Ka`u News Briefs May 26, 2011

Hawai`i County's first double-decker bus is now in service after traveling through Ka`u on a trip around the island.

FORMER HAWAI`I COUNTY MAYOR and attorney Stephen Yamashiro passed away Tuesday night after suffering from pneumonia. He served on the Hawai`i County Council from 1976 to 1990, as its chair for more than a decade, and was mayor from 1992 until 2000. He was born in Honolulu and schooled at University School, Punahou and University of Hawai`i at Manoa. He became a U.S. Army officer after graduating from Officers Candidate School. He graduated from law school at Willamette University. 

Stephen Yamashiro

     Mayor Billy Kenoi released a statement saying, “Mayor Yamashiro loved this community, and was a loyal friend and mentor to many. He was always ready with advice and suggestions, sharing generously of his many years of experience as a community leader. He will be missed, and I want to offer my condolences to his wife Della.
     “As Hawai`i County Council chairman and mayor, Mayor Yamashiro led our community through a very difficult transition period. As the last of the plantations closed in the 1990s, the Big Island was searching for new directions, and Mayor Yamashiro helped steer our island community into the future. His support and advocacy of sectors such as diversified agriculture, forestry and geothermal power are still paying dividends for our residents today. He knew where we needed to go, and he led the way. We are grateful for Mayor Yamashiro’s many contributions to our community,” said Kenoi. Funeral services are pending.

THIRTEEN MILLION DOLLARS in federal funds to support Hawai`i small businesses are expected to be matched 10-to-1 by private investors over the next seven years. This could lead to $130 million in new funding for small businesses in Hawai`i, Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced yesterday. “Now is the time for us to invest in industries that will move Hawai`i’s economy forward,” he said. “We have tremendous opportunities and potential in our clean energy, film, high-tech and other innovative industries. We must take advantage of these opportunities that will create good paying jobs for our local families, lead our drive toward self-sufficiency and bring dollars into our economy.”
     The funding comes as the result of the U.S. Department of the Treasury approving Hawai`i’s application to the State Small Business Credit Initiative, which was established by the Federal Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The Hawai`i Strategic Development Corporation will use the funds for its venture capital investment program. HSDC is an attached agency of the state Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism that supports economic development in Hawai`i by investing in local business ventures in partnership with private funds. 

     “We need to create an environment in Hawai`i for innovative industries to thrive. This investment will raise productivity and create good jobs in all areas of the economy and for all people,” said Richard Lim, DBEDT Director.

Michael Soto. Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

Soto's winning Tiramisu with
Raspberry Coffee Sauce

MICHAEL SOTO, OF PAHALA, WON FIRST in the Dessert I category of the Ka`u Coffee Festival Recipe Contest for his Tiramisu with Raspberry Coffee Sauce, second in the Pupu category for a Rosemary & Garlic Sautéed Shrimp with Spicy Lilikoi Coffee Sauce and third for his Braised Beef with a Cinnamon Coffee Sauce. 

     Soto just graduated from Hawai`i Community College and plans to be a chef. “There’s always an art when you put something on a plate. There’s no such thing as secret ingredients,” he said. “You have to believe in what you’re doing.” Contact Soto about his recipes at 333-2960.

THE FIRST DOUBLE-DECKER BUS in Hawai`i County stopped at Malama Market in Ocean View last week on its first trip around the island. It also stopped at Cooper Center in Volcano Village, and passengers, comprised of county officials and kupuna, collected food for the Hawai`i Island Food Basket. The new Hele-On bus seats 89 passengers. It is 14 feet in height and cost under $900,000. Just like other buses in the county transportation system, the fare will be zero until July 1. The County Council is still deciding whether to charge for the ride. The mayor proposes that $1 be charged for all Hele-On buses, with students, the elderly and disabled riding for free. If no decision is made, fares would go up to as high as $6 per ride. Council member Brittany Smart asked that the council take another vote on the issue, which will come up soon before the County Council. 

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF CLASSES at Ka`u’s public schools. Students will have more than two months before returning to school on Monday, August 1.

U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono and State Rep. Bob Herkes
joined KMC's Memorial Day ceremony last year.

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP HOSTS A TRIBUTE to those who made the ultimate Sacrifice for Freedom’s Sake in a special Memorial Day Ceremony to be held on Monday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the KMC front lawn. LTC Rolland Niles, Commander of Pohakuloa Training Area, will deliver the keynote address. Representative Clift Tsuji of House District 3 will also be a guest speaker. Other participants include Pastor Bob Bruzelius, Erin Gallagher, Josh Timmons, Brianne Schlegelmilch, and the Waiakea High School Naval JROTC. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be moved to the Koa Room inside the lobby. 

A SPECIAL MEMORIAL DAY BUFFET following the ceremony features beef pot roast, mahi mahi, clam chowder, salads, and more. The buffet will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Crater Rim Café. Cost is $13.75 for adults and $7.75 for children 6 to 11 years old.
     KMC invites the public to attend. For more information, call 967-8371. Park entrance fees apply.

Ka`u News Briefs May 25, 2011

This holua slide would be preserved by the South Kona Wilderness Area. Photo by Kaiali`i Kahele

SUPPORTERS OF THE SOUTH KONA WILDERNESS AREA, championed by Sen. Gil Kahele and Rep. Bob Herkes, are awaiting the signature of Gov. Neil Abercrombie. The measure passed both the House and Senate in the 2011 Legislature. The land includes the only holua slide going all the way to the ocean remaining in the state, as well as ancient homesites, a heiau and burial caves. 

The ancient Hawaiian trail, paved with stones, in the
South Kona Wilderness Area. Photo by Kaiali`i Kahele

     The area includes approximately 1,458 acres in Honomalino and Okoe that extend from the shoreline to 6,000 feet inland as well as land in Kaulanamauna and Manuka that extends from the shoreline to the Manuka Natural Area Reserve boundary.

THE COUNTY COUNCIL is looking for office space in Ka`u, where it could install video conferencing so the public could more easily give testimony and witness County Council meetings. The office was a campaign promise of Brittany Smart, who ran on a platform of more transparency and a better flow of information and ideas between the county council member and the public. Having an office in Ka`u would also give her more time with the public, since she spends a lot of time each workday driving to her council office and council chambers in Hilo or to Kona for some council meetings. 

Na`alehu Civic Center

     Offices that have been considered include one in Ocean View that was scrapped after improvements were estimated to be too costly. The annex of the Na`alehu Community Center was also considered, but there was concern that it would preclude community activities from taking place there. Currently under consideration is the state-owned courtroom facility in the Na`alehu Civic Center near the post office on the makai side of Hwy 11. The courtroom is vacant, as all court proceedings have been moved to Hilo and Kona.
     Other suggestions have included offices in Pahala to make the County Council proceedings and the council member more available to nearby high school teachers, students, the regional hospital, and such employment hubs as the macadamia and coffee farms.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie promotes energy and food security.
Photo by Julia Neal

RENEWABLE ENERGY is at the forefront of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s priorities, he said at the Democratic Convention in Kona last weekend. “This is a matter of our survivability. This is a matter of keeping us from being inundated by international global forces that are going to be working against us when carbon and energy is concerned. We’ve got to do this. We are not going to have sustainable agriculture; we are not going to have food security unless we get the energy question underway, and the Big Island is a key to that,” he proclaimed. The governor said, “We’re running out of time. I want to get past arguments about biofuels vs. geothermal, versus solar, versus wind. We’re going to have to do everything we can, just to survive,” he said. On his desk is legislation that would help win approval of a contract between Hawaiian Electric Industries and `Aina Koa Pono, the company planning an alternative energy refinery and biofuels farm near Pahala. 

THE STATE ENERGY CONSERVATION and efficiency program today ends its $1,000 solar water heating incentive for systems purchased with cash, as funds are exhausted. Hawai`i Energy increased the solar water heating incentive to $1,500 in March with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Within a month, funds were depleted, and program officials reallocated additional ARRA funds to continue the incentive at $1,000 per system.
     “The use of solar water heaters is one of the most effective ways of reducing the residential electricity consumption,” said Estrella Seese, Energy Program Administrator.
     After today’s deadline, residents wishing to finance their solar water heating systems may sign up for the Hot Water, Cool Rates (solar loan interest buy down) offering. For more information, visit hawaiienergy.com/94/hot-water-cool-rates. Hawai`i Energy will also make a waitlist for its next program-year beginning July 1 upon approval of program funding by the Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission. State and federal tax credits are still available.
     Typical single-family households installing solar water heating systems will save between $587 to $849 per year in electricity costs, and the equivalent to 150 gallons of fossil fuel per year. The savings with solar water heating systems will continue to rise as oil prices increase, said a statement from Hawai`i Energy.

Maria Zamudio

First in the Student Dessert I category
was Black Bottoms by Maria Zamudio.
Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

MARIA ZAMUDIO, OF OCEAN VIEW, won first in the Student Division Dessert category for cakes, cookies and pies at the Ka`u Coffee Festival Recipe Contest with her Black Bottoms recipe. Zamudio just graduated from Ka`u High and will be attending Hawai`i Community College in Kona this coming fall. She said she learned a lot through Culinary I and gained a lot of cooking confidence from the course. Her advice to those entering the contest in the future is, “Just give it a try, even if you don’t feel confident. It can’t hurt.” Contact Zamudio at mariazamudio_kau@yahoo.com. 

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK Ranger Jason Zimmerman demonstrates how to make poi this morning from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the lanai at Kilauea Visitor Center. Zimmerman's grandfather taught him to make poi more than 10 years ago.

