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| Halau Kahula O Nawahine Noho Pu`ukapu performed at Volcano Art Center's Sunset Hula in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park yesterday. It was the last in a series of sunset hulas for this year as the days grow shorter. Photo by Julia Neal |
HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK RANGERS and a helicopter pilot rescued a 76-year-old man early Friday morning who got lost near Pu`u Huluhulu in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park the previous day, reported Jessica Ferracane, of Public Affairs.
Zigui Yuan, 76, of China, spent an uncomfortable and chilly night on an old lava field after getting lost near Pu`u Huluhulu cinder cone, where there is little or no cell phone reception.
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| Rough lava terrain dominates the Pu`u Huluhulu area where a visitor got lost. Photo from NPS |
His wife, Paulili Yuan, reported him missing yesterday at 8 p.m. She told rangers that the couple and a female friend had been hiking together Thursday morning, when Mr. Yuan separated from the group at the Pu`u Huluhulu trailhead and headed east toward Napau Crater. The two women returned to the trailhead junction at the Mauna Ulu parking lot at 11:30 a.m. and waited for the man.
At approximately 7 p.m., Mr. Yuan attempted to contact his wife by phone, but the call failed. The women then drove to Thurston Lava Tube and reported him missing to park ranger John Moraes.
Rangers Moraes and John Broward executed a search in the vicinity of Pu`u Huluhulu in the dark, using powerful handheld spotlights to illuminate the rough lava landscape, while ranger Andrew Sanford patrolled Chain of Craters Road for the missing man. At 1 a.m., the search was suspended until daybreak.
A ground and air search was launched at daybreak. Helicopter pilot David Okita spotted Yuan approximately 660 feet southwest of Pu`u Huluhulu. Okita and park ranger Jon Maka`ike landed and retrieved Yuan. He was cold, dehydrated and exhausted, but had no major injuries and declined further medical treatment. Yuan was reunited with his wife at 6:30 a.m. yesterday.
Yuan, who speaks very little English, told rangers through his wife that he kept hiking across the sharp, jagged lava until it became dark and he could no longer see the rock pile trail markers. He took shelter against the wind in a small depression in the old lava flows and waited for daylight.
“Mr. Yuan made the right decision to hunker down for the night,” said Broward, Search and Rescue coordinator at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. “This area is riddled with unstable ground, hidden earth cracks, deep craters and sharp, brittle lava. He could have been seriously injured if he continued trying to find his way out in the dark.”
Park rangers remind visitors that the best way to avoid potentially serious incidents is to plan ahead and prepare. A full range of hiking tips and other safety-related information is available on the park’s website, nps.gov/havo, and by asking park rangers.
This was the park’s 14th SAR incident this year. There were 26 SAR incidents in 2012.
To comment on or “Like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
At approximately 7 p.m., Mr. Yuan attempted to contact his wife by phone, but the call failed. The women then drove to Thurston Lava Tube and reported him missing to park ranger John Moraes.
Rangers Moraes and John Broward executed a search in the vicinity of Pu`u Huluhulu in the dark, using powerful handheld spotlights to illuminate the rough lava landscape, while ranger Andrew Sanford patrolled Chain of Craters Road for the missing man. At 1 a.m., the search was suspended until daybreak.
A ground and air search was launched at daybreak. Helicopter pilot David Okita spotted Yuan approximately 660 feet southwest of Pu`u Huluhulu. Okita and park ranger Jon Maka`ike landed and retrieved Yuan. He was cold, dehydrated and exhausted, but had no major injuries and declined further medical treatment. Yuan was reunited with his wife at 6:30 a.m. yesterday.
Yuan, who speaks very little English, told rangers through his wife that he kept hiking across the sharp, jagged lava until it became dark and he could no longer see the rock pile trail markers. He took shelter against the wind in a small depression in the old lava flows and waited for daylight.
“Mr. Yuan made the right decision to hunker down for the night,” said Broward, Search and Rescue coordinator at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. “This area is riddled with unstable ground, hidden earth cracks, deep craters and sharp, brittle lava. He could have been seriously injured if he continued trying to find his way out in the dark.”
Park rangers remind visitors that the best way to avoid potentially serious incidents is to plan ahead and prepare. A full range of hiking tips and other safety-related information is available on the park’s website, nps.gov/havo, and by asking park rangers.
