Ka`u News Briefs Monday, May 29, 2017

Hawai`i National Guard Youth Challenge Academy cadets travled to KMC today to participate
in Memorial Day Ceremonies, including presentation of the colors. Photo from Youth Challenge

MAYOR HARRY KIM GAVE THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS this Memorial Day at Kilauea Military Camp today.  The theme was Celebrate-Honor-Remember. Children of Mountain View Elementary School sang patriotic songs. Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park waived entrance fees for 30 minutes before the 3 p.m. ceremony. A special buffet was served after the Memorial Day event.
      Members of the Hawai`i National Guard Youth Challenge Academy at Kulani presented the colors during the ceremony.

Mayor Harry Kim arrived to Kilauea Military Camp to
give the Memoral Day Address, greeted by manager
of the recreation and hotel facility manager Randy
Hart. Photo from KMC

      Hawai`i National Guard Youth Challenge on the Big Island is one of two in the state. A 17.5 month quasi-military training program consists of a 22-week Residential Phase and 52-week Post-Residential Phase.  A statement from the Kulani administration says that "Kulani, like the other 34 Challenge programs throughout the United Statesa and Puerto Rico, continues the tradition of carrying out the mission to provide participants with the values, skills, education and self-discipline necessary to become successful, productive and responsible adults." Kulani holds two classes a year and offers a CBASE Curriculum to provide opportunity to earn a high school diploma.
      Providing the Color Guard for the Memorial Day Service is one of many public activities that also included help with a recent high school graduation.

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GOV. DAVID IGE SENT OUT THIS MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGE: "As friends and neighbors prepare to lay flowers and wreaths, and float lanterns across the waters of Hawai’i this Memorial Day, Dawn’s and my thoughts are invariably with the military families who strengthen our community by their example. They are the embodiment of Hawai'i's long history of proud military service.
     "Both Dawn's father and my own served in the distinguished 100th infantry battalion during the Second World War, along with so many others. We know the pride of loved ones in military service. We also grieve with the families whose brave sons and daughters, as well as mothers and fathers, leave home to serve, never to return.
     "On this day, let us all reflect on the sacrifices made by those who serve in uniform, protecting us near and far. And let us strive, together, for a world in which need for those sacrifices may be diminished.

Sen. Mazie Hirono less then five days after her kidney was removed
for cancer. She sent out a Memorial Day message today.
Photo from Office of Sen. Mazie Hirono

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SEN. MAZIE HIRONO SENT OUT THIS MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGE: "Memorial Day is an opportunity for us as a nation to honor our service members, remember those who gave their life in service to our country, and reflect on the legacy they left behind. Please join me and take a moment to honor the sacrifices made by our fallen service members, and reaffirm our commitment to support them and their families."
     Hirono returned to the U.S. Senate last Monday after undergoing the removal of a kidney for cancer treatment the previous Thursday. She said cancer was also found in her seventh rib. "I still have a way to go in my journey to recovery, but I expect to be back in fighting form." She said she will continue to work "with all of you on the same page of common cause. Aloha."

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HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK ENTRANCE FEES INCREASE this Thursday, June 1. A statement from HVNP says the hike is the last phase of a three-year incremental plan to meet national standards for parks with similar visitor amenities.

      The 2017 per-vehicle fee will change from $20 to $25 and the pass is valid for seven days. The per-person fee (the rate bicyclists and pedestrians pay) will increase from $10 to $12, and the motorcycle fee will increase to $20.

Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park entry fees increase this Thursday. Photo from HVNP

     The popular annual Tri-Park Pass will increase from $25 to $30 in 2017. The annual Tri-Park Pass is available to all visitors and allows unlimited entry for one year to three national parks: Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, and Haleakalā National Park.

      Recreational entrance fees are not charged to holders of the Tri-Park Pass, America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Lands (“Interagency”) Pass, Senior, Access, Every Kid in  Park, 

Volunteer, or Military passes. These passes may be obtained at the park, or online. In addition, visitors less than 16 years old are not charged entrance fees.

Entrance fees at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park support ongoing

 trail maintenance, road and parking lot striping, cabin repairs, hike

 guides, restrooms, picnic tables, and much more.

Photo from HVNP

    Fee increases for the park’s backcountry and front-country campsites were implemented in October 2016. There is a $10 per night charge for the front-country campground at Kulanaokuaiki, up to seven consecutive nights; and a $10 per permit charge for backcountry campgrounds like Nāpau, ‘Āpua Point, and Halapē, up to three consecutive nights. Availability is on a first-come basis, not a reservation system. The camping permit fees are similar to other public camping fees statewide.

