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Friday, April 15, 2022

Ka‘ū News Briefs, Friday, April 15, 2022

Lohi Goodwin is running to serve Kaʻū into Kona in the state House of Representatives.
Photo from Lohi Goodwin

LOHI GOODWIN PULLED PAPERS TO RUN FOR STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, District 5. The Ocean View resident has lived for 11 years on Hawai'i Island and served in in the U.S. Air Force for 15 years. He home schools his children and describes himself as a "constitutionalist, pro-freedom" candidate, running as "a conservative Republican."
    "I am not afraid of anything except for leaving my children behind in an unfree tyrannical world," said Goodwin, who proclaimed, "I just love Kaʻū. I've been everywhere on this island and I just love this place." He said he thanks Kaʻū people "for accepting us and allowing us to be part pf this community."
He said "I just feel that since the pandemic has hit, a lot of our civil rights have been trampled upon. The government has become very invasive into our medical histories, personal lives and our families." He said he decided to run for office "because our current Representative sent a letter to Gov David Ige requesting the state to enforce Covid vaccinations without parental consent. I believe that the government has no authority to try to co-parent with me or any other parent. When I was a kid you couldn't even get an aspirin from the school health nurse."   
The Goodwin family supporting Lohi Goodwin's candidacy for state House.
Photo from Lohi Goodwin
    Goodwin is 46 years of age. He is married to Lani Goodwin and they have three children 18, 13 and seven. Their son graduated in 2021 from Kamehameha School in Kea'au. He noted that "the population of Ocean View is exploding. I would push to get our own school. With 8,000 to 9000 people living here we are the largest town in Kaʻū. Our children deserve to have their own school here, instead of wasting time and money to bus kids in junior high and high school down to Pāhala. His son Zion  Kaleo'onaona'okelaniki'eki'etook a bus from Ocean View to Kamehameha School in Kea'au every school day leaving at 5 a.m. and returning at 5 p.m. His 13 year old daughter Moanikeala and the seven-year old Jamesyn Alohakeakua are both home-schooled.
    Goodwin owns a screen printing business that he started when he decided to home school his kids. His wife works at Sea Mountain at Punalu'u condominiums front desk.
    He described Kaʻū as "so diverse. I grow apples and peaches at 4,000 feet. People with other elevations,
different soils and rainfall, can grow different foods, from the mountain to the sea. The meaning of Kaʻū is breast - like your mom's breast which really can sustain you."
    He said that he is concerned about Kaʻū farm lands being sold off to foreign entities. "I hope it doesn't become a trend in which land that supports people's livelihoods is lost. I believe that we need to make land available to more people who will farm. I believe Kaʻū can become sustainable foodwise, if land remains affordable."
    Goodwin said that when he decided to run for state House of Representatives, "I knew from my military background that you never go to battle by yourself. So I've been trying to recruit other candidates into other House and Senate districts, candidates of like minds and with the same love of Hawai'i and our country."
    Goodwin and his family will participate with other candidates to host an event this Saturday, April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Honu`apo, Whittington Beach Park. Lunch and refreshments are provided, along with an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. See LohiForFreedom.com. Also see Lohi Goodwin on facebook. See Lohi_Goodwin_4_Freedom on Instagram.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar/.See latest print edition at www.kaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/03/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.

