Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013

A NOAA tool mapping effects of sea-level rise also displays other hazards and shows parts of Ka`u in red with high
social vulnerability, taking into consideration economic data, buildings and potential for natural disasters.
Map from NOAA

EFFECTS OF SEA LEVEL RISE can be studied with a new tool developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in partnership with University of Hawai`i Sea Grant. The web-mapping tool is aimed at visualizing potential impacts from sea-level rise in Hawai`i, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. The new Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer is a simple and easy to use but powerful resource for planners, public officials, coastal managers, and communities engaged in climate adaptation planning and coastal inundation preparedness. “With the amount of detail and options it provides, the Sea Level Rise Viewer is at the cutting edge of planning tools,” said map development partner Chip Fletcher, School of Ocean and Earth Science Technology’s associate dean for academic affairs. 

      NOAA predicts that average increase of sea level should be about a meter by the year 2100.
      The viewer overlays high-resolution aerial images on top of elevation data. This allows users to see what higher sea levels would do to landmarks and critical infrastructure. It also shows what populations would be vulnerable to rising sea levels.
      The viewer is available at csc.noaa.gov/slr.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Image from accord3.com shows methods of extracting geothermal energy.

“WE WANT TO ENSURE THAT THE PUBLIC SAFETY and public health is paramount,” Mayor Billy Kenoi told Tom Callis, of Hawai`i Tribune-Herald regarding plans for a study on health effects of geothermal production. “We need to determine with accuracy and specify exactly what harm if any is being caused.” 

      The study was called for by a group who put together a report called the Geothermal Public Health Assessment.
      According to Callis, the group recommended that a health study address four hypotheses: central nervous system degradation will be higher in a sample population as a result of peak exposure to hydrogen sulfide; central nervous system degradation and other health effects from hydrogen sulfide will be greater in areas of highest exposures; contamination of heavy metals and chemicals from geothermal development may have impacted drinking water supplies; and residents who live closest to Puna Geothermal Venture may be more likely to show anxiety disorder symptoms.
      The group also recommended increasing monitoring, evaluating effects on drinking water and ocean environment, ensuring there is no contamination from the closed HGP-A well, strengthening public communication and alerts and requiring that geothermal developers should conduct a health and water resource baseline study before any more drilling occurs.
      See more at hawaiitribuneherald.com.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Sen. Brian Schatz 

“RIGHT-WING RADICALS IN THE HOUSE are going to the mat to throw millions of people off their health insurance – and we need to stop them,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz. He was referring to the the Republican-led U.S. House passing a budget last week "that would defund Obamacare. They are threatening to shut down the federal government unless we enact their radical agenda before the Sept‌. 30 budget deadline – setting up a showdown that threatens our economy, our communities and our lives. 

      “This latest attempt to defund Obamacare will never pass the Senate or be signed by the President. House Republicans again voted against the interests of the American people, risking our economic stability just to prove a point. There have been times in history when both parties are equally to blame for gridlock, but this is not one of them. If Speaker Boehner would stand up to Tea Party extremism and put forward a clean Continuing Resolution, then we can avoid this self-inflicted crisis,” stated Schatz in one of his campaign press releases.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Alan Takemoto

INDIVIDUALS WITH CONNECTIONS TO MONSANTO are defending the Farmers Assurance Provision attached to a budget bill in the U.S. Congress. Critics of the provision, including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, call it the Monsanto Protection Act. Gabbard said the provision allows biotechnology companies ignore regulations and sell genetically engineered foods even after a court orders them to stop, or when there isn’t yet evidence the foods are healthy or environmentally safe. 

      Alan Takemoto, Monsanto’s community affairs manager in Hawai`i, told Civil Beat, “Basically, it provides farmers assurance that what they planted, they can harvest. I know (GMO critics) have co-opted the name, but there are a lot of other organizations that have supported the provisions, like American Farm Bureau, the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association.
      Alicia Maluafiti, executive director of the Hawai`i Crop Improvement Association, a trade organization for biotech companies, said the provision “allows farmers who invested thousands of dollars into growing crops — biotech crops — to continue to harvest those crops despite the onslaught of frivolous lawsuits by environmental activists, which can take years for the courts to decide.”

