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| Miss Aloha Hawai`i Brandy Shibuya (left), with Miss Kona Coffee Corinne Quinajon and first runner-up Kapuahi`ilani Lapera. Photo by Nalani Parlin |
MISS KA`U COFFEE BRANDY SHIBUYA is the new Miss Aloha Hawai`i, winning the islandwide pageant last night at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa. Next step for the Hawai`i Community College West Hawai`i student is the Miss Hawai`i Pageant to be held next year in Honolulu. The winner of Miss Hawai`i goes to Miss America. Shibuya, the daughter of Terry-Lee and Dane Shibuya, danced hula for talent and won Miss Congeniality. Kapuahi`ilani Lapera won first runner-up. A 2007 graduate of Ka`u High, she is the daughter of Hi`ilani and Thomas Lapera, Jr. Corinne Quinajon, a senior at St. Joseph's High School in Hilo, was crowned Miss Kona Coffee last night. Quinajon also has relatives from Ka`u.
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| O`o bars with ti leaves broke ground for the new Bay Clinic facility in Na`alehu yesterday. Photo by Youlsau Bells |
BAY CLINIC BROKE GROUND yesterday for its new Ka`u Family Health & Dental Center in Na`alehu. Kahu Kauila Clark, a practitioner of Native Hawaiian healing, culture and prayer, gave the blessing, with participants using the o`o adorned with ti leaf to move the first earth for the project.
Council member Brittany Smart said that transportation will be vital for people to come to the new facility which will be able to handle thousands more appointments than the older building. Kudos went to `O Ka`u Kakou and the Hawaiian Civil Club of Ka`u for their help in raising funds for the project.
A letter from Sen. Dan Inouye said the new facility will encourage more residents, even those without health insurance, “to get the care they sorely need.” A message from Sen. Dan Akaka called the project “another step toward expanding access to critical, preventable and primary care.” A message from Rep. Mazie Hirono pointed to the Affordable Health Care Act which, she said, will help the clinic.
A statement from Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he and the state Legislature are committed to securing an additional $800,000 to complete the project.
A letter from Mayor Billy Kenoi said, “The Ka`u Family Health Center will be a vital lifeline for the residents of Ka`u.” Bay Clinic board member Raylene Moses said that Ka`u residents “value quality health care for all,” and that families shouldn’t have to wonder whether they can afford to take a sick child to the doctor. She called the clinic an example of the “growth and prosperity we all long for.”
A letter from Sen. Dan Inouye said the new facility will encourage more residents, even those without health insurance, “to get the care they sorely need.” A message from Sen. Dan Akaka called the project “another step toward expanding access to critical, preventable and primary care.” A message from Rep. Mazie Hirono pointed to the Affordable Health Care Act which, she said, will help the clinic.
A statement from Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he and the state Legislature are committed to securing an additional $800,000 to complete the project.
A letter from Mayor Billy Kenoi said, “The Ka`u Family Health Center will be a vital lifeline for the residents of Ka`u.” Bay Clinic board member Raylene Moses said that Ka`u residents “value quality health care for all,” and that families shouldn’t have to wonder whether they can afford to take a sick child to the doctor. She called the clinic an example of the “growth and prosperity we all long for.”
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| Pohue Bay is adjacent to the 16,000 acres owned by developers who want to build a resort. Photo by Megan Lamson |
THE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION and Hawai`i Wildlife Fund have joined together to submit testimony for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Nani Kahuku `Aina resort project proposed for land between South Point and Ocean View along the ocean. The testimony opposes the current plan for the resort. It says: “Although sustainable growth can be a very good thing, we do not believe this large-scale development (two resorts, 18-hole golf course, developer-created cultural center, commercial areas, etc.) is appropriate as planned at this particular site.”
Hawai`i Wildlife Fund and Surfriders contend that the Environmental Impact Statement “glosses over sensitive environmental issues and is misaligned with several sound conservation principles.”
The testimony contends that there are “insufficient coastal setbacks in the current plan. Imposing appropriate setbacks on coastal development allows for a necessary buffer zone to decrease the amount of negative impacts to nearshore coastal and marine resources.
