Ka`u News Briefs August 8, 2011

Rep. Bob Herkes, at right, may see his constituency change if reapportionment plans that cut Ka`u in half go forward.
Photo by Julia Neal

STATE REPRESENTATIVE BOB HERKES said Sunday that he is definitely running for re-election, but for which House district? He is not sure. Herkes lives in Ka`u, in the Volcano golf course subdivision and has represented Ka`u from Ocean View to Volcano for many years. However, a proposed reapportionment scheme threatens to cut the Ka`u district in half, and Herkes’ residence would be located in a district aligned more with Puna. 

The latest reapportionment map
changes the boundaries of Ka`u's
Representative district.

     Herkes said he hopes the reapportionment committee will move the proposed line to the actual district border between Ka`u and Puna, which would leave him running again to represent all of the people of Ka`u. 

     Some Ocean View residents are organizing opposition to the proposal in fear of losing Herkes as their representative. Among Herkes’ accomplishments for the area are creation of the South Kona Wilderness Area, a new medical mobile van for South Kona and Ka`u, and a new well for Ocean View. A reapportionment hearing will be held on Sept. 13 in Hilo and Sept. 14 in Kona. 

THE FRIENDS OF BOB HERKES election committee received $1,750 in campaign contributions so far this year, leaving the representative with $40,000 of cash on hand for election spending. Donations ranged from $250 to $500. Among the contributors were seed company Monsanto Hawai`i, First Hawaiian Bank, Hawai`i Citizen Rights, and Associa, a community association management company. 

Sen. Gil Kahele

SENATOR GIL KAHELE’S campaign committee has collected almost $20,000 in contributions so far this year, according to the Campaign Spending Commission’s website. The Commission reports the senator has $12,700 on hand for his re-election campaign and owes $4,350 in loans. The Friends of Gil Kahele committee received donations ranging from $150 to $2,000. 

     Among contributors were the Hawai`i Association of Realtors, CEO of Hawaiian Telcom Eric K. Yeaman, the United Public Workers Union, and president and CEO of Mele Associates Melvin H. Chiogioji. Chiogioji is also co-founder and president of `Aina Koa Pono, a biomass and biofuel developer that plans to construct a refinery between Pahala and Wood Valley and a farm between Pahala and Na`alehu.

John A. Burns School of Medicine
helps keep track of the number of
doctors in Hawai`i.

THE BIG ISLAND is 174 doctors short - the largest number of physician shortages in the state, according to a report in Pacific Business News based on the Hawai`i Physicians Workforce Assessment. Maui is short 107 doctors, Kaua`i 47 and Lanai and Moloka`i both are five doctors short. According to JABSOM data, O`ahu needs 331 more doctors. While O`ahu has the highest total shortage, it is the lowest per person in the state. Regarding specialties, more neurosurgeons, pediatric cardiologists, general surgeons and infectious disease specialists are needed statewide, the PBN report states. 

Russell Kokubun

RUSSELL KOKUBUN, chair of the state Board of Agriculture, is asking Safeway stores to be forthright with the Hawaiian coffees it sells on the mainland by listing how much of the coffee blend is actually from Hawai`i and how much of the blend is from some other country. While Safeway is only selling a Kona blend on the mainland, its practices could eventually affect Ka`u, where coffee name recognition is growing. Kokubun sent a letter to Safeway asking it to voluntarily comply with the law that is already in place in Hawai`i, requiring the blending percentages to be on the labels. Kona coffee farmers have called for a boycott of Safeway stores until the supermarket complies. 

Pasha says new rules will make interisland
shipping difficult.