Alicia Maluafiti

      She disagreed with the argument that the provision circumvents courts: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently has the authority as part of their regulatory powers, but the problem is that the lawsuits tie the hands of the regulatory agencies, and the only people getting hurt are the farmers — not Monsanto,” she said.
      “The bottom line is that farmers have a choice of crops they want to grow, and they have a choice of seeds to purchase. Sometimes they are Monsanto seeds, and sometimes they are not. So the (provision) would protect farmers across the board regardless of what they grow.”
      See more at civilbeat.com.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

GMOS ARE ON THE AGENDA TOMORROW when Hawai`i County’s Committee on Public Safety & Mass Transit continues its meeting from Sept. 4.
      The agenda says the committee will consider two bills at 9 a.m. at Council Chambers in Hilo. Ka`u’s Council member Brenda Ford introduced Bill 109 calling for a total ban on GMOs except for research located in a biosafety level three containment facility, and Kohala Council member Margaret Wille drafted Bill 113 after withdrawing her original one. Wille’s bill would allow GMO papaya to be grown.

      Both bills call for a $100 GMO crop registration fee and penalties of up to $1,000 per day per violation. Ford’s bill includes an option of up to 30 days in jail.

Leah Cariaga was one of the many scholarship recipients in 2013 from
Ka`u Chamber of Commerce Pres. Dallas Decker, VP Lee McIntosh
and Miss Ka`u Coffee Tiare-Lee Shibuya. Photo by Julia Neal 

      Ka`u residents can view the meeting via videoconferencing from Ocean View Community Association Center. The agenda says statements from the public were concluded at the previous meeting and are closed for this committee meeting.
      Agenda is available at hawaiicounty.gov.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE KA`U CHAMBER of Commerce Scholarship Fund are being taken through Oct. 1 in connection with the publication of The Directory 2014. Donors receive a listing in the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce annual Directory and can advertise their businesses.

ULANA LAUHALA IS THE TOPIC Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the lanai of Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Amy Ka`awaloa and Malia Macabio teach the art of weaving with leaves of the pandanus tree, from gathering the material to preparation and the final product.

Lauhala weaving workshop takes place Wednesday.
Photo by Jay Robinson

      The free program is part of Hawai`i Volcanoes’ ongoing `Ike Hana No`eau: Experience the Skillful Work workshops. Park entrance fees apply. 

IN SPORTS, KA`U HIGH girls volleyball teams play at home this week, hosting Kamehameha Wednesday and Kohala Saturday.
      Other Trojan teams travel for events this week. The bowling team goes to Hilo Lanes to meet Hilo High Wednesday and to participate in BIIF Individual Bowl Saturday. Also on Saturday, Cross Country goes to HPA, Air Riflery shoots at KSBE and the eight-man football team challenges Kamehameha JV.

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

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

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES

Ka`u News Briefs Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013

Eight-Man Football team for the Ka`u Trojans celebrates its inaugural year yesterday with a win against
the Kealakehe Waveriders. Photo by David Berry

NA`ALEHU ELEMENTARY IS ONE OF FIVE Hawai`i Island Schools participating in FoodCorps Hawai`i, a program started by AmeriCorps in 2011 and brought to Hawai`i this year. The program addresses childhood obesity and food insecurity in underserved communities through the promotion of school gardens, farm-to-school programs and nutritional education.
       The Kohala Center, which created the Hawai`i Island School Garden Network, maintains the program. Host site supervisor Nancy Redfeather told Carolyn Lucas-Zenk, of West Hawai`i Today, “The movement to reconnect our children and youth to the sources of their food and health, and to renew their connections to the `aina, the source of all life, is well recognized at the community level. To have the national FoodCorps select Hawai`i for additional support is a result of the work of Hawai`i’s garden and classroom teachers, principals and communities throughout the islands.”

