Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 8, 2011

A Crown communications tower between Pahala and Na`alehu with
KAHU radio founder Wendell Ka`ehu`ae`a.  Photo by Julia Neal

A CELLULAR PHONE TOWER is planned for Maile Street in Pahala, according to a small legal-style notice that was published in the Hilo newspaper on Nov. 2. The cell tower is proposed by Crown Castle USA, which owns more than 23,000 cell towers across the United States. The notice describes the address as 96-3207 Maile Road in Pahala. There is no Maile Road in Pahala, and the notice is likely referring to the old mill site on Maile Street. 

     Castle already owns two cell towers on the old cane haul road between Pahala and Na`alehu. The notice says that “Crown invites comments from any interested party on the impact of the proposed tower on any districts, sites, structures or object significant in American history, archaeology, engineering or culture that are listed or determined eligible for listing the National Register of Historic Places.”
     Specific information regarding the project is available for comments by calling Janis Merritts at 480-735-6931 during normal business hours in Arizona. The notice says that comments must be received by Nov. 28, 2011. However, the notice has neither a postal nor an email address for comments.

SCHOOL LUNCH PRICES will go up, according to a measure passed by the state Board of Education last month. A story by Colin Stuart in the Hawai`i Tribune Herald says that the Department of Education needs to raise $6 million to pay for instruction and other expenses. 

Brian De Lima

     Stuart quoted Big Island BOE member Brian De Lima as saying the decision to hike lunch prices was difficult. “We were discussing the next supplemental budget, and we knew that one of the things that needs to occur is we want to spend more money in the classroom,” De Lima said. “So the question came up: ‘Is providing lunch a core function (of the school system)?’” 

     The price of lunches will go up 90 percent, and the BOE is hoping to phase in the increase over two years, the Tribune Herald story says.
     Reduced prices and free lunches for qualifying students of low-income families would remain the same price.

A WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED TO THE PUBLIC regarding an offer for a high interest savings rate offered by Advanced Financial & Consulting Group, LLC. An advertisement was circulated offering six percent and five percent interest rates. According to the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Division of Financial Institutions, the company is not licensed by the state banking division. The department verified with the FDIC that the company is not insured by the FDIC. Consumers are asked to file a complaint with DFI if they have invested funds with this company. A DFI complaint form is available on DFI’s website at http://hawaii.gov/dcca/dfi, or the consumer may file a letter complaint.

Miss Ka`u Coffee and Miss Aloha
Hawai`i, Brandy Shibuya

MISS KA`U COFFEE, BRANDY SHIBUYA, will be welcomed home on Friday after winning the islandwide Miss Aloha Hawai`i competition in Kona. Shibuya will be welcomed at the Veterans Day Concert this Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House. She will perform hula. Also on stage will be One Journey; the Ka`u High School Ensemble; the Rev. Dennis Kamakahi; David Kamakahi; George Kahumoku, Jr.; Moses Kahumoku; John and Hope Keawe; James Hill; Anne Davison and more. Plate lunches and bottled water will be on sale as a fundraiser for the Ka`u High Ensemble. 

NOVEMBER VISITOR ARRIVALS to Hawai`i, statewide, are up eight percent, along with higher hotel occupancy rates. The improving visitor industry posted $2.14 billion in revenue in the first nine months of this year, up 13.4 percent over the same period last year and 21 percent higher than 2009. The hotel occupancy rate remained relatively low on the Big island in September, but increased to 58.3 percent from 51.9 percent for September last year. The statewide occupancy rate was 74.5 percent, with the highest on O`ahu at 84.1 percent, followed by Kaua`i at 71 percent and Maui at 65.9 percent.

Bill Chapman

THE HISTORY OF VOLCANO HOUSE is the topic of After Dark in the Park tonight at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitors Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Historian and archaeologist Bill Chapman, a professor at University of Hawai`i-Manoa, will focus on the first Volcano House. He works on documenting historic buildings and sites within the national park when he comes here each summer with a class of college students.

OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY CENTER is the site of the Ka`u Community Development Plan Steering Committee tonight at 5:30 p.m. Much of last month’s meeting was postponed to listen to community concerns about an idea to incentivize for new homes in Ocean View to be built in a more centralized neighborhood closer to Hwy 11, utilities and other services. Most of those who spoke said they like living remotely, while planners said that fast growth could make their dwellings no longer remote and create traffic and other problems as experienced in the last decade in Puna. Tonight’s meeting will focus on the overall progress of the Ka`u Community Development Plan. 

Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 7, 2011

Michael Smith, inventer of the Green Power House, chosen for the U.S. booth at APEC this week.

ALGAE AQUA-CULTURE TECHNOLOGY will be represented by Volcano residents David Howard Donald and Anne Lee at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s CEO Summit in Honolulu this week. Lee and Donald are proposing AACT’s Green Power House energy solution in their bid to operate Volcano House. The Green Power House will be one of five innovations displayed in the booth sponsored by the United States at APEC’s Medium Enterprise Innovation Exhibit. Other companies chosen for the U.S. booth are Kai Medical; Oceanit; Open Entry; and Planned Systems Alternative. The companies were chosen after a nationwide search for enterprises in the fields of education and training, health, information and communications, green/clean technology and food and agriculture. 

