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Sunday, September 13, 2015

Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015

Registration is still open for the second annual Ka`u Coffee Trail Run coming up on Saturday.
Photo from Taylor's Treasures Photography
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO EXPLAINED her support of President Obama’s international agreement to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program on the Senate floor Thursday. “I’d ask my colleagues to set politics aside and focus on the facts,” Hirono said. “The fact is, this agreement is the best option we have to stop Iran from getting a bomb.
Sen. Mazie Hirono
      “First, we’ve reached this agreement with the backing of our international partners, including China and Russia. I met with the ambassadors of these countries and asked them point blank — would they come back to the table to negotiate a new deal? The answer was no. The UK ambassador to the U.S. also said no. I’d remind my colleagues that after decades of U.S. unilateral sanctions, it was the weight of international sanctions that forced Iran to the table. We need our partners to make this deal work, and our partners have committed that if we choose this path they will be there.
      “Second, the terms of the agreement, implemented effectively, cut off Iran’s ability to create a bomb. Their uranium stockpiles will be all but eliminated. We’ll have unprecedented oversight over the entire nuclear supply chain.
      “The U.S intelligence community has indicated that it will gain valuable new insights through this agreement. We’ll have veto authority over what goes into Iran, and we know what has to come out of Iran. 
      “These unprecedented oversight provisions have the support of arms control experts, nuclear scientists, diplomats, military and intelligence leaders who believe that this deal will make the difference.
      “Finally, this agreement isn’t about trust. The deal requires verification that Iran is cooperating before sanctions are lifted. If Iran cheats, we can snap back sanctions with international support.
      “We can initiate military operations if need be.
      “Let me repeat: the deal before us doesn’t prevent the U.S. from taking military action if needed.
      “This agreement is not perfect. However, rejecting this deal means risking our international cooperation, our security and our ability to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
      “Based on the facts before us, this agreement deserves our support. Let’s put the politics aside. I urge my colleagues to support the agreement.”
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Trojans begin the second half kicking
to the Daggers. Photo from KHPES
KA`U HIGH’S EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL TEAM won in a fiercely fought battle Thursday when they met Pahoa at Kea`au Field. The game was originally scheduled for yesterday but was moved to accommodate other changes. The Trojans led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter. Pahoa took over the lead 22-26 at halftime and kept it until Ka`u tied the game 48-48 with only one minute remaining. Then, with only four seconds left, Evan Manoha ran two yards for a touchdown. Final score, 54-48.
      The Trojans dedicated their win to Kobie Bivings, a classmate who lost his battle with cancer last week. Josh Pacheco, of Big Island Now, said Manoha “dug deep in memory of his friend.”
      Manoha told Pacheco, “Every time we needed that score, I just tried to focus and play hard for our classmate that passed, because he could’ve been out here with us.”
      Coach DuWayne Ke told Pacheco that Bivings “was a good boy. He loved playing football, but he couldn’t be on the field. That was the hardest part about it all.”
      On Twitter, a tweet from Ka`u High after the game read “For Kob.”
      See bigislandnow.com.
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IN GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, WAHINE TROJANS traveled from Ka`u High to Christian Liberty Academy Friday. Junior Varsity won 25-15 and 25-16. Varsity’s match went three games, with Ka`u taking the second game 25-18 after CLA overcame them in the first game 27-25. CLA finished off with a third game score 25-15.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY scientists remembered a colleague in the current issue of Volcano Watch.
      “During the 1950s, a decade of major change in volcano monitoring, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory was moving from the mechanical into the electronic age, and staff were needed who could fulfill the requirements of the new technology,” the scientists wrote.
      “In late 1958, George Kojima was hired by HVO, initially to work with equipment for analyzing volcanic gases. But these early days of modernization were not a time only for specialists. No matter what the job or when it had to be done, George was there. Wet tilt surveys, done in the middle of the night, working on seismic instrumentation, precise leveling along roads and remote parts of Kilauea Volcano, gas sampling—George did all these things, and much more.
George Kojima, c. 1959, analyzing volcanic gases
using HVO's mass spectrometer. Photo from USGS
      “As HVO’s seismic network grew, George became an integral part of building, expanding, and maintaining seismic equipment. This job proved to be a perfect intersection of person, interests, requirements, and technology, especially because the seismic network was still, to a large extent, designed and developed locally.
      “In a career that spanned five decades, George was the epitome of a dedicated and reliable colleague, known for his helpful manner and hearty laugh. As scientists learning about volcano monitoring rotated into and out of assignments at HVO, George was one of several threads that held the observatory together.
      “George understood how things worked, or should work, and how things went together. An innovator and inventor, he could fix anything. He was also an insightful, resourceful, caring, and diligent person.
      “Through the 1960s, radios replaced miles and miles of cable stretched across the volcano to bring data from remote sites back to the observatory. This greatly expanded the electronics component of George’s work, which required, and provided opportunities for, innovation.
      “HVO scientists remember field missions in the shadow of a volcanic plume, when they struggled with the electronics for sending data back to the observatory. With little more than a screwdriver, a couple of strands of wire, and electrical tape (much like the television character MacGyver), George repeatedly resurrected the reassuring hum of radio transmission.
      The scientists describe another of Kojima’s innovations that resulted in a United States patent for an Annunciator System, filed in 1968. “This system was able to discriminate among the durations of elevated seismic signals coming from various stations on the Island of Hawai`i. It automatically activated upon sustained volcanic tremor and swarms of small earthquakes that indicated a likely eruption, but would not activate on individual small earthquakes that are otherwise common in Hawai`i. Eventually, this annunciator system was connected to the HVO alarm system that would notify scientists in the observatory of the changing activity. It also led to an automated 24/7 volcano monitoring capability that provided telephone notifications of earthquake swarms and tremor to HVO scientists when they were not at the observatory. 
      “As HVO’s seismic capabilities grew, George eventually specialized in seismic electronics and became widely recognized for his expertise. He trained scientists and technicians visiting from foreign countries and carried HVO’s technology beyond the U.S. to monitor volcanoes in the Northern Marianas Islands and in Indonesia. After retiring in 1990, he helped with the international volcano monitoring summer training programs conducted by the University of Hawai`i at Hilo’s Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes.
      “In early August, after a brief struggle with cancer, George, a native of Kaua`i and a U.S. Army Korean War veteran, passed away.
      “Looking back, we remember and honor George Kojima’s work and his central place in the evolution of volcano monitoring. Although current monitoring technologies have advanced far beyond those used when George retired, his contributions to the science of volcanology and the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory will not be forgotten.”
      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch.
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KA`U RUNNERS AND WALKERS can still sign up for Saturday’s Ka`u Coffee Trail Run. Fees through tomorrow are $55 for the Half Marathon, $45 for the 10K and $35 for the 5K. Rates are $20 higher on race morning. High school team members can sign up for any race for $10.
      Runners will receive a massage, lunch and a race goodie bag, including a T-shirt and more, race organizers say.
      Invite your friends and family to cheer you on and enjoy local food, live music and a Silent Auction.
      Register at race360.com/21357.