HAWAI`I COUNTY TRANSIT DIRECTOR Tom Brown discusses the Hele-On bus system and other mass transit issues at Yano Hall in Captain Cook tonight at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is one of County Council member Brittany Smart’s District 6 Matters meetings.

Ka`u News Briefs May 24, 2011

More than 500 acres around Kawa and its estuaries are held up from becoming public lands by a lawsuit by
Abel Simeona Lui, who claims his family lost the land illegally generations ago.  Photo by Julia Neal

MOST OF THE LAND WOULD BE PUBLIC ALONG THE COAST from Punalu`u to Honu`apo if the sale of a 363 acre parcel with more than a mile of undulating coastline is finalized by the end of June. The parcel lies between state land next to Punalu`u and 100 acres owned by the Apiki/Omerod heirs just north of Kawa Bay. The purchase could be scuttled by a lawsuit brought by Abel Simeona Lui, who claims ownership to another parcel in the land sale – this one south of the Kawa lands recently purchased by Hawai`i County. The parcel at the south end of Kawa and the one closer to Punalu`u are under contract for the county to buy them from the Edmund C. Olson Trust. If the Kawa land is not cleared by the courts by June 30, the county will lose government money to buy the coastal lands. The purchase of the two parcels is part of the campaign to preserve the Ka`u Coast from Honu`apo to Punalu`u.

Kawa during a surf meet. These lands were purchased by the county for a
park over the objections of Abel Simeona Lui, who claims
title to them.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I, PUBLIC ACCESS, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission is currently accepting suggestions for properties to be considered this year. The deadline to submit is next Tuesday, May 31. Kawa was listed as the commission’s number one priority in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and part of the land has already been purchased. The Kahuku Coastal Property makai of Ocean View, which the county is currently negotiating to purchase, was number five on the commission’s priority list in 2009. For more information, visit hawaii-county.com/finance/ponc.htm or contact Alexandra Kelepolo at 961-8069. 

Hawaiian Electric Light Co. Pres. Jay Ignacio spoke to
Ka`u residents aboutht the `Aina Koa Pono plan
in January.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE STATE CONSUMER ADVOCATE is asking Hawaiian Electric Company for more information regarding its proposed contract to buy biodiesel from a proposed refinery and farm near Pahala. The requests are posted on the Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission website. The Consumer Advocate asks HECO how it plans to use biofuel from the `Aina Koa Pono project to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards for electrical energy, which are included in Act 155 that was passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor. It asks HECO to estimate the contribution that biofuel from `Aina Koa Pono would have on the Renewable Portfolio. 

     Concerning the biofuel `Aina Koa Pono plans to ship to O`ahu and Maui counties, the advocate asks about the cost of shipping the biofuel to the other islands. The consumer advocate also asks about other suppliers of biofuel and how they could impact the use of biofuel from `Aina Koa Pono and when their biofuel becomes available for use.
     `Aina Koa Pono is planning to build a $350 million refinery on Meyer Camp Road between Pahala and Wood Valley and to employ 300 workers for construction and 100 workers to run the farm and the refinery. It plans to use industrial-size microwave processors to vaporize feedstock from Christmas berry to eucalyptus and napier grass to run the factory and produce a diesel it would truck to the power plant in Kona. The PUC has asked Hawaiian Electric to offer proof by the end of May that the microwave processors will work on an industrial scale, noting that it is not being used on such a commercial scale anywhere else in the world.

Butch Light and students at the Ka`u Coffee Festival
Recipe Contest. Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

BUTCH LIGHT WON FIRST in the Pupu category of the Amateur Division of the Ka`u Coffee Recipe Contest for his Coffee Smoked Chicken, second in the Dessert I category for his Flourless Mochamac Cake with Cafebar Glaze, tied for second in the Dessert II category with his Coffee Soufflé recipe and third in the Entrée category for his MacCoffee Chicken. 

     Light is the cooking teacher at Ka`u High School. He encourages his students to enter the festival recipe contest every year. The timing of this year’s event only allowed for two teams to enter. Students in the class are encouraged to use their imaginations when cooking. 

Butch Light won first for his
Coffee Smoked Chicken.

     Light said the school is adopting the national safety standard set by the American Culinary Federation and used by chefs across the nation. Using these standards sets Ka‘ū High above most U.S. public schools offering cooking classes. Contact Light at 928-2011 or nlight16@yahoo.com. PAHALA POOL has new hours. On Monday and Tuesday it is open 10 a.m. until noon and 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday it stays open until 5:30 p.m. On Saturday the pool is open from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Sunday the hours are 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The hours may expand later in the summer, according to the county lifeguard posted there.

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK Ranger Jason Zimmerman demonstrates how to make poi tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the lanai at Kilauea Visitor Center in. Zimmerman learned the skill from his grandfather.

THE OCEAN VIEW TEEN CLUB meets tonight and every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Teens from 13 to 18 years old are invited to gather at Kahuku Park and Ocean View Community Center. Call 937-3335 for more information.