David Howard Donald

Anne Lee

     AACT’s inventor, Michael Smith, will also be on hand. He described the Green Power House as “three billion years of renewable energy engineering experience at work.” He was referring to the algae, one of the planet’s most ancient and evolved plants. “Algae efficiently converts solar energy into bioenergy. Algae grows faster than most other plants around,” Smith said. 

     The Volcano Project team proposes to meet electrical needs at Volcano House with a Green Power House. “This is an ideal answer for the National Park Service’s need to reduce its carbon footprint,” Donald said.
     Lee said that “the Volcano Project has proposed AACT’s Green Power House as a safe and eco-friendly self-sustaining, self-managing greenhouse using cutting-edge technology and nature’s own processes to generate green electricity, consume invasive species, and provide endemics for reforestation of the Park.”

Mufi Hannemann
Photo by Julia Neal

MUFI HANNEMANN, WHO HELPED BRING APEC TO HAWAI`I when he was mayor of the City & County of Honolulu, traveled through Ka`u over the weekend. Hannemann is running for Congress and hopes to take the seat of Rep. Mazie Hirono, who is running for the Senate. 

     Hannemann helped break ground for the Bay Clinic’s new Ka`u Family Health & Dental Center on Saturday and said he will work for more federal funding for the new facility. The Bay Clinic location is nearly across the street from Hannemann’s former house, which is now Punalu`u Bake Shop. He also lived in Papaikou and was vice-president of Corporate Development and Marketing for C. Brewer, which owned the sugar plantation here and developed Punalu`u Bake Shop.
     Hannemann said he believes he has an understanding of rural Hawai`i and the huge Second Congressional District, which includes four counties and six islands that cannot be neglected.
     He said that one of the best skills he has to offer is the ability to network and pointed to his background in business and government. In addition to being Honolulu’s mayor, he was state director of Business & Economic Development and is currently president and CEO of the Hawai`i Hotel & Lodging Association. He said the organization is now more inclusive. He said tourism is “not an old industry, it is an evolving industry – more green, sustainable and maintaining a sense of place.”
     Hannemann said tourism can help Ka`u Coffee, and he talked about ag-tourism, environmental tourism and health tourism. Hannemann also talked about Hawai`i becoming a showcase for alternative energy, with geothermal, wind, hydroelectric and other alternatives being developed.

Hau trees are members of the hibuscus family.
Photo from University of Hawai`i

THE BIGGEST TREES IN HAWAI`I are the subject of a public search encouraged by the state Department of Land & Natural Resources. 

     DLNR chair William Aila said there are no trees currently on the national register of Big Trees. “We hope that including Hawai`i on the national Big Trees register will help educate and encourage conservation of our native and culturally important trees. It is our goal to eventually create our own State of Hawai`i Big Trees Program,” said Aila.
     The DLNR asks for species and location by GPS, as well as the height, width and size of the tree’s crown. The state is looking for the following species: wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera), coconut (Cocos nucifera), hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus), manele (Sapindus saponaria) and `a`ali`i (Dononaea viscosa). 

`A`ali`i is usually a small tree, but some of the
largest may be in Ka`u.  Photo by
A. Tsuneyoshi

     Candidates for biggest tree can be emailed to Sheri.S.Mann@hawaii.gov. Visit the American Forests website for measuring tips and more on the nationwide contest at www.americanforests.org/our-programs/bigtree/big-tree-measuring-guidelines/.

SPEAKING OF TREES, the proposed Ka`u Forest Reserve Management Plan Environmental Assessment will be the topic of discussion at the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce meeting on Friday, Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. at Punalu`u Bake Shop. The speaker will be Ron Terry, of Geometrician Associates.

INDIGENOUS HEALTH is a new master’s degree planned by the University of Hawai`i School of Medicine. The two-year program will begin in the fall of 2012. It will focus on health care for Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Maori.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES is flying 85 percent full, with 16.4 percent more passengers and 20 percent more capacity over October of last year, according to a report in RTT Global Financial Newsletter.

THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN steering committee will meet tomorrow at Ocean View Community Center at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited and can read updates and history of the development plan at hawaiicountycdp.info/kau-cdp.

HAWAI`I’S FIRST VOLCANO HOUSE is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow. William Chapman, of UH-Manoa’s historic preservation program, discusses the history of Volcano House beginning at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply.

Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 6, 2011

Miss Aloha Hawai`i Brandy Shibuya (left), with Miss Kona Coffee Corinne Quinajon and
first runner-up Kapuahi`ilani Lapera.  Photo by Nalani Parlin 

MISS KA`U COFFEE BRANDY SHIBUYA is the new Miss Aloha Hawai`i, winning the islandwide pageant last night at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa. Next step for the Hawai`i Community College West Hawai`i student is the Miss Hawai`i Pageant to be held next year in Honolulu. The winner of Miss Hawai`i goes to Miss America. Shibuya, the daughter of Terry-Lee and Dane Shibuya, danced hula for talent and won Miss Congeniality. Kapuahi`ilani Lapera won first runner-up. A 2007 graduate of Ka`u High, she is the daughter of Hi`ilani and Thomas Lapera, Jr. Corinne Quinajon, a senior at St. Joseph's High School in Hilo, was crowned Miss Kona Coffee last night. Quinajon also has relatives from Ka`u. 

