SATURDAY, NOV. 6, 2010 - NEWS BRIEFS

IN ONE OF HIS LAST EFFORTS to bring money to Ka`u before his term ends in early December, Council member Guy Enriques is supporting Mayor Billy Kenoi’s effort to float a 56 million dollar bond for capital improvements on the island. Eight-point-eight million would go to a Wai`ohinu recycling and garbage transfer station.
    Some Council members are concerned about the county borrowing so much money. Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong said he is worried about such a large sum with millions of dollars in interest each year. Should the bond be floated he wants the money to be used for exactly what it is borrowed for, he said.
    Enriques said he is eager to bring some of this capital into Ka`u to make jobs and to fix the outdated rubbish dump.
    Incoming council member Brittany Smart said she supports the new recycling and rubbish transfer station for Wai`ohinu but would like to see Ocean View also included. She said she would want to make sure the money goes for those specific projects should the bond be floated.

AN ISLAND-WIDE PIG HUNTING CONTEST is underway today with the check in station for weighing the pigs right here at KAHU Radio station on Maile Street in Pahala. Come on down and meet the hunters, their dogs and see the prized pigs as they are brought in from the forests of Ka`u.

REMOVING FLOATING INVASIVE PLANTS FROM PUNALUU POND and a road cleanup are on the agenda today for O Ka`u Kakou. Anyone can volunteer. Meet at Punalu`u Black Sand Beach to help pull the floating plants out of the pond where they choke the oxygen from the water. OKK also has a general membership meeting for Wednesday, November 17 at Aspen Center at Punalu`u at 6:30 p.m.

MISS KA`U COFFEE, Ulu Makuakane, will represent Ka`u as a guest at the Miss Kona Coffee pageant tonight at the Sheraton Keahou Beach Resort and Spa. Ulu is attending University of Hawaii in Hilo majoring in health and nutrition. She will wearing her crown and sash in Kona to honor Ka`u.

A FREE TAIKO DRUM CONCERT will be held Sunday, November 7 at 4 p.m at Pahala Community Center. Puna Taiko, led by Paul Sakamoto, will perform and allow you to try out Taiko. The event is sponsored by Ka`u Main Street and everyone is invited. There is no age limit. It is a pot luck but drinks will be provided. This is the annual meeting of Ka`u Main Street.

THE RAINS ARE BACK but the drought will not be over for Ka`u until there are regular steady rains that nourish the grasses and foliage for hundreds of thousands of acres of pasture and forest. Ranch animals and wildlife have been starving from lack of food and becoming dehydrated for lack of water, during months of some of the lowest amount of rainfall ever recorded. Fortunately for Ka`u, forecasters are predicting a wetter than usual winter and Spring. The drought has hurt not only ranching but the coffee and macadamia nut industries here.

VOLCANO ART CENTER blessed its new educational center yesterday and promised a slew of concerts. Coming to the Kilauea Military Camp theater are the Galliard String Quartet on November 14, Makana on November 21, the Honolulu Brass on December 12, the Honolulu Jazz Quartet on Jan 15, Jeff Peterson on Feb. 5 and the Spring Wind Quintet on March 13. See the November Ka`u Calendar newspaper for all the details.

TWO VETERANS DAY EVENTS take place in Ka`u this coming Thursday, November 11. The Kilauea Military Camp ceremony is at 3:30 p.m. on the front lawn and will offer a free dinner for all U.S. Active and Retired Military and Veterans. A free concert with Hawaiian masters of Slack Key and Ukulele will take place at Punalu`u Beach from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

FRIDAY, NOV. 5, 2010 - NEWS BRIEFS

Ka`u coffee farmers, like Bull Kailiawa,
are guarding against invasion of
coffee borers.

KA`U COFFEE FARMERS ARE WORRIED ABOUT the Coffee Borer insect that has infested coffee farms in Kona. They worry that the borer will get into coffee bags, trucks and the clothes of coffee pickers and ride to coffee lands over here. Pahala could be quarantined along with Kona. Coffee growers Lorie Obra and Bull Kailiawa traveled to Kona for a meeting this week to find out how to protect Ka`u farms from this pest that lives inside the coffee cherry.

KAILIAWA, YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED, is planting five acres of coffee along Highway 11 between the two entrances to Pahala. This will show Ka`u coffee to visitors and beautify the roadside adjacent to the village. Kailiawa’s coffee has been named one of the top ten in the world in international competition.

OUTGOING COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER GUY ENRIQUES HAS PROMISED TO help his successor Brittany Smart make a smooth transition into office. He told the Hilo Tribune Herald newspaper that "unlike my predecessor, I'd be happy to help her with the transition and anything she needs. We'll help in any way if she has any questions or whatever her needs are," Enriques pledged. His projects include a temporary rubbish transfer station in Ocean View and working with the National Guard to bring a work crew to Ka`u for such projects as a new shelter and senior center in Ocean View.

