Ka`u News Briefs Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013

American Honey Queen Caroline Adams, center, asks members of Vince Krakau's first-grade class to spread their knowledge about honeybees and what can be done to help the necessary pollinators of food and ornamental plants. First row: Malyann Lokot, Owen Flores and Kaui Young. Second row: Jayden Haina-Sesson-Haalilio, Stephen Throne, Vince Krakau, Manu Yahna, Caroline Adams, Angelica Bivings and Trinity Torres. Photo by Nalani Parlin

AGRICULTURAL DIVERSITY HELPS KEEP honeybees healthy by providing a variety of nutrients. The bees make farmed and wild fruits, nuts and vegetable plants more productive by helping with their pollination, said American Honey Queen Caroline Adams, who spoke to Ka`u residents on Sunday and Monday. Adams, who represents the American Beekeeping Federation, is visiting 25 states during her reign. She said her organization encourages those with orchards and large fields of row crops to set aside an acre or a border with a variety of wild or other planted crops to provide diverse nutrients to the bees. She also complimented Hawai`i for producing the most expensive honey in the world, a kind of kiawe honey.
      The American Honey Queen encouraged Ka`u residents to purchase local honey so they know where it comes from. Some “honey” made in China, she noted, is not real honey – it is thinned out and infused with high fructose corn syrup. The American Beekeeping Association is fighting importation of such products labeled as honey, Adams said.

American Honey Queen Caroline Adams encourages Ka`u
residents to attend the Hawai`i Honey Festival.

      Adams, who comes from Plano, Texas, has her own hives. She talked about the life of the bees and the care given to their queens. She also encouraged Ka`u residents to attend the Hawai`i Honey Festival coming up on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Nani Mau Gardens. Attendees will be able to vote on a People’s Choice Award for best tasting local honey. There will be a Bee Friendly plant sale, food, beekeeping demonstrations and bee education. Adults can enter for $3, and keiki are free. 

      During the session yesterday at Pahala Senior Center, Julie Pasquale, the nutritional director there, offered a tasting test between an imported honey and Raw Natural Honey from Ka`u Honey Co. in Wai`ohinu. The local honey is made from the nectars of lehua, Christmas berry, citrus, macadamia, mango, lilikoi and other wildflowers. It won the taste contest over the imported honey.
      Adams also stopped at Na`alehu School yesterday morning and visited the children of Vince Krakau’s, Dayna Santiago’s and Dale Sales’ first-grade classes, as well as Karen Wallace’s fourth-grade class. She asked students to take her honeybee challenge, which included sharing at least one thing they learned about honeybees with someone else and explaining one thing we can all do to protect and help bees. She taught students that when honeybees approaches you, they are often smelling you and actually do not want to sting you, because then they will die. If you swat at the bees, they will be scared and might sting you to protect themselves. The best thing to do, said Adams, is to wrap your arms around yourself and walk away. Her presentation was videotaped for other classes who want to see her presentation but did not have time due to scheduling.

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IN RECENTLY RELEASED KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN draft documents, Ka`u is described as being part of what is called the fourth wave of economic development.
      “The field of economic development has come full circle to recognize the wisdom of communities like Ka`u that never forgot the root meaning of economics,” the document states. It describes the first three waves of economic development as focusing on business attraction, business retention and then community-based economic development.
      “In the emerging fourth wave, economic development re-integrates the local economy with the preservation and enhancement of each place’s unique natural, cultural, and community assets,” the document states. “In other words, the fourth wave of economic development – the wave that Ka`u’s soul never left – is about localization, holism, stewardship, reciprocity and genuine wealth.”
      The document discusses ho`owaiwai and defines the Hawaiian word as the holistic understanding of wealth. “Even more simply,” it says, “fourth wave economic development – and economic development in Ka`u – is about wealth creation, retention, and sharing. Again, wealth is not limited to financial capital. Rather, it includes many different types of capital – human, intellectual, social, cultural, natural, political, etc.”

Hawai`i County planner Ron Whitmore, seen here with his
family, says Ka`u is part of the "fourth wave of
economic development."