KA`U RESIDENTS CAN PARTICIPATE in Hawai`i County government meetings on Wednesday via videoconferencing at Na`alehu State Office Building. In Kona, County Council meets at 9 a.m., Planning Committee at 2 p.m. and Finance Committee at 2:30 p.m. 
      Agendas and live streams of the meetings are available at hawaiicounty.gov.

An Experimental Watercolors workshop takes
place Saturday. Photo from VAC
PATTI PEASE JOHNSON INVITES Ka`u artists to register for her Experimental Watercolors workshop on Saturday, Sept. 19 from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. Each student will create three to five separate 8×8-inch watercolor paintings on hot press paper using pre-broken glass as a catalyst to spark creativity. Fees are $60 and $54 for VAC members plus a $10 supply fee per person. Beginner and intermediate artists are welcome. 
      For more information or to register, see volcanoartcenter.org or call 967-8222.

UHANE POHAKU NO MOKU O HAWAI`I, a nonprofit that works with challenged youth though agriculture and traditional Hawaiian skill building, sponsors a roast pork dinner featuring music by Mark Yamanaka on Thursday, Oct. 1 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the grounds of Pahala Plantation House. Yamanaka is a multiple Na Hoku Hanohano award winner famous for his songwriting and falsetto.
      Donation is $25 per person. Call 315-7032 for reservations. 

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

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_September2015.pdf.






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