Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 28, 2012

These diagrams from the Draft Environmental Assessment show sightlines from different areas surrounding
the proposed building site of the Ka`u shelter and gym, the structure in green.

THE KA`U SHELTER FOR DISASTERS to be built in Pahala on the school grounds may include two rooms with air cleaning capabilities, according to the county’s project planner David Yamamoto. Yamamoto recently explained that a multipurpose room separate from the new gymnasium would be 2,832 square feet and could handle 190 people during a bad air event. A recreation room, also proposed for the new complex, would be 1,932 square feet and would provide shelter for 128 people for bad air events and 48 people for longer-term shelter.
      He explained that during a disaster event, be it hurricane, vog, fire, or earthquake, regulations require 15 square feet per person for the short term and 40 square feet per person for longer term, should people be unable to return to their homes. Currently, the plan for the gymnasium, which would serve as the larger shelter for 1500 people for short term and 560 people for longer term, would not include equipment to clean the air.

Rep. Bob Herkes

A MEETING ON VOG will be held by the state Legislature’s task force tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Rep. Bob Herkes, who proposed the task force to tackle problems with air quality and volcanic emissions, said he wants people to come to the meeting to share their experiences with vog so that the state government and Legislature will understand its effects on Ka`u residents and the environment. 

CONCERNING CONSTRUCTION of the shelter and gym to withstand earthquakes, project planner David Yamamoto said that “seismic design will be in accordance with the latest building code, which is the 2006 International Building Code as amended by State of Hawai`i Building Code. A building’s ability to resist seismic forces is difficult to relate to an earthquake magnitude for reason that seismic forces are dependent not only on magnitude but also distance, depth, geological properties along its travel paths” and other factors, he said.

      The EA is available at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html and at Pahala and Na`alehu Public Libraries.
      Comments can be sent to Tammy Kapali, Planner, PBR Hawai`i & Associates, Inc., 1001 Bishop Street, Suite 650 Honolulu, HI 96813 or faxed to 808-523-1402. Comments can also be sent to County of Hawai`i Department of Public Works, Attn: David Yamamoto, Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7, Hilo, HI 96720 or faxed to 808-961-8630.

Rep. Denny Coffman

THE STATE REAPPORTIONMENT COMMISSION is scheduled to meet tomorrow to finalize proposed maps that create new boundaries for state Senate and House seats. 

      Proposed House of Representative boundaries have Denny Coffman representing Ka`u from its northwest border to west of Punalu`u, if he were to run for re-election. Coffman’s current district includes areas from North Kona to Honokohau.
      Coffman was appointed chair of the House Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection after Rep. Hermina Morita resigned to become chair of the Public Utilities Commission. He also serves as a member of the committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce; Housing; Judiciary; and Water, Land & Ocean Resources. Coffman’s information on the Hawai`i State Legislature website says he has been “a leading advocate for environmental protections and renewable energy opportunities for a sustainable future” and that he “is working on legislation to help business people obtain loans from the private sector to create or expand businesses by providing tax credits only if a solid realistic business plan is prepared and implemented.”

Walter Kahiwa, Jr.

A NEW COMMUNITY-RUN SCHOOL is planned for Miloli`i starting in August, according to former public and Kamehameha school teacher Walter Kahiwa, Jr., of Hauoli Kamana`o Church. Speaking at the annual La `Elima event last Saturday at Miloli`i halau, he noted that the dropout rate of children from Miloli`i is high because they spend hours on the bus going to and from school. Kahiwa said that a number of people, like himself, who grew up in Miloli`i, want to mentor this generation of children and will base learning on culture and the environment as well as life skills needed for the outside world. The annual La `Elima event celebrates the fishing village’s survival of a massive earth shift and kaiko`o, or big seas. According to Kahiwa, the church, established in 1842, was left floating during the great earthquake of 1868 when the land subsided below sea level. However, the water lifted the church and helped it “surf” to the new shoreline, undamaged. Villagers used fallen coconut trees as rollers to move it to its current location.

AFTER DARK IN THE PARK tonight presents a new anthology of modern mo`olelo entitled Don’t Look Back: Hawaiian Myths Made New. The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Author Christine Thomas reads from her book and signs copies. Two-dollar donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

VIST OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.