Ka'u News Briefs Jan. 23, 2012

Mauna Loa's eruptive activity is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow evening. Vents on the northeast rift zone
near Pu`u`ula`ula (Red Hill) sent massive `a`a flows down the rift toward Kulani in 1984. Photo from USGS

PAHALA RECEIVED TWO and a half hours of Red Alert Unhealthy air from Madame Pele this morning, with the rest of the time between midnight and 8 a.m. deemed Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. During a Red Alert, everyone may begin to experience health effects. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects and are urged to avoid outdoor activities and remain indoors. People experiencing health effects are urged to consider leaving the area. Everyone is encouraged to avoid outdoor activities that cause heavy breathing or breathing through the mouth. Some Pahala residents have air cleaning machines or air conditioners that help rid the air of S02. Ka`u Hospital will be renovated this year to seal its doors and windows and provide air cleaning. Rep. Bob Herkes said yesterday that the new community disaster shelter and gymnasium to be built in Pahala should be equipped with air cleaning for the gym and adjoining rooms to provide safe rooms for the community during vog alerts. Keep track of air quality throughout Ka`u at www.hiso2index.info. 

A 4.7 EARTHQUAKE RATTLED KA`U yesterday, with its epicenter on the south flank of Kilauea Volcano. There were no reported injuries, but wall hangings shifted and houses danced in Ka`u when the temblor struck at 4:36 p.m. The depth was five miles, and around 20 aftershocks followed, with a 3.1 shake about ten minutes later.
     The epicenter was at Holei Pali, which has experienced 16 quakes measuring 4.5 or stronger over the last half century, according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory spokesperson Janet Babb.
     The earthquakes caused two small collapses of the West Ka`ili`ili lava delta that has been inactive since late Dec. 2011. There were no other effects apparent on Kilauea’s ongoing eruptions or on Mauna Loa. HVO monitoring networks have not detected any significant changes in activity at the summits or rift zones of the volcanoes.
     For eruption updates and information on recent earthquakes in Hawai‘i, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov.

NEW MEDICAL PLANS for Medicaid are slated to improve access statewide, support new models to manage care for people with chronic diseases and provide incentives for leveraging information technology to improve the health and well being of Hawai`i residents, according to an announcement from the state. Five federal health care contracts have been awarded to the state’s Medicaid programs for low-income residents. They go to AlohaCare, HMSA QUEST, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Ohana Health Plan, and United HealthCare Community Plan.
     Ohana Health Plan and United HealthCare Community Plan are new providers for the QUEST program. Open enrollment in those programs begins this spring. Medicaid beneficiaries will receive information to help them choose a health plan.
     Beginning July 1 all the health plans, with the exception of Kaiser, will provide QUEST services to members statewide. Kaiser has chosen to focus its efforts on O`ahu and Maui.
     Gov. Neil Abercrombie said, “These new contracts will improve upon an important safety net for Hawai`i. Facilitating access, expanding and tailoring options, and incentivizing providers’ use of record and management technology for better efficiency are all important steps toward the healthcare transformation we need in Hawai`i.”

JET BLUE is the newest partner with Hawaiian Airlines. The companies signed a deal for passengers on both carriers to use single tickets. This will tie in with the direct flight on Hawaiian from Honolulu to New York, which will begin in June. Hawaiian also has a direct flight from Los Angeles to New York. Jet Blue’s hub is in New York’s JFK Airport. 

PAHALA PUBLIC & SCHOOL LIBRARY will be temporarily closed until a staffing shortage is resolved, said Debra Wong Yuen, the temporary assistant branch librarian for Na`alehu. She said that due to low circulation, Pahala is a part-time library. With Na`alehu Public Library technician Lisa Cabudol retired, there are “two positions vacant (a librarian and technician) between both libraries, and only one permanent staff person on board,” she said. “When no staff from other libraries are available to operate Pahala Library, the Pahala branch will need to close temporarily until the staffing shortage is resolved. Future plans are to make Pahala Library an Internet hub, said Wong Yuen. Both Rep. Bob Herkes and Sen. Gil Kahele are promising to make saving Pahala Library an initiative in the 2012 state Legislature. Friends of Pahala Library are also lobbying to keep a school and community library on the regional high school and Pahala school campus. Pahala library hours, when there is staffing, have been cut back to Monday, Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

TODAY IS CHINESE NEW YEAR’S DAY and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. In Chinese culture, Chunjie is a family-oriented holiday with people going back to their birthplace and reuniting with family members. 

VOLCANOLOGIST FRANK TRUSDELL discusses Mauna Loa’s eruptive history and current status at After Dark in the Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium. $2 donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

Ka'u News Briefs Jan. 22, 2012

Father Joel blessed Ka`u Coffee Mill, with owner Edmund C. Olson following. Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

Visitor center at Ka`u Coffee Mill
will be open within a month.