      In addition, entrance fees will increase for commercial tour companies on June 1. Road-based tour vans carrying one to six passengers pay a $25 base fee and starting June 1, will pay a $12 per-person rate to enter the park. The commercial tour per-person rate will remain at $12 through 2021. The base fee will not change. Non-road-based tour companies, i.e. hiking tour companies that are on trails more than touring the park by vehicle, don’t pay a base rate but their per-person entrance fees will increase under the schedule.

     An NPS report shows that 1,887,580 visitors to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park in 2016 spent $159,195,500 in communities near the park. That spending supported 1,917 jobs on island, and had a cumulative benefit to the local community of $199,923,400.

Dick Hershberger, of Ocean View, portrays
Thomas Jaggar, founder of Hawaiian
Volcano Observatory. Photo from HVNP

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A WALK IN THE PAST, tomorrow, May 30, features living history presenter Dick Hershberger, dressed in period costume and bringing back to life Thomas A. Jaggar, founder of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and a prominent figure in the history of volcanology, the study of volcanoes. The program takes place in the Whitney Vault, a 16-by-12-foot underground laboratory that still has original seismograph equipment, and is located under a mound in front of the Volcano House.

    Performances of A Walk into the Past are on select Tuesdays at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Meet at the Kīlauea Visitor Center. There is no charge for the performance, but park entrance fees do apply

A SINGLE VEHICLE ROLL-OVER ACCIDENT left one man dead and two others seriously injured on Sunday at 8:58 p.m. near the 33-mile marker on Hwy. 11 in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.
     The vehicle, a white Toyota Tacoma truck, was traveling in the Ka‘ū-bound lane when it rolled over and ejected all three occupants. A 48-year-old male passenger was found pinned beneath the truck and pronounced dead on the scene by Hawai‘i County Fire Department medics.
    The 43-year-old male driver, a Pāhoa resident, was placed under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. He was transported by ambulance to Hilo Medical Center for further evaluation, and escorted by National Park law enforcement personnel. The third occupant, a 53-year-old male, was also transported to Hilo Medical Center for treatment.
     One lane of Highway 11 remained open during the accident scene investigation, and both lanes were open and flowing freely early Monday morning. Names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin, and further investigation.
     This is the second fatal traffic accident in the park this year.
     Anyone with information regarding this accident can call Park Dispatch at (808) 985-6170.

Monument at Midway marking the battle that changed WWII.
Photo from HVNP

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KA`U FOOD PANTRY,  Tuesday, May 30 from 11:30 am.. to 1 p.m. at St. Jude's Episcopal Church in Ocean View.

AFTER DARK IN THE PARK on
Tuesday marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, the turning point in World War II in the Pacific. Midway is now within a National Marine Monument and is an historical site.
     The talk takes place at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. A $2 donation helps support programs.

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Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, May 28, 2017

Big Island Video News released its coverage of the ninth annual Ka`u Coffee Festival this evening,
highlighting volunteers Gail Kalani and Anne Fontes with the coffee cherry picking contest.
See www.bigislandvideonews.com. Photo by Dave Corrigan

KA`U COFFEE COLLEGE presented war plans to fight the coffee berry borer and studied the science of fermentation during the final event of the Ka`u Coffee Festival on Sunday. At Pahala Community Center, Ka`u Coffee farmers and coffee enthusiasts learned about the effort to reduce the coffee berry borer infestation by using predator insects, species of flat bark beetles that dine on the borer.

Hawai`i Forest & Trail guide (l) and Ka`u Coffee farmer Leo
 Norberte (r) teach a Ka`u Coffee Festivalenthusiast about the art
 and science of growing great coffee druing farm tours Saturday .
Photo by Jesse Tunison

     Andrea Kawabata, an Associate Extension Agent, and Jen Burt who works on the coffee berry borers challenge, both with University of Hawai`i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, talked about the history and positive outlook and hard work of Ka`u Coffee farmers in combating the coffee berry borer.

During Ka`u Coffee College on Sunday, Dr. Peter Follett

shared research on using predator insects to kill coffee 

berry borers. Photo by Julia Neal

     Dr. Peter Follett, a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, talked about ways to attract the flat bark beetle to coffee orchards. He displayed packets of pheromones- odiferous attractants that can be placed in an orchard to draw the flat bark beetle to populate the coffee farms and eat the borer. The bark beetle shows no interest and does not damage the coffee crop itself, he said. There are two flat bark beetle species already living in Hawai`i, which are particularly useful in fields where there are raisins or coffee cherry that has fallen to the ground, said Follett.
     Rather than depending on research institutions breeding the beetles and releasing them to farmers, he said it could be more efficient to attract those that are already living on farms and in the wild to the coffee orchards.

