Ka'u News Briefs Jan. 24, 2012

“Did you feel it?” is a program produced by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. HVO recently upgraded its seismic monitoring network. Here, HVO staff, assisted by an HVO volunteer, installs the solar panel and antenna for one of the upgraded seismic stations on Kilauea. The website for the program is http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi.
Photo by Janet Babb/USGS

THE STATE REAPPORTIONMENT COMMISSION meets again next Monday and is expected to use whatever data it can round up to redraw state House of Representatives and Senate district lines. The Supreme Court ruled last week that it must exclude non-permanent resident military and non-permanent resident student populations in counting the population in order to adhere to the one-man, one-vote promise of the U.S. Constitution. The military and the University of Hawai`i are expected to provide their numbers regarding how many of their people are not Hawai`i residents. The Supreme Court in its ruling last week said that theRreapportionment Commission does not have to have exact numbers to make the changes. The Big Island is expected to have an additional Senate seat and possibly a House seat. 

     Rep. Bob Herkes said he is hoping that the redrawing of the lines will leave him in a district he has long held, which includes all of Ka`u. The redistricting thrown out the by Supreme Court cut off the Na`alehu through South Kona side of his district.

Gov. Abercrombie gives 2012 State of the State.

Photo by Ricky Li

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE delivered his second State of the State address before the state Legislature on Monday, promising investments to build upon the economic progress during the last year.
     “There was no way for us to have balanced our budget and achieved today’s fiscally favorable outlook without the commitment of everyone,” said Abercrombie, who thanked state employees and recognized the Legislature for its support.
     Abercrombie proposed numerous initiatives, including:
     Work with the Legislature to identify and approve Capital Improvement Projects which, the governor promised, will result in construction jobs and address critical infrastructure needs.
     Invest $5 million toward the preservation and protection of the state’s watersheds.
     Make the TV and Film Tax Credit permanent.
     Invest $1 million into early childhood education and health initiatives.
     Invest $1.4 million to establish Aging and Disabilities Resource Centers to assist kupuna who face the challenges of aging and restricted mobility.

     An emergency appropriation for a grant of $1.8 million to support the National Kidney Foundation of Hawai`i in light of the closure of two Hawai`i Medical Center hospitals. A new kidney transplant center is likely to be established.

Gov. Abercrombie celebrated Chinese New Year yesterday
at the Hawai'i State Capitol with a Lion Dance blessing
of the executive offices. Photo by Ricky Li  

     Improve the criminal justice system as proposed by the Justice Reinvestment Initiative.
     Support an undersea cable that can connect our island grids to provide stable, reliable electricity between islands.
     The governor stated that it is hard for many “to see beyond today’s needs when today’s needs loom so large and immediate, but unless dealt with now, today’s challenges can only multiply in difficulty. This is not acceptable.
     “We have an obligation to make a better future for our children. We live in paradise and taking care of each other is a value that is fundamental to the aloha spirit.”
      In addition to the measures covered in his speech, Abercrombie said he would submit additional legislation, including a bill to make appropriations for fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 to recapitalize the Emergency and Budget Reserve Fund and the Hawai`i Hurricane Relief Fund.
      The governor’s office also plans to introduce a resolution to study the efficacy of combining state government health policy, planning and purchasing into a single agency in order to advance transformation of Hawai`i’s Healthcare System and universal access.
      The governor’s slate totals about 15 pieces of legislation out of the approximately 3,000 submitted each year. To view the Governor’s State of the State address and photos from the ceremony, visit: hawaii.gov/gov.

Firemen put out the flames in a fire believed to have been
set near the first gulch up Wood Valley Road.
Photo by Julia Neal

A PILLAR OF SMOKE rose above Pahala on Sunday, and residents rushed to the first gulch on Wood Valley Road to find an abandoned vehicle that apparently was set on fire. The fire department quickly put out the blaze and is looking for clues to who would set old cars on fire, creating the danger of burning forests, orchards, farmland and homes. Clues can be provided by calling 932-2913.

