Ka`u News Briefs May 25, 2011

This holua slide would be preserved by the South Kona Wilderness Area. Photo by Kaiali`i Kahele

SUPPORTERS OF THE SOUTH KONA WILDERNESS AREA, championed by Sen. Gil Kahele and Rep. Bob Herkes, are awaiting the signature of Gov. Neil Abercrombie. The measure passed both the House and Senate in the 2011 Legislature. The land includes the only holua slide going all the way to the ocean remaining in the state, as well as ancient homesites, a heiau and burial caves. 

The ancient Hawaiian trail, paved with stones, in the
South Kona Wilderness Area. Photo by Kaiali`i Kahele

     The area includes approximately 1,458 acres in Honomalino and Okoe that extend from the shoreline to 6,000 feet inland as well as land in Kaulanamauna and Manuka that extends from the shoreline to the Manuka Natural Area Reserve boundary.

THE COUNTY COUNCIL is looking for office space in Ka`u, where it could install video conferencing so the public could more easily give testimony and witness County Council meetings. The office was a campaign promise of Brittany Smart, who ran on a platform of more transparency and a better flow of information and ideas between the county council member and the public. Having an office in Ka`u would also give her more time with the public, since she spends a lot of time each workday driving to her council office and council chambers in Hilo or to Kona for some council meetings. 

Na`alehu Civic Center

     Offices that have been considered include one in Ocean View that was scrapped after improvements were estimated to be too costly. The annex of the Na`alehu Community Center was also considered, but there was concern that it would preclude community activities from taking place there. Currently under consideration is the state-owned courtroom facility in the Na`alehu Civic Center near the post office on the makai side of Hwy 11. The courtroom is vacant, as all court proceedings have been moved to Hilo and Kona.
     Other suggestions have included offices in Pahala to make the County Council proceedings and the council member more available to nearby high school teachers, students, the regional hospital, and such employment hubs as the macadamia and coffee farms.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie promotes energy and food security.
Photo by Julia Neal

RENEWABLE ENERGY is at the forefront of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s priorities, he said at the Democratic Convention in Kona last weekend. “This is a matter of our survivability. This is a matter of keeping us from being inundated by international global forces that are going to be working against us when carbon and energy is concerned. We’ve got to do this. We are not going to have sustainable agriculture; we are not going to have food security unless we get the energy question underway, and the Big Island is a key to that,” he proclaimed. The governor said, “We’re running out of time. I want to get past arguments about biofuels vs. geothermal, versus solar, versus wind. We’re going to have to do everything we can, just to survive,” he said. On his desk is legislation that would help win approval of a contract between Hawaiian Electric Industries and `Aina Koa Pono, the company planning an alternative energy refinery and biofuels farm near Pahala. 

THE STATE ENERGY CONSERVATION and efficiency program today ends its $1,000 solar water heating incentive for systems purchased with cash, as funds are exhausted. Hawai`i Energy increased the solar water heating incentive to $1,500 in March with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Within a month, funds were depleted, and program officials reallocated additional ARRA funds to continue the incentive at $1,000 per system.
     “The use of solar water heaters is one of the most effective ways of reducing the residential electricity consumption,” said Estrella Seese, Energy Program Administrator.
     After today’s deadline, residents wishing to finance their solar water heating systems may sign up for the Hot Water, Cool Rates (solar loan interest buy down) offering. For more information, visit hawaiienergy.com/94/hot-water-cool-rates. Hawai`i Energy will also make a waitlist for its next program-year beginning July 1 upon approval of program funding by the Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission. State and federal tax credits are still available.
     Typical single-family households installing solar water heating systems will save between $587 to $849 per year in electricity costs, and the equivalent to 150 gallons of fossil fuel per year. The savings with solar water heating systems will continue to rise as oil prices increase, said a statement from Hawai`i Energy.

Maria Zamudio

First in the Student Dessert I category
was Black Bottoms by Maria Zamudio.
Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

MARIA ZAMUDIO, OF OCEAN VIEW, won first in the Student Division Dessert category for cakes, cookies and pies at the Ka`u Coffee Festival Recipe Contest with her Black Bottoms recipe. Zamudio just graduated from Ka`u High and will be attending Hawai`i Community College in Kona this coming fall. She said she learned a lot through Culinary I and gained a lot of cooking confidence from the course. Her advice to those entering the contest in the future is, “Just give it a try, even if you don’t feel confident. It can’t hurt.” Contact Zamudio at mariazamudio_kau@yahoo.com. 