Many award winning Ka`u Coffees, such as Rusty's Hawaiian,
 are processed with water from the well in Pahala.
Photo by Julia Neal

     Dr. Shawm Steinman, owner of Daylight Mind Coffee Co. and Coffea Consulting, talked about the importance of fermentation process in determining coffee quality and coffee taste. Fermentation allows "critters" to remove the mucilage (the cherry) off the coffee bean. Yeast, bacteria and fungi all love devouring the coffee cherry, which is comprised of a lot of sugar and water.
     The level of yeast and the chemical changes that come along with the bacteria and fungi all help determine taste. Fermentation is faster in warmer temperatures with the "critters" moving around and multiplying much faster.
      Steinman said that fermentation can be achieved with adding water to the process or without adding water. He said that it is very important to only use clean water for the fermentation process to make sure it is clean.

Grace and the Rising Sun Coffee that she and Willie Tabios produce, earn
many awards, with specific tastes that may have some attributes from
fermentation when processing. Photo by Julia Neal

     He noted that coffee taste is subjective and coffee farmers and drinkers have particular tastes they prefer. However, using dirty water or over fermenting can lead to mould. While desired coffee tastes vary widely, coffee that tastes like spoiled milk - or other foulness - are obviously recognized as coffee gone bad.
      Whether the chlorine in the water at Pahala, where many people use fermenation to procdess coffee in backyard operations, may or may not make a difference in taste, suggested Steinman. Since Pahala farmers have produced so many award winning coffees, he pointed out, chlorine in drinking water at the level used here doesn't seem to have hurt Ka`u Coffee when processing with county water.

      The coffee farmers also visited Miles Mayne's coffee farm in Wood Valley for a demonstration of using the Penagos wet mill for processing coffee.
     On the last day of the Ka`u Coffee Festival, farmers discussed the Saturday Ho`olaulea as being the most successful to date in the number of people who attended and coffee sales by the farmers.

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Raina Whiting and Kalika Kastein, teachers at Na`alehu Elementary
School, received Masters Degrees in Education from The
Johns Hopkins University last week.

MASTERS DEGREES IN EDUCATION are earned by Raina Whiting and KAlika Kastein, both teachers at Na`alehu Elementary School. They graduated last week in Baltimore, each with a Master s of Science in Education degree from the Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins is rated sixth in the country for graduate degrees in education by U.S. News and World Report. Whiting, who ran for County Council last year and worked on the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders, will teach for her third year at Na`alehu Elementary School. Kastein will head for Japan.

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Rep. Tulsi remebered Hawai`i veterans today, including the first
Green Beret and Hawaiian killed in Vietnam, and the late
Native Hawaiian Pearl Harbor Survivor Herb Weatherwax.
Photo from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

IN A MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGE,  REP. TUSLI GABBARD talked about the true cost of war,  pointing to  “The cost that exists in the names on these grave stones. It exists in our hearts, and with the memories of our friends who never came home. It exists in the unbreakable bond between veterans of different generations, that we can come together knowing that we have each experienced in one way or another the same pain and broken heart of losing a comrade in arms, while simultaneously appreciating the special courage and selflessness of our friends who paid the ultimate price in service to our country.

      “Today, we honor them. We remember the many heroes who have roots here in Hawai`i and the Pacific who gave all.  People like First Lieutenant Nainoa Hoe, or SP5 Kimo Gabriel, the first Green Beret and the first Hawaiian killed in Vietnam.

     Many of us here knew “Uncle Herb” Weatherwax, a Native Hawaiian Pearl Harbor survivor, and we’d often see him at military events like today’s. He would have been one hundred years old this year, but Uncle Herb passed last December one week after the National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 75th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony. It was his dying wish to be there, and being of the Greatest Generation, of course he made it happen. I also remember some of my friends who served in the 29th Brigade Combat Team—Sergeant Deyson Cariaga and Staff Sergeant Frank Tiai, who did not come home with us.  As we reflect here today on the specialness of this place and the courage of these heroes, this day, and every day, let us honor our friends, fight for them as they sacrificed for us, and make the most of the life and time we have been blessed with.”