THE KOHALA CENTER invites high school students to apply for scholarships to residential engineering and environmental science summer programs. These opportunities are offered in partnership with Cornell University, Brown University, and the University of California, San Diego.
     At the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab at Brown University, students learn how human demands on the environment often compromise long-term ecosystem health and about the policies, practices, and emerging technologies that can help reduce humankind’s ecological impact. Mentored by Brown faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students, participants will also develop leadership skills to tackle pressing environmental problems in their home communities.

     The CURIE Engineering Academy at Cornell University is a one-week residential engineering program for high school girls who excel in math and science and want to learn more about opportunities in engineering in an interactive atmosphere.
     The CATALYST Academy for rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors is a one-week summer residential engineering program
     In UCSD Academic Connections, students experience courses taught by UCSD graduate students or work side-by-side with UCSD researchers in their labs on specific projects.
     Another UCSD Academic Connections program is a one-week pre-college summer academic experience for college-bound high school students in grades 9 - 12 that examines the diverse ecosystem and climate zones of Hawai`i Island. Students will travel around the island studying geology, volcanology, marine science, and Hawaiian history.
     More information and application forms for all programs can be found at www.kohalacenter.org, by calling 887-6411 or emailing Erica Perez, eperez@kohalacenter.org.

Ab and Pua Valencia

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW the volcano in your backyard? Volcanologist Frank Trusdell discusses Mauna Loa’s eruptive history and current status tonight at 7 p.m. during After Dark in the Park at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National. $2 donation supports park programs, and park entrance fees apply. 

KUMU HULA Ab Kawainohoikala`i Valencia and his wife, Puamae`ole O’Mahoney, share the traditions of lei making for hula tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon on the Kilauea Visitor Center lanai in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The event is free, and park entrance fees apply.

Ka'u News Briefs Jan. 23, 2012

Mauna Loa's eruptive activity is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow evening. Vents on the northeast rift zone
near Pu`u`ula`ula (Red Hill) sent massive `a`a flows down the rift toward Kulani in 1984. Photo from USGS

PAHALA RECEIVED TWO and a half hours of Red Alert Unhealthy air from Madame Pele this morning, with the rest of the time between midnight and 8 a.m. deemed Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. During a Red Alert, everyone may begin to experience health effects. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects and are urged to avoid outdoor activities and remain indoors. People experiencing health effects are urged to consider leaving the area. Everyone is encouraged to avoid outdoor activities that cause heavy breathing or breathing through the mouth. Some Pahala residents have air cleaning machines or air conditioners that help rid the air of S02. Ka`u Hospital will be renovated this year to seal its doors and windows and provide air cleaning. Rep. Bob Herkes said yesterday that the new community disaster shelter and gymnasium to be built in Pahala should be equipped with air cleaning for the gym and adjoining rooms to provide safe rooms for the community during vog alerts. Keep track of air quality throughout Ka`u at www.hiso2index.info. 

A 4.7 EARTHQUAKE RATTLED KA`U yesterday, with its epicenter on the south flank of Kilauea Volcano. There were no reported injuries, but wall hangings shifted and houses danced in Ka`u when the temblor struck at 4:36 p.m. The depth was five miles, and around 20 aftershocks followed, with a 3.1 shake about ten minutes later.
     The epicenter was at Holei Pali, which has experienced 16 quakes measuring 4.5 or stronger over the last half century, according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory spokesperson Janet Babb.
     The earthquakes caused two small collapses of the West Ka`ili`ili lava delta that has been inactive since late Dec. 2011. There were no other effects apparent on Kilauea’s ongoing eruptions or on Mauna Loa. HVO monitoring networks have not detected any significant changes in activity at the summits or rift zones of the volcanoes.
     For eruption updates and information on recent earthquakes in Hawai‘i, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov.

