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| Teri Nguyen is a property owner who fought against privatization of the Kama`oa Road remnant. |
THE PROPOSAL TO SELL THE KAMA`OA ROAD remnant to private landowners failed the county council’s finance committee yesterday and will move to full County Council with a negative recommendation. Council member Brittany Smart said a handful of people testified against the proposal, saying that selling off public roads to private parties could set a precedent leading to blocking off public access to the shoreline, forests and hunting trails.
BUILDING A PERMANENT TRASH TRANSFER station for Ocean View became a major topic with the county council Finance Committee yesterday. It delayed its approval of $8.8 million for a Wai`ohinu recycling and reloading station until plans for Ocean View can be firmed up. Rell Woodward and Don Nitsche said it is unfair to put such a big capital improvements project in Wai`ohinu before providing for Ocean View, which has a temporary trash bin for residential waste, available only on Saturdays. Robin Lamson also attended. Council member Brittany Smart said she plans to meet with the Department of Environmental Management to push for a solution for Ocean View.
THE THREE-YEAR-OLD IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL LANDS LAW that allows the state Land Use Commission and property owners to preserve land for ag use is yet to be employed in Ka`u. However, it is making traction in other parts of the state. Moloka`i Ranch is asking the LUC to preserve 4,919 acres for cattle ranching. Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. has already won approval to receive Important Agricultural Land Status for 27,105 acres at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. on Maui and 3,773 acres at Kaua`i Coffee Company.
Incentives to put land into Important Agricultural Land status include loan guarantees, tax credits for ag facilities, ease in permits for ag processing plants, and allowing employee housing on prime ag land. It also allows owners to urbanize land equivalent to 15 percent of the acres protected. So far all the applicants have waived urbanization. The state program is separate from the agricultural easements being placed on 8,000 acres of Ka`u by Olson Trust.
THE BIG ISLAND BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION is conducting an islandwide survey throughout January. Unofficial counts show that hundreds, possibly thousands, of bee colonies died on the Big Isle during 2010, according to Cary Dizon, president of the organization. Varroa mites arrived in 2008, bringing an epidemic causing Small Hive Beetle infestation that swept the island in three months, destroying hives, Dizon said.
The survey seeks to find the healthy, managed colonies and those colonies lost in the past year. Reports of feral honeybee colony losses are also needed, Dizon said. See zoomerang.com/Survey or call 640-0278.
THE BIG ISLAND has been selected to host the international Western Apicultural Society annual convention. It will be held in Waikoloa. Anyone interested in the business or hobby of beekeeping is invited to join the Big Island Beekeepers Association. Meetings are quarterly at Komohana Ag Extension Service in Hilo.
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| Avocats Hawai`i veterinarians volunteer to spay and neuter wild cats. |
TRAPPING WILD CATS TO SPAY AND NEUTER THEM is being promoted in Ka`u by Avocats Hawai`i. The nonprofit would like to organize spay and neuter clinics for which community residents use Avocats traps to catch feral cats and bring them to a central location where a volunteer veterinarian spays and neuters them, gives them inoculations and a flea treatment. After keeping them overnight the cats go back into the wild. Such programs have reduced wild cat populations significantly between Kona and Ocean View, said Avocats volunteer Joann Young. Anyone wanting to organize a spay and neuter clinic for their town in Ka`u can call her at 929-8393. This spay and neuter program also requires some fundraising, as it costs $20 per cat to support the supplies and travel for the veterinarian.
THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I’S HI-5 Redemption Center at Wai`ohinu Transfer Station is now open on Saturdays and Sundays through March 31 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 pm. The center is operated by Arc of Hilo. New hours are good through March 31.
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| Bay Clinic's Dental Van is available to the public in Na`alehu this week. |
THE BAY CLINIC MOBILE DENTAL VAN is open today from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Na`alehu. It is closed for lunch from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Call 965-3073 for an appointment.