Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014

Taiko drumming came to Pahala Community Center yesterday at the I Can Cer Viv concert organized by Ka`u High School senior Kamrie Koi to raise money for United Way. Photo by Julia Neal

KA`U’S STATE LEGISLATORS are included in a Hawai`i Tribune-Herald story today about priorities of all of Hawai`i Island's legislators in the 2014 state Legislature that opens Wednesday.

Sen. Josh Green

      Sen. Josh Green, chair of the Senate Health Committee, told Nancy Cook Lauer that continuing the Hospital Sustainability Program and Nursing Facility Sustainability Program are his focus. The programs use federal funds to supplement payments to hospitals and nursing facilities and offset uncompensated-care costs.
      “This is a time when we need to sustain our health care safety net,” Green said. “It’s a critical priority.”

Sen. Russell Ruderman

      Food self-sufficiency tops Sen. Russell Ruderman legislative priorities. He and other legislators are developing a package of 20 or 30 bills.
      Ruderman, vice chair of the Senate Energy and Environment Committee, told Cook Lauer he wants to work with large and small farmers and ranchers to lower food prices and protect the islands from calamities and shipping strikes. He said that adding 10 percent to the locally grown food supply would save consumers $300 million a year, preserve open space and create jobs.
      One proposal, the Cottage Food Bill, would loosen regulations for families and small farmers to make and sell items such as banana bread and cookies. It would require producers to take a food-safety course and agree to maintain certain standards.
      Other bills would allow raw milk and raw milk products such as yogurt and cheese. One would create distance-learning classes so farmers could take classes close to home.

Rep. Richard Onishi

      Vice chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Richard Onishi, is focusing on agriculture. He wants to continue a feed subsidy program that helps farmers and ranchers pay for livestock feed, a lot of which is imported from the mainland. Last year, the program got $2.5 million, and Onishi is looking for at least that amount this year, he told Cook Lauer. He also will seek $1 million for a biodigester to convert food scraps from hotels and resorts into feed for livestock.
      Agriculture quarantine inspectors, water issues and funding for a rural physician training program are also on Onishi’s priority list. The three-year physician training program expects to train four primary care residents each year. It also seeks to train pharmacists, nurses and psychologists specializing in rural health care concerns.

Rep. Richard Creagan

      The program received $1.8 million last year, and Onishi wants $2.8 million to be provided this year.
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com.
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DR. RICHARD CREAGAN, who was named to the House of Representatives by Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Friday, yesterday told The Ka`u Calendar that his priorities in the 2014 state Legislature are going to be “supporting health care, agriculture and education in Ka`u and Kona.” He said he will “make a great effort to support access to land and water for the farmers of Ka`u.” Creagan, himself is a physician and a farmer, lives with his wife Marilyn on his farm at Kiolaka`a between South Point Road and Wai`ohinu where they grow coffee, citrus, avocados and bananas. The Creagans’ farm was one of the first four farms selling at Na`alehu Farmers Market when it first opened years ago, selling lettuce.
      He said he expects to be on the Health and Judiciary committees and hopes to be on the Agriculture committee.
      Creagan will be sworn in on Wednesday at the opening of the 2014 Hawai`i Legislature. He also said he looks forward to helping Ka`u’s large Marshallese community with health, education, discrimination and immigration issues. He served in the Peace Corps in the Marshall Islands and speaks the language.
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A species of Phyllostachys, shown here, covers a steep hillside
above Na`alehu. Photo from Wikimedia

NORMAN BEZONA, WHO PLANTED THE COLLECTION OF TREES in the open park in Pahala on Olson land surrounding the Royal Hawaiian Orchards buildings, considers bamboo to be a valuable plant for reforestation. In an article in today’s Hawai`i Tribune-Herald, Bezona, of University of Hawai`i at Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, cites the Phyllostachys bamboo forest on the steep mountainside above Na`alehu as a good example of how bamboo can control erosion. He said that before the bamboo was planted there, runoff caused devastating floods in the early 20th century.

      “With the closing of our sugar companies and available land for diversified agriculture, it is an exciting time for Hawai`i,” Bezona said. “In the years to come, we will have many new opportunities to focus on sustainable tree crops and forestry.”

        Hawai`i Chapter of the American Bamboo Society meets on Saturday, Jan. 18 with a program on bamboo propagation. The meeting at Hilo’s Wailoa State Park pavilion 13 is open to members and potential members. It starts at noon with a potluck lunch.
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THE LATEST ISSUE OF HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY’S Volcano Watch explores the relation between the volcanoes at the surface and their source deep within the Earth.
      “Most scientists agree that Hawaiian volcanism results from a plume of hot rock that originates deep within the Earth and ascends through the crust, creating the Hawaiian ‘hot spot,’” the issue states. “Because the tectonic plates that comprise the crust are moving slowly over the hot spot, eruptions fueled by the hot spot created a chain of volcanoes stretching across the Pacific Ocean. This Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain extends over 3,700 miles from the youngest Hawaiian volcanoes to 80-million-year-old extinct and submerged volcanoes in the northwest Pacific.”

Hawaiian hot spots and volcanoes.
Map from USGS/HVO

      The issue discusses how the hot-spot track appears broader between O`ahu and Hawai`i Island. “If you look at the map of the volcanoes that make up the islands of Hawai`i, Maui, Lana`i, Kaho`olawe and Moloka`i, you’ll see that those volcanoes follow two parallel trends. The northern trend begins with Kilauea and progresses to the northwest through Mauna Kea, Kohala, Haleakala, West Maui and East Moloka`i. The southern trend starts with Lo`ihi, the youngest volcano in the Hawaiian chain, and continues northwest through Mauna Loa, Hualalai, Mahukona, Kaho`olawe, Lana`i and West Moloka`i.

      “This dual chain was first recognized in the mid-1800s and was referred to as the Loa and Kea trends after the tallest volcanoes in each line. Scientists studying the composition of the volcanoes have also found that the trends are chemically distinct. This means that a geochemist can identify whether a rock is from a Loa- or Kea-trend volcano based solely on its composition.”
      The issue details theories as to why this dual chain exists. One is that the plume taps a region at the boundary between the mantle and core 1,800 miles beneath the surface that has two distinct compositions, and that each composition is preserved along the plume’s path to the surface. Another idea is that the plume coming from the deep Earth stalls during ascent and creates a zone of hot rock a few hundred kilometers beneath the Hawaiian Islands. Differences in melting of this region before the magma rises towards the surface may thus create the dual chain.

Geologist Matt Patrick discusses happenings at Halema`uma`u at Tuesday's
After Dark in the Park. Photo from USGS/HVO

      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov.
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VOLCANO AWARENESS MONTH PROGRAMS continue with Happenings in Halema`uma`u at After Dark in the Park Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Geologist Matt Patrick presents an update on Kilauea’s summit eruption, including an overview of the volcanic processes occurring within the vent. $2 donations support park programs; park entrance fees apply.

KA`U RESIDENTS WHO WANT TO HELP in Friday’s Volunteer Forest Restoration Project should register by tomorrow. Volunteers plant tree seedlings on the Mauna Loa strip section of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 352-1402 or email forest@fhvnp.org.

Ka`u High soccer teams hosted Kealakehe yesterday.
Photo by Dave Berry

IN SPORTS, KA`U HIGH BOYS AND GIRLS soccer teams hosted Kealakehe yesterday. Trojan David Pilette scored the boys’ one goal on a breakaway as the ball was lofted over the WaveRunner defense. He ran onto the ball, dribbled downfield and blasted it past the goal-keeper. Kealakehe made four goals. Ka`u High teacher Dave Berry said the Trojans played an outstanding game. “The defense was terrific, only giving up one goal in extra time in the first half.”
      Ka`u girls lost 0 – 12.
      Girls basketball traveled to Hilo yesterday, where Junior Varsity lost 15 – 62, and Varsity lost 9 – 51. High scorers were JV Deisha Gascon and Varsity Sky Kanakole-Esperon.