A NEW STATE LAW HARMS INTERISLAND OCEAN TRANSPORT COMPETITION, says the head of Pasha Hawai`i Transport Lines. In a Pacific Business News report by Curtis Lum, George Pasha claims that the law “raises the bar so high for any kind of outside competition that competition will basically be eliminated. Not just Pasha, anybody in that particular trade” by restricting the Public Utilities Commission’s power to grant transport cargo licenses between the islands. This comes after the PUC issued the company an interim license that allows its ships to service Maui and Hilo but forego stopping at ports deemed unprofitable, such as Moloka`i, Lanai and Kawaihae on the Big Island. Critics, however, viewed it unfair that other companies like Young Brothers Ltd. were required to serve unprofitable destinations while Pasha did not. Pasha claims that its only vessel is too large to service the smaller ports.

MICHELLE WALL-O’CONNOR SHARES THE ART of Lomilomi on the lanai of Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon.

Ka`u News Briefs August 7, 2011

While prices of Hawai`i County homes dropped in July, the number of sales increased.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA proposes a "reverse boot camp" to get Iran and Afghanistan veterans back to work. The plan is to provide $120 million in tax credits for businesses hiring these vets in order to assist them in returning to civilian life. Obama said he hopes businesses will hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans and their spouses by the end of next year. 

Mayor Billy Kenoi

MAYOR BILLY KENOI has almost $60,000 on hand in his re-election coffers, and the Friends of Billy Kenoi campaign committee owes no money, according to Campaign Spending Commission reports due last week. According to the filing, the Kenoi campaign collected $33,000 from January through June. While County Council Chair Dominique Yagong is considered the most likely candidate to run against Kenoi, Yagong has not formally announced and collected and spent no money during the first half of this year. 

     Candidates have less time to campaign for the next primary, which takes place on Aug. 11, 2012 rather than the usual September primary.
     Kenoi’s contributors included the Hawai`i Firefighters union, the Carpenters union, homemaker Elaine Mukai, investor James Campbell, developer Stanford Carr, agro-forestry enthusiasts Muriel and Kent Lighter, and Reynolds Aluminum Recycling president Terry Telfer.
     Among County Council members, only Dennis “Fresh” Onishi received contributions during the first six months of this year amounting to $450.
     Ka`u’s Council member Brittany Smart showed 79 cents on hand, with no contributions to her coffers and no expenses.
     For more on all the public officials fundraising, see http://hawaii.gov/campaign

PUC commissioner
Carlito Caliboso

PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSIONER CARLITO CALIBOSO resigned on Friday. Caliboso had served as a commissioner since his appointment by former Gov. Linda Lingle in 2003. Until March, he was the PUC’s chairman. Gov. Neil Abercrombie appointed Hermina Morita earlier this year, and she became its new chairperson. Caliboso will serve until the end of August and plans on practicing law in the private sector. His successor has yet to be appointed. The PUC is currently considering whether to approve a contract between Hawaiian Electric Co. and `Aina Koa Pono for a proposed refinery between Pahala and Wood Valley and a biofuels farm between Pahala and Na`alehu. 

BIG ISLAND CONDO AND HOME prices fell in July, says the Hawai`i Information Service. According to HIS, single-family home prices fell 6.2 percent, and condominium prices fell 22.8 percent. But while the Big Island saw these price depreciations, the number of homes and condos sold has increased. Single-family home sales jumped 10.7 percent, and condos 25 percent. Kaua`i saw a similar drop in prices and increase in sales. 

HSTA leader Wil Okabe

THE HAWAI`I TEACHERS UNION has voted for mediation to settle contract disputes with the state. Leader Wil Okabe wrote a letter to Gov. Neil Abercrombie asking for mediation in response to a YouTube video of the governor telling Hawai`i State Teachers Association-Big Island leader Wayne Joseph that the state would be willing to continue talks with the union with mediation by a third party. The state imposed a contract on the union last month that cut salaries and forced teachers to take furlough days and pay more for their health insurance. The union subsequently filed a complaint, saying that the state violated their collective bargaining rights. A hearing on the case will be held this Wednesday.

Ka`u News Briefs August 6, 2011

Proposed redistricting splits Ka`u into two state Representative districts.

PROPOSED REDISTRICTING for the state House of Representatives would cut Ka`u down the middle, with the line going between Punalu`u and Na`alehu.

