Ka`u News Briefs June 7, 2011

Obon offerings of fruit and flowers to honor ancestors at Pahala Hongwanji this morning.  Photo by Julia Neal

OBON CEREMONIES are being held in Ka`u this morning, with services at the old Japanese graveyard and small temple up Wood Valley Road, followed by services at Pahala Hongwanji and graveyard, a luncheon for the Honpa Hongwanji community and visits to other graveyards in the district. The Rev. Earl Ikeda is leading the Obon services around Ka`u. Rev. Ikeda will be moving to a new position in Honolulu later this summer.

     The Bon Dance season kicks off this Saturday at Honomu Hongwanji and continues throughout July and into August. The nearest bon dance will be at Puna Hongwanji along Hwy 11 in Kea`au on July 1 and 2.

Bull Kailiawa

KA`U COFFEE is making a big splash on the Internet this morning, drawing high prices for an international charity auction for Grounds for Health, which provides health care to poor coffee farmers in underserved growing regions. The coffee was donated for the auction by the coffee farmers and the Coffees of the Year competition in Houston, where Bull and Jamie Kailiawa’s Ka`u Coffee took first place in the U.S. and Hawai`i and ranked in the top ten in the world. This morning Kailiawa Coffee was leading among the Hawaiian coffees at $23.10 a pound for unroasted green beans.
     Most of the Ka‘ū coffees were doing well, with the majority of other coffees from around the world drawing prices of under $10 a pound. The auction is taking place in Vermont at Stoneworks Specialty Coffee Auctions through 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday and can be seen live on the Internet today and tomorrow at http://auction.groundsforhealth.org. The entire auction is being held on the Internet, where you can watch prices for Ka‘ū Coffee soar.

     

PLANNING AND PREPARATION for natural disasters will be the topic at a half-day workshop in Hilo later this month. Experts at the workshop will cover emergency guidelines, evacuation planning, tsunami and severe weather warnings, homeowner guidance and retrofit measures, and flood and coastal inundation mapping. The workshop takes place at UH-Hilo’s UCB Lecture Hall on Saturday, June 25 from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Another workshop is scheduled in Kona on July 16. The workshops are free and open to the public.

Ray Brown, Jr.

RAY BROWN, JR. BEGINS Volcano Art Center’s Summer Jazz season this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at VAC’s Niaulani campus in Volcano Village. Brown is the son of Ella Fitzgerald and jazz bass player Ray Brown. His vocals range from jazz and pop to rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues. Tickets are $15 in advance and $17 at the door. Call 967-8222 or visit volcanoartcenter.org to purchase tickets.

LA`AU LAPA`AU IS THE TOPIC at the Kilauea Visitor Center lanai tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon. Ka`ohu Monfort teaches how plants including kukui, `olena, ha`uowi, noi, ki and guava are used to nourish and heal.

TWO DISTRICT 6 MATTERS MEETINGS take place in Ka`u this week. Tomorrow at 7 p.m., Laura Dierenfield, executive director of People’s Advocacy for Trails Hawai‘i, discusses the PATH program at Ocean View Community Center.
     At Na`alehu Community Center on Thursday at 7 p.m., Council member Brittany Smart discusses her proposed resolution that would delay Council action on any rezoning or general plan amendments in Ka`u until a CDP is completed and in place or December 31, 2012, whichever comes first. For more information, call 961-8536.

THE KA`U FAMILY FUN FEST happens this Saturday. `O Ka`u Kakou is sponsoring this fundraiser for Bay Clinic’s building fund. A half marathon, 10K and 5K races begin at Na`alehu Park. Other events at the park are a hunters’ obstacle course and tournaments in archery, Jan Ken Po, Portuguese horseshoes and basketball. Registration and fee schedules for the races and tournaments are available online at race360.com/15811.
     Throughout the day at the park there will be information and food booths; a live auction; a jumping castle; bungee jumping; rock wall climbing and a dunking booth. Entertainers include the Hawai`i County Band, Keoki Kahumoku, Dennis and David Kamakahi, the Lava Boys and One Journey. For more information, call 265-8251 or email kaufamilyfunfest@gmail.com.