NEW MEDICAL PLANS for Medicaid are slated to improve access statewide, support new models to manage care for people with chronic diseases and provide incentives for leveraging information technology to improve the health and well being of Hawai`i residents, according to an announcement from the state. Five federal health care contracts have been awarded to the state’s Medicaid programs for low-income residents. They go to AlohaCare, HMSA QUEST, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Ohana Health Plan, and United HealthCare Community Plan.
     Ohana Health Plan and United HealthCare Community Plan are new providers for the QUEST program. Open enrollment in those programs begins this spring. Medicaid beneficiaries will receive information to help them choose a health plan.
     Beginning July 1 all the health plans, with the exception of Kaiser, will provide QUEST services to members statewide. Kaiser has chosen to focus its efforts on O`ahu and Maui.
     Gov. Neil Abercrombie said, “These new contracts will improve upon an important safety net for Hawai`i. Facilitating access, expanding and tailoring options, and incentivizing providers’ use of record and management technology for better efficiency are all important steps toward the healthcare transformation we need in Hawai`i.”

JET BLUE is the newest partner with Hawaiian Airlines. The companies signed a deal for passengers on both carriers to use single tickets. This will tie in with the direct flight on Hawaiian from Honolulu to New York, which will begin in June. Hawaiian also has a direct flight from Los Angeles to New York. Jet Blue’s hub is in New York’s JFK Airport. 

PAHALA PUBLIC & SCHOOL LIBRARY will be temporarily closed until a staffing shortage is resolved, said Debra Wong Yuen, the temporary assistant branch librarian for Na`alehu. She said that due to low circulation, Pahala is a part-time library. With Na`alehu Public Library technician Lisa Cabudol retired, there are “two positions vacant (a librarian and technician) between both libraries, and only one permanent staff person on board,” she said. “When no staff from other libraries are available to operate Pahala Library, the Pahala branch will need to close temporarily until the staffing shortage is resolved. Future plans are to make Pahala Library an Internet hub, said Wong Yuen. Both Rep. Bob Herkes and Sen. Gil Kahele are promising to make saving Pahala Library an initiative in the 2012 state Legislature. Friends of Pahala Library are also lobbying to keep a school and community library on the regional high school and Pahala school campus. Pahala library hours, when there is staffing, have been cut back to Monday, Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

TODAY IS CHINESE NEW YEAR’S DAY and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. In Chinese culture, Chunjie is a family-oriented holiday with people going back to their birthplace and reuniting with family members. 

VOLCANOLOGIST FRANK TRUSDELL discusses Mauna Loa’s eruptive history and current status at After Dark in the Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium. $2 donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

Ka'u News Briefs Jan. 22, 2012

Father Joel blessed Ka`u Coffee Mill, with owner Edmund C. Olson following. Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

Visitor center at Ka`u Coffee Mill
will be open within a month.

THE BLESSING OF THE KA`U COFFEE MILL brought some 300 people to Keaiwa along Wood Valley Road above Pahala yesterday to celebrate the new mill, agricultural park and hydroelectric project. John Cross, who manages both the Edmund C. Olson Trust lands and the Ka`u Coffee Mill, said the visitor center and mill was built for all the Ka`u Coffee farmers. Not only the Ka`u Coffee Mill coffee will be sold at the visitor center, but boutique and award-winning coffee from individual farmers will be sold there, with the first brands displayed being those of Bull and Jamie Kailiawa, Leo Norberte and the Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative. Cross pointed to the Ka`u Coffee Mill staff, mill supervisor Lee Segawa, administrative assistant Brenda Iokepa-Moses, coffee consultant Richard Loero, contractor Bob Taylor and others who helped put the operation together. Demetrius Oliveira gave the opening prayer. Father Joel, the Rev. Bruno C. Barut, sprinkled holy water around the facility. The band Keaiwa and Keoki Kahumoku provided music. Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya performed hula. Attendees enjoyed Hawaiian food by the Kailiawa family and fresh vegetables all grown on Olson Trust and Hester lands in Ka`u. 

Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya performed hula,
accompanied by Keoki Kahumoku.

“NOT TOO OFTEN DO YOU FIND ME SPEECHLESS, but this finds me close to that,” said state Rep. Bob Herkes during the ceremonies. He praised the Olson Trust for building the mill for local coffee farmers to process their beans and save the time and cost of driving them to Kona and Hilo mills. Herkes descends from a great-grandfather who came to Hawai`i from Scotland in 1898 and built the first water pipe in Ka`u. “Not a flume, a water pipe, and it was made of wood,” he said. Herkes applauded Edmund C. Olson for “taking abandoned sugar cane lands and putting the people back on the ground, working in agriculture.”

