Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 28, 2011

Taro growing in front of the Kailiawa farm cottage in upper Moa`ula.

PA`I AI, THE HAND-POUNDED taro prepared in a traditional manner, would be exempt from state Department of Health regulations if a new measure passes the state House of Representatives after already passing the Senate. The taro produced would be labeled with a warning. Pa`i ai is already sold from family to family without the health department’s blessing. Many organizations, such as Papa Ola Lokahi, Ho`okipa Network, the Kokua Hawai`i and Living Life Foundations, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party support the exemption. The Sierra Club testified that it is important for the state to find ways to protect and encourage traditional and cultural practices so as to ensure the unique elements that form the basis for modern Hawai`i are preserved. “This measure follows other states in allowing small cottage industries to be exempt from the strict construction of health regulations,” the testimony said. 

The corm of the taro is pounded
by hand.

Bull Kailiawa harvesting
taro above Pahala.

     One taro farmer testified that pounding pa`i ai and poi has been a means of making and preserving taro for at least 1,200 years and fed a nation of hundreds of thousands of people and kept them well in the past.
     Taro, also called kalo, is the state plant, and the state seal includes eight taro leaves. Another proposal at the legislature would require schools to put taro on the lunch line at least once a week. Another calls for incentivizing farmers to grow more taro.
     Dryland taro was grown traditionally in Ka`u and traded for fish from Miloli`i.

THE PRICE OF SCHOOL BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES rises tomorrow, with breakfasts going up from 90 cents to $1 and lunches from $2.20 to $2.35 for the students. More than half the students are eligible for free or reduced prices for breakfasts and lunches at the Na`alehu, Pahala and Ka`u High School campuses.

THERE COULD BE A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN UNLESS the budget passes by March 4. Pres. Barack Obama says it would stall the economic recovery. House Republicans are trying to cut government spending and are at a standstill with the Democrats.

GASOLINE MAY SOON COST OVER $4 a gallon. Unrest in the Middle East is blamed on the quick rise in prices. The average cost throughout the state is $3.77 a gallon, according to AAA. On the mainland, the average price at the pump is over $3. In Ka`u this morning the cost for regular gas was $3.89 in Pahala, $3.93 in Na`alehu, $3.81 at Kahuku Country Market in Ocean View, $3.91 at Kahala Gas in Ocean View and $3.86 at the Ocean View Market gas station.

MEETINGS ON proposed projects for Ka`u are coming up on this Wednesday, March 2. A county council committee will hear a presentation by `Aina Koa Pono, which plans to build a biofuels refinery and establish an energy farm in Ka`u. That takes place in Council chambers at the County Building in Hilo at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Public testimony is welcomed.
     Also, the owners of 16,000 acres between South Point and Ocean View present their plans to the community at Na`alehu Community Center on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Their plan is for an oceanfront resort with golf course, estates, hotel rooms, condominiums and single-family homes. The area would be near Pohue Bay, which would be protected.

Miss Peaberry contestant
Bernadette Ladia.

BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS have an opportunity to participate in the Miss Ka`u Coffee, Miss Peaberry and Young Miss Ka`u Coffee pageants this year by supporting publication of the four-color printed program. The winners of the pageants will be selected on April 23 at Ka`u High School Gym, before the Ka`u Coffee Festival on May 14 and 15 at Pahala Community Center. 

THE BAY CLINIC DENTAL VAN will be in Na`alehu tomorrow through Friday. Call 965-3073 for an appointment.

FAT TUESDAY MALASADA day and St. Patrick’s Day crafts registration starts tomorrow at Pahala Community Center for keiki in kindergarten through eighth grade. Call Nona Makuakane at 938-3102.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 27, 2011

Internment camp at KMC during World War II, by George Hoshida in 1942.

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE is looking for oral histories on all the places in the islands where Japanese-American citizens were interned during World War II. Meetings will be held this Tuesday at Kona Outdoor Circle from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Kilauea Military Camp briefly served as an internment camp and later as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. It is the only internment camp in Hawai`i where some of the buildings still remain. Six of them are now used for vacation rentals. The State Historic Preservation Division recommended that a small visitor center be created to honor the internees and their life in the internment camp. A report describes the KMC location as one of the best in the state since there is already an original building and infrastructure there and since visitors are already coming to the nearby volcano. Anyone interested in this project can go online to the nps.gov/pwro/honouliuli.

KA`U HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS who hope to go to college can go online for free help in preparing for the SAT and ACT tests through the Princeton Review program. Hawai`i is the only place where students in the entire state have free access to the program. Under 60 percent of eligible Hawai`i students took the SAT last year, and the Board of Education is hoping to increase the number of young people seeking a college education. The free program is funded by the National Military Impacted School Association, which is helping school districts where many military families live. Since Hawai`i has the only statewide school district, everyone in the Islands gets the help. Ask teachers for instruction to sign up for the Princeton Review online program to study for the SAT and ACT.

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE is promising to put people back to work with new capital improvements under his New Day Work Projects throughout the state. Among them could be a new $20 million gym in Pahala, which would also serve as an emergency disaster shelter. The facility would be owned by the county and be available to Ka`u High School for physical education and sports. The county is challenged with coming up with a timeline that would get the project done in two years. The state would issue bonds for CIP projects, and this could be one of them.
     Both County Council member Brittany Smart and her predecessor Guy Enriques have been working on the project.

Ka`u Hospital nursing director
Nona Wilson leads the ensemble
to support the ER.

Quilts and spaghetti dinner support
ER fundraising last night in Na`alehu.

A FUNDRAISER LAST NIGHT at Na`alehu Community Center took in money to support the Ka`u Hospital Emergency Room. Supporters enjoyed a spaghetti dinner and music by a band comprised of nursing director Nona Wilson, clerk Ty Chun and supporters of the hospital. 

TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS about proposed economic development projects in Ka`u are being held this week. One before the county council on Wednesday at 2 p.m. will be a presentation on `Aina Koa Pono’s proposal to build a biofuels refinery above Pahala and establish a biofuels farm between Pahala and Na`alehu. Another proposal would establish a golf resort with oceanfront estates, condominiums, hotels and shopping centers along the shore between Ocean View and South Point. That meeting on the Nani Kahuku `Aina/ Kahuku Villages project will be held this Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. 

Miss Ka`u Coffee contestant
Kayla Nishimura

MISS KA`U COFFEE, Miss Peaberry and Young Miss Ka`u Coffee will ride in the Merrie Monarch Parade on April 30th in Hilo. It will be the third year that the Ka`u Coffee Festival has entered a float in the pageant. The winners of the pageant will be selected on April 23rd at Ka`u High School Gym before the Ka`u Coffee Festival on May 14th and 15th at Pahala Community Center. The candidates are seeking community support, and residents can become a Friend of the Miss Ka`u Coffee pageant. 

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 26, 2011

Kona Nightingales wait for homes, away from development in Kohala and Waikoloa.

THE FUEL TAX BILL that would have allowed such communities as Ocean View to apply for money collected in gasoline tax at the pump in order to help maintain roads is recommended for deferral by the state House of Representatives finance committee. The measure supported in the County Council needed permission from the state Legislature. The idea is that residents of communities that maintain their own roads, like in Ocean View, also pay fuel taxes and deserve some of the tax income. It was also argued that the county allowed approval of substandard subdivisions without public roads and should share the fuel tax income to help them. One of the challenges of such a bill was that it singled out the Big Island to allow the fuel taxes to go to communities with private roads. However, the communities would have to apply for the funding, like applying for a grant. There would be a committee and oversight, said Ka`u councilwoman Brittany Smart.

Mauna Kea from the view of Kahea: The Hawai`i Environmental Alliance.

