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Sunday, March 08, 2015

Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, March 8, 2015

Sen. Mazie Hirono and Rep. Mark Takai shared lei greetings with others commemorating the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. Photos from Office of Sen. Mazie Hirono
THIS WEEKEND MARKS 50 YEARS since marchers attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., were brutally beaten as they demonstrated for voting rights. Called Bloody Sunday, the event occurred on March 7, 1965, when state troopers and county posse attacked 600 unarmed marchers with billy clubs and tear gas. Marchers were on a 50-mile trek to Montgomery to protest discriminatory requirements and practices that disenfranchised most of the millions of African Americans across the South since the turn of the century.
A contingent from Hawai`i joined marchers in Selma
50 years ago.
      Yesterday, Sen. Mazie Hirono, joined by Rep. Mark Takai, commemorated the event by presenting lei to those gathered at the bridge. A contingent from Hawai`i did the same 50 years ago, carrying a sign that read, “Hawai`i knows integration works.”
      Sen. Brian Schatz said, “Today is about remembering those brave marchers who on Bloody Sunday 50 years ago faced deep prejudice and perilous danger for the sake of a cornerstone of freedom – the right to vote – without which there is no democracy. Beyond remembering, we recognize that the trail they blazed in principle and fortitude is yet incomplete and calls to us for its completion. Let us honor their memory by rededicating ourselves to equal voting rights for all, defeating voter suppression wherever it festers and ensuring that freedom’s ring reaches everyone in America.”
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Audrey Hidano
AUDREY HIDANO IS GOV. DAVID IGE’S choice to serve as Deputy Director of the Department of Accounting and General Services. 
       Hidano has experience in government leadership positions and in the private sector. She has twice served as Deputy Director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and most recently as Deputy Director at the Department of Transportation.
      Hidano co-founded Hidano Construction, Inc., a general contracting company that specializes in residential and light commercial construction, and is co-owner of Rim-Pac, Inc. a construction company that specializes in solid surface work. She began her career as a public affairs analyst for Verizon.
      Hidano is active in a number of business and community organizations including Nuuanu-Punchbowl Neighborhood Board, Nuuanu YMCA, the Hawai`i Employer-Union Benefits Trust Fund and the Building Industry Association. She is a graduate of Honolulu Business College and McKinley High School.
      “Audrey Hidano is an experienced government leader who also understands what it takes to make a small business successful and a community thrive,” Ige said. “She is a team player, and I know she’ll make a positive difference.”
      “It’s an honor to be able to continue to serve the people of Hawai`i,” said Hidano. “I look forward to working with the dedicated employees in the department on behalf of the public.”
      Hidano’s nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.
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GOV. DAVID IGE HAS MADE APPOINTMENTS to the Department of Health. Lynn Fallin is Director of Behavior Health. Fallin has over 25 years of extensive experience in executive level policy and administration in health, education and human services. She has served under four governors in cabinet positions in two states – Hawai`i and Oregon. From 2011 to the present, she has served as Deputy Director of the Behavioral Health Administration at DOH. From 2003 to 2010, she served as Executive Director of Ho`okako`o Corporation, an education-focused nonprofit. She served as a Policy Advisor in the Office of the Governor from 1999 to 2002, Executive Director of the Oregon Commission on Children and Families from 1995 to 1998, Deputy Director of the Department of Human Services from 1991 to 1994 and Director of the Governor’s Office on Children and Youth from 1986 to 1991.
Lynn Fallin, state Director of Behavior Health
      Fallin serves on a number of national and local boards and commissions and has been recognized nationally and locally for her leadership by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, National Governors Association Zero to Three, Hawai`i Community Foundation Pono Program and National Association for the Education of Young Children Hawai`i Chapter.
      Danette Wong Tomiyasu is Deputy Director for Health Resources. She most recently served as Chief of Family Health Services Division at DOH, overseeing statewide public health surveillance, systems, programs and policy development for Maternal and Child Health, Children with Special Health Care Needs, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, Primary Care and Rural Health and Oral Health. Wong Tomiyasu previously served as Chief of the Chronic Disease Management and Control Branch from October 2001 to August 2011. She also served with the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health for 10 years overseeing critical school health and nursing services for the Seattle Public Schools.
      Wong Tomiyasu received a Masters of Business Administration in Health Care Management from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Puget Sound in Washington.
      Terry Byers has been appointed Director, Executive Office on Aging. Byers brings more than two decades of experience in public health, most recently in DOH as Chief of the Maternal and Child Health Branch. She has also been Chief of the Office of Health Care Assurance and has served in various capacities in the state Office of Rural Health, Office of Planning, Policy and Program Development, Office of the Director and Healthy Hawai`i Initiative.
      Prior to joining DOH, Byers was vice president of the Healthcare Association of Hawai`i, a nonprofit representing Hawai`i’s healthcare providers including acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, home care agencies and hospices, as well as community based providers.
      Byers, an alumna of University of Hawai`i at Manoa, began her career in public service as a staff member for Sen. Spark Matsunaga in Washington, D.C. She then served as Sen. Daniel Akaka’s health policy advisor for 12 years before returning home in 2002.
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Ka`u High's Shavon Mello-Waiwaiole took fourth in the state wrestling
tournament yesterday. Photo from KHPES
KA`U HIGH SENIOR WRESTLER Shavon Mello-Waiwaiole took fourth in the state tournament yesterday. 
      In her first match at the tournament, Mello-Waiwaiole pinned her opponent in 17 seconds to move on. Down 8-3 in the second period of the next match, she did a reverse to pin her opponent for the win. Although she dropped her semi-final match, she wrestled Big Island Interscholastic Federation champ Ebony Ayers in consolation bracket and pinned her for fourth place. 
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`IMI PONO NO KA `AINA, the free environmental education and outreach program for Three Mountain Alliance, is now accepting applications for its 2015 Summer Student Enrichment Program.
      This fun and rewarding program focuses environmental stewardship, natural and cultural history of Hawai`i Island and emphasizes learning through scientific and cultural practices. Students must be in grades six through 12 when applying.
      Each session is two weeks long, with two three-day camp trips. Session One is from June 8 through June 19; Session Two, June 29 through July 3. 
      “This is a great summer program for kids,” said Megan Lamson, of Hawai`i Wildlife Fund. “HWF has worked with this group for years now, and it an outstanding mentorship program for our youth.”
      There will be local pickups available in Ka`u.
      Interested parents can contact Lahela at 333-8241 or imipononokaaina@gmail.com for more information.
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SENIOR ID CARDS, for residents ages 60 and over, are available tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Pahala Community Center and 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. Call 928-3100 for more information.

KA`U ARTISTS CAN CHOOSE BETWEEN two workshops at Volcano Art Center next weekend. Patti Pease Johnson shares knowledge of color, composition and correcting problems during her Soft Pastel Still Life workshop, Saturday, March 14 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
      A two-day Stained Glass workshop is on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 15, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Claudia McCall teaches basic techniques, including glass cutting, foiling, soldering and completing with patina and polishing compound.
      See volcanoartcenter.org or call 967-8222 for more information and to sign up.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.


See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_March2015.pdf.
See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf and
kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf.