Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 11, 2013

Punalu`u Beach is state land up to the highest wash of the waves and also has state land nearby that could be developed
under the PLDC. Photo by Peter Anderson

COUNTY OF HAWAI`I SUPPORTS REPEAL OF THE PUBLIC LAND DEVELOPMENT CORP. law unless it provides for more home rule. Testimony submitted for Saturday’s state House of Representatives hearing on the issue came from Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, Planning Director for County of Hawai`i:  “The County of Hawai`i has a number of concerns regarding the PLDC. We believe that giving blanket authority to the PLDC to ignore the County’s General Plan, Community Development Plans as well as its subdivision and zoning codes is not in the best interest of the public, and violates the principle of county home rule.

Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd

      The “County government is closest to its citizens, and its people have spent time and resources to develop both the General Plan and its Community Development Plans. These plans have had multiple public hearings throughout the island and have broad community support. Bypassing any hearing at the county level to facilitate PLDC plans and developments undermines the validity of these plans and the input of residents. 

      “We understand that there may be a need to seek variances from county codes and plans, but we believe that should be done through a public county process similar to 201H affordable housing projects that are approved by the County Council via resolution. These resolutions spell out exactly what exemptions or variances are sought and provide the county council as well as the public an opportunity to provide testimony and learn about these plans at the county level.
      “The PLDC as now constructed should be repealed because it does not provide for county oversight or an opportunity for the public to comment.”

     Legislation in the state House of Representatives regarding the PLDC are HB 1133 and HB 589. Testimony can be submitted at capitol.hawaii.gov.

Sen. Laura Thielen 

THE BILL TO REPEAL THE PUBLIC LAND DEVELOPMENT CORP. law, which would allow private entities to partner with the state to create businesses on public lands, is the subject of proposed amendments that would take away its intent, said Sen. Laura Thielen, who co-authored the bill with East Ka`u’s state Sen. Russell Ruderman. Thielen wrote on her facebook page over the weekend: “PLDC Alert: Someone has gutted my PLDC Repeal bill, SB 246, and replaced it with entirely new contents. The bill is no longer a PLDC repeal. The Water Land and Economic Development Committees, chaired by (Malama) Solomon and (Donovan) Dela Cruz, have scheduled the bill for hearing on Monday. 

     “Whoever gutted the bill replaced it with some version of the Recreational Renaissance. No one spoke to me about this matter. I have no idea what changes were made to the old RR proposal, or whether the chairs plan to make other guts and replacements to change it again.
     “This is definitely a bill to watch, because it appears mischief is at hand,” she writes.
      Thielen’s and Ruderman’s original version of the bill says “the purpose of this Act is to repeal Act 282,” which established the PLDC. The rewritten bill, with the same SB 246 number, describes a “Recreational Renaissance” in which the state would use “extraordinary means” to “catch up on deferred maintenance on parks, forests, and ocean recreation facilities. With a one-time, substantial upgrade to our parks, trails, and ocean recreation systems, the state could go from being ‘reactive’ – where failing facilities absorb our time and attention – to ‘proactive,’” the amended bill says. It changes the purpose of the bill to establishing a “Recreational Renaissance Special Fund.”
      The rewritten bill includes language about boating, leasing out state land for industrial parks and other matters. It leaves blank the amount of money that would be appropriated for the Recreational Renaissance Special Fund to be administrated by the state Department of Land & Natural Resources.

Hawai`i County Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth

A COMMUNITY MEETING to organize against farm theft will be held at 6 p.m. tonight at Pahala Community Center. Hawai`i Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth will lead the discussion, honing in on recent thefts from area Ka`u Coffee farms and drying pads. Tens of thousands of dollars in coffee have been recently stolen recently from farms – not all in one area. State law requires coffee dealers to carry records with them showing from where they purchased their coffee. These records can be requested by police and state Department of Agriculture officials. The meeting is hosted by the Ka`u Farm Bureau and open to all of the public.

HAWAI`I ISLAND BURIAL COUNCIL is expected to hold a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 21 and to take up the plan to conserve graves on the site of Ka`u High School. Graves near the site of the new Ka`u Gym & Disaster Shelter site put a stop to construction that is yet to begin.
      Approval of the plan would allow construction to go forward for the more than $18 million facility that will be used by the community and the school for athletics, community events and also to serve as a recreational center, and to use as a shelter during natural disasters and other emergencies.
      Anyone knowing of the family members who might be buried on the site can contact Glenn Escott, Scientific Consultant Services Inc., P.O. Box 155, Kea`au, 96749. Call him at 938-0968. Also contact Kauanoe Hoomanawanui, Burial Sites Specialist for the Hawai`i Island Burial Council, DLNR-SHP at 933-7650, or write to 40 Po`okela St. Hilo, HI 96720.

      Winifred Pele Hanoa is listed as the Ka`u representative on the Burial Council.

      According to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources website, “The management of burial sites over 50 years old falls under the purview of the Historic Preservation Division. Approximately 98 percent of the burial cases handled by the division relate to native Hawaiian skeletal remains.
      “The division works with other cultural organizations when burial remains related to their specific ethnic group are discovered. Five Island Burial Councils are administratively attached to the division to address concerns relating to Native Hawaiian burial sites.
      “Anyone who wishes to relocate, or preserve in place, previously identified Hawaiian burials over 50 years old must obtain the approval of the appropriate Island Burial Council, which meets on a monthly basis on its respective islands.
      “Any skeletal remains accidentally discovered must be reported to the Historic Preservation Division and County police. If burial remains are estimated to be less than 50 years old, they fall under the jurisdiction of the local police.
      “The division currently responds to approximately 2-3 inadvertent discoveries each week, and is involved in up to 250 burial cases annually. Since 1991, approximately 3,000 sets of native Hawaiian skeletal remains have been re-interred thanks to the collaborative efforts of the division, various Hawaiian organizations, and property owners.”
      A Descendency Claim Application in connection with burials can be found at hawaii.gov/dlnr/shpd/forms/desclaimap.pdf.

Chinese New Year was celebrated yesterday. Photo by Kathleen Kam

KUNG HEE FAT CHOY was the greeting yesterday as people celebrated Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake. Some traditional Chinese foods eaten on this New Year’s Day included steamed nien gau, decorated with red dates and sesame seeds, char sui bau aka manapua and sweet meats. Red envelopes holding money are good luck tokens given mainly to children and family members. Incense and other offerings are dedicated to family house gods and to Kwan Yin, Goddess of Mercy. 

THE ANNUAL KA`U COFFEE FESTIVAL, to be held at various locations throughout the district for more than a week, will straddle the end of April and the beginning of May. An organizing meeting will take place this evening at 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. On the agenda is the new Ka`u Coffee Festival website, plans for dinners, stargazing, farm and lunch visits and the full day Ho`olaule`a on May 5. Volunteers are welcomed.

Erv Wilson Photo from thesonicsky.com

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village presents a free screening of Surfing the Sonic Sky tonight at 6 p.m. This 2012 REMI Award-winning film by Stephen James Taylor explores Transcendent Tonality, which Taylor calls a new kind of musical experience. Taylor will also present the musical realm and structures of Erv Wilson. To learn more, visit thesonicsky.com. 

RAISE MONEY FOR THE EMERGENCY ROOM AT KA`U HOSPITAL by joining the sixth annual golf tournament and outcry auction at Volcano Golf & Country Club this Friday, Feb. 15. Entry fee is $75 for the golf tournament and includes golf cart and lunch. Auction and awards ceremony will be during lunch. Register with Ron Young at 929-8390 or youngron19582@yahoo.com.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 10, 2013

Marshallese students were leaders of a Teach for America tour of Ka`u High and Pahala Elementary School yesterday.
Photo by Julia Neal

TEACH FOR AMERICA brought more than 60 teachers to Ka`u yesterday to explore the community and Ka`u High & Pahala Elementary School campus. The national nonprofit organization helps place young teachers into the hardest posts to fill in public school systems. Some of those teachers are now serving Ka`u schools for two-year stints.
      Marshallese students at Ka`u Intermediate guided the visiting teachers through the campus, along with principal Sharon Beck, and talked about their dreams for higher education.