Ka`u News Briefs June 6, 2011

Snow on Mauna Kea above farms on Wright Road.  Photo by Julia Neal

AN UNUSUAL SNOWSTORM on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea gave Sunday drivers and walkers a spectacular look at snow-covered mountain peaks and volcanic cones yesterday in Ka`u. More than eight inches of snow were cleared from the road up Mauna Kea.

RUSTY’S HAWAIIAN 100 PERCENT KA`U COFFEE was a key ingredient at the World Barista Championships in Bogota, Colombia yesterday. Pete Licata, who won first in the U.S. Barista championship, took second in the world competition among 53 countries, using the Obra family’s Rusty’s Hawaiian 100 percent Ka`u Coffee. Lorie Obra said this morning that the win “brought Ka`u Coffee to another level. It cemented our reputation as one of the best in the world.”
     The first place finish went to Alejandro Mendez, of El Salvador. Other finalists were from Spain, Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom.
     Before selecting Rusty’s coffee for the competitions, Licata came to Ka`u, visited the farm and helped pick and process coffee beans. He made tea from the cherry, as well as coffee drinks to win top in the U.S.A. at the Specialty Coffee Association of America annual convention in Houston, which made him eligible to take Ka`u Coffee and his Fruit to Cup presentation to Colombia. 

U.S. Barista Champion Pete Licata (hatless) and
Miguel Meza (to his left) celebrate with the
Obra family at the competition in Houston.
Photo by Julia Neal

     Licata is quality manager at Honolulu Coffee Co. on O`ahu. As a barista, he creates espresso, cappuccino and other coffee drinks. His actual making of the Ka`u Coffee can be seen at worldbaristachampionship.com.
     After the competition, Licata described traveling to the mountains behind Pahala to 1,800 feet to pick red catura and yellow catura on the Obra farm. “I dried them for three weeks and let them cure in the fruit for three months.” He gave credit “to the farmers who work with me.… All this work has given me so much respect for the farmers,” said Licata.
     He also thanked Miguel Meza, whom he said “mentored me and taught me almost everything I know about production coffee.” Meza has also been a consultant for the Ka`u Coffee Growers cooperative.
     The Rusty’s coffee in the World Championships was about four and a half months aged from its picking date. Licata said that over time it became sweeter and better.
     Commentators explained that Ka`u coffee is grown at an extremely low altitude compared to other winning coffees, with Rusty’s growing at about 1,800 feet – and many other good coffees in areas closer to the equator growing at over 6,000 feet. Coffee in the extremes of higher and lower latitudes can afford to be grown at lower altitudes and still have some of the characteristics of very high-grown coffee. Hawai`i is one of the farthest north-grown coffees, they said.

`AINA KOA PONO is considering construction of a road from its proposed refinery on Meyer Camp Road to Hwy 11. The route, which would avoid trucks carrying feedstock and biofuel going through or skirting the town, would either cross Wood Valley Road at Meyer Camp Road and go out to Hwy 11 or would come toward Pahala and cut across by the old crop duster runway and then out to Hwy 11. `Aina Koa Pono is expecting about 40 trucks a day of feedstock coming in from farms and places where land is being cleared and eight tanker trucks a day going up Hwy 11 with biofuel to HELCO's electric plant in Kona. There is also talk of the old runway being upgraded for emergency medical air lifts from Ka`u Hospital, said engineer Sandy Causey.

Hawai`i County Economic Opportunity Council office
on Old Mill Road in Pahala.  Photo by Julia Neal

HELP WITH UTILITY BILLS is available for low-income people who submit copies of their utility bills to the Hawai`i County Economic Opportunity Council office on Old Mill Road in Pahala. An application must be filled out, along with gas or electric bills, by the end of June. Call 961-2681 for more information on this Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

THE BAY CLINIC MOBILE DENTAL VAN makes its monthly visit to Ka`u this week. It will be at the Bay Clinic in Na`alehu from tomorrow through Friday. Call 965-3073 for appointments.

TWO DISTRICT 6 MATTERS MEETINGS take place in Ka`u this week. On Wednesday at 7 p.m., Laura Dierenfield, executive director of People’s Advocacy for Trails Hawai`i, discusses the program at Ocean View Community Center.
     At Na`alehu Community Center on Thursday at 7 p.m., Council member Brittany Smart discusses her proposed resolution that would delay Council action on any rezoning or general plan amendments in Ka`u until a CDP is completed and in place or December 31, 2012, whichever comes first. For more information, call 961-8536.

Ka`u News Briefs June 5, 2011

The Ala Kahakai Trail, an ancient pathway for trading and travel between ahupua`a and districts,  connects the northwestern coast of the island, shown here, with Ka`u.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE VISITOR INDUSTRY on this side of the island is looking to new daily flights from Los Angeles to Hilo to bolster tourism and make business and family travel easier between here and California. The flights start with the first plane landing this Thursday, representing Continental - slash - United Airlines, which are merging. Eventually all the planes will be painted with the United logo.

     A big celebration is planned for the first touch down on Thursday. United last scheduled direct flights into Hilo in 1983. The first plane will be a Boeing 737-800, which carries 160 passengers. Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park is expected to be a big draw for visitors coming directly to Hilo and visiting Ka`u.
     Another weekly flight will come directly to Hilo from San Francisco.

HELP WITH UTILITY BILLS is available for low-income people who submit copies of their utility bills to the Office of Economic Opportunity on the old Mill Road in Pahala. An application must be filled out, along with gas or electric bills, by the end of June. Call 961-2681 for more information on this Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. 

Richard Lim

RICHARD LIM, the recently appointed director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, is warning policy makers and business leaders that tourism is not the only industry on which the population can depend for a living. He gave his analysis to the Hawai`i Economic Association last week and noted that tourism has been stagnant for 20 years. He said that government and business need to partner for innovation for new businesses and efficiency to deliver services. Lim said the islands should be linked with an undersea cable to transport renewable energy and broadband technology. He also suggested that government partner with private capital to develop new industries and improve public lands. Lim is a founding partner of Sennet Capital, whose partners are working on the `Aina Koa Pono project to bring a biofuel refinery to Pahala and a plantation for feedstock to fire up the refinery on lands between Pahala and Na`alehu. According to a report in the Honolulu Star Advertiser, Lim said that businesses should lobby legislators and push back against community opposition that killed projects such as the Hawai`i Superferry. He said that “ten surfers and a couple of well-heeled (Not in My Backyard) NIMBYs can wipe out economic development in the state.” Lim has had a long career in banking. 

NATIONAL TRAILS DAY was celebrated with two activities along Ka`u’s Coastal trails. One was a cleanup at Kamilo Bay sponsored by the Hawai`i Wildlife Fund and the other a hike to the Kamehame Beach turtle preserve, sponsored by Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. State Department of Land and Natural Resources director Bill Aila noted the many excellent and popular public trails and access roads in state forests and parks, and national parks, “which together offer enjoyable experiences in our natural environment for both novices and experienced hikers. He encouraged the public to use trails safely and responsibly and thanked the many volunteers who help maintain them. A brochure called Hiking Safely in Hawaii can be found on the DLNR websites at state.hi.us/dlnr/brochures/HikingSafety.pdf

THE BAY CLINIC MOBILE DENTAL VAN makes its monthly visit to Ka`u this week. It will be at the Bay Clinic in Na`alehu from Tuesday through Friday. Call 965-3073 for appointments.

THE KA`U FAMILY FUN FEST is next Saturday. `O Ka`u Kakou sponsors this fundraiser for Bay Clinic’s building fund. A half marathon, 10K and 5K races begin at Na`alehu Park. Other events and activities at the park are a hunters’ obstacle course; tournaments in archery, Jan Ken Po, Portuguese horseshoes and basketball; live music and entertainment; information and food booths; a live auction; a jumping castle; bungee jumping; rock wall climbing and a dunking booth. Registration and fee schedules are available online at race360.com/15811. For more information, call 265-8251 or email kaufamilyfunfest@gmail.com.