Ka`u News Briefs March 29, 2011

Nearly 300 million tires are thrown out each year in the U.S. Some of them
could be used to make more flexible pavement here.  Photo by Scott Williams

COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER BRITTANY SMART is planning to testify before the Senate Ways and Means committee in Honolulu to support a bill that would allow taxes at the gas station to be used to maintain roads in private subdivisions like Ocean View. She said that Ocean View residents are paying taxes along with the high price of gas at the pump. Since these fuel taxes are used for fixing roads, some of that money should be used for Ocean View roads, she said. The county, long ago, allowed the massive Ocean View subdivision to be developed without roads that meet public standards, and the county has not made the roads public, so Ocean View residents have to pay for them. If the bill passes the Legislature, a committee would review proposals from community road associations to help fund specific projects.

Brittany Smart wants public opinion
on keeping or ending furlough days.

ANOTHER ROAD ITEM on Council member Smart’s agenda is looking into the possibility of using crumbled tires as an additive to asphalt for paving roads. She said putting the bits of tires into the pavement makes it more flexible and able to absorb earthquakes without cracking. She said she is looking into the cost of shredding tires and the machinery that would be needed to add tires to pavement. 

WHETHER TO END COUNTY WORKER furloughs is a big issue in budget discussions at the County Council finance meetings this week. Mayor Billy Kenoi wants to end them. Council Chair Dominic Yagong and Brenda Ford said that furloughs may be needed for another year to help balance the county budget. When asked whether the mayor would represent the council’s view, should the council pass a resolution for another year of furloughs, the mayor could not commit. He said the issue is a collective bargaining negotiation and that Hawai`i County has only one vote, while the governor has four, and the governor wants to end furloughs. Ka`u County Council member Brittany Smart said this morning that she sees mixed opinions among county workers. Some would prefer to have a few days off a month rather than cut their pay and work full-time. Once the economic crisis is over, it would be hard to get the pay raised back up.

     Smart said she invites the public to call her office and give an opinion on the issue. Her office phone number is 961-8536, or email hccdistrict6@gmail.com.

Barcode software could make
county permit processing faster.

TRACKING PERMITS through the county planning process could become easier with barcodes, like FEDEX tracking packages, if new software proposed in Mayor Billy Kenoi’s budget makes it through the County Council. Ka`u council member Brittany Smart says she supports the measure to save time at the county and make permit processing faster for home builders and businesses. 

    

Coffee farmers can learn how to use fungus to battle borers.
Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

PACIFIC BASIN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER has arranged for Dr. Stefan Jaronski, a USDA entomologist, to speak to coffee farmers on the use of the fungal solution to combat the devastating effects of the Coffee Berry Borer. Jaronski will be in Hawai`i as part of the annual Entomological Symposium titled "Invasive Species of the Pacific Region” at the Hilton Waikoloa Beach Resort. The farmers’ meeting will be at the Old Airport Pavilion in Kona at 9 a.m. this Thursday, March 31. 

THE OCEAN VIEW TEEN CLUB for ages 13 to 18 meets tonight and every Tuesday evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Kahuku Park and Ocean View Community Center. Call 937-3335 for more information.

Ka`u News Briefs March 28, 2011

Napau Fire started March 5, sparked by lava. It is more than 80 percent contained.  Photo from Napau Fire Crew

THE COUNTY COUNCIL will spend most of its time on the county budget this week with Special Finance committee meetings all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Hilo council chambers. The goal is to establish the operating budget for July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012. Council chair Dominic Yagong wants to reduce the police department budget by holding back their pay increases. Mayor Billy Kenoi does not. Yagong wants to consider continuing two-day a month furloughs for county workers, while the mayor wants to end furloughs.

Gov. Abercrombie promises more ag inspectors.  Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE has released a statement regarding the upcoming state budget and state legislature decisions. He asks: “Do we want to produce our own energy instead of exporting billions of dollars to unstable oil-rich countries? Do we want to use these dollars to pay our own solar installers, biofuel farmers, geothermal engineers and wind energy technicians? If we do then we need to connect the islands, accelerate the transition to clean energy with the right incentives, and build functioning regulatory agencies so projects aren’t stuck in paper and process.” The governor also asked, “Do we want to grow our own healthy food instead of being so dependent on multi-national food conglomerates and food and fuel grown and produced in developing countries? If we do we’ll need to repair our irrigation systems and invest in agricultural research and education. Reinstating eliminated agricultural inspectors is a step in the right direction, but that step alone won’t get us there – not even close.” The governor said that in these challenging times, everyone – including the public sector – is going to do more with less. “We must commit ourselves 100 perent to solve our fiscal crisis and focus on economic growth,” he said.

THE NAPAU FIRE that burned nearly 2100 acres is more than 80 percent contained, after more than an inch of rain and heavy work on hot spots by firefighters over the weekend. The fire was ignited by the Kamoamoa Fissure Eruption that started on March 5 and has since ended. More than 50 local and mainland firefighters and Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park staff worked to protect Special Ecological Areas that are home to many endangered species.

Mainland firefighters came from national parks, forests and recreational areas.  Photo from Napau Fire Crew

HAWAI`I STATE CIVIL DEFENSE opens a Community Disaster Assistance and Recovery Center tomorrow for anyone on the island with March 11 tsunami damage. Hours at the Old Kona Airport Events Pavilion are Tuesday, March 29 and Wednesday, March 30, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The center will be staffed by representatives from the Office of the Mayor in Kona, the Department of Environmental Management and the Department of Public Works along with private organizations such as American Red Cross and Catholic Charities Hawai`i. Mayor Billy Kenoi said: “This cooperative government and private-sector effort will efficiently deliver the information and assistance that our residents need for the most rapid recovery possible.”
     State Civil Defense officials are contacting all of the people who called Aloha United Way’s 2-1-1 hotline for assistance in connection with the tsunami to invite them to the meeting. Kenoi and Gov. Neil Abercrombie have issued emergency proclamations in connection with the tsunami, and Abercrombie has requested that President Barack Obama issue a presidential disaster declaration.