TWO EARTHQUAKES SHOOK KAʻŪ FRIDAY MORNING. U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory recorded a magnitude-4.3 earthquake on Friday, April 15, at 01:58:25 a.m., followed eight seconds later by a magnitude-4.6 earthquake at 01:58:33 a.m.. Both were located northeast of Pāhala.
    The magnitude-4.3 earthquake was centered about 8 km (5 miles) northeast of Pāhala, at a depth of 34 km (21 miles). The magnitude-4.6 earthquake was centered about 9 km (6 miles) northeast of Pāhala, at a depth of 32 km (20 miles) slightly to the southeast of the first earthquake. A map showing the location is posted on the HVO website at http://usgs.gov/hvo. More details are available at the National Earthquake Information Center website at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv72984557 (M4.3) and https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv72984552 (M4.6).
  Strong shaking, with maximum Intensity of VI on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, was reported across parts of the Island of Hawai‘i. At that intensity, significant damage to buildings or structures was not expected. The USGS "Did you feel it?" service (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/dyfi/) received over 400 felt reports within the first hour of the earthquakes.
    According to HVO geophysicist Jefferson Chang, these earthquakes had no apparent effect on Kīlauea or Mauna Loa volcanoes. “This earthquake appears to be part of the seismic swarm under the Pāhala area, which has been going on since 2019. Earthquakes in this region have been observed at least as far back as the 1960s. We see no detectable changes in activity at the summits or along the rift zones of Mauna Loa or Kīlauea as a result of these earthquakes. Please be advised that aftershocks are occurring and some of these may be large enough to be felt.” HVO continues to monitor Hawaiian volcanoes for any changes.
     For more on the Pāhala swarm, see https://www.usgs.gov/news/volcano-watch-why-do-so-many-deep-earthquakes-happen-around-pahala.
    For information on recent earthquakes in Hawai'i and eruption updates, visit the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website at  http://usgs.gov/hvo/.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar/.See latest print edition at www.kaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/03/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.

MORE COMMENTS ON PARKING RESTRICTIONS AT PUNALU'U BLACK SAND BEACH are coming in from readers and people on the street. 
     Ernie Kalani, a veteran and well-known Ka'u musician, said that after he came back from Viet Nam, he lived at Punalu'u at a house in the area where the now-abandoned restaurant and museum were constructed. He said that over the years the beach and parking near the shore were always open to all the locals - to everyone for fishing, boating, diving and going to the beach.
      He said that with the new boulders along the roadway and signage preventing the traditional parking, he hopes the county is involved in making sure that the local interests are served and that the boulders are not on the public right of way.
      A companion of Kalani talking story in front of Mizuno Superette in Pahala this morning said that local people are concerned about change in the area because past developers were never held accountable for major changes they made in land and water. He said the sugar plantation rerouted waterways up mauka that ended up causing beaches to become full of boulders and rocks at such places as Kawa. He noted that there used to be more freshwater ponds at Punalu'u before the sugar plantation began developing the resort. He said that the plantation left without being held accountable for damages. Both talked about the challenge of preserving local lifestyles and preserving access to the ocean for fishing and the mountains for hunting as lands are sold off.
     On The Ka'u Calendar facebook, Lonnie McDowall wrote about pulling public parking off  Punalu'u Black Sand Beach and directing it to the restored parking lot, where any fees would go to a stewardship group. "I’m thinking this is the first of private beaches. All ya gotta do is say you're going to give some money to charity and boom you own a beach."
Are the boulders on both public and private property? The question came in from several
readers. Photo by Bob Martin

    Henry Boothe wrote, "I'm confused. isn't it a good thing there's less parking on the literal sand of this beach? Because one can't drive on the literal sand of this beach it becomes the first private beach? This makes no logical sense."
    Lovelyn Hokulani Alapai wrote, "All the sand is making her way back. I remember when the road ran straight thru the beach. Now she claiming back what was always hers Punalu'u."
     Referring to the few vehicles still parked on the beach belonging to lei stand workers, lifeguards and for handicapped parking, Kalanz Strong said, "What about their vehicle oils - that just makes no sense."
     Maria Hart wrote, "Save Ka'u's shoreline... the last bit of Hawaian ahupua'a."
    Joe Kunkel wrote: "The paved county parking lot adjoins the beach and is still there. The large parking lot by the ruins of the restaurant and cultural center, covered for decades be debris and fallen trees, is restored to a useable status. Both parking lots are very close to the beach."
     Felix Tallon asked about enforcement of the parking rules. "Whose rules are these?" He said it used to be first come, first served for the parking at the beach. "But beach goeers/tourist now that's going to be a problem who's enforcing these now so called rules, some non-local outsider probably that like bulldozer all around Punalu'u."
    Chris Kapa asked, "Who owns the land the the boulders are on?"
    
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar/.See latest print edition at www.kaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/03/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano


See The Ka'u Calendar April edition at 
www.kaucalendar.com,
on newsstands and in the mail.