The EIS “alleges that a ‘shoreline conservation zone’ will exist. It references a coastal setback of at least of 300-feet inland with most habitable structures at least 20 feet above sea level. Surfriders and Hawai`i Wildlife Fund contend that “300 feet is much too close to the shoreline to insure necessary environmental precautions for the fragile coral reef and anchialine pond ecosystems nearby.
“Moreover, this project location is in the midst of 80 miles of mostly undeveloped coastline in South Hawai`i (from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park to Miloli`i). Currently, the Ka`u District has the largest stretch of natural and undeveloped shoreline in the state of Hawai`i. The Kahuku Village development would sever this contiguous open space irrevocably,” the testimony states.
The developers have said that they will create Hawaiian cultural and education programs and protect the wildlife, including Pohue Bay, where endangered hawksbill turtles nest.
The Draft EIS can be read on the state Department of Health’s Office of Environmental Quality Control website. Click on online library or use the following link: http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/EA_and_EIS_Online_Library/Hawaii/2010s/2011-09-23-DEIS-Kahuku-Village-Vol1.pdf.
The testimony contends that there are “insufficient coastal setbacks in the current plan. Imposing appropriate setbacks on coastal development allows for a necessary buffer zone to decrease the amount of negative impacts to nearshore coastal and marine resources.
The EIS “alleges that a ‘shoreline conservation zone’ will exist. It references a coastal setback of at least of 300-feet inland with most habitable structures at least 20 feet above sea level. Surfriders and Hawai`i Wildlife Fund contend that “300 feet is much too close to the shoreline to insure necessary environmental precautions for the fragile coral reef and anchialine pond ecosystems nearby.
“Moreover, this project location is in the midst of 80 miles of mostly undeveloped coastline in South Hawai`i (from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park to Miloli`i). Currently, the Ka`u District has the largest stretch of natural and undeveloped shoreline in the state of Hawai`i. The Kahuku Village development would sever this contiguous open space irrevocably,” the testimony states.
The developers have said that they will create Hawaiian cultural and education programs and protect the wildlife, including Pohue Bay, where endangered hawksbill turtles nest.
The Draft EIS can be read on the state Department of Health’s Office of Environmental Quality Control website. Click on online library or use the following link: http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/EA_and_EIS_Online_Library/Hawaii/2010s/2011-09-23-DEIS-Kahuku-Village-Vol1.pdf.
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| Kamaki Fujikawa shows the 218-lb boar he caught with Glenn Moses and team at yesterday's pig hunting tournament weigh-in at Honu`apo. Photo by Nalani Parlin |
PIG HUNTING CHECK-IN WAS AT HONU`APO yesterday, with some large boars landing on the scales. Glenn Moses’ team won and was the first team to weigh in, with a boar of 218 pounds in the Jungle Express Hunting Tournament. Teammate Kamaki Fujikawa said they found their catch at 7:45 a.m. in the mountains nearby. It took them three hours to pack out the large pig.
Congressional candidate Mufi Hannemann, who used to live in Na`alehu, stopped by the tournament after visiting the Bay Clinic groundbreaking, Na`alehu Farmers Market, the Fall Fling sponsored by the Ka`u School of the Arts, and lunch with supporters at Hana Hou restaurant.
THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Steering Committee will host its next meeting this coming Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Ocean View Community Center beginning at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited and can read updates and history of the development plan at hawaiicountycdp.info/kau-cdp.
HAWAI`I’S FIRST VOLCANO HOUSE is the topic at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday. William Chapman, of UH-Manoa’s historic preservation program, discusses its history beginning at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply.
THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Steering Committee will host its next meeting this coming Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Ocean View Community Center beginning at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited and can read updates and history of the development plan at hawaiicountycdp.info/kau-cdp.
HAWAI`I’S FIRST VOLCANO HOUSE is the topic at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday. William Chapman, of UH-Manoa’s historic preservation program, discusses its history beginning at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply.