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| Young fishermen and families braved rough waters at Punalu`u during the third annual `O Ka`u Kakou Keiki Fishing Tournament. |
GOVERNOR NEIL ABERCROMBIE will give his first State of the State address tomorrow at 10 a.m., and it will be broadcast live on television. Russell Kokubun, who Abercrombie appointed to chair the state Department of Agriculture, said a cabinet meeting was held all day Saturday. The cabinet members have been described as “out of the box” people who can solve problems. Abercrombie is expected to address energy and food self-sufficiency, solving the state budget deficit problem, civil unions and shovel-ready capital improvements that can stimulate the local economy.
THE `AINA KOA PONO hui, which plans a biofuels processing facility in Pahala, is working on preliminary design plans to present to the landowner and community. Engineer Alexander Causey said the hui may choose to install horizontal onsite fuel tanks that would be 20 feet tall rather than 45-foot-tall tanks. The 20-foot-tall tanks could be easily screened from the community by planting trees.
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| `Aina Koa Pono chief engineer Alexander Causey |
The tanks would hold 1.28 million gallons of diesel onsite. `Aina Koa Pono’s preferred site location was initially at the old plantation truck shed now used by ML Macadamia for its farm equipment. Causey said they are negotiating for a site farther from town, this one next to the trash transfer station. He said the factory and agricultural operations could provide 100 permanent jobs for the community. The synthetic fuels produced from chipped eucalyptus, Christmas berries and other foliage and trees that would be grown on old sugar lands would be shipped in tanker trucks to Hawaiia Electric Light Company’s Keahole power plant in Kona.
THE MICROWAVE processing facility would vaporize all of the feedstock brought to the processing plant. The chief engineer for the project said that `Aina Koa Pono decided last week not to accept municipal solid waste even though the process is able to accept the garbage.
SPORTS SAW AN EXCITING game last night at St. Joseph's, when the Ka`u High Varsity boys basketball team won in overtime 42 - 41, with Dillin Ballo leading the Trojans with 17 points.
ON FRIDAY, THE KA`U HIGH girls basketball teams beat Kea`au in their last season game at home. JV team captain Shaylin Navarro led with 18 points, and teammate Leah Cariaga added 11 to help the Trojans to a 44 - 30 victory. The Varsity team triumphed over Kea`au 46 - 38. Janessa Jara, a sophomore, scored a whopping 21 points. The Varsity looks forward to their first game of the BIIF playoffs this Wednesday at home against Kohala.
HUNDREDS OF KA`U KEIKI and family members came out to participate in the third annual `O Ka`u Kakou Keiki Fishing Tournament yesterday at Punalu`u. Every keiki won a prize for participation, enjoyed free popcorn and shave ice, and the chance to make a keiki ID. OKK served the families a free lunch.
FAMED GUITARIST Muriel Anderson and Tierra Negra are in concert today at 4 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and again this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House. Anderson was the first woman to win the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championships. The Pahala concert is free to everyone.
THE KA‘U COFFEE FESTIVAL COMMITTEE will hold a meeting on Monday at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center, and anyone wanting to volunteer is urged to attend. The coffee festival will be in its third year and is scheduled for the week of May 13 for Miss Ka`u Coffee and May 14 and 15 for the ho`olaule`a, coffee tasting, recipe contest and coffee growing and processing education.
THE OCEAN VIEW FOOD BASKET will provide food to the needy on Tuesday from noon to 2:30 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center. Call 939-7000.