Ka`u News Briefs August 15, 2011

Clues to the reason for fires near Punalu`u are sought by police and the fire department.  Photo by Julia Neal

ED CASE opened his campaign headquarters in Honolulu and is promising to spend a lot of time listening to the issues of the Neighbor Islands during his fight to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator. He has less than a year to attract the vote, as the primary election will be held on Aug. 11, 2012 across this state. 

Ed Case

     Case was famous for coming to Ka`u frequently when he served in the U.S. Congress and known for helping to secure funding to preserve the Ka`u Coast and purchase of Honu`apo. He also introduced shoreline preservation legislation. During his days in Congress he returned from Washington, D.C. frequently and held talk story sessions, collecting questions and discussing a wide variety of issues in Ka`u with anyone who wanted to talk with him. He is considered a Blue Dog Democrat who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal. 

     Expected opponents in the primary are current congresswomen Mazie Hirono and Colleen Hanabusa. For the general election the opponent is expected to be former Hawai`i governor and Republican Linda Lingle.

MAYOR BILLY KENOI is in Ka`u today for a dedication. The ceremony at the Wai`ohinu Solid Waste Transfer Station celebrates the provision of more and improved water spigots for people who need to haul water to their homes. Six new and improved water spigot centers are open around the islands where people can draw free, clean potable water for household use. There are thousands of Hawai`i Island residents who depend on these spigots to sustain their families. 

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE is helping to study and combat rat lung disease, which has been contracted by several Big Island residents. The severe disease, which can lead to coma, severe pain and death, is most inadvertently contracted by unwittingly consuming a tiny slug on a leaf of lettuce or other uncooked vegetable. Experts on the disease are coming to Hawai`i from Thailand, Brazil, China and Jamaica. They include scientists and physicians.
     To prevent rat lung disease, wash vegetables well, cook them or soak them in saltwater before eating. 

HAWAI`I COUNTY’S more than 400-strong police force, whose members belong to the union SHOPO, the State of Hawai`i Organization of Police Officers, are hoping for a new contract soon as their wage hikes have been frozen while the county and police union engage with a federal mediator. The police officers may avoid pay cuts that the Hawai`i Government Employees Association members agreed to and the cuts that the state imposed on the teachers union. Other unions still working out a contract with the counties across Hawai`i are the Hawai`i Firefighters Association and United Public Workers. 

ALTERNATING LANE CLOSURES on Mamalahoa Highway 11 in both directions are planned near South Point Road today through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for pavement resurfacing and guardrail installation.

POLICE AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT are continuing to ask for clues to the possible setting of fires at Punalu`u over the past week. Burned brush still showed hotspots and smoke yesterday. Anyone with clues can call the non-emergency police line at 935-3311. Those wanting to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

Herbert Matayoshi

FLAGS ARE FLYING AT HALF-STAFF for Herbert Matayoshi, who served as mayor of Hawai`i County from 1974 to 1984. Gov. Neil Abercrombie gave a statewide order for flags to fly at half-staff for Matayoshi, this county’s second elected mayor. He also served on the County Council and county Board of Supervisors, the precursor to the County Council. 

SINGER, SONGWRITER AND KUMU Kihei Nahale-a performs at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

KA`U PLANTATION DAYS is coming up this Saturday, Aug. 20 at Pahala Plantation House. Plantation Days starts at 9 a.m. and will feature a cane truck driving through Pahala just like the old days. Representatives of the union and many cultural groups will present historic displays. One display features old photos of houses, and residents can come and find their home. Also planned are ethnic foods, music and dance from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Ka`u News Briefs August 14, 2011

A fossilized footprint from the 1790 eruption.  Photo from Kilaueaadventure.com

IT IS NOT RACE AND CULTURE but income disparity that statistically separates students who do well in math and reading from those who test poorly, according to a story by Derrick de Pledge in the Honolulu Star Advertiser this morning. "Student test scores have improved significantly over the past decade, but the achievement gap for low-income students remains about the same," de Pledge writes. "Last school year, 67 percent of all students were proficient in reading, according to preliminary results from the state Department of Education, while 57 percent of disadvantaged students were proficient. Fifty-five percent of all students were proficient in math, while 45 percent of disadvantaged students were proficient." In the 2001-2002 school year, the first under federal No Child Left Behind requirements, 40 percent of all students were proficient in reading, while 27 percent of disadvantaged students were proficient. Nineteen percent of all students were proficient in math, while 10 percent of disadvantaged students were proficient, the story reports. As a result, the state Department of Education "plans to zero in on reducing the achievement gap," the story says. "People really want to say, ‘Well, you know, it’s the teacher, or the principal, or the parent, or whatever.’ And it’s all of us,” said Ronn Nozoe, a deputy superintendent at the state Department of Education. Sharon Beck, principal of Ka`u High, Intermediate and Elementary Schools, recently pointed out numerous improvements in Ka`u students and pledges much more improvement in coming years. 

Late Mayor Herbert Matayoshi

HERBERT MATAYOSHI, mayor of Hawai`i County from 1974 to 1984, will be honored with flags flying at half-mast tomorrow. Gov. Neil Abercrombie gave a statewide order for flags to fly at half-staff for Matayoshi, who was this county’s second elected mayor.

     Matayoshi also served on the County Council and county Board of Supervisors. 

     Services are open to the public tomorrow from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Hilo at Church of the Holy Cross. A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m.

ALTERNATING LANE CLOSURES on Mamalahoa Highway 11 in both directions are planned near South Point Road this coming Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., for pavement resurfacing and guardrail installation.