County Council member Brittany Smart and state Senator
Gil Kahele promote Ka`u Coffee.

SEN. GIL KAHELE told the people attending the event that he promotes Ka`u Coffee every chance he can, serving it at his office in the state Legislature and displaying a Ka`u Coffee Mill bag on the wall for everyone to see when they enter his office. He said he has followed the plight of displaced sugar workers from the closing of the sugar company to their journey starting their small coffee farms. 

     He said Ka`u is a special place to him, that his uncle was a fisherman and his grandmother was from Hilea and Honu`apo and that he spent summers here as a child and became good friends with Thomas Kailiawa. He said he is so proud to see the success of Kailiawa’s son Bull and noted that Ka`u has the top-rated coffee in the United States. Kahele described Olson as a “good guy” for investing capital in the economic development of Ka`u.

COUNTY COUNTY MEMBER BRITTANY SMART praised Ed Olson and the coffee farmers for all their hard work the last 15 years since the sugar plantation shut down.

Kathleen Kam autographed cards bearing her artwork.

KA`U COFFEE MILL is also a place of art, and Kathleen Kam was noted for her original murals of the land, the wildlife and the people of Ka`u. Two murals are completed in the visitor center, and another one is in progress. Four paintings of native birds are on display. A giclee print of Ka`u Coffee with nene, the Hawaiian state bird, was presented to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park supervisor Cindy Orlando to be placed in the regional headquarters of the National Park Service in San Francisco. Graphic Artist Tanya Ibarra was recognized for developing the Ka`u Coffee Mill logo. The Pahala Plantation House crew, under the direction of artist Kathleen Kam, created a sculpture of locally grown vegetables for display. Local woodworker Michael Worthington created koa cabinetry for the visitor center, and the crew from sister company Hamakua Macadamia Nuts designed the retail space. The coffee mill visitor center will be open to the public within a month.

Ed Olson presented a giclee print of
Nene & Ka`u Coffee to Cindy Orlando.

A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT using water at the old Keaiwa reservoir was described at the opening of the Ka`u Coffee Mill yesterday. The water would drop down the mountain, and its energy would power an electric turbine to make electricity for the coffee mill and macadamia nut husking mill. It could also power up about 400 homes, according to manager John Cross, who said he also hopes to sell the power to Hawaiian Electric Light Company, particularly since Pahala is so isolated from the utility’s other electric generating plants.

A RED CODE FOR sulfur dioxide coming from Kilauea volcano was issued this morning for at least an hour. The red advisory states that “everyone may begin to experience health effects. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects. It recommends that sensitive people avoid outdoor activities and remain indoors, that people feeling effects consider leaving the area and that everyone else avoid outdoor activities that cause heavy breathing or breathing through the mouth. There was a less serious orange alert for five hours this morning. The wind came up just before 9 a.m., and the air quality went back to good.

Keiki visit with donkeys packing Ka`u Coffee.

VOLCANO AWARENESS MONTH continues with guided hikes most days. Today’s hike into Kilauea Iki Crater begins at 1 p.m. at Kilauea Iki Overlook parking lot on Crater Rim Drive. Hikers hear the story of Kilauea’s dramatic 1959 eruption in this four‐mile, three-hour hike across the still‐steaming crater floor. For more information about Volcano Awareness month events, visit hvo.wr.usgs.gov. 

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S group exhibit celebrating Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s centennial continues through Feb. 19. Entitled Observation/Inspiration, this multimedia exhibit features artists who gather inspiration from the volcanic activity at Kilauea and highlight the ever-changing appearance of the volcano.

ALSO FOR HVO’S CENTENNIAL, volcanologist Frank Trusdell discusses Mauna Loa’s eruptive history and current status at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium. $2 donations support park programs. Park entrance fees apply for events in the Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.