One Journey's fundraising CD sold out, and the band is still raising money for Honolulu.  Photo by Julia Neal

ONE JOURNEY has made the finals in the Brown Bags to Stardom’s music video competition on OC16 television. A new round of voting begins this Wednesday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. on OC16. Anyone with an email address or access to the Internet can vote. Log onto brownbagtostardom.com to see the video Lover’s Dream, written by Eunice Longakit and James Tyson. The band, under the direction of Ka`u High School teacher Laura Saijo, is still raising money to fund its trip to the Brown Bags to Stardom talent contest on O`ahu on April 23. At a recent fundraiser at KAHU FM 91.7, produced by Ka`u Productions, LLC, the band raised funds and sold out its CDs but is still short about $500. Donations can be dropped by the radio station or Ka`u High School. The band also hopes to raise money to print more copies of the CD to sell as another fundraiser.

Ka`u News Briefs March 27, 2011

Ko Aloha `Ukulele were built from koa by Ka`u youth. The group visited KAHU FM 91.7                            Photo by Julia Neal 

LAVA RETURNED TO KILAUEA VOLCANO’S EAST RIFT ZONE yesterday after a 17-day pause in eruptive activity. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports the eruption began at 10:09 a.m. inside Pu‘u ‘O‘o, with lava slowly filling the deepest parts of the crater. The event was heralded by a brief seismic tremor burst, in which tremor levels doubled and tslowly decreases. Jim Kauahikaua, Scientist in Charge, said, “Lava is currently confined to the Pu‘u ‘O‘o crater and, so far, poses no threat to structures within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park or outside Park boundaries.”  

Composite photo from temporary webcam placed at Pu`O`o shows new lava.
                                                                                                     Photo from HAVO

      On March 5, Pu‘u ‘O‘o crater’s floor, on which lava accumulated to a depth of nearly 250 feet during the past year, began to collapse. A fissure opened southwest of Pu‘u ‘O‘o and fountains of lava erupted, extending to Napau Crater. Lava continued to erupt from this  Ka-moa-moa fissure until the night of March 9, when all activity on Kilauea’s east rift zone paused. Since then, no lava had erupted from east rift zone vents until yesterday. Visit the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Web site at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov and see the webcam.

Triangles show hot spot targets of firefighters who control the Napau Fire, which has burned more than 2,00 acres.
                                                                                                                                                             Map from Napau Fire Crew

 THE NAPAU FIRE containment has reached beyond 50 percent with firefighters working on hot spots throughout the 2,000 acres of burned forest. The team from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and from other national parks, national forests and recreational areas on the mainland  has protected Special Ecological Areas. The fires was ignited by lava from the eruption that began March 5.

Alan Okami, of Ko Aloha,  Keoki Kahumoku
                                        Photo by Julia Neal

MORE THAN 30 `UKULELE are going home with the youth of Ka`u this weekend after an `ukulele building workshop sponsored by Ko Aloha `Ukulele, Keioki Kahumoku, the Queen Liliu`okalani Trust, Pahala Plantation Cottages and the Edmund C. Olson Trust. Alan and Paul Okami, of Ko Aloha `Ukulele, which manufactures the musical instruments on O`ahu, brought their crew to Pahala to teach students how to build them. The `ukulele are made of koa and the workshop saw parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles helping the younger children to construct their `ukulele. Ko Aloha has sponsored similar workshops on Moloka`i and plans to come back to Ka`u for another `ukulele build in October.

ABOUT FACE, JUMP START AND COMMUNITY ALL STARS programs, which have been helping Ka`u youth for years with after-school training, are all on the chopping block and they end in April. The reason is a cut in federal funding that comes was going to the state Department of Defense and managed by the Paxen Group. The program not only eliminates training for youth, it eliminates employment for the Ka`u residents who teach the young people. Also unlikely, this summer, is a program that hired more than 100 Ka`u youth for summer jobs at such places at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, the hospital and for community groups throughout the district.

Jump Start kids raised money to help a family whose house burned in Na`alehu. The Jump Start, All Star and About Face programs are being dropped.
                                                                                                                                                                            Photo by India Young

 THE DAMAGE FROM THE JAPAN TUSNAMI that reached our shores on March 11 totals more than $30 million to the Islands, according to state estimates. Gov. Neil Abercrombie asked for the Small Business Administration to help homeowners, businesses, nonprifits and renters with low-interest loans for repairs on the Big Island. On the southside it was homes in Honomolino, Okoe and Kapua Bays that were damaged. The governor will also ask Pres. Barack Obama for a disaster declaration which would provide some reimbursement to counties for repair of public infrastructure, like Ali`i Drive in Kona.

No dangerous radiation  here, but more evacuations possible in Japan.

RADIATION CONTINUES TO ESCAPE from the damaged nuclear reactor farm on the northern coast of Honshu Island. Nuclear expert Joe Cirincione said that he doesn’t expect any radiation problem here. 

However, the end result could be spikes of radiation in Japan and the possibility of thousands more people 

      Small amounts of radiation have reached Las Vegas, but in tiny amounts and the health departments say not to worry.