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 from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at http://snack.to/fzpfg59c.

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

Ka`u News Briefs Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014

I CAN CER VIVE is the T-shirt for the fundraiser today at Pahala Community Center to raise money for cancer research and services through the United Way. Many bands are there to play for the public. Organizer is student Kamrie Koi. Photo by Julia Neal

RESTRICTIONS ON PRIVATE SOLAR ELECTRICITY systems imposed by Hawai`i’s electric companies are getting worldwide attention. 

      In Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and Scientific American, stories discuss Hawaiian Electric Co.’s decision to stop connecting solar systems installed by homeowners and businesses to the utility’s power grid. “When you have all this power flowing around with nowhere to go, so to speak, it can cause reliability problems,” said Peter Rosegg, a spokesman for Hawaiian Electric Co., to Al Jazeera.

Donations are being accepted for the United Way fundraiser concert
until 4 p.m. today at Pahala Community Center, with entertainment
 by many local musicians. Photo by Julia Neal

      William Walker, an O`ahu homeowner who installed a rooftop solar system, told Bloomberg, “Everyone is on board with getting solar, and HECO has now put up a wall. The only thing we can see is profit motivation.”
      According to the Bloomberg story, nine percent of the utility’s residential customers on O`ahu are already generating most of their power from the sun, and connections to the grid have doubled yearly since 2008.

      Cully Judd, founder of Inter-Island Solar Supply said, “They (the utilities) are technologically stagnant on being able to handle all of this.”

      While some say the utilities are concerned about their bottom line, Rosegg told Al Jazeera that the utilities’ concerns are about safety and responsibility. “Like every utility across the country, we basically were developed to send electricity one way, from our power plants to our customers. And now we have a situation where 10 percent of our customers are randomly taking or sending power over a system that really wasn’t designed for that,” he said.

Many private solar systems are currently not allowed to tie into
the state utilities' electric grids. Photo from Revolusun

      State Representative Cynthia Thielen told Bloomberg, “This is a company with a drenched-in-oil mentality. They’ve fought from day one on renewables. I look at the company as ultimately becoming obsolete unless it changes its practices.”
      The Bloomberg story talks about the possibility of those who have installed solar sytems that are in limbo going off the grid and tying into battery storage systems. With the possibility that the moratorium in some sections of Hawai`i could go on for two more years, homeowners could make batteries work financially and “cut the cord from the utility altogether,” said Phil Undercuffler, the director of a battery technology company.
      Jeff Davis, a partner in an O`ahu solar company who is known as the Solar Guy on a local talk radio program, told Bloomberg, “All these installers are going to go to batteries. The utility has opened up the genie bottle.”
         In Scientific American, Robert Harris, executive director of Sierra Club Hawai`i, said, “Hawai`i is a crystal ball into what every other state is going to have to look at as they start reaching higher and higher levels of solar activity. There is a national debate about what is the future model of the utility. That is happening in real time in Hawai`i.”
      See america.aljazeera.com, bloomberg.com and scientificamerican.com.

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SMOKING, MERCURY EXPOSURE AND PRESCRIPTION DRUGS are topics of studies reported recently in the Hawai`i Journal of Medicine & Public Health.

      Ethnicity, sex, immigration, and acculturation are all significant predictors of smoking among youth in Hawai`i. Girls whose mothers were born in Hawai`i or in another United States state were more likely to smoke than those whose mothers were born in a foreign country. The story found that girls were more likely to smoke than boys. Eleventh- and twelfth-graders were more likely to smoke than ninth-graders. Whites, Filipinos, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and other ethnic groups were more likely to smoke than those who identified themselves as Japanese.

