Ka'u News Briefs Nov. 29, 2011

Kumu Hula Hannah Uribes (left) and Hannah's Makana `Ohana perform at Ka`u School of the Arts'
Music for Christmas concerts this weekend. Photo by Nalani Parlin

BANNING PLASTIC BAGS used for carrying food and goods purchased from stores and restaurants on the Big Island could become law soon. The measure already passed first reading at the County Council with a 5 to 3 vote, and the final vote is likely to take place at the Dec. 21 council meeting, according to a Stephens Media report this morning.
     The vote follows public hearings around the island. Council member Pete Hoffmann, who champions the measure, said he is comfortable with the final version and that the mayor is OK with it. “Let’s not sacrifice the environment on the altar of convenience,” Hoffmann told reporter Jason Armstrong. 

     Hoffmann noted that the bill is not an outright ban on plastic bags. Council member Dennis Onishi, who opposes the bill, says that people would still buy plastic bags for lining trash cans in homes and offices, instead of using plastic bags acquired free during shopping. There will still be plastic bags going into the landfill, he said.
     If passed, stores would be given a year to use up their inventory of plastic bags and build up paper bag supplies and to encourage people to bring cloth or other reusable bags for shopping.
     According to the Stephens Media story, the eleven Subway franchises on the Big Island have already turned to paper.
     Maui and Kaua`i already have plastic bag bans, and surveys show that more than half of Maui customers are not using bags provided by stores and restaurants there, the story said.
     County Council chair Dominic Yagong said he will refrain from voting on the bill when it comes before the Big Island Council. He said his long-time employer Foodland will suffer a large cost increase as paper bags are much more expensive.

Rodney Naiole Kahele

POLICE ARE SEARCHING FOR Rodney Naiole Kahele, of Ocean View, who is wanted on seven warrants with bail that totals $300,300. A statement from the Hawai`i Police Department describes Kahele as 6-foot-1, 180 pounds with black hair and tattoos on his back, arms and legs. Anyone with information can call Officer Dane Shibuya at 939-2520 or the non-emergency number 935-3311. 

A 100-TON BOULDER CRUSHED their car on Hwy 11 near Kahuku Ranch in 2007, and victims Michael Patrick O’Grady and Leiloni O’Grady, of Ocean View, have gone to court. The Ocean View residents, one a school social worker and the other a speech pathologist, seek millions of dollars in medical expenses, wages and future lost wages. The trial began yesterday in Circuit Court in Hilo. Their attorney is Ron Self, of Wood Valley, and the judge is Greg Nakamura.
     The defendant is the state Department of Transportation, which plaintiffs claim was negligent when it cut the road through the mountainside, leaving rocks and a giant boulder with no place to fall but the highway. A story in today’s Hawai`i Tribune-Herald by reporter John Burnett quotes Leiloni O’Grady recalling the rock slide coming toward her vehicle: “It looked like something on TV, with fingers of dirt coming down and the dust going up. Then this big boulder came down.” The boulder turned the car over and sent it sliding upside down.
     According to the Tribune-Herald story, Patrick O’Grady recalled that he found himself “hanging upside down in the seatbelt, trying to breath. I was lying on the road, and one of my students came up and said, ‘Oh my God, Mr. O’Grady.” Patrick O’Grady has since recovered from most of his injuries and has gone back to work in the Ka`u public schools, but his wife says she may never work again. 

Cyndi Napper, Mary Ramsdell and Sandy Ooka, of
Hannah's Makana `Ohana. Photo by Nalani Parlin

MUSIC FOR CHRISTMAS is featured at concerts this weekend. The Ka`u Community Chorus, Hannah’s Makana `Ohana and the Ka`u `Ohana Band perform at 2:30 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center on Saturday and Discovery Harbour Community Hall on Sunday.

SUBMISSIONS OF WORKS for Volcano Art Center’s upcoming exhibit called Occupy Art are being accepted today between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. This exhibit is open to all who care to express their opinions on the Occupy Wall Street movement, using art as a vehicle for creative and healthy expression. Any and all media are accepted, and there is no entry fee. Call 967-8222 for more information.