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK Ranger Jason Zimmerman demonstrates how to make poi this morning from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the lanai at Kilauea Visitor Center. Zimmerman's grandfather taught him to make poi more than 10 years ago.

HAWAI`I COUNTY TRANSIT DIRECTOR Tom Brown discusses the Hele-On bus system and other mass transit issues at Yano Hall in Captain Cook tonight at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is one of County Council member Brittany Smart’s District 6 Matters meetings.

Ka`u News Briefs May 24, 2011

More than 500 acres around Kawa and its estuaries are held up from becoming public lands by a lawsuit by
Abel Simeona Lui, who claims his family lost the land illegally generations ago.  Photo by Julia Neal

MOST OF THE LAND WOULD BE PUBLIC ALONG THE COAST from Punalu`u to Honu`apo if the sale of a 363 acre parcel with more than a mile of undulating coastline is finalized by the end of June. The parcel lies between state land next to Punalu`u and 100 acres owned by the Apiki/Omerod heirs just north of Kawa Bay. The purchase could be scuttled by a lawsuit brought by Abel Simeona Lui, who claims ownership to another parcel in the land sale – this one south of the Kawa lands recently purchased by Hawai`i County. The parcel at the south end of Kawa and the one closer to Punalu`u are under contract for the county to buy them from the Edmund C. Olson Trust. If the Kawa land is not cleared by the courts by June 30, the county will lose government money to buy the coastal lands. The purchase of the two parcels is part of the campaign to preserve the Ka`u Coast from Honu`apo to Punalu`u.

Kawa during a surf meet. These lands were purchased by the county for a
park over the objections of Abel Simeona Lui, who claims
title to them.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I, PUBLIC ACCESS, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission is currently accepting suggestions for properties to be considered this year. The deadline to submit is next Tuesday, May 31. Kawa was listed as the commission’s number one priority in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and part of the land has already been purchased. The Kahuku Coastal Property makai of Ocean View, which the county is currently negotiating to purchase, was number five on the commission’s priority list in 2009. For more information, visit hawaii-county.com/finance/ponc.htm or contact Alexandra Kelepolo at 961-8069. 

Hawaiian Electric Light Co. Pres. Jay Ignacio spoke to
Ka`u residents aboutht the `Aina Koa Pono plan
in January.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE STATE CONSUMER ADVOCATE is asking Hawaiian Electric Company for more information regarding its proposed contract to buy biodiesel from a proposed refinery and farm near Pahala. The requests are posted on the Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission website. The Consumer Advocate asks HECO how it plans to use biofuel from the `Aina Koa Pono project to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards for electrical energy, which are included in Act 155 that was passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor. It asks HECO to estimate the contribution that biofuel from `Aina Koa Pono would have on the Renewable Portfolio. 

     Concerning the biofuel `Aina Koa Pono plans to ship to O`ahu and Maui counties, the advocate asks about the cost of shipping the biofuel to the other islands. The consumer advocate also asks about other suppliers of biofuel and how they could impact the use of biofuel from `Aina Koa Pono and when their biofuel becomes available for use.
     `Aina Koa Pono is planning to build a $350 million refinery on Meyer Camp Road between Pahala and Wood Valley and to employ 300 workers for construction and 100 workers to run the farm and the refinery. It plans to use industrial-size microwave processors to vaporize feedstock from Christmas berry to eucalyptus and napier grass to run the factory and produce a diesel it would truck to the power plant in Kona. The PUC has asked Hawaiian Electric to offer proof by the end of May that the microwave processors will work on an industrial scale, noting that it is not being used on such a commercial scale anywhere else in the world.

Butch Light and students at the Ka`u Coffee Festival
Recipe Contest. Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

BUTCH LIGHT WON FIRST in the Pupu category of the Amateur Division of the Ka`u Coffee Recipe Contest for his Coffee Smoked Chicken, second in the Dessert I category for his Flourless Mochamac Cake with Cafebar Glaze, tied for second in the Dessert II category with his Coffee Soufflé recipe and third in the Entrée category for his MacCoffee Chicken. 

     Light is the cooking teacher at Ka`u High School. He encourages his students to enter the festival recipe contest every year. The timing of this year’s event only allowed for two teams to enter. Students in the class are encouraged to use their imaginations when cooking. 

Butch Light won first for his
Coffee Smoked Chicken.