Teach for America instructors gather at the Pahala campus cafeteria to
learn about rural schools. Photo by Julia Neal

      The Ka`u Calendar newspaper editor Julia Neal gave a talk, stressing the importance of teachers in remote Hawai`i schools reminding students - for the students’ self-esteem and confidence -  that they live in such special, desirable places, like Ka`u. She described such rural areas as rich in family, culture and environment, where people do not have to be wealthy to have horses, cattle and family farms. “There is no mall,” but families, have the opportunity to fish and hunt in uncrowded places, and enjoy each other’s company. In Ka `u, she said,  there is time – time to spend with families on the longest uninhabited coast in Hawai`i, time for families to share music, hula and other cultural practices. She talked about the importance of young people being proud of their origins and going out to earn a higher education, experiencing the world beyond Ka`u and then coming home to work and help the community. She named examples of young professionals coming home.
      One Teach for America instructor stationed at Na`alehu talked about the glow in the faces of her young students when they come back to the classroom after a weekend with their families, ranching, fishing and enjoying the other outdoor and cultural activities of Ka`u.

Teach for America executive director
Jill Baldemor grew up in Hawai`i.

      The teachers also took a walk to the Boys & Girls Club in Pahala and visited Pahala Plantation House and Ka`u Coffee Mill. Breakfast was provided by Shaka’s Restaurant of Na`alehu. Lunches were provided by Punalu`u Bake Shop, also of Na`alehu. After Ka`u, Teach for America instructors visited Kamehameha Schools in Kea`au.
      Teach for America’s Hawai`i executive director Jill Baldemor accompanied the group. She grew up in Hawai`i, lived outside the state for a number of years for education and work, and came back to help Hawai`i’s youth.
      The Teach for America website at www.teachforamerica.org/wher-we-work/Hawaii says:
      “Now, more than ever, there is energy and urgency around transforming the educational landscape of our state. With tremendous community support, new leadership in the Board of Education and Department of Education, and Race to the Top reform efforts, momentum is building in Hawai`i. Our 2012 Teach For America corps—nearly twice the size of past corps groups—will work with more than 13,500 students in the coming school year. At this critical moment we are excited to be partnering with our communities to give all of Hawai`i’s children the opportunity to receive the education they deserve.”

U.S. MAIL DELIVERY IN KA`U AND VOLCANO would continue unchanged if home delivery is stopped on Saturdays around the country beginning in August. All mail in Ka`u and Volcano is delivered to post office boxes, which would continue to receive mail on Saturdays should the U.S. Postal Service stop Saturday home and business delivery. A few rural route boxes in west Ka`u would go without weekend mail. Also stopped would be Saturday delivery to mail boxes along Hwy 11 at Honomolino, Miloli`i and other communities on the way to Kona. The plan to stop mail delivery to homes and businesses on Saturday is projected to save USPS some $2 billion a year. Packages, however, would still be delivered on Saturdays. Technically, Congress must approve the plan.

Sen. Russell Ruderman

VOLCANO & KULANI ROADS and their drainage will be improved with $100,000 in state Capitol Improvement Project funding released last week by Gov. Neil Abercrombie. 

      The governor stated, “I understand how important these projects are to the people you serve in your district. I look forward to working together to see its completion. I hope that together we can work to decrease unemployment, jumpstart business activity and get our people back to work while strengthening our communities across Hawai`i.”
      Sen. Russell Ruderman said, “The release of CIP funds for the Volcano Road intersection and drainage improvements is a welcome influx of needed funding to improve the infrastructure and safety for our community. I appreciate the governor’s New Day Work Projects initiative and thank him for his personal attention to this matter. Projects like this will help make our community safer while giving a much needed push toward reducing unemployment in our district.”