Ka'u News Briefs Nov. 28, 2011

Public ownership of Kawa for recreation and wildlife protection is opposed by Abel Simeona Lui,
 who goes to court tomorrow. Photo by Julia Neal

KAWA RESIDENT and Hawaiian sovereignty supporter Abel Simeona Lui goes to Third Circuit Court in Kona tomorrow. He is making claims that the county cannot hold onto land it purchased to create a park and restore wildlife and the estuaries at Kawa. Lui, who has lived at Kawa for more than 20 years and has welcomed traveling and more permanent residents to stay there in tents and other self-built housing, said he is the caretaker of Kawa land and beyond. However, the land has been sold several times, most recently to the county, which plans to keep it in the public domain. 

CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES that were cut in Ka`u will be restored, according to a statement from the state Department of Human Services. The programs are managed by Kapi`olani Child Protection Center, which provides counseling and treatment to parents with substance abuse problems. An estimated 160 children and 100 parents received services last year. Kapi`olani has been operating for more than 15 years and employs five people, including three part-time counselors. 

     It receives funding from Child Welfare Services under the state Department of Human Services, which suffered a $5.8 million cut in funding from the federal government in October.
     Child Welfare Services help with child protection, foster care, adoption, independent living and licensing of resource family homes, group homes and child-placing organizations.
     DHS director Patricia McManaman said that, “After listening to community concerns about limited service options and the fact that other Kona-based service providers will be unable to fill the gaps, the DHS reconsidered service reductions in the Ka`u area.”
     She said a new stream of federal funding will enable the department to sustain Ka`u-area services.

Final draft map of Hawai`i County
Council districts.

THE COUNTY REDISTRICTING COMMISSION meets on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Hilo Council chambers to finalize its redistricting plan, which changes District 6 boundaries. The plan removes Kurtistown and Mountain View from District 6 and adds Napo`opo`o, Captain Cook and Kealakekua. 

     The new boundaries put Council members Brittany Smart and Brenda Ford in the same district. Neither has announced candidacy for next year’s election, but Ford has said she will not move, setting up a possibility that two incumbents may run for the same County Council seat. Ford is eligible for one more term on the Council.
     If Ford and Smart decide to run, they would face a challenge from Lee McIntosh, of Discovery Harbour, who recently announced his candidacy.

GASOLINE PRICES statewide were the highest ever over any Thanksgiving weekend, but they dropped .7 cents from the previous week, according to hawaiigasprices.com. Statewide, gas prices yesterday were $4.12 a gallon, while the national average was down 4.1 cents to $3.32 a gallon. Prices statewide were 59.6 cents a gallon higher than last year here in Hawai`i.
     Prices this morning in Ocean View were $4.32 at Kahuku Country Market's Flying K Gasoline; Ocean View market declined to give out its price; Kahala Gas across the street was $4.36; the 76 station in Na`alehu was selling for $4.37 a gallon; and Ka`u gas in Pahala was $4.40 a gallon.

Alexandre Ribeiro

Amber Monforte

THE ULTRAMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS concluded yesterday. The three-day event which passed through Ka`u with a grueling bicycle race crowned 46-year-old Alexandre Ribeiro, of Brazil, as its winner after leader Jonas Colting, of Sweden, pulled out of the race with injuries. Amber Monforte, of Reno, NV, who works as a nurse, was the first woman across the finish line. Ultraman, considered one of the toughest multi-sport events in the world, is comprised of a 6.2-mile swim, a 90-mile bike ride through Ka`u from Keauhou Bay to Volcano, a second day 171.4-mile bike ride from Volcano, through Puna and Hilo to Hawi, and a third day double marathon – 52.4-mile run from Hawi past Kawaihae to Old Airport State Park in Kailua-Kona. 

Moses Espaniola III

THE NA`ALEHU THEATRE will present `Ukulele Classes with Moses Espaniola III from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Sunday mornings in the Old Pahala Community Clubhouse. Free lessons for persons of all ages will be on Dec. 4, 11 and 18, and on Sundays, Jan. 1, 8, 15 and 22. Snacks will be included. The lessons are sponsored in part by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts through mentor Cyril Pahinui. The venue is provided by the Edmund C. Olson Trust. To attend, please come by and bring an `ukulele. 

     For more information contact Espaniola at ekolu23@yahoo.com or 345-6917 or Chelle Pahinui at chelle@cyrilpahinui.com.

RED FLAG WARNINGS remain, as windy conditions are expected to create a severe fire hazard today with 15 to 20 mph winds and 25 mph gusts until 6 p.m. Most in danger is the west side of Ka`u from South Point to South Kona, as drought conditions remain, and the air is very dry. 

