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| The Fire Department says that Fireworks are allowed from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. New Years Eve. |
HOTEL OCCUPANCY ON the Big Island remains low, with only 39 percent of the rooms having visitors for the week ending Dec. 18. O‘ahu posted the highest occupancy - 84 percent, up 16.5 percent over the same week last year. Maui’s 53.2 percent occupancy rate was 7.3 percentage points higher than last year. Kaua‘i’s occupancy rate of 37.9 percent was lowest. The average statewide room rate was $171.49, with the Big Island’s average room rate of $170.21.
PERMITS FOR FIREWORKS DISPLAYS are available at limited locations this year including TNT Fireworks Tent at Prince Kuhio Plaza on Maka`ala Street in Hilo, at Pacific Fireworks in Hilo Shopping Center, Pacific Fireworks on Kuakini Hwy in Kona and Thunder Fireworks on Henry Street in Kona.
Each permit, costing $25, entitles the holder to buy 5,000 firecrackers. Permits are for people 18 years or older. They are non-transferable and non-refundable. The legal hours for fireworks is between 9 p.m. on New Years Eve and 1 a.m. on New Years Day.
FIRE CHIEF DARRYL OLIVEIRA says he is thinking of the public’s safety when he reminds everyone that it is illegal to remove the contents from fireworks, throw them from a car or truck or set them off within 1,000 feet of a hospital, nursing home, or senior housing, and on school grounds.
THE OCEAN VIEW FOOD BASKET will be open tomorrow, Tuesday, for the needy from noon to 2:30 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center.
AFTER DARK IN THE PARK will focus on the Keauhou Bird Sanctuary in Volcano Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Volcano Visitor Center auditorium. The session will be on the future of Hawai`i’s endangered birds.
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| Miss Ka`u Coffee walks in the Pahala Christmas Parade. |
REMEMBER TO DROP YOUR Christmas trees off daily at the Wai‘ōhinu transfer station through Jan.16. Trees should be free of all decorations, lights, tinsel and ornaments – no artificial or flocked trees allowed. The County Department of Environmental Management and Department of Public Works are teaming up to support Treecycling. Public Works will provide on-site tree chipping at some locations around the island.
The county also reminds everyone to recycle Kadomatsu decorations, normally a combination of bamboo, pine and flowers, a tradition that began 600 years ago in Japan as a way of offering luck in the New Year.
By chipping the trees and making the material available for use in gardens, the County can divert thousands of trees from landfills and add valuable mulch to island soils. In addition, it reduces illegal dumping of holiday trees.
THE COUNTY’S Treecycling Program and additional information are on the website at www.HawaiiZeroWaste.org. For further information, contact the County Solid Waste Division at 961-8339.
YOU CAN ALSO HEAR THE KA’U NEWS BRIEFS online and on the air at KAHU RADIO, 91.7 FM.