KA`U COFFEE FESTIVAL COMMITTEE meets tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Events are being finalized for the week leading up to the May 5 H`olaulea. Volunteers are welcome to work on the committee and at the many festival activities.

AGRICULTURAL THEFT will be discussed by County Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth at the Ka`u Farm Bureau meeting tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center.  Police and farmers are looking for clues to recent thefts from coffee drying pads and coffee orchards. Refreshments will be served. The meeting is open to the public and sponsored by Ka`u Farm Bureau.

A golf tournament at Volcano Golf & Country
Club on Friday benefits Ka`u Hospital.
Photos from volcanogolfshop.com

RED HAT LADIES OF KA`U AND KA LAE QUILTERS have raised more than $5,000 so far in a series of local fundraisers this month. Red Hatters Queen Barbara Beatty said sales Friday and Saturday went well at Punalu`u Beach Park and included fresh baked goods that sold out both days, hot dogs, chili and rice and water. Crafts sold included two big quilts, which brought in $450, and a number of smaller quilts, table runners and tote bags. 

      A fundraiser held Feb. 1 at Ka`u Hospital brought in more than $1,200. Sales at the beach brought in over $4,000.
      The more than $5,000 will be increased by the sixth annual golf tournament and outcry auction at Volcano Golf & Country Club next Friday, Feb. 15 and a spaghetti dinner with entertainment on Saturday, Feb. 23 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center.
      Entry fee of $75 for the golf tournament includes golf cart and lunch. Auction and awards ceremony are held during lunch. Register with Ron Young at 929-8390 or youngron19582@yahoo.com.
      Tickets at $9.99 for the spaghetti dinner can be purchased at the hospital business office, the Land Office in Na`alehu and from Red Hatters and Ka Lae Quilters. To become involved with the Red Hatters and Ka Lae Quilter projects, call Beatty at 929-9072 and quilter Diane Farrar at 939-8720 or email dianef94@aloha.com.

Erv Wilson's Octaval Spiral
Image from thesonicsky.com

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village presents a free screening of Surfing the Sonic Sky tomorrow at 6 p.m. This 2012 REMI Award-winning film by Stephen James Taylor explores Transcendent Tonality, which Taylor calls a new kind of musical experience. Taylor will also present the musical realm and structures of Erv Wilson. To learn more, visit thesonicsky.com.

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK sponsor a forest restoration project Friday, Feb. 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Volunteers plant native tree seedlings in the Kilauea section of the park. Register by tomorrow at 352-1402 or forest@fhvnp.org.

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK also host a winter fundraiser with wine tasting, pupus and artwork by Christina Skaggs at Hilo Hawaiian Hotel’s Wai`oli Lounge Wednesday, Feb. 20 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wine Tasting will include four specially selected wines with unlimited return visits to the wine bar. Another feature is an unlimited, open pupu buffet. The event includes live music, an optional raffle and silent auction as well as an art display and sale. Participants may choose wine tasting or pupu bar for $20 each or both for $40. All proceeds benefit the nonprofit Friends group. Tickets are available at 985-7373 or admin@fhvnp.org.

FUNDRAISING FOR THE WRESTLING TEAM of Ka`u High School takes place today at Punalu`u Beach Park. The fundraising effort will help both the boys and girls high school wrestling team travel to state championships on O`ahu. Leah Mello-Waiwaiole and Shavon Mello-Waiwaiole are among the girls going to states. Among the boys are Kupono Leffew-Palakiko and Joe Oyama. Shave ice and hotdogs will be sold from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fundraising is led by Terry Shibuya. Donations can be arranged by calling Shibuya at 333-1895.

