Monday, June 22, 2015

Ka`u News Briefs Monday, June 22, 2015

Large-scale re-introduction of native plants such as lobeliad is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow.
Photo by Dr. Robert Robichaux
HAWAI`I COFFEE CO., which supports the Miss Ka`u Coffee pageant scholarship fund and markets a Chef Alan Wong blend of Ka`u Coffee, has a new president. Daniel Dinell replaces Jim Wayman, who founded the company and stepped down earlier this year. The company owns Royal Kona Coffee, which it purchased from C. Brewer years ago, and also owns the largest roasting facility in the islands, located on O`ahu. Its other brands include Lion Coffee, Royal Hawaiian Coffee and Hawaiian Islands Tea.
      Dinell comes from Hilton Grand Vacations and has two decades experience in hospitality. He also worked in state government for the Hawai`i Community Development Authority.
      See more at hawaiicoffeecompany.com.
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Hawai`i County encourages residents to seek primary health care.
GOT DOC? THAT’S THE QUESTION Hawai`i County asking residents to encourage them to find a primary health care provider.
      “Imagine a Hawai`i Island where emergency rooms are nearly empty because preventive care services have been integrated into everyone’s health routine for years. Early mornings before sunrise, a group of kupuna does tai chi at the park,” the website gotdoc.org states. “Come lunchtime, kids gather with fellow classmates to play and eat nutritious meals. At pau hana, surfers paddle out for a quick session, and weight loss groups meet up for support and a brisk, evening walk.”
      In Hawai`i, one in every 10 visits to the emergency room is preventable. Easy, common sense measures like routine checkups could save the state $325 million every year.
      On Hawai`i Island, nearly 40,000 adults — about one in every five — don’t have a regular doctor. “That’s a lot of aunties, coworkers, cousins and kupuna at risk for serious health problems,” according to the website. “When members of our community neglect themselves, we all suffer the consequences.
      “Take responsibility for your health and well-being. The first step is having a primary care physician.”
      The website shows how to find a primary care doctor, gives tips on living well and tells stories of individuals who suffer because they don’t have primary care physicians who could have caught symptoms before they turned into major health issues.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

AmeriCorps volunteers helped clean up and organize Pahala Hongwanji
schoolhouse. Photo by Julia Neal
AMERICORPS, WITH TEACHERS IN KA`U, is facing cuts, and yesterday the New York Times came to its defense. The editorial board wrote, “It would be hardhearted and counterproductive to squeeze any more money from the already meager federal funding for public service programs that help struggling schoolchildren, veterans, the elderly and communities stricken by natural disasters. Yet a House subcommittee this week approved a spending bill that cuts federal financing for the already beleaguered Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees many programs, the most well known of which is AmeriCorps.”
      According to the story, the proposed cuts would reduce federal investment in the community service corporation by about a third, would gut some programs and shut others down. The board wrote, “Beyond that, thousands of teachers, tutors and mentors would be withdrawn from low-performing schools across the country. That’s too big a price to pay for a savings so small that it doesn’t even rate as a rounding error in the national budget. It’s up to President Obama to fight for the national service program and make sure it remains intact.”
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Sacred Mauna Kea Hui members protest TMT. Photo by Kai Markell
SACRED MAUNA KEA HUI and its head facilitator Kamahana Kealoha responded to Thirty Meter Telescope organization’s announcement that it would restart construction on Wednesday.
      Construction stopped about three months ago when protesters, who call themselves protectors, blocked crews from reaching the TMT site. Following arrests of 31 people, Gov. David Ige asked TMT to halt proceedings while he discussed the issue with involved parties. Last month, Ige announced his support of TMT’s right to continue with the project and protesters right to protest peacefully.
      “SMKH reaffirms strongly, proudly and with all aloha our commitment to reinforce the blockade and continue to pursue legal routes while being forced to protect the Mauna with our bodies,” according to a statement from the hui.
      “SMKH strongly feels that many laws have been circumvented that make University of Hawai`i, Department of Land & Natural Resources, the state of Hawai`i and the TMT project disparagingly liable for breach of law and legal processes and with the Supreme Court case confirmed that it would be illegal, immoral and unethical for the TMT project and its supports to disallow the full and entire process of law to run its course regardless of the governor’s relinquishing of responsibility in giving the OK for the TMT project to move forward.
      “We implore the governor, UH, DLNR, the state of Hawai`i and the TMT project to rescind its intention to continue desecration and violation of the mandate to steward the endangered species environment that is our Mountain’s summit and reaffirm that all these entities are subject to all responsibility for the well-being of the Mauna and protectors being forced by the governor, UH, DLNR, the state of Hawai`i and the TMT project to put body, freedom and life in jeopardy in order to facilitate the just process of law that is still in motion and should be respected.
      “SMKH reaffirms its commitment to continue to call on its worldwide and local support for all protection efforts of the Mauna including continuing to put our bodies between the desecration of construction and our sacred Mauna and endangered species environment so poorly managed and neglected in regards to legal mandates set in place currently meant to protect the conservation district and cultural resources that are the Piko, or sacred summit, of our first-born elder Mauna Kea.”
      See sacredmaunakea.com.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Sen. Mazie Hirono
Sen. Brian Schatz
U.S. SENS. MAZIE HIRONO AND BRIAN SCHATZ are divided regarding the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that the Senate passed last week. Schatz voted for the bill, and Hirono opposed it.
      “Every defense bill has challenges and tradeoffs,” Hirono said, “but this year’s NDAA raised serious questions about our national values.
      “In NDAA, Republicans resorted to a budget gimmick to provide sequester relief just for the Department of Defense while leaving the full burden of sequester for domestic programs such as the FBI, State Department, Treasury, Coast Guard, Homeland Security, education, transportation and other important priorities that contribute to our national security.
      “This approach divides our country into two Americas — defense on one side and everything and everyone else on the other. I call this un-American.”
      Schatz said, “The defense authorization bill includes many provisions that strengthen our national defense, reinforce the need to rebalance to the Asia Pacific — through which Hawai`i is central — and provide our service members with the equipment and training they need to protect America. The bill specifically states that any withdrawal of U.S. forces from U.S. Pacific Command would undermine the rebalance to the Asia Pacific, and that U.S. forces under the operational control of U.S. Pacific Command — like those of U.S. Army Pacific based in Hawai`i — should be increased, consistent with our commitment to the region.”
      While Schatz objects to the budget using Overseas Contingency Operations to circumvent the 2011 Budget Control Act’s spending caps to fund the military’s core operations, he said he will address those concerns in appropriations bills on the Senate floor.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Dick Hershberger, as Thomas Jaggar, explains volcano activity to A Walk
into the Past participants. Photo by Ron Johnson
VISITORS TO HAWAI`I VOLCANOES National Park tomorrow can enjoy two programs.
      Ka`u resident Dick Hershberger brings Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder Thomas Jaggar to life tomorrow every other Tuesday at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Participants meet at Kilauea Visitor Center for a short walk to Whitney Vault near Volcano House.
      The topic at After Dark in the Park at 7 p.m. is Silverswords & Lobeliads. Dr. Robert Robichaux discusses highly collaborative, large-scale endangered plant re-introduction efforts on Hawai`i Island at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium.
      $2 donations support After Dark programs. Park entrance fees apply.

FAMED, AWARD-WINNING GUITARIST John Keawe brings A Tribute to Slack Key to Na`alehu Public Library tomorrow at 3 p.m. Originally planned for last Thursday, the program was rescheduled due to a miscommunication, according to library manager Sara Kamibayashi. 
      For more information, call 939-2442.

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

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf and
kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf.
See kacalendar.com/KauCalendar_June2015.pdf.