THE BLESSING OF THE KA`U COFFEE MILL brought some 300 people to Keaiwa along Wood Valley Road above Pahala yesterday to celebrate the new mill, agricultural park and hydroelectric project. John Cross, who manages both the Edmund C. Olson Trust lands and the Ka`u Coffee Mill, said the visitor center and mill was built for all the Ka`u Coffee farmers. Not only the Ka`u Coffee Mill coffee will be sold at the visitor center, but boutique and award-winning coffee from individual farmers will be sold there, with the first brands displayed being those of Bull and Jamie Kailiawa, Leo Norberte and the Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative. Cross pointed to the Ka`u Coffee Mill staff, mill supervisor Lee Segawa, administrative assistant Brenda Iokepa-Moses, coffee consultant Richard Loero, contractor Bob Taylor and others who helped put the operation together. Demetrius Oliveira gave the opening prayer. Father Joel, the Rev. Bruno C. Barut, sprinkled holy water around the facility. The band Keaiwa and Keoki Kahumoku provided music. Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya performed hula. Attendees enjoyed Hawaiian food by the Kailiawa family and fresh vegetables all grown on Olson Trust and Hester lands in Ka`u. 

Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya performed hula,
accompanied by Keoki Kahumoku.

“NOT TOO OFTEN DO YOU FIND ME SPEECHLESS, but this finds me close to that,” said state Rep. Bob Herkes during the ceremonies. He praised the Olson Trust for building the mill for local coffee farmers to process their beans and save the time and cost of driving them to Kona and Hilo mills. Herkes descends from a great-grandfather who came to Hawai`i from Scotland in 1898 and built the first water pipe in Ka`u. “Not a flume, a water pipe, and it was made of wood,” he said. Herkes applauded Edmund C. Olson for “taking abandoned sugar cane lands and putting the people back on the ground, working in agriculture.”

County Council member Brittany Smart and state Senator
Gil Kahele promote Ka`u Coffee.

SEN. GIL KAHELE told the people attending the event that he promotes Ka`u Coffee every chance he can, serving it at his office in the state Legislature and displaying a Ka`u Coffee Mill bag on the wall for everyone to see when they enter his office. He said he has followed the plight of displaced sugar workers from the closing of the sugar company to their journey starting their small coffee farms. 

     He said Ka`u is a special place to him, that his uncle was a fisherman and his grandmother was from Hilea and Honu`apo and that he spent summers here as a child and became good friends with Thomas Kailiawa. He said he is so proud to see the success of Kailiawa’s son Bull and noted that Ka`u has the top-rated coffee in the United States. Kahele described Olson as a “good guy” for investing capital in the economic development of Ka`u.

COUNTY COUNTY MEMBER BRITTANY SMART praised Ed Olson and the coffee farmers for all their hard work the last 15 years since the sugar plantation shut down.

Kathleen Kam autographed cards bearing her artwork.

KA`U COFFEE MILL is also a place of art, and Kathleen Kam was noted for her original murals of the land, the wildlife and the people of Ka`u. Two murals are completed in the visitor center, and another one is in progress. Four paintings of native birds are on display. A giclee print of Ka`u Coffee with nene, the Hawaiian state bird, was presented to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park supervisor Cindy Orlando to be placed in the regional headquarters of the National Park Service in San Francisco. Graphic Artist Tanya Ibarra was recognized for developing the Ka`u Coffee Mill logo. The Pahala Plantation House crew, under the direction of artist Kathleen Kam, created a sculpture of locally grown vegetables for display. Local woodworker Michael Worthington created koa cabinetry for the visitor center, and the crew from sister company Hamakua Macadamia Nuts designed the retail space. The coffee mill visitor center will be open to the public within a month.

Ed Olson presented a giclee print of
Nene & Ka`u Coffee to Cindy Orlando.

A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT using water at the old Keaiwa reservoir was described at the opening of the Ka`u Coffee Mill yesterday. The water would drop down the mountain, and its energy would power an electric turbine to make electricity for the coffee mill and macadamia nut husking mill. It could also power up about 400 homes, according to manager John Cross, who said he also hopes to sell the power to Hawaiian Electric Light Company, particularly since Pahala is so isolated from the utility’s other electric generating plants.

A RED CODE FOR sulfur dioxide coming from Kilauea volcano was issued this morning for at least an hour. The red advisory states that “everyone may begin to experience health effects. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects. It recommends that sensitive people avoid outdoor activities and remain indoors, that people feeling effects consider leaving the area and that everyone else avoid outdoor activities that cause heavy breathing or breathing through the mouth. There was a less serious orange alert for five hours this morning. The wind came up just before 9 a.m., and the air quality went back to good.

Keiki visit with donkeys packing Ka`u Coffee.

VOLCANO AWARENESS MONTH continues with guided hikes most days. Today’s hike into Kilauea Iki Crater begins at 1 p.m. at Kilauea Iki Overlook parking lot on Crater Rim Drive. Hikers hear the story of Kilauea’s dramatic 1959 eruption in this four‐mile, three-hour hike across the still‐steaming crater floor. For more information about Volcano Awareness month events, visit hvo.wr.usgs.gov. 

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S group exhibit celebrating Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s centennial continues through Feb. 19. Entitled Observation/Inspiration, this multimedia exhibit features artists who gather inspiration from the volcanic activity at Kilauea and highlight the ever-changing appearance of the volcano.

ALSO FOR HVO’S CENTENNIAL, volcanologist Frank Trusdell discusses Mauna Loa’s eruptive history and current status at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium. $2 donations support park programs. Park entrance fees apply for events in the Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

Ka'u News Briefs Jan. 21, 2012

The County Council and administration are haggling over whether to allow private industry to bid on recycling and
sorting trash to keep the island and the ocean clean. Photo from Campaign for Recycling

THE STATE SUPREME COURT yesterday turned down an appeal to keep state House and Senate voting districts as they are and told the Reapportionment Commission to move forward in redrawing the lines. The Big Island is expected to gain an additional Senate seat and could gain a House seat, as this island had the largest population growth during the last ten years, according to the recent census. The ruling, however, could lead to a delay in candidates filing to run for the Legislature, and the commission says it needs more precise population statistics to do its job. Those numbers are not yet available, and the commission said it could not draw the lines by Feb. 1, the day when candidates can start filing for the election. 

The state Supreme Court has told the Reapportionment
Commission to redraw district lines.

     Primary election day has already been moved from September to August, making the length of time candidates will have to campaign much shorter. The delay in settling on district boundary lines would make that time even shorter, unless the election day is put back to September. There are 25 Senate seats and 51 House seats at stake. 

     The existing maps leave Sen. Gil Kahele representing Ka`u and beyond, but Rep. Bob Herkes would lose representation of Na`alehu, Kalae and Ocean View.
     If the commission can confirm that there are 120,000 nonresident military, university students and other people counted in the Hawai`i census who claim permanent residency elsewhere, the Big Island will have an additional House member. If the number is in the area of 78,000, only the new Senate seat will be gained.
     The Supreme Court ruled that the voting district maps were unfair after Sen. Malama Solomon, the Hawai`i County Democrats and an attorney from Kona filed suit.

BROAD REFORMS IN THE STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM will go forward, Gov. Neil Abercrombie said yesterday, responding to the teachers union voting down an agreement for a new contract. Teachers apparently feared provisions in the contract that would have tied teacher salaries to student performance, saying the manner in which the teachers would be judged remained unclear. The teachers voted down the union contract two to one, putting $75 million at risk in federal Race to the Top funding. 

Kathryn Matayoshi

     According to a story in this morning’s Star-Advertiser, the superintendent of the state school system, Kathryn Matayoshi, urged teachers to accept the proposed evaluation system as a way to improve their teaching practices. Union leaders, who negotiated and agreed to the new contract said they would go back to the members to address their concerns. 

     In the meantime, the governor said that practices will be put in place to save the $75 million in federal funding.

PRIVATIZATION OF RECYCLING AND SORTING GARBAGE on the island could become a campaign issue this year. Likely mayoral candidate Dominic Yagong and County Council candidate Brenda Ford are pushing the administration to put recycling and sorting of trash out to bid, a measure that is also supported by current County Council members Brittany Smart, Pete Hoffmann and Angel Pilago. They said that private industry may be able to do a better job and generate income to the county. They asked the county to put the sorting process in Hilo out to bid, but the county has divided its budget for trash into increments so it doesn’t have to go through the County Council for approval, according to a story in this morning’s Hawai`i Tribune-Herald. 

     The county would contract for some of the services but operate the sorting station in Hilo itself, with the addition of county employees. According to the story, Ford said, “If you don’t have a right to award a contract, you’re bargaining in bad faith.” Council chair Yagong said he will propose new legislation to require the county to involve the Council in the process.

Humpback whales in Hawai`i. Photo from Benjamin L. Richards/NOAA

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK encourages volunteers to help count humpback whales during the annual Sanctuary Ocean Count held the last Saturdays of January, February and March from 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. 

     Ka`ena Point, at the end of Chain of Craters Road, is one of 22 Sanctuary Ocean Count sites islandwide where volunteers onshore monitor humpbacks in nearshore waters for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Residents and visitors enjoy this yearly event that provides important population and distribution information about humpback whales around the Hawaiian Islands.
     “This is an ideal opportunity for the community and for Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park to work together as stewards of our ocean,” said ranger Adrian Boone, site leader for the Sanctuary Ocean Count. “These magnificent creatures swim more than 2,000 miles to Hawai`i from Arctic waters every winter, and the annual count is one way we can help observe and record their behavior and ensure their future,” he said.
     Volunteers can sign up on the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary website:
http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/involved/ocvolunteer.html or call 1-888-55-WHALE ext. 253.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY holds its open house today until 4 p.m. The observatory, which is not usually open to the public, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. A schedule of activities for the open house is online at hvo.wr.usgs.gov.

VOLCANO ART CENTER hosts a Poetry Slam at its Niaulani Campus tonight. Participants bring two poems of their own creation that are no longer than three minutes each. Prizes are awarded to the top three finishers as chosen by the judges. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the event begins at 7 p.m. Admission is $6.