THE THIRTY METER TELESCOPE proposed for Mauna Key was approved by the state Board of Land & Natural Resources yesterday, at a meeting held on O`ahu, with a unanimous vote to issue a Conservation District Use Permit. However, the panel also granted a contested case hearing, which could take another six months and involve further mediation with the community. The telescope would be built some 500 feet below the existing 13 telescopes. Its campus would not only include the 184-foot-tall Thirty Meter Telescope but also a 14,000-square-foot building. The $1.3 billion investment would bring $26 million a year to the local economy, testified Randy Kurohara, the county director of the Department of Research and Development. It would also provide $1 million a year for local education. According to a report in this morning’s Honolulu Star Advertiser, Kurohara described Mayor Billy Kenoi referring to the Thirty Meter Telescope as “sacred science on a sacred mountain.”
     Kahea: The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance objected. Marti Townsend, Kahea’s staff attorney and program director, said, “This basically is a pay-to-degrade policy. There is no pay-to-degrade policy in the state rules. We don't have the option to let somebody pay in order to destroy the conservation district,” the Advertiser newspaper reported.
     Without further delays, construction could be finished in about 11 years.

THE PRICE OF SHIPPING TO AND FROM THE MAINLAND THROUGH MATSON will be hit with a 35 percent fuel surcharge. An earlier increase of 4.75 percent announced last month hits the bill of lading starting tomorrow. The total surcharge will rise to 39.45 percent. Matson told its regular customers that the rise in the fuel charge is due to higher oil prices stemming from turmoil in the Middle East. When Matson first starting using the surcharge to raise rates, it added on 3.25 percent. The 35 percent marks a new high. Horizon and Pasha ocean cargo companies are expected to follow suit.

Bird and Colin McIver rescue
horses and donkeys.

HOMES ARE BEING SOUGHT for Kona Nightingale donkeys that are considered a nuisance around Waikoloa and The Four Seasons hotel where they have run wild since they were no longer needed to work the Kona coffee farms and in sugar plantations. They also compete with cattle and horses for water and grass at ranches. Veterinarian Brady Bergin is fixing up the donkeys and neutering the males before making them available to the public. CB Horse Rescue in Puna is hauling them to this side of the island and is taking applications for adoption. Anyone interested has to prove they will provide a good home and commit to veterinary care. Those interested can call Bird or Colin McIver at 987-9064. Donations are also being accepted at CB Horse Rescue. Visit its website at hawaiihorserescue.com. 

Red Hatters and Kalae Quilters raise thousands for the Ka`u Hospital ER.

A SPAGHETTI DINNER is being held tonight at Na`alehu Community Center to raise money for the Ka`u Hospital Emergency Room. Sponsored by the Red Hats, Kalae Quilters and the Ka`u Hospital Foundation, the event will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. A golf tournament is also planned for Friday, March 18 at Volcano Golf Club. Find out more at the spaghetti dinner tonight. 

REPRESENTATIVES OF `AINA KOA PONO, who propose to develop a new biofuel processing facility near Pahala, are scheduled to make a presentation to the Hawai`i County Council Committee on Agriculture, Water & Energy Sustainability on Wednesday, March 2 at 2 p.m. The meeting will be held at Council Chambers in Hilo.

AT 6 P.M. ON THE SAME DAY, Wednesday, March 2, a public meeting about the Nani Kahuku `Aina development between South Point and Ocean View will be held at Na`alehu Community Center. That development includes a Heritage Park around Pohue Bay, hotels, condominiums, oceanfront estates, golf course and commercial centers.

Kathline Diane Pataray

CANDIDATES for Miss Ka`u Coffee, Young Miss Ka`u Coffee and Miss Peaberry are being welcomed in the community as they raise support for their pageant by accepting $5 donations for Friends of Miss Ka`u Coffee Pageant. The pageant is scheduled for Saturday, April 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Ka`u High School Gym. The girls are practicing at both Na`alehu Community Center and the Old Pahala Clubhouse. The pageant director is Gloria Camba, and Pageant choreographer is Nalani Parlin.