Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 18, 2011w

Wendell Ing brings his entertaining style to the Volcano School of Arts & Sciences
fundraiser tomorrow.

HOW WOULD IMPACT FEES HELP IMPROVE COMMUNITY infrastructure like roads and parks when housing, industrial and commercial developments come to town? This was explained by County Council member Pete Hoffmann last night at a Brittany Smart talk story session in Pahala. The councilman said an impact fee formula could replace Fair Share practices that have the county charging more than $12,000 for each house built.
     Hoffmann said an impact fee could reduce that amount for affordable houses and could allow owner-builders of affordable houses to pay the impact fee over time. He said that impact fees could also be charged for commercial and industrial development.
     Many of those who attended were concerned that impact fees would add on too much cost to housing, while Hoffmann said they could wind up costing less and be financed by the county for lower-income people.
     The next talk story meeting hosted by council member Brittany Smart will be held at Na`alehu Community Center next Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The subject, again, will be impact fees.

Mazie Hirono

CONGRESSWOMAN MAZIE HIRONO launched a bipartisan effort to save education programs for indigenous people. She and Republican Don Young, of Alaska, created the Young-Hirono amendment. It cleared the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday with a vote of 313 yeas to 117 nays. “Working across the aisle, Rep. Young and I were able to join forces to counteract those who strongly oppose any programs benefitting Native Hawaiians or Alaska Natives," she said. The amendment restores eligibility of Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native education programs for federal funding. 

THE BIOFUELS TAX BREAK has been refined at the Legislature to guarantee use of local resources and support of local agriculture. In order for developers to receive tax breaks of 30 cents a gallon, amendments to Bill 772 would require the feedstock to be at least 75 percent locally sourced. It also tags the tax break to actual production of biofuel and allows tax breaks for use of many waste materials, such as fats, oils and grease. Tax breaks had been based on capacity rather than actual production. A meeting on the biofuels refinery and farm planned for Ka`u will be held Monday at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center, with a presentation by the developers of the project, `Aina Koa Pono. 

`Aina Koa Pono's depiction of its
proposed Ka`u Energy Farm

A PROPOSED SITE FOR THE BIOFUELS REFINERY would be along on Meyer Camp Road, off Wood Valley Road. The location would be buffered from Pahala by a 1.7-mile wide block of existing macadamia orchard just above Pahala and would be set off of Wood Valley Road - .4 miles up Meyer Camp Road. 

THE KAʻŪ HIGH JV SOFTBALL TEAM did not allow a little rain to get in the way of victory over the Hilo Vikings on Wednesday. The girls defeated the Vikings 14-6 at the Pahala ball field. Shaylin Navarro went four for four and scored three times along with Shylee Tamura and Chazlyn Fuerte. Pili Kailiawa and Jadelyn Kekoa-Jara went two for four and scored twice each. Kamalani Fujikawa went one for four and scored once to help the lady Trojans win in the seventh inning. Winning pitcher was Shaylin Navarro.
     Earlier this week on Valentine's Day the Trojans killed Keaʻau 23-13. Navarro served as winning pitcher again and went three for five, scoring three runs along with Fuerte. Kailiawa went four for five and also scored three times, as did Toni Beck and Casey Koi. Kekoa-Jara went four for five and scored twice, along with Tamura. Fujikawa was five for five, scoring three runs to help secure this fifth-inning T.K.O. victory and Valentine's gift for Coach Donald Garo via the lady Trojans. The two wins were the first of the JV season, which will end this coming Tuesday.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE for the Ka`u Federal Credit Union annual membership meeting and steak fry which will be held on Saturday, March 19th. They are available at credit union locations in Pahala, Na`alehu and Ocean View.

A POETRY SLAM will be held tonight at 7 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. Kimberly Dark emcees the poetry competition.

THE OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION PANCAKE BREAKFAST is tomorrow, Saturday, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Ocean View Community Center.

RECYCLE your HI-5 and receive 5 cents per container and an additional 20 cents per pound for all aluminum tomorrow at Na`alehu School from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Atlas Recycling will also donate 20 cents per pound to the school for all aluminum.

THE VOLCANO SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES hosts a big music festival fundraiser tomorrow at Kilauea Military Camp Theater. It features the Kuahiwis, Wendell Ing & Friends, the Bump City Funk Band, Halau Ke `Olu Makani O Mauna Loa and more. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 17, 2011

Proposed `Aina Koa Pono site is on Meyer Camp Road just off Wood Valley Road,
mauka of Pahala. It would be set back against the hillside.

THE `AINA KOA PONO hui, which plans to build a refinery to produce fuel for Hawai`i Electric Company, is looking at a site above Pahala. The most recent site being considered is on the old Meyer Camp Road, mauka of Wood Valley Road. The refinery would be shielded from the town by a macadamia nut orchard and set back off Wood Valley Road at the base of the mountain. Earlier sites considered included the old truck shed from sugar plantation days now used by ML Macadamia inside Pahala Village and a parcel owned by Kamehameha Schools near the trash transfer station on the road to lower Moa`ula, just outside of town. A public meeting, sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce, on the project will be held Monday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Everyone is invited to listen to the `Aina Koa Pono presentation and to ask questions.

Pete Hoffmann

HOW IMPACT FEES AFFECT ME is the title of County Council member Brittany Smart’s talk story session tonight at Pahala Community Center at 7 p.m. Smart and council member Pete Hoffman will talk about an alternative to the current Fair Share money contributions imposed on developers during zoning changes and subdivision approvals. The new impact fees would be attached to building permits. The problem with Fair Share, says Hoffman, is that developers don’t always pay. They already owe the county more than $100 million in money pledged for impact fees. If an impact fee had been attached to each building permit, the county would have taken in more than $60 million, according to engineer Bob Hunter, who studied the issue. The impact fees are supposed to help the county pay for the roads, parks, water and other infrastructure expansion required by development.
     Opponents fear that impact fees would be a hardship to owner-builders and to small contractors building affordable homes.