IN SPORTS THIS WEEK, Ka`u High’s boys basketball team plays in the first round of BIIF Division II games Wed. Semi-finals and finals are Friday and Saturday at Hilo Civic Auditorium.
      JV softball has three games this week. They travel to Hilo High tomorrow and to Kea`au Saturday. A home game against Pahoa takes place Wednesday at 2 p.m.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 9, 2013

After several thefts of Ka`u Coffee, growers are considering security for their fields and drying pads.
Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

COUNTY PROSECUTOR MITCH ROTH said last night that he is looking forward to helping stop agricultural theft in Ka`u. He and community members plan to look at requirements for all those selling coffee to keep records showing the origin of all coffee on the market. These records and tags to follow coffee through distribution channels will allow both state Department of Agriculture and county police officials to track stolen coffee back to the farm or facility where it was taken. A recent increase in theft has been reported by numerous Ka`u Coffee farmers as the price for parchment tops $9 a pound.

County Prosecuting Attorney  Mitch Roth

      With Kona coffee production down due to the coffee berry borer pest and drought over the last few years, there may be an opportunity for thieves to steal from Ka`u and sell to Kona. 

      Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative president Gloria Camba said she urges Ka`u Coffee farms to sell Ka`u Coffee only to Ka`u Coffee wholesalers, retailers and their own customers to maintain brand integrity. She also urged farmers to keep records on where their coffee is going when they sell it. Farmers are also talking about security systems for their fields and drying pads.
      Hawai`i Police Department announced it is looking for the public’s help in finding the culprits who stole coffee from a coffee farm on Wood Valley Road. The police report states 1,300 pounds of Ka`u Coffee parchment were stolen during the last two weeks. Another 1,000 pounds were reported stolen off the Kaalaiki Cane Haul Road between Pahala and Na`alehu. The police estimate the value of the stolen coffee that was reported as $21,700. Call officer Dane Shibuya at 939-2520 with any information on the thefts. Anonymous calls can be made to Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 or 329-8181. A reward of $1,000 is being offered.

      A meeting about ag theft is sponsored by Ka`u Farm Bureau and open to the public Monday at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, seen here at Pahala
Plantation House Dec. 2010, proposes to
raise transient accommodations tax.

RAISING STATE TAXES ON HOTELS, B&Bs and vacation rentals is meeting resistance from Hawai`i Tourism Authority. Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s proposal, which would hike the Transient Accommodations Tax to 11.25 percent and take the total tax on accommodations to more than 15 percent, could hurt the visitor industry, which is still recovering from the recession, said Hawai`i Tourism Authority chief Mike McCartney. He testified this week that this year’s TAT revenues are estimated to generate $350 million, with $153 million going into the general fund of the state. The visitor industry also creates more money for the state, some 38 percent of the General Excise Tax coming from non-resident purchases. “Based on this information, the visitor industry is already bearing a sizeable portion of Hawai`i’s revenue-generating burden,” says the tourism chief. “Putting an additional tax on our visitors will diminish Hawai`i’s ability to compete in a price-sensitive market…. Any increase could drive a traveler to a competing destination.” 

      According to Civil Beat, “approximately 32.6 percent of the Transient Accommodations Tax goes to the tourism special fund, 17.3 percent goes to the convention center enterprise special fund, 5.3 percent goes to the TAT trust fund that usually ends up in the state’s general fund, and 44.8 percent is given to the four counties. Of that amount, 44.1 percent goes to City and County of Honolulu, 22.8 percent to Maui County, 18.6 percent to Hawai`i County, and 14.5 percent to Kaua`i County. There are statutory provisions that modify TAT allocations should revenue collections exceed or fall below projections.”
      Civil Beat also reports that the TAT “ was increased from six percent, a level set in 1990, to 7.25 percent in 1998. Seeking to offset declining tax revenues due to the recession, state lawmakers approved increasing the TAT to 8.25 percent in July 2009 and to 9.25 percent effective July 1, 2010. The increase was opposed by many hotel operators.”