      Jolyne Oyama, who operates Na`alehu Elementary’s school garden and FoodCorp program, told Lucas-Zenk that her participation in the program stems from her love of teaching keiki about what healthy food is and where it comes from.
      She spoke about how children’s enthusiasm is contagious, saying, “If we can get people to be excited about growing their own food or being conscious about their food habitats, it will make a real difference.”
      Oyama told Lucas-Zenk that she wants to show families how knowledge and skills taught at the school’s garden can be applied at home by having community harvests and classes possibly in conjunction with the school’s family reading nights. She also said she wants to help rebuild Pacific Islanders’ connection to their own healthier traditional diets and connect cultures by having a native plant section in the garden and incorporating Hawaiian values.
      See more at westhawaiitoday.com and kohalacenter.org.
      To comment on or “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Hawaii` Wildlife Fund has been holding Ka`u Coast cleanups since 2003.
Photo from HWF

“MAHALO TO THE 57 PARTICIPANTS from last weekend’s ‘Get the Drift & Bag It!’ International Coastal Cleanup event at Kamilo Point,” said Hawai`i Wildlife Fund coordinator Megan Lamson. Volunteers included groups from Waiakea High School Science Club, Dr. Drew Kapp’s geography students from UH-Hilo and Hawai`i Community College and individuals from Pahala, Ocean View, Volcano, Na`alehu, Mountain View, Kurtistown and Kealakekua. 

      Over the course of several hours, approximately 1,873 pounds of debris were removed from one mile of coastline, including 50 bags of miscellaneous debris, eight bags of semi-sorted debris to be used for a recycling program with Recycle Hawai`i and Method cleaning products and roughly 75 pounds of derelict fishing nets. Of the 20,815 pieces of marine debris collected and documented on datasheets, approximately 91 percent was plastic, followed by rubber (three percent), metals (two percent), fabric (two percent), and other (one percent or less).
      Since 2003, HWF and volunteers have removed over 165 tons of debris from along the Ka`u coastline. Another cleanup is set for Saturday, Nov. 23.
      The organization holds Ho`onoua Anchialine Pool Restoration workdays this Monday and Tuesday. To sign up, contact Lamson at 769-7629 or kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com.

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

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and fellow congressman Aaron Schock spoke
about the newly formed Future Caucus on MSNBC.

KA`U’S U.S. REP. TULSI GABBARD IS CO-CHAIR OF THE FUTURE CAUCUS, announced this week as a way to bring together members of Congress who are under 40 to work in a bipartisan way to solve problems. Illinois Republican Rep. Aaron Schock is the other co-chair. 

      According to a story in Civil Beat, the Future Caucus plans to address long-term issues that might be of particular concern to young people, including technology, protecting the environment, improving education, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, and positioning the U.S. to compete in the global marketplace.
      In the story, Kery Murakami pointed out similarities between Gabbard and the late Sen. Dan Inouye, another “young Hawai`i native and military veteran who was elected to serve in the nation’s capital.” Inouye also developed constructive bipartisan political relationships, “helped to get a lot done, and stayed around for several political lifetimes,” Murakami said.
      During an event announcing the caucus, Gabbard invoked Inouye and retired Sen. Daniel Akaka, saying, “The previous generation lamented the relationships that allowed them to do so much, had been lost.”
      Gabbard said that what is similar for all representatives, regardless of party affiliation, is that when they are back home they all hear many of the same concerns, and to address them, there is a universal incentive to work across the aisle.
      On MSNBC, Gabbard said members of the caucus share an “unwillingness to accept no for an answer. It’s our responsibility to be creative and work together.”
      See more at civilbeat.com and msnbc.com.

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

El Leo, with Ka`u's Sen. Russell Ruderman as a member, will perform at
Plantation Days next month.