     The map released this week is preliminary, but would require two different state House members for Ka`u. Some Ocean View residents are already organizing opposition, fearing they will lose their long-time legislator Bob Herkes, who has championed the new water well for the community. Martie Nitsche called Herkes a “walking computer” whose knowledge of the Ka`u communities is unsurpassed. Nitsche said that the Ka`u region should stay together with its unique rural needs.
     Under the proposed scheme, residents of Na`alehu, Wai`ohinu, Discovery Harbour, Green Sands, Ka Lae and Ocean View would be in the same district as people north to Kahaluu-Keauhou and including Honalo, Kealakekua, Captain Cook and Honaunau-Napo`opo`o and Miloli`i. People in Punalu`u and Pahala would be in the same voting district as Volcano, Fern Forest and Eden Rock. The new east side district would also include Fern Acres, a tiny bit of Hawaiian Acres, parts of Orchidland Estates, all of Kurtistown, Kea`au, and a swath to the ocean that would include sparsely populated land out to the ocean north of Kea`au but south of Hilo. Most of Hawaiian Paradise Park and Hawaiian Acres, as well as all of `Ainaloa, Pahoa, Kapoho and Kalapana would be in a separate district.
     Hawai`i Reapportionment Commission Chairwoman Victoria Marks said that public hearings on these preliminary maps will be held on Sept. 13 in Hilo and Sept. 14 in Kona. The maps may change depending on whether military personnel and non-resident students are counted in the population base of the county. While the County of Hawai`i chose not to count them, the state voted to do so, the reapportionment maps released being the product of the methodology of the latter. State Attorney-General David M. Louie called the state’s decision unconstitutional. Under state law, however, the final maps must be adopted by Sept. 26, no matter what methodology is used. 

Tradewinds eyed eucalyptus above Pahala for veneer.
Photo by Julia Neal

TRADEWINDS, ONE OF THE COMPANIES that had its eye on harvesting the thousands of acres of eucalyptus above Pahala, has asked the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to terminate its license to cut trees and make them into plywood veneer. The site would have been the old O`okala Mill north of Hilo. The company, apparently, could not raise the money for the operation. The state Board of Land and Natural Resources could cancel the license at its next meeting, which is next Friday. 

THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION issued a notice of violation to the Pohakuloa Training Area here on the Big Island and Schofield Barracks on O`ahu on Thursday. The commission concluded after an investigation regarding depleted uranium used in weapons systems in the 1960s that there was a security level three violation resulting in increased radiation. The notice could entail a $3,500 fine. However, due to the Army’s positive response in providing information to the NRC and taking measures to prevent further violations, the fine may be reconsidered. This has drawn criticism from members of the community including Jim Albertini of Malu `Aina, a community-based organization for education of sustainable organic farming and non-violent action. The NRC’s decision, he believes, is not enough, nor are the Army’s corrective actions to prevent further violations.

THE BRUSH FIRE that spread through Punalu`u this Wednesday burned 85 acres before it could be contained. Fortunately, the land scorched was vacant and no injuries were reported. The fire forced police to close Hwy 11 between the two entrances to Punalu`u Beach for six hours. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

Christina Skaggs with her
Patina Prayers.

AN ART OPENING at Volcano Art Center Gallery today from 5 p.m. To 7 p.m. features Christina Skaggs with her Patina Prayers paintings that resemble carvings and textiles. The exhibit will be ongoing through Sept. 18.

THE WALLS OF PU`U `O`O CRATER collapsing are the subject of a video by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. The spectacular documentation available online at the HAVO website begins with the lava flow in the crater on Wednesday. The lava progresses toward the rim of the crater until the crater floor collapses and drops 260 feet. By 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, the crater wall had collapsed into the lake of lava. A different video was recorded from helicopter by Mick and Ann Kalber of Tropical Visions Video and shows the spectacular lava flows in the crater.