Ka`u News Briefs June 30, 2011

Chef Jean Louis visits coffee orchards and farms and ranches when working on the Volcano Project plan.

CHEF JEAN LOUIS THEMISTOCLE RANDRIANTIANA, one of the partners in the Volcano Project, is serving as personal chef for England’s Royal Highnesses Prince William and Princess Kate this weekend in Montreal, Canada. Chef Jean Louis is senior culinary professor of the renowned International Tourism & Hotel Institute in Montreal. He also works on the culinary educational plan for the Volcano Project and has visited Ka`u Coffee farms and met with local farmers and ranchers to make plans to use locally grown food at the Volcano Project. Volcano Project founders David Howard Donald and Anne Lee said they are hoping to hear soon whether the National Park Service has accepted their proposal to manage Volcano House Hotel for Volcano Project.

AN ACROSS THE BOARD PAY CUT of five percent for all state workers begins tomorrow. The pay cut was approved by all the government unions except the Hawai`i State Teachers Association. It also requires workers to pay for half of their health care insurance. The teachers' union is still hoping to go back to the bargaining table and vote on the issue, but the administration said it has given its last, best offer and will implement the pay cuts on July 1 when the new state budget goes into effect.

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT has issued a Request for Proposals for making compost in order to prevent green waste from filling up the two county landfills. Free county mulch from green waste is no longer being brought to Ka`u following Ka`u coffee farmers successfully petitioning Mayor Billy Kenoi to end the program. The coffee farmers worried that the mulch could contain a dangerous pest, the coffee berry borer, which has devastated Kona coffee farms. The RFP for processing green waste calls for a fully composted, disease- and pest-free garden additive, hopefully in production within six to eight months, said County Council member Brittany Smart.

Wahine pull down the steer. Photo by Julia Neal

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK will conduct its annual Fourth of July Silent Auction from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Cooper Center on Wright Road in Volcano Village, which is the destination of the annual Fourth of July Parade. Auction items for 2011 include four rounds of golf, Hawai`i Forest & Trail's exclusive Kohala Waterfalls Adventure, an encounter program with Dolphin Quest, a Sea Quest rafting and snorkel adventure, and an underwater adventure for two aboard Atlantis Submarines on Hawai`i, Maui or O`ahu. Overnight stays in Volcano, yoga classes, massage, acupuncture and memberships for `Imiloa Astronomy Center are among the offerings, along with art, food, and gift baskets. For more information, call 985-7373 or admin@fhvnp.org.

S0UTHSIDE JR. BOYS VOLLEYBALL is competing well in Minneapolis. In yesterday’s first day of competition, the 12 and Under team beat the Gigantes from Puerto Rico, Kuikahi from O`ahu, the Borinquen Coqui from Puerto Rico. They lost only to Southern California Volleyball Club and another Puerto Rican Club called the Vaqueros. Ka`u team members are Kameron Iokepa-Moses, Nai`a Makuakane, Addison Enriques and Avery Enriques.

LAST DAY TO SIGN UP to march in the annual Independence Day Parade is tomorrow, July 1. The parade begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday and travels along Hwy 11 in Na`alehu. Call 929-9872. It is followed by two days of rodeo at the Na`alehu Rodeo Grounds. The annual Fourth of July Parade in Volcano will be held at 9 a.m. on Monday.

Punalu`u Bake Shop is one of many Ka`u businesses joining the Independence Day Parade, Saturday, July 2. Photo by Julia Neal