Prescription drugs are responsible for much drug abuse, according
to a report in the Hawai`i Journal of Medicine and Public Health.
Photo from wikipedia

      Men and women are subject to excessive methylmercury exposure in Hawai`i. The highest amounts of mercury found in human hair samples were in men over 45, those living in Hawai`i for more than a decade and those consuming fish more than once a week. “Following safe fish consumption practices allows residents to reap health benefits of fish consumption without excessive toxicant exposure,” the study concludes. Too much mercury subjects men to cardiotoxicity and pregnant women to health risks for their babies. The mercury measurements were on O`ahu.

      Prescription drugs are responsible for much drug abuse. University of Hawai`i - Hilo School of Pharmacy is taking on the challenge. According to another report in the journal, “unwanted medications in households and patient care facilities expose vulnerable populations, including children, elders and pets to potential harm through inadvertent ingestion, as well as the potential for theft and assault. Hawai`i Administrative Rules prohibit the return of any prescription medications to retail pharmacies after dispensing.

      The Hawai`i Narcotics Enforcement Division partnered with the University of Hawai`i at Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy in 11 Drug Take-Back events throughout the state. Most participants heard of the events via newspaper and television marketing. The most common methods of medication disposal are via trash or down household drains. Over 8,000 pounds of unused/unwanted medications were collected, identified and logged from 2011 through 2012.

     The majority of returned drugs, 90 percent, were non-controlled substances. Commonly returned medications included prescription cardiac medications such as simvastatin and lisinopril, non-prescription analgesics such as aspirin and ibuprofen, and dietary supplements such as vitamins and iron. Commonly returned controlled substance medications included narcotics such as hydrocodone/acetaminophen combinations and oxycodone, and sedative hypnotics such as zolpidem and lorazepam, the abstract from the study says.
      It also notes that “pharmacological treatment of human health conditions constitutes a major component of contemporary health care in the United States. In 2011, sales of prescription drugs in the U.S. reached $320 billion, over-the-counter medications $17.4 billion, and dietary supplements approximately $30 billion. In 2011, more than 3.76 billion medication prescriptions were filled in retail pharmacies in the U.S.; of these, more than 16.6 million prescriptions were filled in retail pharmacies in Hawai`i. An estimated 1.74 billion over-the-counter products were sold in the U.S., with 6.98 million in Hawai`i. Sales of dietary supplements in Hawai`i were estimated at $120 million for 2011.

Entertainment this morning started with such musicians as Boni
Narito, with volunteer Allan Sebastian looking on.
Photo by Julia Neal

      See more at www.hjmph.org.

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PAHALA COMMUNITY CENTER IS JUMPING, with a concert benefiting United Way going on until 4 p.m. Entertainment includes Just in Case, JR Band, Keaiwa, Boni Narito, Honokua, Hui Okinawa Kobudo Taiko, Ka`u High School ensemble class and more. There are also vendors, games, raffle tickets and prizes. 

      For more information, call producer Kamrie Koi at 430-4964 or Jolene Koi at 936-6249.

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S Colossal Rummage yART Sale is today until 4 p.m. at the Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village.

PARTICIPANTS CAN BRING LUNCH and learn about the vital role of `ohi`a lehua in native Hawaiian forests, the many forms of the `ohi`a lehua tree and its flower tomorrow at the Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The free program begins at 11:30 a.m. Call 985-6011 for more information.

This month's Sunday Walk in the Park explores the summit
area. Photo from FHVNP

NICK SHEMA LEADS AN EXPLORATION of the summit area of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park tomorrow from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Free for Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park; non-members can join the organization in order to attend. Park entrance fees apply.

PATTY JOHNSON OFFERS FREE, AUTHENTIC teachings of Buddha tomorrow from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. Call 985-7470 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 from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at http://snack.to/fzpfg59c.

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

Ka`u News Briefs Friday, Jan. 10, 2014

Keaiwa, here performing at a National Guard concert in August, returns to the stage tomorrow for a United Way benefit concert at Pahala Community Center. Photo by St. First Class Christian Stasvkow

NA`ALEHU RESIDENT RICHARD CREAGAN is the new state representative for District V. Gov. Neil Abercrombie today announced his appointment of Creagan to the seat recently left vacant by the resignation of Rep. Denny Coffman. The appointment is effective immediately and for the balance of the term. 