This was the park’s 14th SAR incident this year. There were 26 SAR incidents in 2012.
To comment on or “Like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
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| Michael Titterton, CEO of Hawai`i Public Radio, rolled out plans for Ka`u and thanked Wendell Kaehuaea for establishing KAHU for the south end of the island. |
HAWAI`I PUBLIC RADIO REPRESENTATIVES came to the Big Island yesterday to roll out their future plans, with Ka`u on the agenda. Michael Titterton, CEO of HPR, thanked Wendell Kaehuaea for his role in establishing KAHU community radio in Ka`u. One of the highlights of Titterton’s talk at `Imiloa Astronomy Center was the acquisition of the license for KAHU radio – the last link in its broadcasting system statewide. He talked about HPR’s role in “creating community.” He said earlier that the long-term plans are for local original programming from such remote places as Ka`u and Hana on Maui.
Titterton said that HPR2 programming will be broadcast under the KAHU license from Ka`u, eventually with a reach as far as Hilo and South Kona. He explained that KAHU will go back on the air within about three weeks with the same reach that it had when it went off the air in late April.
He also said that HPR has launched a campaign to raise $140,000 to $150,000 for facilities on the Big Island. The KAHU equipment will eventually be moved to one or more communications towers to give it the reach from Ka`u through Puna to Hilo and to South Point and South Kona. He discussed the geographical challenges of broadcasting in Ka`u with its mountainous terrain and valleys. Wendell Kaehuaea, who provides content to public television, filmed the presentation. They both said that the new arrangement will restore emergency broadcasting messages to Ka`u and beyond.
He also said that HPR has launched a campaign to raise $140,000 to $150,000 for facilities on the Big Island. The KAHU equipment will eventually be moved to one or more communications towers to give it the reach from Ka`u through Puna to Hilo and to South Point and South Kona. He discussed the geographical challenges of broadcasting in Ka`u with its mountainous terrain and valleys. Wendell Kaehuaea, who provides content to public television, filmed the presentation. They both said that the new arrangement will restore emergency broadcasting messages to Ka`u and beyond.
For more on Hawai`i Public Radio, see hawaiipublicradio.org.
To comment on or “Like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
To comment on or “Like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
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| Dr. Dexter Hayes sponsors Denyse, whom she visited in Rwanda this summer. |
HELP FOR UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN in Rwanda is one of the missions of Dr. Dexter Hayes, of Ka`u Hospital & Rural Health Clinic. She said yesterday that she is sponsoring two children in Rwanda where she traveled this summer to visit Denyse, an 11-year-old girl she has sponsored for five years. She visited Denyse in Kagali, the capital of the Rwanda, and showered her with gifts, including a swimsuit, Hilo Hattie’s dress that matches hers and some flip flops from Hawai`i.
While visiting the Compassion International Child Development Center in Kigali, Hayes decided to sponsor another child, seven-year-old Ketia. Hayes said that many of the families she met in Rwanda use walking and bicycling as their main transportation, with many women toting children on their backs and cargo on their heads. She visited the hill country and took in the local dance, music and demonstrations of crafts and arts. The physician was presented a wooden tray with the inlayed message, “I will never forget you.”
Rwanda was the scene of a brutal tribal war some 20 years ago, leaving many orphans and generations of people trying to rebuild their country. Hayes visited a genocide museum with the names of some 250,000 people slaughtered in the area, many of them children. She also saw people dressed up and walking in groups to a soccer stadium where the current president Paul Kagame was to give a speech. She said that Rwandans were shy to talk about different tribes, as the country wants to prevent another blood bath of tribal warfare. She noted that Rwanda is the country known for preservation of mountain gorillas.
Rwanda was the scene of a brutal tribal war some 20 years ago, leaving many orphans and generations of people trying to rebuild their country. Hayes visited a genocide museum with the names of some 250,000 people slaughtered in the area, many of them children. She also saw people dressed up and walking in groups to a soccer stadium where the current president Paul Kagame was to give a speech. She said that Rwandans were shy to talk about different tribes, as the country wants to prevent another blood bath of tribal warfare. She noted that Rwanda is the country known for preservation of mountain gorillas.