      Ho`owaiwai is also the name of Hawai`i County’s plan for building genuine wealth and the name of the statewide network “whose goal is to help families and communities build genuine wealth, and to do so in a way that is appropriate for island people – respecting the relationship island people have with the islands that feed them, both body and spirit,” the document says.
      “Returning to Ka`u’s values, priorities, and objectives, indicators of oikonomia, na `ohana economy and ho`owaiwai should account for all three of the community’s goal areas – managing and conserving natural and cultural resources, preserving and strengthening community character and building a resilient, sustainable local economy,” the documents conclude.
      The documents are available for review online at kaucdp.info and at area libraries and community centers. The Planning Department invites comments through Dec. 16, and a feedback form is available on the website.
      The documents will also be discussed during Ka`u CDP Steering Committee’s meeting a week from today, on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Pahala Community Center.
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FREE TUTORING FOR STUDENTS OF KA`U is offered by Kathryn Tydlacka, M.Ed. Parents are asked to make a small contribution to Ka`u Learning Academy, which is now operating as a 501(c)3. All donations go toward the development of this charter school, said Tydlacka, who noted that she will employ computer-based programs to assist instruction. “This has been made possible by Ross Rammelmeyer’s generous donation of five laptop computers and a projector and screen,” she said. “We have successfully completed round one of the application process, and based on the enthusiasm of many supporters, we feel certain we will succeed in bringing a much-needed charter school to Ka`u.” Contact her at kathryntydlacka@hotmail.com.

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ALAN S. DOWNER IS THE NEW ADMINISTRATOR of the state Historic Preservation Division. Department of Land and Natural Resources chairperson William Aila, Jr. said, “With extensive experience as director for one of the nation’s largest historic preservation agencies, Downer brings tremendous experience in leadership…. I also believe his qualifications will provide SHPD with much needed direction on working with the National Park Service to meet requirements under its Corrective Action Plan.”
      Downer served 27 years as director of the Navajo Nations Historic Preservation Department in Window Rock, Ariz. He was hired in 1986 to establish the first tribal historic preservation agency in the United States. The Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department remains one of the largest public historic preservation agencies in the United States.
      “Mr. Downer has the right experience to lead the Hawai`i’s State Historic Preservation Division,” Gov. Neil Abercrombie said. “The division plays a vital role in protecting and preserving Hawai`i’s historic and cultural sites, while balancing complex issues that affect the state’s economy.”

      Downer presently is special advisor to the executive director for the Navajo Nation Division of Natural Resources, a multi-agency resource management organization responsible for the management and stewardship of the natural and cultural resources of the Navajo Nation.
      Prior to working for the Navajo Nation, Downer was senior archaeologist for the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, overseeing the western United States, where he had the responsibility to review many Section 106 cases for Hawai`i and worked extensively with project sponsors, federal agencies, Native Hawaiian groups, and the State Historic Preservation Officer. The work required a working knowledge of the fundamentals of Hawaiian history and Native Hawaiian culture.

Videoconferencing is available at Ocean View Community Center for
County Council meetings today and tomorrow.

      Downer received his Bachelor of Science in geology from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. and his Masters in anthropological archaeology and his PhD in applied anthropology from University of Missouri–Columbia.

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HAWAI`I COUNTY COUNCIL MEETINGS TAKE PLACE today and tomorrow. A special meeting is scheduled today at 2 p.m. to discuss a bill that would prohibit most GMO crops.

      The council's regular meeting is tomorrow, and both meetings are held at Council Chambers in Hilo.

      Ka`u residents can participating via videoconferencing at Ocean View Community Center.

AFTER DARK IN THE PARK PRESENTS Susan Cordell, senior scientist and research ecologist for the USDA Forest Service’s Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, discussing forest management tomorrow. The program begins at 7 p.m. this evening at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

BENTO RAKUGO VISITS PAHALA PUBLIC & SCHOOL LIBRARY Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Performers present a comic story while sitting on a Japanese cushion throughout the entire performance, speaking all of the voices in both the first person and third person. All stories are spoken in English. The program is suitable for ages 5 and older, and young children must be accompanied by parent or caregiver.
      Call 928-2015 for more information.

HAWAIIAN MUSIC MASTERS AND THEIR STUDENTS present a free concert Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House. The concert celebrates the eighth annual Hawaiian Music & Lifestyles Workshop held by Keoki Kahumoku and his Center for Hawaiian Music Studies. Attendees are encouraged to bring folding chairs and mats for seating on the lawn. Smoked meat plates will be available for purchase. 