O`o bars with ti leaves broke ground for the new
Bay Clinic facility in Na`alehu yesterday.
Photo by Youlsau Bells

BAY CLINIC BROKE GROUND yesterday for its new Ka`u Family Health & Dental Center in Na`alehu. Kahu Kauila Clark, a practitioner of Native Hawaiian healing, culture and prayer, gave the blessing, with participants using the o`o adorned with ti leaf to move the first earth for the project. 

     Council member Brittany Smart said that transportation will be vital for people to come to the new facility which will be able to handle thousands more appointments than the older building. Kudos went to `O Ka`u Kakou and the Hawaiian Civil Club of Ka`u for their help in raising funds for the project.
     A letter from Sen. Dan Inouye said the new facility will encourage more residents, even those without health insurance, “to get the care they sorely need.” A message from Sen. Dan Akaka called the project “another step toward expanding access to critical, preventable and primary care.” A message from Rep. Mazie Hirono pointed to the Affordable Health Care Act which, she said, will help the clinic.
     A statement from Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he and the state Legislature are committed to securing an additional $800,000 to complete the project.
     A letter from Mayor Billy Kenoi said, “The Ka`u Family Health Center will be a vital lifeline for the residents of Ka`u.” Bay Clinic board member Raylene Moses said that Ka`u residents “value quality health care for all,” and that families shouldn’t have to wonder whether they can afford to take a sick child to the doctor. She called the clinic an example of the “growth and prosperity we all long for.”

Pohue Bay is adjacent to the 16,000 acres owned by
developers who want to build a resort.
Photo by Megan Lamson

THE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION and Hawai`i Wildlife Fund have joined together to submit testimony for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Nani Kahuku `Aina resort project proposed for land between South Point and Ocean View along the ocean. The testimony opposes the current plan for the resort. It says: “Although sustainable growth can be a very good thing, we do not believe this large-scale development (two resorts, 18-hole golf course, developer-created cultural center, commercial areas, etc.) is appropriate as planned at this particular site.” 

     Hawai`i Wildlife Fund and Surfriders contend that the Environmental Impact Statement “glosses over sensitive environmental issues and is misaligned with several sound conservation principles.”
     The testimony contends that there are “insufficient coastal setbacks in the current plan. Imposing appropriate setbacks on coastal development allows for a necessary buffer zone to decrease the amount of negative impacts to nearshore coastal and marine resources.
     The EIS “alleges that a ‘shoreline conservation zone’ will exist. It references a coastal setback of at least of 300-feet inland with most habitable structures at least 20 feet above sea level. Surfriders and Hawai`i Wildlife Fund contend that “300 feet is much too close to the shoreline to insure necessary environmental precautions for the fragile coral reef and anchialine pond ecosystems nearby.
     “Moreover, this project location is in the midst of 80 miles of mostly undeveloped coastline in South Hawai`i (from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park to Miloli`i). Currently, the Ka`u District has the largest stretch of natural and undeveloped shoreline in the state of Hawai`i. The Kahuku Village development would sever this contiguous open space irrevocably,” the testimony states.
     The developers have said that they will create Hawaiian cultural and education programs and protect the wildlife, including Pohue Bay, where endangered hawksbill turtles nest.
     The Draft EIS can be read on the state Department of Health’s Office of Environmental Quality Control website. Click on online library or use the following link: http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/EA_and_EIS_Online_Library/Hawaii/2010s/2011-09-23-DEIS-Kahuku-Village-Vol1.pdf.

Kamaki Fujikawa shows the 218-lb boar he caught with
Glenn Moses and team at yesterday's pig hunting
tournament weigh-in at Honu`apo.
Photo by Nalani Parlin

PIG HUNTING CHECK-IN WAS AT HONU`APO yesterday, with some large boars landing on the scales. Glenn Moses’ team won and was the first team to weigh in, with a boar of 218 pounds in the Jungle Express Hunting Tournament. Teammate Kamaki Fujikawa said they found their catch at 7:45 a.m. in the mountains nearby. It took them three hours to pack out the large pig. 

     Congressional candidate Mufi Hannemann, who used to live in Na`alehu, stopped by the tournament after visiting the Bay Clinic groundbreaking, Na`alehu Farmers Market, the Fall Fling sponsored by the Ka`u School of the Arts, and lunch with supporters at Hana Hou restaurant.

THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Steering Committee will host its next meeting this coming Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Ocean View Community Center beginning at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited and can read updates and history of the development plan at hawaiicountycdp.info/kau-cdp.

HAWAI`I’S FIRST VOLCANO HOUSE is the topic at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday. William Chapman, of UH-Manoa’s historic preservation program, discusses its history beginning at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply.