today’s funding announcement is another reminder of the importance of USDA programs for rural America. A comprehensive new Food, Farm and Jobs Bill would further expand the rural economy. He called it one reason why Congress must get a comprehensive Food, Farm and Jobs Bill done as soon as possible.
      “President Obama’s plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities,” he said. “Under the President’s leadership, these investments in housing, community facilities, businesses and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way – strengthening America’s economy, small towns and rural communities. USDA’s investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands as the backbone of our American values.”
     For more information on how Ka`u residents can apply for REAP grants, contact Kanazawa at 933-8302 or chris.kanazawa@hi.usda.gov.

      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Colleen Hanabusa

HAWAI`I STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION’S executive board has voted unanimously to recommend Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s candidacy to its 3,500 members, said HSTA president Wil Okabe. Hanabusa is challenging Sen. Brian Schatz for the seat Gov. Neil Abercrombie appointed him to after the death of Sen. Daniel Inouye. 

      Okabe cited Hanabusa’s support of education and teacher issues.

      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.   

A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION IN PAHALA begins today at 6 p.m. around the Christmas tree next to the gas station on Kamani Street. In memory of the late Keala Kailiawa, who started the tradition, the event features gifts for keiki and music and food for everyone, with caroling led by Keoki Kahumoku and his `ukulele kids.

NA`ALEHU UNITED METHODIST CHURCH across from the post office invites the public to Christmas Eve service at 7 p.m. The service includes Word, carols and music, ending in candlelight with the singing of Silent Night.
      Call 929-9949 for more information.

HOLIDAY MEALS ARE AVAILABLE at several Ka`u venues.
      Hana Hou Restaurant in Na`alehu offers Christmas Eve dinner today from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Dinners include starters and special desserts. Tomorrow, breakfast begins at 7 a.m., holiday lunch starts at 11 a.m., and Christmas dinner is available from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Call 929-9717 for reservations.
      South Side Shaka’s in Na`alehu is open for breakfast and lunch today, closing at 4 p.m. Regular hours on Christmas Day offer breakfast beginning at 7 a.m. and regular menu items until 8:30 p.m. Call 929-7404.
      Kilauea Military Camp’s Crater Rim Café in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park offers Christmas Day Buffet from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply. Call 967-8356 for more information.

KA`U HOSPITAL URGES RESIDENTS to complete its Community Health Needs Assessment at surveymonkey.com/s/93HQ5MX. The deadline has been extended to Jan. 31.

SEE THE DIRECTORY 2013 from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at kauchamber.org.

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