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 Monday, Nov. 4, 2013

American Honey Queen Caroline Adams met with enthusiasts at Pahala Senior Center this morning. Photo by Julia Neal

RECENTLY RELEASED KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN draft documents offer an analysis of Ka`u’s local economy, which the documents refer to as Na `Ohana Economy. 

      “Ka`u exemplifies the truly place-based understanding at the root of the word ‘economics’ – the Greek term oikonomia, which means ‘management of the household,’  states Appendix V4C. “Management of the household is not only about money. It’s about everything that makes for a healthy family, community and environment.

      “The people of Ka`u do not want to sacrifice their other values and priorities for the sake of economic development. In fact, their three core value areas – `aina, `ohana and rural lifestyle – only reference the economy in the context of agriculture’s role in the local lifestyle.
      “The concept of oikonomia mirrors that of `ohana in traditional Hawaiian culture,” the document states. “Mary Kawena Puku`i emphasizes this holistic ‘management of the household’ in The Polynesian Family System in Ka`u with her focus on the institution of `ohana. According to Puku`i, features of `ohana include:

Caroline Adams, American Honey Queen, met Pahala
residents and promoted the importance of bees.
Photo by Julia Neal

• a cohesive force tied by ancestry, birth, and sentiment to a particular locality or `aina; 
• a mutual benefit association that ‘manifests genuine community spirit;’ 
• an economic community where relationships regulate personal, social and economic intercourse; 
• an internal system that includes voluntary giving of food, utilitarian articles, and services as well as communal labor for large-scale projects. 

      According to the draft CDP document, a prime example of oikonomia and `ohana in Ka`u is the vibrant informal economy. “In the informal economy, money doesn’t change hands,” it says. “Instead, people live off the land, and the medium of exchange is reciprocity. … The people of Ka`u share what they have. Bounty from the garden or hunt is shared with `ohana, which includes far more people than those connected by blood. As one resident put it, ‘Only in Ka`u. We share, that’s the Ka`u style – with our family, our neighbors, everyone.’”

      The documents are available for review online at kaucdp.info and at area libraries and community centers. The Planning Department invites comments through Dec. 16, and a feedback form is available on the website.
      The documents will also be discussed at the Ka`u CDP Steering Committee meeting Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Pahala Community Center.
      To comment on of “like” this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

AMERICAN HONEY QUEEN Caroline Adams met with Pahala Senior Center enthusiasts this morning and talked about the importance of local gardens, like the very successful one at the center, to provide a variety of flowers, each with different nutrients, to keep honeybees healthy.

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Kathleen Kam was artist-in-residence at Na`alehu Elementary School in 2011.

MURALIST KATHLEEN KAM is spotlighted in the November issue of Hawai`i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Enews. Kam has painted 18 public murals, with more on the way, she said. Her 75-foot by nine-foot mural at Ka`u Coffee Mill took two years to complete. Some other locations where her murals can be seen on Hawai`i Island are Punalu`u Bake Shop in Na`alehu, Keauhou Bird Sanctuary and Kilauea General Store in Volcano Village, KTA Superstores in Hilo and Hawai`i Plantation Museum in Papa`ikou. 

      As an artistic teaching partner with the Artists-in-the-Schools program, Kam has taught art at several Hawai`i Island schools, including Na`alehu Elementary and Ka`u High & Pahala Elementary, where another mural complete by Kam and students is located.
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HAWAI`I COUNTY IS JOINING THE JAPANESE Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Hawai`i, Japanese Community Association and Kona Japanese Civic Association in the Aloha Oshima relief drive.

      Oshima Island, a sister city of Hawai`i County, was the place hardest hit when Typhoon Wipha ravaged coastal towns along Japan’s east coast on Oct. 16. Wipha brought torrential rains – a record-breaking 33 inches in 24 hours – that caused flooding and mudslides that destroyed nearly 300 homes. According to the most recent update, 32 deaths have been reported, and nine people remain missing.