      “Richard’s diverse experience as a physician, researcher, farmer, Peace Corps volunteer and educator will contribute greatly to his service to the people of Hawai`i,” Abercrombie said.

Dr. Richard Creagan
replaces Denny Coffman

     Creagan first came to Hawai`i in 1966 and trained for the Peace Corps on Moloka`i for two months. He then served as a health care worker in the Marshall Islands for two years. He speaks fluent Marshallese. Creagan is vice president of Kiolaka`a Mountain Farms.
      As a physician, Creagan worked for 10 years in California prior to moving to Hawai`i full-time 23 years ago. Since then, he has worked in the Emergency Department and served as vice-chief of staff at Kona Community Hospital, monitored disease outbreaks for the state Department of Health and helped found and run Hualalai Urgent Care.
      As an educator, Creagan has taught junior scientists at Yale and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He taught English as a Peace Corps volunteer, seventh- and eighth-grade math and science in Pittsburgh, PA and tutored students in English at Na`alehu Elementary School.
      Creagan graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and then with an M.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He also has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Hawai`i – Hilo, where he also studied agriculture.
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Expanding early education is one of Gov. Neil Abercrombie's priorities.
Photo from Office of the Governor

PAHALA AND NA`ALEHU SCHOOL CAMPUSES are among the 30 statewide that would offer prekindergarten classes next year if the plan is approved by the state Legislature. 

      The program is intended to serve 640 children who qualify based on income and age requirements. Children must be four years old by July 31, which follows the new kindergarten age requirement beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. Department of Education teachers and educational assistants will staff the classrooms.
      The program is being modeled after prekindergarten classrooms established with Race to the Top funds in the Ka`u-Kea`au-Pahoa complex. “These classrooms were successful due to the leadership of Complex Area Superintendent Mary Correa, the professional development support provided through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation-funded P-3 grant to ensure quality, and the understanding of the importance of early learning by the principals,” said Dr. GG Weisenfeld, Executive Office on Early Learning director. “Our partnership with DOE in creating this program is a critical step to providing more of our children access to a high-quality prekindergarten program.”
      Selection of the 32 classrooms was based on Title I status, in which 35 percent or more of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, limitations of preschools in the community such as in rural areas, available space at schools, currently operating DOE prekindergarten classrooms with federal money that is about to end and the interest and willingness of principals to work with EOEL on implementing a quality program.
      “It’s really the beginning of something that we can be very optimistic about,” Gov. Neil Abercrombie said. "We’re creating access for children statewide.”
      Mountain View School, which serves Volcano families, would also offer the program.

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HAWAI`I STATE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION is currently investigating state electric utilities’ rate-setting practice know as decoupling, which separates the utilities’ revenue from changes in energy sales. Decoupling, as asserted by its proponents, has the benefits of encouraging the substitution of renewable resources, distributed generation and energy efficiency for the utility’s fossil fuels production by reducing a utilities’ disincentive to promote these types of resources and programs, while simultaneously protecting a utilities’ financial health from erosion as these types of programs go into effect. 

      Hawai`i County sees it differently. It says decoupling “is glowingly described as beneficial in transferring all revenue risk from the utilities to ratepayers. For a $3.1 billion business that is essentially a ‘hyper-monopoly’ (given physical isolation of the Islands and lack of interconnecting grids), with at least some level of community service obligation, how much risk are ratepayers expected to assume, all? Is it the obligation of ratepayers to support a business organization whose pay and benefits are so high that the average citizen can only dream of attaining?”
      The County says it is “appropriately concerned about shifting ever more financial risks to ratepayers, as well as the consequences of decoupling regarding incentives to control costs.”
      Hawai`i County questions the need for decoupling. “Having already achieved 46.7 percent renewable energy generation, the focus now for the Island of Hawai`i (and going forward for the state) is on energy projects that provide cost reduction benefits to ratepayers (whether directly or indirectly) and that improve and maximize integration of additional lower cost renewable energy.” It refers to a statement made by the PUC in its recent denial of the proposed contract between `Aina Koa Pono and Hawaiian Electric Light Co. that supports this view.

