Ka'u News Briefs July 1, 2011

Sen. Gil Kahele takes children along the ancient Hawaiian trail on the South Kona Coast this summer, waiting for the governor to sign the wilderness bill. Photo by Kai`ail`i Kahele.

Mayor Billy Kenoi's
budget will fund the county.
Photo by Julia Neal.

MAYOR BILLY KENOI’S $367 MILLION BUDGET went into effect this morning, July 1, despite a County Council attempt to override his veto of the Council’s approved budget. The veto override fell one vote short, with Ka`u’s council member Brittany Smart siding with Dominic Yagong, Brenda Ford, Angel Pilago and Pete Hoffmann to override the veto. Fred Blas cast the swing vote against the override, and it failed as six votes are needed to override a mayoral veto.
    The mayor’s budget restores the Open Space and Natural Resources Fund to collect 2 percent of property tax revenues. Smart voted last week to reduce the funding from 2 percent to 1.5 percent, parting with Angel Pilago, who voted to keep the fund intact. The funds have been used to conserve oceanfront lands for the public in Ka`u and elsewhere and are expected to help the county buy thousands of acres of coastal lands makai of Ocean View and more parkland at Kawa, a popular surfing and fishing beach. Both were threatened by development during the last two decades.
     Smart said her vote to reduce the fund to 1.5 percent was a compromise as there had been a proposal at the council to reduce it to 1 percent. She said she also worried about deferring retiree benefit payments as it puts an extra burden on the county to come up with the money later.

Kawa was sought by developers but saved by the
community using it for fishing and surfing. 
Photo by Julia Neal

    COASTAL LANDS between Punalu`u and Kawa and land on the south side of the Kawa surfing beach are expected to become county property within a month, according to an agreement between the county and the Olson Trust, which was holding the land in order to make it into a public reserve. Abel Simeona Lui, who has been living on the land near the popular surfing and fishing beach for some 20 years, said he will continue resisting eviction. A sign on the property along Hwy 11 indicates support of the Hawaiian Kingdom over the American government.

    THE SOUTH KONA WILDERNESS AREA BILL is scheduled for signing by Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Championed by Rep. Bob Herkes and Sen. Gil Kahele, it is designed to preserve lands rich with cultural, biological, and historical significance. Kahele said, “The wilderness area provides a mechanism to address both the community’s interests in utilizing the area for recreational purposes and protecting the vast amounts of archaeological sites, native plants, and native animals that exist in the preserve.”
     The lands in the wilderness reserve are at Honomalino and Okoe from the shoreline to 6,000 feet inland and the Manuka Natural Area Reserve boundary extended to the shoreline at Manuka and Kalanamauna. The bill will prevent subdivision of the state-owned land and construction of new homes or structures within 1,000 feet of the shoreline.

    FURLOUGH DAYS could continue at county offices, according to a Stephens Media report this morning, which says that Mayor Billy Kenoi is attempting to negotiate with the Hawai`i Government Employees Association to keep the Furlough Fridays going for the next two years.

DRUNK DRIVING: OVER THE LIMIT. UNDER ARREST is the campaign being conducted by police, who are manning DUI checkpoints islandwide during the Fourth of July weekend. Police are also promoting the county’s “shared ride” taxi program, with coupons for as low as $2 each for rides home for those who have been drinking. Call 961-8744 or visit www.heleonbus.org/shared-ride-taxi-program.

    TOMORROW’S INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE in Na`alehu is taking applications for participants through today. It begins at 11 a.m. and is followed by a rodeo, which is also on for Sunday. Signing up for the Volcano parade this Monday is pau. It begins along Old Volcano Highway at 9 a.m. on July 4 and ends up with music, food and celebration at Cooper Center.

    A FREE PANCAKE BREAKFAST IS SET for tomorrow morning before the parade in Na`alehu. It starts at 9 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

    PAULINE WILSON PRESENTS A NIGHT of hot, sultry jazz tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. Tickets are $15 and are available by calling 967-8222.