Ka'u News Briefs Nov. 27, 2011

Loved ones were remembered at a floating lantern ceremony yesterday at Punalu`u. Photos by Julia Neal

Two kinds of floating lanterns
were decorated.

THE FIRST FLOATING LANTERN CEREMONY in recent times drew many Ka`u residents to the Medicine Pond at Punalu`u yesterday. Loved ones were remembered with messages and art drawn on the paper of lanterns placed on miniature boats that were carried by the onshore breeze during the late afternoon and the offshore breeze as evening fell. The messages were placed in a community bonfire on the beach at the end of the ceremony. It was sponsored by the Ka`u Rural Health Community Association, HMSA and the American Cancer Society. 

EDUCATORS AROUND THE STATE are worried about parents keeping children home from preschool. A story in this morning’s Honolulu Star Advertiser says that children without preschool experience are more likely to enter school far behind their peers, a handicap that could be carried with them into their working years. Statewide, only about 58 percent of keiki entering kindergarten this year had preschool experience. 

     The Advertiser story points out that Hawai`i is one of ten states with no state-funded preschool program. Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s administration, however, is hoping that within a few years the state will be able to provide all young children access to quality child care services. The state applied for $50 million in federal funding from the Race to the Top Early Learning competition and will find out if the money is approved in December.
     Officials are also working to expand preschool to include those children born too late in the year to qualify for regular kindergarten.

The U.S. Department of Education
offers Race to the Top grants.

     According to the Advertiser story, about 37 percent of kindergarten teachers reported that at least three-quarters of their incoming students had “attitudes and habits that facilitate learning.” Being prepared is shown when keiki have “eagerness to observe and ask questions, try hard and appear interested in the world around them,” states the article. Only 25 percent of teachers said at least three-quarters of Kindergartners started the school year knowing math concepts like simple counting. Preschools also teach literacy skills, needed to start the process of learning to read in kindergarten.
     The story says that a poor economy has made it difficult for many low- and moderate-income families to pay for preschool. Instead, they place young children “with relatives or unlicensed practitioners during the day rather than in more expensive licensed preschool centers.”
     The story quotes Diane Young, an early childhood education specialist with the state Department of Education: “With the economy how it is, I think it’s really difficult for many parents. There’s a bigger movement toward letting relatives watch (children),” she said. 

     Declines in preschool attendance are also blamed on families receiving less preschool tuition since January 2010, when the state cut funding for childcare, eliminating 28 percent of families with preschoolers, affecting thousands of pre-school age children.
     The problem has intensified with the percentage of children living in poverty increasing, as shown by the number qualifying for a free or reduced-cost lunch at public schools. Fifty-two percent of 16,038 incoming kindergartners qualified for lunch subsidies, up from 45 percent in 2008, according to the recent readiness assessment report by the DOE.
     In Ka`u there are several preschools, and early education is assisted by such programs as Tutu & Me Traveling Preschool, involving parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents and other kupuna to help teach the keiki.

A RED FLAG WARNING is up for South Point and all the leeward sections of Ka`u and north toward Kona. The National Weather Service expects a dry, windy day with gusts up to 35 mph and moisture only 40 percent, which is likely to create critical fire weather conditions with rapid fire-growth potential. The Fire Department always warns motorists to refrain from throwing cigarette butts from vehicles, which could spark a fire. It is also advisable to refrain from parking trucks and cars on dry grassy areas and leaving them before engines cool, as their heat could also spark a fire. 

     High winds could also cause trees and branches to fall on electrical lines today, causing outages. Drivers are advised to look out for debris on roadways.

PRIVATE ARTIST STUDIOS are open today in the once a year event sponsored by the Volcano Village Artists Hui. This is the 25th Annual Art Studio Tour & Sale, and it runs until 4 p.m. Seven studios provide tours and a chance to meet painters, potters, sculptors, woodworkers, photographers and other creators of fine art and crafts. Maps are at volcanovillageartistshui.com and local businesses. Many items will be on sale.

THE UTRAMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, which blasted through Ka`u on Friday during a 90-mile bike ride, wraps up with a 52.4-mile, double marathon today from Hawi to Kona. Previous winner Jonas Colting, of Sweden, was still in the lead this morning. The race started with a 6.2-mile swim in Keauhou and is considered one of the toughest endurance events on the planet.

CHRISTMAS IN THE COUNTRY at Volcano Art Center Gallery finishes its weekend of opening events with the wreath competition, book signings and holiday displays. The gallery is open until 5 p.m.