 According to Hawai`i County, HELCO, which operates Keahole Power Plant in Kona,
recognizes that clean energy is "cost-competitive."

      “With so much renewable power already produced/utilized on the Island of Hawai`i, there is no longer a need to automatically penalize one form of energy against others,” the county states. “Given that renewable energy sources in Hawai`i are often lower cost than fossil-fuel generation, transparent and accurate pricing that is accessible to power generation investors/entrepreneurs and ratepayers can be more effective than current mechanisms, especially decoupling.”
      The county states that, “when alternative energy is available at competitive prices, decoupling is not needed as further incentive to adopt it, nor will decoupling be an effective incentive for consumers when compared to reduced pricing. The county says Hawai`i Electric Co. “recognizes that clean energy is –‘cost-competitive’ in Hawai`i” and that the utility describes multiple renewable projects that promise lower production costs.
      “Utility markets and their regulators have long struggled with challenges of how to emulate a competitive market and obtain market-based benefits in regulated, monopoly utility conditions, especially in conditions as insulated as Hawai`i,” the county states. It says it supports mechanisms that can automatically adjust electricity pricing in a fair, economically effective and timely manner, as well as based on verifiable data.
      “The county encourages all efforts to move Hawai`i’s electricity system closer to a more market- and performance-driven approach, with pricing mechanisms that accurately reflect underlying cost structures, marginal production costs, proper dispatch, and appropriate operations and maintenance expenditures,” the county says. “Further, ratepayers’ interests versus shareholder interests should be given more balance.”
      “Decoupling revenues from actual volumes of electricity sold … fails to provide correct economic incentives/signals to drive new energy sources and energy efficiency,” the county states. “Decoupling is particularly pernicious for price-based economic responses because neither customers nor investors will know the final price of electricity in one year until either the Revenue Adjustment Mechanism or a rate case is settled the following year.
      The County questions “why an ever-expanding list of business risks should be transferred from the utility to its customers.”
      The county says more attention is needed on current avoided-cost contracts and system efficiencies, dispatch and demand-response, rather than on decoupling.
      The County notes that creating “’financial indifference’ is a weak incentive for, and quite possibly irrelevant to, encouraging increased availability of lower cost and/or renewably sourced energy.”
      More about the PUC’s investigation is available at puc.hawaii.gov. Docket number is 2013-0141.

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Ka`u High senior Kamrie Koi is producing tomorrow's concert
at Pahala Community Center.

A CONCERT BENEFITING UNITED WAY takes place tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Entertainment includes Just in Case, JR Band, Keaiwa, Boni Narito, Honokua, Hui Okinawa Kobudo Taiko, Ka`u High School ensemble class and more. There will be vendors, games, raffle tickets and prizes. For more information, call producer Kamrie Koi at 430-4964 or Jolene Koi at 936-6249. 

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S Colossal Rummage yART Sale is tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village.

THE COLOR OF SACRED, Christina Skaggs’ exhibit of new art, opens tomorrow with a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply. Call 967-7565 for more information.

KA`U HOSPITAL URGES RESIDENTS to complete its Community Health Needs Assessment atsurveymonkey.com/s/93HQ5MX. The deadline has been extended to Jan. 31.
CORRECTION: KA`U NEWS BRIEFS’ Jan. 7 story about Ka`u Council member Brenda Ford’s Bill 109 regarding genetically modified organisms contained an error. The bill would ban all GMO crops and require their removal within 30 months, rather than 30 days.

SEE THE DIRECTORY from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at http://snack.to/fzpfg59c.

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