ENRIQUES CONTINUED TO SUPPORT THE IDEA OF the county selling off a segment of Kamaoa Road to private landowners. According to the Hilo paper, he said, “I am all for public access... this particular road has no public purpose.” A site visit will be held next Tuesday, November 9 and the public and county council are invited to meet at the corner of Kamao and South Point Roads at 3 p.m. followed by a public hearing at Na`alehu Community Center. Smart along with Council Member Dominic Yagong have said they worry about setting precedent that could lead to blocking off access to trails and the ocean.

BRITTANY SMART, the Democrat who will take office as the new council member for Ka`u on Dec. 6, is expected to work well with council members Yagong, Angel Pilago, Brenda Ford and Pete Hoffman. If she aligns with them, they will have a 5 to 4 majority on the council and Hoffman could become chair with Pilago its vice chair. Yagong, Pilago and Ford came to Ka`u to campaign for Smart before the election.

TODAY VOLCANO ART CENTER blesses its new educational center in Volcano Village along Old Volcano Highway today. Executive Director Tanya Aynessazian has promised more outreach by the non-profit organization to schools and community in Ka`u. More than half of Volcanoes National Park is located in Ka`u, with the Kahuku section now being open on weekends.
(Left - Pupus for all! In this photo, guests of the opening select various flavors of delicious fudge pupu's by Lavalicious! Look out for Lavalicious at your local farmers market to get a taste!)


MISS KA`U COFFEE, Ulu Makuakane, will represent Ka`u as a guest at the Miss Kona Coffee pageant this Saturday at the Sheraton Keuhou Beach Resort and Spa. Ulu is attending University of Hawaii in Hilo majoring in health and nutrition. She will wearing her crown and sash in Kona to honor Ka`u.

Big D, Demetrius Oliveira leads a prayer for
success in making the radio station available
to more people in Ka`u.

Wendel places the ti leave
at the communications
tower.

TODAY, KAHU RADIO, blesses its latest project, hoping to transmit from a tower that will allow this broadcast to reach a much greater area of Ka`u. Recent improvements have extended coverage towards Volcano and into Wai`ohinu and toward South Point. Access to a tower between Pahala and Na`alehu will send the signal toward Ocean View. KAHU FM is also available - live streaming on the Internet.

THURSDAY, NOV. 4, 2010 - NEWS BRIEFS

GOVERNOR ELECT NEIL ABERCOMBIE is promising to meet soon with education leaders to stop furlough days and to set up the new school board, which he will appoint. One of the big issues involving school campuses in Ka`u is whether an $18 million gym and shelter for Pahala will receive funding already passed by the legislature. The project was championed by current Council member Guy Enriques. He leaves office in early December.

THE AKAKA BILL TO GIVE FEDERAL RECOGNITION TO NATIVE HAWAIIANS is in trouble of passing congress since the Republicans have taken a majority of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Dan Akaka said he is hoping it passes while the Democrats still hold the majority, but once the Republicans take over, he said, the chances become slim.

THE FINAL VOTES - CAST PRECINCT BY PRECINCT - IN THE COUNTY COUNCIL RACE HAVE BEEN POSTED, In some communities it was close. Incumbent Guy Enriques won his home town of Pahala with 181 votes over Brittany Smart's 84. He also won the walk in absentee vote in Ka`u with 308 over 279. However, Smart won the election and took the most votes in every other case. She won the mail-in votes in Ka`u with 336 over Enriques 320 and the election day votes in Ocean View with 512 over 171. In Na`alehu Smart took 257 votes over Enrique's 238. In Volcano, Smart took 484 votes over Enriques' 274. In Milolii it was 133 for Smart to 60 for Enriques. In Ho'okena Smart took 119 and Enriques 71. At St. Benedict's Catholic Church it was 252 to 130.

The Walk in absentee vote on the Kona side of the district was 75 for Smart and 30 for Enriques. The Kona side Mail-in was 129 to 59 in favor of Smart. On Puna Side Smart won Mountain View with 342 to 217. In Kurtistown she won with 492 to 188. The walk-in voting on Puna side drew 102 votes for Smart and 47 for Enriques. The Mail in gave her 93 and Enriques 42.

ENRIQUES has promised to keep working for Ka`u until he leaves office in early December. He said he spent yesterday picking up signs along the roads and highways and thanking his supporters. He said he will be happy to spend more time with his family once his term is pau. He also promised to stay involved in community service.

COUNCIL MEMBER ELECT BRITTANY SMART said she is pleased with the passing of the County Charter Amendment to make sure that 1 percent of property tax income goes towards the purchase of important lands for parks, Hawaiian sites and protection of drinking water. She said she looks forward to working on the County Council where five of the nine council members have pledged to increase the fund to 2 percent of property taxes going to the land fund.

MORE THAN 8,000 ACRES in Ka`u are being placed in a trust for agriculture and Nature by the Edmund C. Olson Trust to prevent the land from being subdivided into residential tracts in the future. Olson worked with The Nature Conservancy and Hawaii Island Land Trust on this project.

THE NEXT STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING for the Ka`u Community Development Plan has been changed from November 9 to Tuesday, December 14. It was changed to make way for the site visit by the County Council and the public to a strip of Kamaoa Road that the county may sell off to private landowners. The site visit is at 3 p.m. on November 9. A public hearing on the road issued follows at Na`alehu Community Center.