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Sunday, August 02, 2015

Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015

When it arrives in Hawai`i, Guillermo will still be a tropical storm, packing high winds and heavy rains. Map from Weather Underground
ROUNDUP AND OTHER HERBICIDES come before Hawai`i County Council once again. The Environmental Management Committee considers Kohala Council member Margaret Wille’s Bill 71 Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Council Chambers in Hilo. The bill would limit spraying at county parks and along county-maintained and county-owned roads, bikeways, sidewalks, trails and waterways to herbicides labeled “caution.” All herbicides labeled “dangerous,” “warning,” “toxic to fish” or “toxic to fish and wildlife” or that indicate a risk of groundwater contamination would be prohibited. Products listed to be banned include glyphosate, atrazine, dioxin, picloram, bipyridinium, diphenyl ether and tyrosine.
Warren Lee
      “You’ve got kids and animals playing in it and not being aware that it’s been sprayed,” Wille told Nancy Cook Lauer, of West Hawai`i Today. “There is great concern about the cumulative impact of toxins on our kids and what we can do to decrease that and take some responsibility.”
      According to Cook Lauer, Wille said she’s sponsoring the bill on behalf of “the birds and the bees that can’t come testify.”
      Public Works Director Warren Lee told Cook Lauer his budget doesn’t have enough money for staff to clear weeds by hand on 1,000 miles of roadway. Currently, the county uses herbicides to control weeks on 25 to 30 percent of roadsides. Mowers maintain about 60 to 65 percent of roads, and another 10 percent is done manually.
      Ka`u residents can participate in the committee meeting via videoconferencing at Na`alehu State Office Building. The meeting is streamed live at hawaiicounty.gov. Click on Council Meetings.
      See westhawaiitoday.com.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

THE CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER in Honolulu is issuing advisories on Hurricane Guillermo following the storm leaving the East Pacific at 140 degrees latitude on its track toward Hawai`i. Guillermo is about 845 miles east-southeast of Hilo and moving west-northwest near 14 miles an hour.
      Guillermo is expected to continue to move toward the northwest, placing it near the Hawaiian Islands by Wednesday as a tropical storm with high winds and heavy rain.
      According to CPHC, it is important for those in the main Hawaiian Islands not to focus too closely on the exact forecast track of Guillermo. With an average 72-hour forecast track error of about 150 statute miles, it is still too soon to determine with certainty which islands are most likely to experience the greatest impacts from Guillermo. It is also important to note that significant impacts from tropical cyclones can extend well away from the center.
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OHA Trustee Peter Apo
OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS Trustee Peter Apo explores the possibility of a Thirty Meter Telescope Temple on his website at peterapo.com. TMT is facing opposition to its construction at the summit of Mauna Kea by people who consider the mountain sacred and their supporters. State officials imposed emergency rules limiting access to the summit and have made arrests and issued citations to those who broke the rules.
      “Given the debate over the TMT, it is ironic that the telescope may end up being the most culturally sensitive one of them all,” Apo says. “The people behind it persevered through a seven-year planning and permitting process and met all the requirements of federal and state law. They continue their outreach to embrace legitimate cultural issues, but not a request to leave the mountain.
      “Much knowledge of the stars came from centuries of sitting on mountaintops observing and memorizing star paths. For Polynesians, the centuries spent studying the stars and building sky maps that provided the navigational knowledge to explore and discover many specks of land over one-third of the earth’s surface is a singular distinguishing characteristic that may be unmatched by any other society on earth. All of this was accomplished long before Magellan ventured into the Pacific.
      “This is all part of why there is little reason to think our ancestors would have brushed aside the TMT. Their quest for knowledge about the stars was too important to them. The truth is that no one knows for sure what they would or wouldn’t feel about the TMT if they were here now. For all we know, they might have been in favor of building a temple — as they often did for important purposes — so they could place the TMT on it.”
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Hard copies of this star map and instructions are in the August issue
of The Ka`u Calendar. Map from Jerry Hudson and Lew Cook
THE AUGUST ISSUE OF STARS OVER KA`U by astronomer Lew Cook includes information about Venus, Pluto and several nebulae. 
      “Venus is still bright this month, all the while growing larger,” Cook wrote. “By the end of the month, it has become larger but has slimmed down into a thinner crescent than last month. It sets before the time the chart is drawn for, but as soon as it is getting dark, it stands out brilliantly in the west.
      “Pluto made a spectacular splash in the news last month. The New Horizons spacecraft passed Pluto after traveling for ten years to get there. The results were magnificent! Pluto is in Sagittarius, and its position is marked on the chart with its symbol, a run together “PL,” but again, please, don’t waste your time looking for it because it is so very faint (14th magnitude) and in an area packed with stars. Without a large telescope and good star charts there is no way to distinguish it from the background stars. The symbol and the name, Pluto, honor Percival Lowell, who founded the observatory at Flagstaff, AZ. Lowell began and funded the search for Pluto. Clyde Tombaugh actually discovered the planet on photographic plates in 1930. 
      “Those of you who have telescopes or large binoculars can enjoy several nebulae in Sagittarius. Remember also, the center of the Milky Way (our home galaxy) is in Sagittarius. There, the massive black hole dominates its neighbors. The black hole’s effects on its neighboring stars can’t be seen in optical views, but due to its effects on the nearby stars, it’s location can be determined quite closely. It is near the spout of the teapot. 
      “To the north of the teapot there are several beautiful nebulae. We discussed the Lagoon nebula last month. This month we’ll mention several more. About a degree north of the Lagoon Nebula, those of you with telescopes can look for and enjoy the Trifid Nebula. Then, continue further northwest, about eight degrees. There you will find (after concentrating on the task at hand and not letting yourself get distracted by the beauty of the night sky) the Omega nebula and two degrees to the north to the Eagle nebula. The Eagle contains what NASA termed “The Pillars of Creation” in what may be the Hubble Space Telescope’s most beautiful photo. All these nebulae are marked on the chart.” 
      See your copy of The Ka`u Calendar or kaucalendar.com.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

TUTU AND ME TRAVELING PRESCHOOL is currently enrolling students for the 2015-16 school year. The no-cost mobile preschool nurtures the bond between tutu, caregivers and their keiki. The program is open to children ages birth to five and their caregivers. 
      Sessions are from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Na`alehu Community Center on Monday and Wednesday and Pahala Community Center on Tuesday and Thursday.
      Call 929-8571 for more information and to register.

THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY is Ka`u High School Alumni and Friends’ 14th annual Community Potluck. Everyone is invited to bring a favorite dish to Pahala Community Center on Sunday, Aug. 23 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a day of fun, good food and live music.
      The theme is Back to the Future. All attendees will be going back in time to their high school days to celebrate their sixteenth birthday. The Class of 1958, celebrating their 75th birthday, is donating a cake with 16 candles.
      Chase Cabudol’s group will start the entertainment, blending old melodies and more recent ones. Makanau, led by Barbara Baruz and her daughters Sophia and Denise, will follow and take the crowd back to the good old days and stir up memories. Ernest Kalani will join in and add to the nostalgia. Pahala Kupuna Halau will be performing a few hula numbers. Others are welcome to join in and share their talents.
      For more information, call Margaret Ann Cabudol at 928-8164 or James Yamaki at 969-6828.

KA`U RESIDENT DICK HERSHBERGER brings Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder Thomas Jaggar to life Tuesday during A Walk into the Past. Programs begin at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Participants then take a short walk to the Whitney Vault, where Jaggar conducted seismic and other research.