THE PUERTO RICAN BAND EL LEO will play at Plantation Days on Saturday, Oct. 12 at Pahala Plantation Manager’s House. The band specializes in kachi-kachi, the adaptation of Puerto Rican jibaro music to Hawaiian life when Puerto Ricans became one of the many ethnic groups that migrated to Hawai`i. Kachi-kachi became a favorite dance in camps of the old sugar plantations. El Leo’s recorded favorites on its Jarican Express album are Amor, Cana Brava, Banana, Yours, La Borinque Rap, Na Pua Noni, Solina, Puerto Rico, Sounds of Silence, A Lo Oscuro and Waltzes in Puna’s Rain. 

      One of the longtime members of the band is Ka`u’s state Senator Russell Ruderman, who plans to join in the celebration.

      Plantation Days includes a parade with horses and riders on Maile and Huapala Streets, followed by a day of music, dance, food, demonstrations and life of Ka`u’s agricultural community. It is sponsored by Ka`u Muliticulural Society. Call Darlyne Vierra at 640-8740.

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

Cy Tamura made it into the end zone for a touchdown.
Photo by David Berry

EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL took the Ka`u High Trojans to a 28-12 win over the Kealakehe Waveriders on the home field last night. Touchdowns were made by Trojans Rigan Kaapana, Cy Tamura, Kupono Leffew-Palakiko and Anthony Emsley-Ah Yee. 

      Ka`u is the first high school on this island to establish the faster-running, higher-scoring Eight-Man Football. Coaches and team members say they hope that other smaller schools on this island will adopt the sport so the Big Island can have a league and play the winners of the Maui League and that perhaps O`ahu or Kaua`i will take up the sport. It is well established on the mainland among schools with smaller student populations. There are state, regional and national finals in Eight-Man Football. The field is narrower but the same length as 11-man football. There are fewer tackles, leading to fewer injuries and more running and passing.
      The Trojans meet Kamehameha JV next Saturday at 2 p.m. at Kea`au. Then, after a huge community fundraising effort, they travel by plane and ferry to Moloka`i to play the Farmers on Saturday, Oct. 5. The Farmers will come to Ka`u for the Trojan homecoming game.

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

Kahuku Junior Ranger Day is next Saturday. Photo by David Boyle

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP HOSTS ITS End of Summer Jam this evening at 7 p.m. at the Lava Lounge in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. DJ Tiki spins your favorite tunes. Open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply. 967-8371 

DEADLINE TO REGISTER FOR KAHUKU JUNIOR RANGER DAY is Tuesday, Sept. 24. The program takes place Saturday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Keiki of all ages join park rangers for a day of activities to take a closer look at the Kahuku Unit. Free lunch is provided.
      Call 985-6019 to sign up.

KA`U CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ART SHOW entry dates are coming up on Friday Sept. 27 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 28, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The show begins Monday, Sept. 30 at CU Hawai`i Credit Union in Na`alehu, with announcement of winners, including cover art for The Directory 2014, on Saturday, Oct. 5.

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

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

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES

Ka`u News Briefs Friday, September 20, 2013

Ka`u coffee farmers met  at Ka`u Coffee Mill last night regarding current pricing, land security and the coffee borer.
Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

KA`U COFFEE cherries are ripening and the harvesting season is expected to start full-bore in the next month. About a dozen farmers met at Ka`u Coffee Mill last night to size up prices, to talk about securing land to grow more coffee, and to hear the latest on the efforts to stop the coffee berry borer from devastating Ka`u coffee like it damaged Kona coffee.
      Mayor Billy Kenoi talked to the farmers by phone, saying that the county is fully behind helping Ka`u coffee farmers with research, development and marketing. Ka`u coffee farmer Bull Kailiawa asked about land security, regarding property at Cloud Rest and Moa`ula now being held by Lehman Brothers, which foreclosed on the former owners of the land where most of the Ka`u Coffee farmers have their fields. The coffee farmers have no leases. The mayor said he would try to help.
     Kenoi described the Ka`u coffee farmer story as the best success in agriculture on this island since he became mayor. Many of the farmers are displaced sugar workers who evolved from plantation workers  to owning their own successful businesses. When he asked what he could do, Kailiawa told the mayor, “Honu`apo,” referring to the community effort that succeeded in preserving the shoreline from development through private and public money that made Honu`apo a park.