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The Directory is online for Ka`u

Ka`u News Briefs, Saturday May 27, 2017

Jamie Kailiawa (center right) danced at the Ka`u Coffee Festival Ho`olaulea for her late husband
Bull Kailiawa, one of the famous Ka`u Coffee farmers who helped build the industry. Kailiawa belongs
to Debbie Ryder's Halau Hula Leionalani. Photos by Julia Neal

THE NINTH ANNUAL KA`U COFFEE FESTIVAL drew more people to its all day Ho`olaulea and more sales of coffee on Saturday to make 2017 its best year, according to farmers and community members who put on the event. The Ho`olaulea, on the grounds of Pahala Community Center, featured four halau hula, ten musical groups and a karate dojo. It was emceed by Makana Kamahele, with the all-day entertainment sponsored by the Edmund C. Olson Trust II, with the sound by Ka`u Productions Sound & Lighting.  Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative, O Ka`u Kakou and many other volunteers supported the festival. 

Dayday Hopkins of Farm Credit Services Hawai`i said she plans
to continue to help the Ka`u Coffee farmers with land security.

      Expert baristas prepared and presented  Ka`u Coffee inside Pahala Community Center as part of the annual Coffee Experience. Miss Ka`u Coffee Jami Beck and her court met the public, their pageant having opened the festival season at Ka`u Coffee Mill with the competition for Miss Ka`u Coffee, Jr. Miss Ka`u Coffee, Miss Ka`u Peaberry and Miss Ka`u Coffee Flower.
      Tours to coffee farms carried visitors onto the fertile slopes of Mauna Loa where Ka`u Coffee grows.
      Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative presented its own and individual booths of its many farmers. The Palehua Cooperative and independent Ka`u Coffee farmers were well represented at the outdoor venue in Pahala.

Ka`u Coffee Mill sponsored the venue for Miss Ka`u Coffee. Its founder's trust
funded the entertainment for the Ho`olaulea. 

     Diversified ag was also on display, from Ka`u Valley Farms' new tea plantings to the Bee Boyz, who showed off a glassed in bee hive and bottled honey with honeycomb.
     Educational displays ranged from the Alakaha Kai Trail Association, showing its efforts to preserve the Ka`u Coast and public trails, to health organizations like Ka`u Rural Health Community Association, which has its own telemedicine kiosk in Pahala.
     Farm Credit Services of Hawai`i was represented by Dayday Hopkins who has worked with Ka`u Coffee farmers for decades. She said she will attempt to help Ka`u Coffee farmers finance the purchase of their farms, should the landowners subdivide them and put them up for sale. Hawai`i Farm Bureau, University of Hawai`i, the USDA and other providers of assistance and supplies and services to the farmers were on hand.
     Tours to coffee farms carried visitors onto the fertile slopes of Mauna Loa where Ka`u Coffee grows. 

Ka`u Valley Farms introduced its tea, which is growing
above Na`alehu. 

     Diversified agriculture was also on display, from Ka`u Valley Farms' new tea plantings to the Bee Boyz, who showed off a glassed in bee hive and bottled honey with honeycomb.
    Ka`u Coffee Festival, with thousands of people attending, also provided an opportunity for non-profit organizations to raise funds by selling food and refreshments. It was a place where artists and crafters cold extend their reach.

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WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT locations for Pahala and Na`alehu are up for public comment by this Tuesday.
       The Na`alehu project is budgeted at approximately $14 million and the Pahala project at $7.2 million in addition to various consulting fees.

     Some money was provided by C. Brewer, the parent company of the sugar plantations that operated in both towns. Most of the funding will come from the federal EPA and the state, according to county proposals.
     The county plans to purchase acreage in Pahala next to the intersection of Maile Street and Hwy 11 where the Norfolk Pine Lane is the gateway to the village. The Na`alehu location is between Na`alehu School and the police station.

      Bill Kurcharski, the county's Environmental Management Director, presented the proposal to the Environmental Management Commission last week and explained that the county is up against deadlines to shut down old gang cesspools left over from the plantation days. The EPA has the authority to sue the county for keeping the old cesspools. Finding the right location in both Na`alehu and Pahala has been challenging, he said.
     The new sewage treatment plants will serve 109 single-family homes in Pahala plus the elderly housing units, and 163 single-family homes in Na`alehu.
     The county is contracting with Brown and Caldwell to conduct environmental assessments. Archaeological surveys will also be conducted.
      To provide comments, contact shareem.jelani@epa.gov.

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