Oshima Island has a sister-city relationship with Hawai`i Island.
Photo from wikimedia commons

      Through the end of December, donations to “Aloha Oshima” will be accepted at Bank of Hawai`i branches statewide. “I offer our aloha and deepest condolences to Mayor Masafumi Kawashima and the residents of Ohshima Island,” Mayor Billy Kenoi said. “Although the destruction caused by Typhoon Wipha is unprecedented, we know that the strength and resolve of the people of Ohshima will carry them through.”
      In Japanese, Oshima means big island. It is about 35 square miles with a population of 8,200 and is home to waterfalls, valleys, and Mt. Mihara, an active volcano 2,507 feet tall. Located 75 miles south of Tokyo, Oshima is the largest island in the Izu group, over a dozen islands extending south from the Izu Peninsula.

      Hawai`i County’s sister city relationship with Oshima Island was initiated in 1962 by the Board of Supervisors, the predecessor to today’s County Council. The chairman and executive officer of the Board of Supervisors, the predecessor to the office of the Mayor, was Thomas K. ‘Lofty’ Cook. Members of the Board of Supervisors at the time were Wing Kong ‘Winkie’ Chong, Elroy Osorio, Helene Hale, Sherwood Greenwell, Ikuo Hisaoka, and Elias Yadao.       

      A monument commemorating the sister city relationship was erected in 1992, the 30th anniversary of the relationship, in Lili`uokalani Gardens, by Oshima Mayor Nagaharu Shimizu.       The most recent visit to Hawai`i Island by friends from Oshima Island was in October 2012. Mayumi Jinguh and Zen Tanaka of Oshima visited on behalf of Mayor Masafumi Kawashima, delivering a letter and a 50th anniversary gift – a copper relief depicting a rainbow bridge between Hawaii Island and Oshima Island. Tanaka, and the people of Oshima Island, including Mayor Masafumi Kawashima, participated in crafting the piece.

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TROY KEOLANUI, CO-OWNER OF OK FARMS HAWAI`I in the Amau`ulu area of Hilo, told Colin M. Stewart, of Hawai`i Tribune-Herald, that he is committed to slowing the spread of coffee berry borers to other farms in East Hawai`i. Announcement of the pest’s presence in Hilo was made last week by the state Department of Agriculture.

OK Farms co-owner Troy Keolanui, seen here with visitors to the diversified ag farm, vows to
combat spread of the coffee berry borer recently found there. Photo by Andrew Hara

      “The insect has been found in less than .1 percent of our harvested cherry, and we are now 75 percent complete with the 2013 crop,” Keolanui said. “All cherry is processed and mechanically dried within 24 hours to prevent any insects from surviving. Any damaged beans are mechanically sorted out, leaving only high quality beans. No pathogens or contamination is carried by the beans or passed on to the consumer.
      “As a farmer, this is just something you have to deal with. Like you would if you had a dog that got fleas. You don’t kill the dog, you give it a flea bath, and you clean the area to remove the fleas … and you move on with life.”
      According to the story, Keolanui contacted the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday, saying that he felt transparency was the best way for Big Island coffee farmers to combat the destructive pest.
      “We’re not embarrassed. This was something that was inevitable. … Now, we just want to do our part to slow the spread. To protect other farms from having to deal with it,” he said.
      Keolanui told Stewart that workers first knew they had a problem about eight weeks ago, when they noticed damage to some beans after they had been processed.
      Keolanui said plans to control the beetle by managing pickers, spraying orchards with a natural fungus that kills the beetles, spraying neem oil, which he said impedes the insect’s growth and then using insectides.
      OK Farms Hawai`i is also planning to add five more acres of coffee orchards. “We think Hilo has a great future in coffee,” Keolanui told Stewart. “We don’t see this as the end of the world. It can be controlled.”
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com.

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THE FOLLOWING KA`U HIGH SCHOOL & Pahala Elementary School middle school students have earned a place on the first quarter honor roll: 

Grade 8
      Summa Cum laude (3.75-4.00): Rowlie John Flores, Revis Petitt and Sierra Yeager.
      Magna Cum laude (3.5-3.74): Malie Ibarra, Junel Candaroma, Scandy Echeilam, Junially Manantan and Ezra James Ramones.
      Cum laude (3.0-3.49): Junialla Manantan, Jim Esquida, Sheena Marie Flores, Daryl Moreira, Jr, Analei Emmsley, Shailei-Marie Penera, Zachary Ishii and Rodel Pascua.
Grade 7 
      Summa Cum laude: Aaron Delos Santos and Brennen Nishimura.
      Magna Cum laude: Jennifer Abalos, Keala Liu, Malia Nicole Corpuz and Zyrae-Jawn Kailiawa.
      Cum laude: Monique Hughes, Daedrie Kai, Therese Pascua, Justine Rosario, Karlee Fukunaga, Lei Chun Galban Kin In, Randall Patton, Jr, Naython Perry, Kanani Petrill-Abrojin, Chaunalisa Velez, Kalena Yeager, Ryan Ah Yee, Josiah Barrios, Mei Lin Galban Kin In, Taenna Holeso, Helena Nihipali-Sesson, Seazon Gouveia-Makuakane, Kayla Kainoa-Aukai and Terree Oyama.