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| Dr. Dexter Hayes said Rwandan families take pride in their simple homes and enjoy their culture. |
Hayes described the hill country as beautiful but immersed in poverty. However, the people, as humble as they are with thatched roofs and dirt floor in their houses, seem to care for their homes and keep them clean. They are happy, friendly and love their culture, Hayes reported.
Hayes said she also supports youth seeking higher education, having recently sponsored a young woman’s education to become a lab tech in Rwanda. Other sponsorships for Hayes have included a boy in Brazil, whom she began sponsoring eight years ago.
To comment on or “Like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
Hayes said she also supports youth seeking higher education, having recently sponsored a young woman’s education to become a lab tech in Rwanda. Other sponsorships for Hayes have included a boy in Brazil, whom she began sponsoring eight years ago.
To comment on or “Like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
GOVERNOR NEIL ABERCROMBIE INVITES HAWAI`I to join in the Let Freedom Ring 50th anniversary commemoration. A half-century to the minute after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic I Have a Dream speech, Abercrombie invites the people of Hawai`i to “ring a bell” at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28 as part of a worldwide commemoration. The governor also requests that places of worship, government buildings and all facilities in Hawai`i with the capability join in this gesture.
The King Center and the 50th Anniversary Coalition called on governors of the 50 states and all people and organizations across the world to help culminate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s speech.
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| Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his I Have a Dream speech 50 years ago Wednesday. Image from mlkdream50.com |
“Half an ocean and a continent separate Hawai`i from the National Mall, but we are no less impacted by Dr. King’s remarkable words that day,” Abercrombie said. “Here in the Aloha State, our diversity defines us and remains a source of great strength and beauty rivaling the natural wonder of these islands. However, we are reminded, even today, that prejudice and injustice persist. The fulfillment of Dr. King’s legacy of hope, unity and freedom depends on our choices and actions beyond this single day of remembrance, extending to every day of our lives.”
King Center CEO Bernice A. King stated, “We are calling on people across America and throughout the world to join with us as we pause to mark the 50th anniversary of my father’s I Have a Dream speech with Let Freedom Ring bell-ringing events and programs that affirm the unity of people of all races, religions and nations. My father concluded his great speech with a call to ‘Let freedom ring,’ and that is a challenge we will meet with a magnificent display of brotherhood and sisterhood in symbolic bell-ringing at places of worship, schools and other venues where bells are available from coast to coast and continent to continent.”
For more information about the 50th anniversary commemoration, visit mlkdream50.com.
To comment on or “Like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
King Center CEO Bernice A. King stated, “We are calling on people across America and throughout the world to join with us as we pause to mark the 50th anniversary of my father’s I Have a Dream speech with Let Freedom Ring bell-ringing events and programs that affirm the unity of people of all races, religions and nations. My father concluded his great speech with a call to ‘Let freedom ring,’ and that is a challenge we will meet with a magnificent display of brotherhood and sisterhood in symbolic bell-ringing at places of worship, schools and other venues where bells are available from coast to coast and continent to continent.”
For more information about the 50th anniversary commemoration, visit mlkdream50.com.
To comment on or “Like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
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| Kamalani Salmo-Stacy helped at a recent anchialine pond cleanup. Photo from Megan Lamson/HWF |
HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK WAIVES entrance fees tomorrow to celebrate the National Park Service’s 97th birthday.
Also in the park, Volcano Art Center Gallery extends a special gift to its patrons – an extra five percent off all purchases over $97. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Kilauea Military Camp offers an open house so visitors can experience how KMC serves our troops by enjoying all facilities and services. Call 967-8371 for more information.
HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND SPONSORS ANCHIALINE POOL workdays Monday and Tuesday. Volunteers meet at Wai`ohinu Park at 7:45 a.m. to carpool to site. To sign up, contact coordinator Megan Lamson at kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com or 769-7629.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
Kilauea Military Camp offers an open house so visitors can experience how KMC serves our troops by enjoying all facilities and services. Call 967-8371 for more information.
HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND SPONSORS ANCHIALINE POOL workdays Monday and Tuesday. Volunteers meet at Wai`ohinu Park at 7:45 a.m. to carpool to site. To sign up, contact coordinator Megan Lamson at kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com or 769-7629.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