Mazie Hirono

CONGRESSWOMAN MAZIE HIRONO has been appointed to the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. She said her legislative priorities include helping to create jobs and to promote renewable energy use.
     She also serves on the Committee on Education and Workforce and said she works to improve student achievement. Her assignments for the 112th Congress include serving on the Subcommittees on Aviation; the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation; Highways and Transit; Water Resources and Environment; Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education; and Workforce Protections. She also serves on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and House Democracy Partnership Commission.
     The Democrat recently opposed hefty cuts in health care that were proposed by the Republican majority in the U.S. House. She said they “target the most vulnerable among us – the poor, children, young adults and women.” She particularly opposed an effort to end Planned Parenthood, noting that the federal government does not fund abortions and that Planned Parenthood offers many health services to women.
     She said the funding cuts could result in Planned Parenthood closing in Kona.


GOVERNOR NEIL ABERCROMBIE is expected to sign the civil union bill in the next ten days. It passed the state Llegislature yesterday, allowing same-sex couples who get a license and make their vows to enjoy many of the privileges of married couples beginning on Jan. 1, 2012. The civil unions measure passed the Legislature last year but was vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle. It was one of the issues put forward in Abercrombie’s campaign. The governor said that civil unions “respect our diversity, protect people’s privacy and reinforce our core values of equality and aloha.”

Sabrina McKenna with
Gov. Neil Abercrombie

HAWAI`I’S FIRST OPENLY GAY Hawai`i Supreme Court Justice was confirmed yesterday by the state Senate. She is also the first graduate of the U.H. Richardson Law School to serve on the Supreme Court. Sabrina McKenna, 53, has been a district and circuit court judge for nearly two decades. She is known for her expertise in native Hawaiian rights. The Japanese American was born in Japan and moved to Hawai`i at nine years of age. This is the first time that two women have served simultaneously on Hawai`i’s Supreme Court.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 16, 2011

ML Macadamia husking plant between Hwy 11 and Maile Street in Pahala.

ML MACADAMIA ORCHARDS, LP saw stock values increase recently, following news that it re-negotiated its sales price to Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp. Mauna Loa buys approximately 80 percent of all of ML’s nuts which are grown in orchards around Pahala and in Kea`au. The new deal requires Mauna Loa to purchase at least one third of ML’s production for 77 cents per wet-in-shell pound. The deal is for three contracts covering one, two and three years. Mauna Loa and ML also have separate agreements connected with the recent purchase of the IASCO lands makai of Pahala. Those agreements require all nuts to be sold to Mauna Loa over various lengths of contracts for up to 80 years. ML is one of Ka`u’s largest employers.

TAX BREAKS that could help draw investors to a planned biofuels refinery near Pahala passed an important committee in the state House of Representatives yesterday. For the 15 million gallon a year refinery, the state would give a $4.5 million a year tax break to investors for eight years based on the capacity of the factory rather than its output. In the bill, biofuel is defined as ethanol, biodiesel, diesel, jet fuel or any other liquid fuel produced from agricultural feedstock. The feedstock can be produced here or imported. According to the Hawai`i County planning department such biofuels refineries are allowed on agricuturally zoned land.

A MEETING ON BIOFUELS for Ka`u will be held next Monday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. The event is sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce. Everyone is invited to the presentation by the biofuels developer `Aina Koa Pono engineer Alexander Causey.

A MEETING ON DEVELOPING FAIR IMPACT FEES for construction of houses and other buildings will be held tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. The talk story session, sponsored by County Council member Brittany Smart, will feature council member Pete Hoffman, who is attempting to update the impact fee formula charged by the county.

THE HAWAI`I DEMOCRATIC PARTY is looking for one man to represent the Big Island on its State Central Committee. Interested men can send a bio or resume by Friday, Feb. 25 to Hawai`i County chair Steven G. Pavao at pavaos002@hawaii.rr.com. Applicants must be male (as there is one male and one female sent to the committee from this island). The chair for District 5 is Pahala resident Sara Witt.

Nene, Hawai`i's state bird.

AN ADULT NENE was killed in the middle of Hwy 11 yesterday between Pahala and Volcano. A pair had been reported living with their gosling along the stretch of highway near the nene warning signs. Officials at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park urge motorists to beware of the nene. Biologists will be checking on the whereabouts of the gosling and parents to see if they were involved in the accident. The nene is a large goose and Hawai`i's state bird.

KATHLEEN KAM is the new artist-in-residence at Na`alehu Elementary School. Her residency began Monday, and she teaches through March 20. No stranger to Na`alehu, she facilitated Na`alehuʻs first mural, which is at Punalu`u Bake Shop. Eleven youth from Alu Like participated in a workshop, then executed the mural under Kathleen’s direction. 

Kathleen Kam, the new artist-in-residence at Na`alehu School.

     The title of the work is `Ohana `Aina O Ka`u. The mural includes faces of many longtime residents of Na`alehu. Kam is an Artistic Teacher Partner, a certified art teacher, with the Hawai`i Arts Alliance. Through art grants, she services Hawai`i’s schools from Kaua`i to the Big Island. Other Kathleen Kam murals are at Kilauea General Store in Volcano Village and Keauhou Bird Conservation Center at Keauhou Ranch near Volcano. Her largest is at Kamehameha School, and her most recent is on the newly renovated KTA store in downtown Hilo. Kam lives on the east side of the Big Island and is staying in Pahala during her artist-in-residency program.