     Light said the school is adopting the national safety standard set by the American Culinary Federation and used by chefs across the nation. Using these standards sets Ka‘ū High above most U.S. public schools offering cooking classes. Contact Light at 928-2011 or nlight16@yahoo.com. PAHALA POOL has new hours. On Monday and Tuesday it is open 10 a.m. until noon and 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday it stays open until 5:30 p.m. On Saturday the pool is open from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Sunday the hours are 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The hours may expand later in the summer, according to the county lifeguard posted there.

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK Ranger Jason Zimmerman demonstrates how to make poi tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the lanai at Kilauea Visitor Center in. Zimmerman learned the skill from his grandfather.

THE OCEAN VIEW TEEN CLUB meets tonight and every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Teens from 13 to 18 years old are invited to gather at Kahuku Park and Ocean View Community Center. Call 937-3335 for more information.

Ka`u News Briefs May 23, 2011

Ka`u surfers and fishermen went to court in the 1970s to open up access to the beach at Kawa,
where the county wants to establish a park.  Photos by Julia Neal

THE FUTURE OF KAWA LANDS, where the County of Hawai`i wants to begin its stewardship managing a coastal park, is expected to be determined by a ruling soon by the courts. The county purchased more than 200 acres at Kawa to preserve the land after it was put on the market in real estate publications and advertised as the last available bay for sale on the island. However, Abel Simeona Lui, who built a house at Kawa about 20 years ago, claims the land is his family’s dating back to ancient Hawaiian times and was illegally taken from them.
     Previous owner Thomas Okuna asked Lui and his family and friends who put up temporary tents and dwellings there to leave many times after being warned by health officials about unsanitary conditions on the land. Okuna went to court, and the court authorized an eviction, which was never carried out. The county contends that the eviction still stands and the purchase of Kawa by the county is legal. 

The county plans to purchase the adjacent land south of
the surfing beach to manage the wetlands,
public health and parking.

     Lui still lives on the land and objects to the county conserving it as a park. In the 1970s young surfers in Ka`u went to court to secure a right of way to the beach for the public. The county plans to maintain the right of way and possibly add restroom facilities and some parking for surfers and other beachgoers to the ponds, springs, estuaries and surfing beach at Kawa.
     A separate case involves the adjacent land, also more than 200 acres, which is also planned for purchase by the county. It was sold by Okuna to the Edmund C. Olson Trust, which bought it for the purpose of holding onto it until the county could make it into a park. That land too had been advertised for sale in real estate magazines. The county has until June 30 to close on the Olson property or lose $2.5 million in state and federal funds that would be used to purchase the land. The county is waiting for the court to clear the title, and Judge Joseph P. Florindo said he will hand down decisions on the ownership of the two adjacent properties soon.
     In the meantime, Lui and his hui remain on the land and post sovereignty signs along Hwy 11 near their encampment, where they speak to passersby about their plight. They also monitor who comes in and out of the public right of way to the beach.

Dr. Brian Panik

DR. BRIAN PANIK, Ka`u Hospital’s chief of staff, has started a new community-based website designed to help distribute health information and encourage healthy diets and exercise, particularly on the Hawaiian Islands. Visitors to the website can ask questions about health, medicine or fitness through community forums and get answers from knowledgeable community physicians, pharmacists, dentists, nurses and other professionals. The website also offers programs for those looking to lose, gain or maintain weight. Visit www.tofindhealth.com. 

GASOLINE PRICES HAVE BEEN GOING UP AND DOWN in Ka`u and around the state. The cheapest gas this morning was at Kahuku Country market at $4.30 a gallon, followed by Kahala Gas in Ocean View at $4.35 and Ocean View Market at $4.36. In Na`alehu the 76 is selling for $4.35, and in Pahala, Ka`u Gas is selling for $4.40. 

KUMU MAILE YAMANAKA shares the Arts and Traditions of Hula at Kilauea on Tuesday at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. One-hour long sessions include Hula at 10:30 a.m., Lei Making at noon and `Ukulele and Hawaiian Music at 1:30 p.m.

ALSO AT HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Ranger Jason Zimmerman demonstrates how to make and play an `ohe hano ihu, or bamboo nose flute, on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the lanai at Kilauea Visitor Center.

Foggy will play at the Memorial Day
Music Festival at Punalu`u.

THE MEMORIAL DAY MUSIC FESTIVAL at Punalu`u next Monday promises to be a day full of entertainment. The line-up includes rock ‘n’ roll by the Ka`u Gonzo Music Society, Foggy, the Mile 25 Band and an Elvis impersonator.