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SUSAN CORDELL, SENIOR SCIENTIST and research ecologist for the USDA Forest Service’s Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, discusses forest management tomorrow at After Dark in the Park. The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

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 Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013

Kahumoku `Ohana presented a concert at Hilo's Palace Theater last night in advance of today's beginning of the eight annual Hawaiian Music & Lifestyles Workshop at Pahala Plantation House. Photo by Julia Neal

KA`U MUSICIANS JOINED MASTERS of Hawaiian music last night at the Palace Theatre in Hilo. Called Huina Alanui, International Music from the Masters, it featured Dennis Kamakahi, John Keawe, Keoki Kahumoku, James Hill, Anne Davidson, Brittni Paiva and the Kaneohe Good Guys from Japan, as well as Bolo, KC Groves, Konabob Stoffer, Andy Andrews and more. Many will be teaching and learning at the eighth annual Hawaiian Music and Lifestyle Workshop sponsored by the Kahumoku `Ohana at Pahala Plantation House starting today. On stage were Trevor Taylor and Jamal Buyuon, both students at Ka`u High, playing with `ukulele superstar Brittni Paiva, who recalled her teacher Keoki Kahumoku putting her in front of large audiences when she was younger, calling it “OTJ, on the job training.” Other students from Ka`u were Jade Tredenick and Nicholas Lubke, from Volcano School of Arts & Sciences.
      The workshop brings Hawaiian music and dance enthusiasts from across the U.S. and from foreign countries. Local students receive scholarships. It ends with a free concert, this Saturday, Nov. 9 on the grounds of Pahala Plantation House from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

KA`U DISTRICT GYM AND SHELTER IS ON SCHEDULE for completion next year. According to Hawai`i County Department of Public Works website, completion is scheduled for fall 2014. After delays at the beginning of construction, including discovery of a burial site inside a lava tube, Public Works deputy director Brandon Gonzalez said he is hoping for a May 2014 completion date for the $16.9 million project. “The good thing is we discovered it in the beginning,” he told Chelsea Jensen, of West Hawai`i Today.
      Construction began in November 2012 and remains on budget according to Gonzalez. The facility will meet requirements for Big Island Interscholastic Federation basketball and volleyball games, with three NCAA regulation-size courts.
      Also an emergency shelter, the facility will be able to accommodate 1,928 people in almost 29,000 square feet during natural disasters. It is being built to withstand category three hurricanes, which have winds between 111 and 130 miles per hour.
      Two rooms are being designated as a vog shelter, where a maximum of 317 people could find shelter from sulfur dioxide emissions. The rooms will have air filtration systems, and one will be air-conditioned.

      See more at westhawaiitoday.com.
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The Kaneohe Good Guys, from Japan, play Hawaiian and Okinawan music at the
Palace concert. Photo by Julia Neal

HAWAI`I COUNTY COMMITTEE AND COUNCIL meetings are scheduled this week, with all meetings taking place at Council Chambers in Hilo. On Tuesday, Governmental Relations & Economic Development Committee meets at 9 a.m., Public Works & Parks & Recreation at 9:45 a.m., Human Services & Social Services at 10 a.m. and Finance at 10:15 a.m.
      The full Council meets Wednesday at 9 a.m.
      Ka`u residents can participate in the meetings via videoconferencing at Ocean View Community Center. Agendas for all meetings are available at hawaiicounty.gov.