A MOON-BASED research park is the subject of a meeting here on the Big Island by astronomers, other scientists and administrators of NASA and other space agencies. They will convene at the International Lunar Research Park Leaders Summit in November at Waikoloa.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY SCIENTISTS are reviewing carbon data showing long periods of lava flow from Kilauea Volcano and other periods of lava flow replaced by explosive activity. According to this week’s Volcano Watch, the periods of explosive lava eruptions were between 2,200 and 1,000 years ago and 900 to 200 years ago. These were periods when lava was deep inside the volcano and when mixed with water would sometimes send out huge eruptions of vapor and water like the Keoneleleli, “the falling of the sands” in 1790 when a party of Chief Keoua’s army was killed by volcanic ash and smoke when marching across the Ka`u Desert, leaving what is now known as the fossilized Footprints Trail within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

NEW AND IMPROVED WATER SPIGOTS AT WAI`OHINU will be the subject of an islandwide dedication ceremony tomorrow at 9 A.M. at the Wai`ohinu Solid Waste Transfer Station. Mayor Billy Kenoi will celebrate additional sources of water for those living remotely who need to haul water to their homes. There are six new or improved water spigot centers opened around the island, offering safe locations where residents can draw clean, potable water for household use, the mayor said.
     Thousands of rural residents in the County of Hawai`i are served by household water catchment systems but also rely on county-operated water spigots for safe drinking water. The new installation is by the county Department of Water Supply and the county Department of Public Works.

The old sugar mill in 1900, the last mill torn down in 1996.

KA`U PLANTATION DAYS is gearing up for next Saturday, Aug. 20 at Pahala Plantation House, and the annual Ka`u High School Reunion will be held on Sunday, Aug. 21 at Pahala Community Center. Plantation Days starts at 9 a.m. and will feature a cane truck driving through Pahala just like the old days. Representatives of the union and many cultural groups will present historic displays. One display features old photos of houses, and residents can come and find their home. Also planned are ethnic foods, music and dance from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Maile Street with Chong Store, a hotel and the field office at right.

Ka`u News Briefs August 13, 2011

Only a few solar projects have sold energy to the electric company due to the high cost of interconnectivity studies.

MAYOR BILLY KENOI will come to Wai`ohinu Monday to celebrate the completion of additional sources of water for those living remotely who have to haul water to their homes. Six new or improved water spigot facilities have been opened across the County of Hawai`i. These facilities offer residents safe and efficient locations where they can draw clean, potable water for household use, the mayor said. The dedication ceremony will be held at the Wai`ohinu Solid Waste Transfer Station on Monday, Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. 

Wai`ohinu, where Mayor Billy Kenoi will dedicate new
water spigots. Photo from Big Island Video News

     Thousands of rural residents in the County of Hawai`i are served by household water catchment systems, and many rely on county-operated water spigots to obtain safe drinking water. The installation or improvement of the county water spigot facilities is a project by the county Department of Water Supply and the county Department of Public Works.

SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ADVOCATES say that the new program that allows energy produced from solar to be sold to the electric company isn’t working well, since the electric company requests interconnectivity studies that cost tens of thousands of dollar. Only a few of the larger solar projects have gone online with the utility since the program began last year. The Public Utilities Commission is looking for solutions to capture more solar power for the grid. The feed-in tariff already sets rates for the electric company to pay for solar. Proposals on revamping the tariff system for up to five megawatts of power that could be sold to the electric company are being taken by the PUC through Sept. 5.

HERE IS MORE OF THE TESTIMONY being sent to the state Public Utilities Commission regarding the proposed refinery between Pahala and Wood Valley and the proposed biofuel farm between Pahala and Na`alehu.

DR. PHILIP I. MCNAMEE supports the biodiesel contract and the biofuel surcharge. Practice director of the Pacific In Vitro Fertilization Institute in Honolulu, McNamee wrote that Hawai`i’s dependence on foreign oil for creation of electricity “is very expensive and environmentally objectionable.” He claimed the project will add jobs and reduce air pollution.

Kala Kaluna

KALA KALUNA, of Pahala, said she doesn’t want her children growing up in a refinery town. She opposed the project. 

PRESIDENT AND CEO of the Hawai`i Chamber of Commerce Jim Tollefson wrote testimony recommending investments in renewable and alternative energy. Without referring to `Aina Koa Pono’s biofuel plans in Ka`u, HELCO and HECO’s proposed biodiesel supply contract, or HELCO’s proposed surcharge, Tollefson said “support for alternate forms of energy will create hundreds of new jobs as local businesses respond to the locally driven demand to migrate to innovative new ways of generating and distributing power.” He also added that renewable energy would expand businesses, thus increasing tax bases, revenues, and the economy. Anyone with questions or comments for Tollefson may call 545-4300.

SOPHIA HANOA testified at the Hilo hearing on the biofuel project that she objected to `Aina Koa Pono using a Hawaiian name that means “Good for the Land.” She said the company owners must have thought it would be an “easy sell” to take a Hawaiian name, but that these words have deep meaning to the native Hawaiian community and she refuses to use the name Good for the Land – `Aina Koa Pono. She said she opposed the proposal to take up pasture and other ag land with biofuel crops and building a refinery near Pahala. 

The transition from sugar fields to coffee plantations will
be celebrated at Ka`u Plantation Days next Saturday.

KA`U PLANTATION DAYS is gearing up for next Saturday, Aug. 20 at Pahala Plantation House, and the annual Ka`u High School Reunion will be held on Sunday, Aug. 21 at Pahala Community Center. Plantation Days starts at 9 a.m. and will feature a cane truck driving through Pahala just like the old days. Representatives of the union and many cultural groups will present historic displays. One display features old photos of houses, and residents can come and find their home. Also planned are ethnic foods, music and dance from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

A SIGN WAVING EVENT to raise awareness of suicide prevention is being planned for Ka`u in early September. Charmaine Alameda, of the Hawai`i Family Guidance Center, is asking interested residents to call her at 933-0607.