Coffee drying is one of the services being offered at
Ka`u Coffee Mill.

      When asked how much it would cost to establish an ag park at Moa`ula and Cloud Rest where farmers could have long-term leases, Ka`u Coffee Mill owner Ed Olson estimated, “$5.6 million.” Kenoi said that would be a bargain and that he wants to meet with the farmers on Oct. 1 to help them define a path toward land security.
      The mayor also said he wants to make sure that Ka`u coffee is included in gifts from the island taken to other places when county officials travel. He gave the example of presenting mayors in Taiwan with gifts of Ka`u coffee. He said the coffee was much appreciated.
      Ka`u Coffee Mill general manager John Cross presented a separate plan that makes some 350 acres – about the size of the Pear Tree and Moa`ula coffee lands - available to coffee farmers. The parcels, both mauka and makai of Wood Valley Road, are at elevations between 1600 feet and 1900 feet. They have been cleared of albesia trees, are ready to plant and will have irrigation. Leases are priced at $75 per acre for the first year, $100 for the second year and $150 for the third through fifth years. After five years, Cross said, the farms will be evaluated every five years. “We want to make sure the farms are in good, active cultivation,” he said.
      Ka`u Coffee Mill representatives laid out the prices for the mill’s interest in buying coffee at $1.80 a pound for top grade cherry, saying the mill would meet or beat Kona prices throughout the harvest. The mill also promised to buy top grade parchment for $10.50 a pound. Cross urged Ka`u farmers to sell coffee only to those with Ka`u labels and to refrain from selling to Kona coffee buyers.
      The mill also rolled out prices for its services, promising to work with farmers on its pricing, reducing the cost for pulping and washing from 25 cents to 20 cents a pound, with further discounts by volume. Other services include drying of wet parchment, with payment being 5 percent of the weight of finished product. Services also include dry milling, roasting and grinding, weighing and packing. Ka`u Coffee Mill also offers a program where farmers can buy fertilizer and pay back the mill in cherry.
     Pepe Miranda, who helps farmers fight coffee berry borer, said it is more important than ever to prune and clean at the end of the season and to treat fields for the coffee borer that has done so much damage to Kona coffee and has found its way to Ka`u.

‘OUTRAGEOUS,’ TULSI GABBARD proclaimed this morning, responding to the inclusion of the Monsanto Protection Act in the resolution to keep the federal government funded.  Ka`u's member in congress said she takes issue with a rider on the measure approved by the Republican dominated House this morning: “Slipped into this critical bill." Gabbard wrote,  “the act, which biotechnology companies helped draft, allows them to ignore regulations and sell genetically engineered foods even after a court orders them to stop, or when there isn’t yet evidence the foods are healthy or environmentally safe.       

     “This is even bigger than our food, though," wrote the congresswoman. "Adding the ‘rider’ is a blatant effort by some in Congress to skirt judicial review, leaving Americans without recourse to air their concerns on something that could dramatically impact human health and the environment. 

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard talks about food self-sufficiency at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpS9G2neCj4

      “We have to speak out now, before the vote on the continuing resolution to fund the government. Monsanto doesn’t belong in that bill. 

      “Monsanto undercuts efforts to strengthen consumer and environmental protections from genetically engineered crops. It’s simple, really: People deserve to know truthful, transparent information about their food. 

      “But supporters of Monsanto and their special interest benefactors disagree, which is why they’ve snuck this into an unrelated budget bill. If the other side wants to openly debate Monsanto, we can do that. But sneaking it in is wrong. 

     “Tell Congress: Remove the Monsanto Protection Act extension and allow judicial review to proceed,” Gabbard urged. 

       The Stop the Monsanto Protection Act campaign is co-sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley, Rep, Earl Blumenauer, and Rep. Krysten Sinema. The U.S. Senate is expected to reject the federal funding measure and send it back to the House. Both chambers must approve a measure by the end of the month to avoid a federal government shutdown.

OBAMA-CARE is one of the conditions of the U.S. House of Representatives measure that passed today to keep the federal government open through mid-December. Republican House member, Rep. John Culberson, of Texas, proclaimed: “ Today, the constitutional conservatives in the House are keeping their word to our constituents and our nation to stand true to our principles, to protect them from the most unpopular law ever passed in the history of the country- ObamaCare- that intrudes on their privacy and our most sacred right as Americans to be left alone,” reported Fox News. 

      Harry Reid, a Democrat and Senate Majority Leader, issued a statement, “I have said it before but it seems to bear repeating: the Senate will not pass any bill that defunds or delays Obamacare.”
     If the Senate votes down the House bill, it will go back to the House, which would push the deliberation close to the government shutdown date of Oct. 1. 

Tuna are high on the food chain and absorb mercury from coal emissions that are lifted
into the atmosphere and fall into the Pacific Ocean. Image from pewenvironment.org

COAL FIRED ELECTRICAL PLANTS will be subject to tougher Environmental Protection Agency laws nationally, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy announced yesterday during a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
      The last coal fire plant on Hawai`i Island was shut down on Dec. 31, 2004 at an old sugar company that made power from the sugar byproduct, bagasse, until it switched to coal after sugar shut down. The Hilo Coast Power Co. site in Pepeekeo is now under reconstruction by Hua Honua to produce electricity from burning biomass and selling power to HELCO. The other power plant that used coal on Hawai`i Island was Puna Biomass, which burned coal intermittently before it was sold by AMFAC to HELCO, which has not used coal at the site, according to HELCO.
      The environmental impact of coal on Hawai`i Island has more recently come from coal burning plants in such far off places as China and India. The emissions include mercury, which is spewed into the atmosphere and falls into the Pacific Ocean. Mercury in the ocean, as far away from coal burning sites as Hawai`i, has led to high mercury levels in such fish as tuna, prompting health department recommendations to eat tuna only once a week and for pregnant women to refrain from consuming tuna and other fish that are high on the food chain.
      The EPA director’s comments focused on climate change. McCarthy said yesterday that “The president’s Climate Action Plan calls on federal agencies to take steady, sensible, and pragmatic steps to cut the harmful carbon pollution that fuels our changing climate, to prepare our communities for its unavoidable impacts, while continuing to provide affordable and reliable energy for all.” The Daily Kos wrote that the “announcement, most of it leaked two days ago, was prefaced in her speech by an extensive, straightforward discussion of the realities of the environmental and health impacts of climate change surely must have set on edge the teeth of those who deny it is actually happening. Indeed, the opposition began immediately: 

Quarterback and wide receiver Chance Emmsley-
Ah Yee. Photo by David Berry

     “Opponents of the new E.P.A. rule quickly vowed to take measures to stop it. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader and a senator from coal-dependent Kentucky, promised to use his legislative skills to prevent the measure.”
     McConnel declared the new EPA rules as “an escalation of the war on coal and what that really means for Kentucky families is an escalation of this war on jobs and the Kentucky economy.”

EIGHT MAN FOOTBALL players suit up tonight as Ka`u High Trojans take on Kealakehe at home at 6 p.m. Tickets are $6 for the public, $2 for senior citizens and free for all those with a school athletic card.

SILK PAINTING WORKSHOPS are tomorrow at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. A workshop for beginners takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and a three-hour intermediate workshop begins at 2:30 p.m. Fee is $65 or $58.50 for VAC members, plus a $10 supply fee per session. Call 967-8222 to sign up.

FALL EQUINOX CONCERT & GATHERING with Anela Strings brings music tomorrow at 6 p.m. to Valentine Sanctuary in Wai`ohinu. Cost is $15; seating limited. RSVP at 937-8103 or info@valentinesanctuary.com.

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

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

SUPPORT KA`U BUSINESSES