HAWAI`I COUNTY’S NONPROFIT GRANT PROGRAM for fiscal year 2012-2013 will be reviewed at the Human Services & Social Services Committee meeting Tuesday at 10 a.m. According to the program’s year-end report, it reviewed 98 requests and granted a total of $1.5 million to 90 programs represented by 62 nonprofits.
      The total of the FY2012-2013 funding distributed was $1,434.973. This left unexpended allocated funds of $65,027.
      Awards are broken down into the following categories:

• Youth: 27 percent;
• Victims of Health or Social Crisis: 19 percent;
• Poor: 19 percent;
• Victims of Crime: 10 percent;
• Culture & Arts: five percent;
• Victims of Health or Social Crisis: five percent;
• Education: five percent;
• Physical or Emotional Disability: four percent; and
• Other: six percent.

      Expense categories broke down as follows:

• Salaries: $592,510 or 39 percent;
• Operations: $173,532 or 12 percent;
• Equipment: $149,001 or 10 percent;
• Supplies: $148,920 or 10 percent;
• Professional Fees: $101,554 or seven percent;
• Other: $265,455 or 18 percent; and
• Unused: $ 65,027 or four percent.

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Brittni Paiva, who grew up taking lessons from Keoki Kahumoku, plays with current students Trevor Taylor and Jamal Buyuan.
Photo by Julia Neal

HAWAI`I COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE, at its meeting Tuesday at 10:15 a.m., considers a bill introduced by Ka`u’s Council member Brenda Ford that would reduce the number of years required to foreclose on a property for delinquent real property taxes from three to two years. The change, Ford said, would allow the county to sell the foreclosed property at public auction to recoup unpaid taxes, penalties and various administrative costs “in a timelier manner.”

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HAWAI`I COUNTY COUNCIL AGAIN CONSIDERS a bill banning genetically modified organisms at a special meeting Tuesday at 2 p.m.
      Bill 113 would ban open-air use of GMO crops with some exemptions, including papaya crops.

Dennis Kamakahi plays his original song Wahine `Ilikea, danced by Erin Cole,
of Ocean View. Cole is a fitness trainer and cross country coach at Ka`u High.
Photo by Julia Neal

      Scientists are concerned about limiting GMO research to greenhouses, saying crops must be tested in an open-air environment to be federally approved. Michael Shintaku, a plant pathologist at UH-Hilo who is conducting GMO research, told Tom Callis, of Hawai`i Tribune-Herald, that he isn’t confident that a crop only tested in a greenhouse could be released for commercialization. “It kind of puts a stop to all of this technology,” Shintaku said.
      Russell Nagata, Hawai`i County administrator for the University of Hawai`i at Manoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, told Callis, “If there’s no end product, the need for GMO (research) is very limited.”
      Council member Margaret Wille, who introduced the bill, considers it a protection against cross-pollination on non-GMO crops. Whether cross-pollination poses any problems is one of the issues dividing supporters and opponents.
      David Case, president of the Kona chapter of Hawai`i Farmers Union United, told Callis, “Other forms of agriculture, farming — not just organic, anything that is not a GMO crop — carries the risk of losing its market if it’s cross-pollinated. So we should be careful about losing the world’s markets for Hawai`i’s products.”
      Blake Watson, a Volcano resident and member of GMO Free Hawai`i Island, told Callis he thinks the bill could have economic benefits because consumers prefer non-GMO products.
      Wille told Callis she is “very confident” that, if the county adopts the bill, it will look back years from now and believe it still made the right decision. “That’s really what it’s about,” she said. “What is the vision for what we want our island to be in five, 10, 20 years?”

      See hawaiitribuneherald.com.

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KA`U’S COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER BRENDA FORD is seeking funding to purchase new tables for Pahala Community Center. In her resolution on the agenda of Wednesday’s County Council meeting, Ford states that the 12-foot wooden tables currently in use have “deteriorated to the point of becoming dangerous.” She calls for “plastic tables that are safe and easier to handle.” An appropriation of $1,800 would come from District 6 Contingency Relief Fund.

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Susan Cordell Photo from USDA

THE TOPIC AT AFTER DARK IN THE PARK Tuesday is how ecologists pick a winning team in forest management. Natural ecosystems today are forever changed by the introduction and establishment of non-native species like never before. According to Susan Cordell, senior scientist and research ecologist for the USDA Forest Service’s Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, some non-native species, however, may be playing important roles in the community in terms of providing ecosystem goods and services. She explains the objective of the agency’s lowland tropical wet forest restoration project. The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

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.