State Budget Director Kalbert Young

      An opinion piece in this morning’s Maui News reports that the last time TAT increased, lawmakers promised it was temporary because of the recession and that the two-percent hike would sunset on June 30, 2015. “However, lawmakers have become used to receiving this additional income and want to eliminate the sunset provision in Senate Bills 1194 and 1202, heard Monday by the Senate’s Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs Committee,” writes Pamela Tumpap. “While that is bad and may not surprise you, it gets worse. SB 1202 also seeks to further increase the TAT to 11.25 percent beginning July 1, 2013. This is unfathomable and would hurt Hawai`i’s No. 1 industry at a time when the visitor industry and all who benefit from it are still trying to recover from the recession.”
      Kalbert Young, director of the state Department of Budget and Finance, submitted testimony supporting the increase in TAT, saying that “the last Council on Revenues forecast predicts the state tax revenue growth to be only about 1.2 percent in Fiscal Year 2016.”
      He writes that the state anticipates that the fiscal and revenue condition of the state beginning in 2016 “will be in distress.”

CAPPING THE COUNTY’S SHARE of the Transient Accommodations Tax is opposed by Mayor Billy Kenoi. In testimony to the state Senate Committee on Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs, he wrote that “permanently capping the amount of TAT funding distributed to the counties will leave the counties without the necessary resources to provide essential services to our residents or support for the visitor industry in the years ahead.”

Mayor Billy Kenoi

      “From the time of the establishment of the TAT in 1986, the Legislature planned to make the counties beneficiaries of the hotel room tax because lawmakers recognized the importance of county facilities and services to support and enhance the visitor experience. It was always understood that the costs of mass tourism are mostly carried by the counties,” writes the mayor.
      “When a visitor calls for law enforcement help, a county police officer responds. When the visitor gets into trouble in the ocean, county lifeguards or firefighters respond. When the visitor uses sewer and water service, those are county services. The visitors drive on county roads and use county parks. As the visitor count grows, the visitors’ demands on county resources also grow,” testifies Kenoi.
      “We now have more than one million tourists a year visiting the County of Hawai `i, and the cost of delivering service rises each year. TAT collections are our second largest source of revenue, and it is critically important that TAT revenues to the counties increase as the visitor count increases. The counties need these resources to deliver the services that our residents and visitors require and expect,” the mayor states.
      “The cap in TAT revenues to the counties that was imposed in 2011 was always understood to be a temporary measure, and the cap is scheduled to end in 2015. We respectfully ask that your committee remove the cap on the counties’ share of TAT revenues,” Kenoi concludes.

Grants to clean up tsunami debris, which may include small pieces of
plastic like these along the Ka`u Coast, are being offered.
Photo from Hawai`i Wildlife Fund

TSUNAMI DEBRIS CLEANUP GRANTS are being offered by the state Department of Health, and the deadline is March 8 for community groups to sign up. The total to be given out is $100,000, and the health department notes that much of the debris has been pulverized and comes ashore in small pieces – mostly plastics. The money is provided through the state Department of Land & Natural resources and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. DLNR chief William Aila said the tsunami debris will be coming here for years, and the state wants to clean up and record whatever washes ashore. Grant applications are available at www.hawaii.gov/health/epo.

PALM TRAIL HIKE at Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park takes place tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This relatively easy, guided 2.6-mile loop crosses scenic pasture along an ancient cinder cone with some of the best panoramic views Kahuku has to offer.

Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park explore Pu`u
Huluhulu tomorrow. Photo by Jay Robinson/NPS

ANOTHER HIKE IN HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK tomorrow is a two-hour, three-mile round-trip hike to Pu`u Huluhulu beginning at 10 a.m. Geologist Cheryl Gansecki leads this moderate, fairly flat hike over pahoehoe lava at an elevation of 3,200 feet. Sponsored by Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, the hike is free for Friends members, and non-members are welcome to join in order to attend. Annual memberships are $30 for individuals and $45 for families. Sign up at 985-7373 or admin@fhvnp.org. 

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK also sponsor a forest restoration project Friday, Feb. 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Volunteers plant native tree seedlings in the Kilauea section of the park. Register by Monday at 352-1402 or forest@fhvnp.org.

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village presents a free screening of Surfing the Sonic Sky Monday at 6 p.m. This 2012 REMI Award-winning film by Stephen James Taylor presents a new kind of musical experience.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.