Ka`u News Briefs June 30, 2011

Chef Jean Louis visits coffee orchards and farms and ranches when working on the Volcano Project plan.

CHEF JEAN LOUIS THEMISTOCLE RANDRIANTIANA, one of the partners in the Volcano Project, is serving as personal chef for England’s Royal Highnesses Prince William and Princess Kate this weekend in Montreal, Canada. Chef Jean Louis is senior culinary professor of the renowned International Tourism & Hotel Institute in Montreal. He also works on the culinary educational plan for the Volcano Project and has visited Ka`u Coffee farms and met with local farmers and ranchers to make plans to use locally grown food at the Volcano Project. Volcano Project founders David Howard Donald and Anne Lee said they are hoping to hear soon whether the National Park Service has accepted their proposal to manage Volcano House Hotel for Volcano Project.

AN ACROSS THE BOARD PAY CUT of five percent for all state workers begins tomorrow. The pay cut was approved by all the government unions except the Hawai`i State Teachers Association. It also requires workers to pay for half of their health care insurance. The teachers' union is still hoping to go back to the bargaining table and vote on the issue, but the administration said it has given its last, best offer and will implement the pay cuts on July 1 when the new state budget goes into effect.

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT has issued a Request for Proposals for making compost in order to prevent green waste from filling up the two county landfills. Free county mulch from green waste is no longer being brought to Ka`u following Ka`u coffee farmers successfully petitioning Mayor Billy Kenoi to end the program. The coffee farmers worried that the mulch could contain a dangerous pest, the coffee berry borer, which has devastated Kona coffee farms. The RFP for processing green waste calls for a fully composted, disease- and pest-free garden additive, hopefully in production within six to eight months, said County Council member Brittany Smart.

Wahine pull down the steer. Photo by Julia Neal

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK will conduct its annual Fourth of July Silent Auction from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Cooper Center on Wright Road in Volcano Village, which is the destination of the annual Fourth of July Parade. Auction items for 2011 include four rounds of golf, Hawai`i Forest & Trail's exclusive Kohala Waterfalls Adventure, an encounter program with Dolphin Quest, a Sea Quest rafting and snorkel adventure, and an underwater adventure for two aboard Atlantis Submarines on Hawai`i, Maui or O`ahu. Overnight stays in Volcano, yoga classes, massage, acupuncture and memberships for `Imiloa Astronomy Center are among the offerings, along with art, food, and gift baskets. For more information, call 985-7373 or admin@fhvnp.org.

S0UTHSIDE JR. BOYS VOLLEYBALL is competing well in Minneapolis. In yesterday’s first day of competition, the 12 and Under team beat the Gigantes from Puerto Rico, Kuikahi from O`ahu, the Borinquen Coqui from Puerto Rico. They lost only to Southern California Volleyball Club and another Puerto Rican Club called the Vaqueros. Ka`u team members are Kameron Iokepa-Moses, Nai`a Makuakane, Addison Enriques and Avery Enriques.

LAST DAY TO SIGN UP to march in the annual Independence Day Parade is tomorrow, July 1. The parade begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday and travels along Hwy 11 in Na`alehu. Call 929-9872. It is followed by two days of rodeo at the Na`alehu Rodeo Grounds. The annual Fourth of July Parade in Volcano will be held at 9 a.m. on Monday.

Punalu`u Bake Shop is one of many Ka`u businesses joining the Independence Day Parade, Saturday, July 2. Photo by Julia Neal

Ka`u News Briefs June 29, 2011

Halemaumau vent at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

     REP. BOB HERKES is hoping that his vog task force bill, aimed at studying the effects of vog here will survive the veto pen of Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Herkes told the Hawai`i Tribune Herald that the task force would accomplish a job left undone by a state Interagency Task Force on Sulfur Dioxide Emissions, a 45-member group from around the state. The new 15-member task force would be chaired by the County Civil Defense Director. While vog is much less than it was two years ago when Halemaumau’s new vent opened and the major vog events began, it is still a problem affecting agriculture, wildlife and people, said Herkes. Chief of state Civil Defense, Maj. Gen. Daryll Wong helped Herkes write the bill. The governor said it would duplicate exiting programs, but Herkes hopes to change his mind.

     PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS may wind up with a 5 percent wage decrease and paying half of their health insurance costs as the teachers’ union contract with the state expires tomorrow with no agreement in place. Labor law allows the Department of Education to implement its last, best contract offer. The governor said yesterday said that the unprecedented deficit has created a situation in which everyone has to sacrifice.

Military helicopter trainees at
Poakuloa Training Area.
Photo courtesy of PTA.

MAUNA LOA & MAUNA KEA will be free of high altitude military helicopter training at least until the Army completes environmental impact reviews for the sate. Gov. Neil Abercrombie wrote to the military saying that he was sure they could be done “with dispatch.” Environmental studies were already completed and approved by the federal government. Training is for pilots getting ready to go to Afghanistan, where challenging high altitude flying is required for moving troops by helicopter.

     ‘AINA KOA PONO plans to present its proposal for a refinery between Pahala and Wood Valley and a biofuel farm between Na`alehu and Pahala to the Hawai`i Island Economic Development Board today at the organization’s meeting to be held at Puna Geothermal. The development board is comprised of such business leaders as the president of Hawaiian Electric Light Co., mangers of GasCo., KTA, Bank of Hawai`i and First Hawaiian Bank, along with some non-profits such as Kamehameha Schools.

     PAHALA PUBLIC AND SCHOOL LIBRARY will shut down for more than a month beginning on Friday. The stated reason is a staffing shortage. The library reopens on Monday, Aug. 8. Librarians are directing patrons to Na`alehu Public Library on Hwy 11. Call 939-2442. To line up books to check out from public libraries, go to librarieshawaii.org for a catalogue of titles, eBooks, digital audio books and a wide variety of online databases with access to full-text materials from magazines, newspapers, journals and other publications. Also online is an Ask-A-Librarian E-Reference service. A library card is not required to use this service.

    THE KOHALA CENTER has come out with a new report called Energy Efficiency Strategies for Low-Income Communities on Hawai‘i Island, written by the Center for Industrial Ecology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. It can be seen online at www.kohalacenter.org/research.html. U.S. Department of Energy data shows Hawaii has the highest electricity rates in the country. According to the report, local households spend roughly six percent of their income on electricity, three times the national average of two percent.
     The report analyzes money spent to educate and help low income people with energy efficiency and concludes that a company contracted for this island was paid $3 million but spent less than $1 million here on the service.
     Will Rolston, the county’s Energy Coordinator, said the county will pursue and remedy any inequity in energy efficiency money that should be deployed on our island. “It is self-evident that as we lift under-served community members, it strengthens the entire Island.”

     THE DEADLINE TO SIGN UP to be part of the Na`alehu Independence Day Parade is this Friday, July 1. The parade starts at the Hongwanji and travels down Hwy 11 to the school on Saturday, July 2, beginning at 11 a.m. It is sponsored by `O Ka`u Kakou. Call 929-9872 to sign up.
     The Volcano Parade is on Monday, July 4 at 9 a.m. starting at the Volcano Post Office on Old Volcano Hwy. Participants can show up at 8 a.m. Call 967-7800.

Keiki, men and women enjoy the annual Independence Day Rodeo at the Na'alehu Rodeo Grounds. Photo by Julia Neal

     THE ANNUAL INDEPENDENCE DAY RODEO will be held after the parade on Saturday, July 2, and all day Sunday July 3, at the Na’alehu Rodeo Grounds, with events for keiki, men and women.

     THE COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE at Kauaha`ao Church in Wai`ohinu is open tomorrow and every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 938-0411 for more information.