Ka`u News Briefs Thursday, June 12, 2014

Kealia Galimba, whose Blueberry (above) won Grand Champion in the Market Beef category last year, will show a hog at this year's 4-H Livestock Show & Sale this weekend. Photo by Becky Settlage

PREPARING FOR AN INVASION OF COFFEE RUST that is devastating Latin American coffee plantations and could make its way to Hawaiian Coffee farms? Long-term solutions could include creation of shade-grown coffee orchard environments, according to a story published in Audubon this week, saying that “the scientists worry that current solutions, such as fungicide application and developing resistant plants, focus too much on coffee alone – not on the health of the entire ecosystem.”

       The article quotes University of Michigan ecologist Ivette Perfecto saying, “Those narrow approaches tend to work in the very short term; they’re not part of a more sustainable approach to the management of coffee.” Perfecto and colleagues contend that shade-grown practices “promote a healthy web of interactions that, ideally, would naturally keep coffee rust in check,” says the story by Clara Chaisson.

A more ecological approach to growing coffee could control rust,
researchers suggest. Photo from Smartse

      Chaisson writes in Audubon that “traditional shade-grown coffee farms preserve the existing canopy layers of the forest. In addition to fostering biodiversity and maintaining complex ecological relationships between plants, fungi, insects and bats, shade-grown coffee provides critical winter habitat for migratory bird species. ...
      “But sun-grown farms have their own appeal: they can produce higher yields and bring in more money. This approach has taken off in recent years; a study published in April found that the proportion of land dedicated to shade-grown coffee has declined almost 20 percent since 1996. That switch may have unintentionally exacerbated the spread of the fungus and the scope of the problem.
      “On sun-grown coffee farms, the plants are spaced very close together, making it easier for coffee rust to spread from one to the next. Fungal spores travel unimpeded in the open air surrounding the farms. The heavy use of fungicide to combat rust also kills beneficial species like white halo fungus, which naturally attacks the coffee rust fungus.
      “The Michigan researchers suspect that the breakdown of biodiversity in coffee farming has contributed to the coffee rust epidemic, worsening its impact on sun- and shade-grown plantations alike. While cultivating plants that are resistant to the fungus is certainly a positive step, it represents only one piece of what should be a multi-pronged solution.”

Ka`u's U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard served two tours
of duty in the Middle East.

     “We need a more ecological approach,” Perfecto told Audubon. “We’ll drink (a cup of coffee) to that.” See more at audubonmagazine.org/articles/conservation/shady-endeavor-could-help-combat-coffee-rust.
     A report in Bioscience last year by Perfecto and colleagues said, “It is reasonable to suggest that the situation calls for a revitalization of what pest control specialists have come to call autonomous pest control.” 

     See bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/3/210.

     To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

KA`U’S U.S. REP. TULSI GABBARD, a veteran who has served two tours of duty in the Middle East, discussed the crisis in Iraq on CNN this morning. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is expanding its hold on Iraq, having gained control of Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, and threatening to invade others, including Baghdad. 

      Gabbard expressed concern about getting involved in civil wars that are complex and difficult to sort out. “Who are the bad guys?” Gabbard repeatedly asked. “You’ve got to be able to define who were helping and who were fighting for.” She suggested that, if the U.S. is concerned about ISIS, “We should focus our resources on specific threats and take them out where they are.”

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Kamrie Koi has received a Dorrance Scholarship.
Photo by Julia Neal

KA`U HIGH SCHOOL 2014 GRADUATE KAMRIE KOI is one of nine Hawai`i Island students who will begin their studies at the University of Hawai`i at Hilo this fall with Dorrance Scholarships. 

      The Dorrance Scholarship is a four-year award designed to benefit local students who are the first in their family to attend college. Each year, the program awards up to 10 students need-based scholarships of $8,000 per year to attend UH-Hilo.
      This year’s awardees are the third cohort to receive the scholarship.
      Prior to the start of fall classes, the students will take part in a custom-designed summer bridge program to help them transition from high school. They will also participate in international travel and employment preparation in subsequent summers.
      “The Dorrance family has become a valuable partner in UH-Hilo’s effort to help more students shatter that proverbial ‘glass ceiling’ by becoming the first member of their family to obtain a college education,” said Chancellor Donald Straney. “Their gift to the past, present and future cohorts will have a profound impact on the lives of those students.”
      UH-Hilo’s program is an extension of the highly successful Dorrance Scholarship Programs that have operated in Arizona for the past 14 years.
The program is credited with opening the doors of higher education while boosting graduation rates for more than 600 first-generation college students.
      For more information about the Dorrance Scholarship Programs, contact Maria Martin at 808-557-6268 or email mmartin@azfoundation.org.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.  

HAWAI`I COMMUNITY COLLEGE WILL OFFER A NEW SET of accelerated, online, for-credit classes leading to credential certificates beginning this August. Students will be able to study a variety of topics, including Business Foundations, Retail Foundations, Business Essentials, Entrepreneurship and Geographic Information Systems. Classes are accelerated eight-week sessions. Students will receive support services that include tutoring, academic counseling, internships and job development.

HCC Chancellor Noreen Yamane

      Hawai`i CC was one of four University of Hawai`i campuses to receive a Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grant to develop the classes. The grant aims to align academic programs with industry needs and increase the number of adults who attain certificates, degrees and other industry-recognized certificates.
      Grant director Jessica Yamamoto is spearheading this program and has been meeting with business leaders and Hawai`i CC faculty. “We have joined forces with industry to put in place a series of classes that will result in work-ready individuals,” said Yamamoto. “We have a great team of faculty and instructional designers, and all of their hard work will soon come to fruition. These courses have the potential to change lives on our island.”
      “This grant provides a tremendous win-win opportunity,” said Hawai`i CC Chancellor Noreen Yamane. “These new programs will provide valuable skills and college credentials to community members while giving the business community access to a more skilled workforce.”

      In addition, the grant has also accelerated Hawai`i CC’s Prior Leaning Assessment program, and adults can now earn credit for work experience. If awarded credit, students will shorten their time in school as they get on the fast track to degree completion.
      Application deadline is Aug. 1. Those interested should apply soon because classes may fill quickly.

      For more information, contact Business Program Coordinator William Tehero, Jr. at myfuture@hawaii.edu or call 808-934-2688.

THE SIXTH ANNUAL VOLCANO POTTERY SALE takes place tomorrow and Saturday, when fifteen Hawai`i Island potters display their creations. Hours tomorrow are from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village.
      For more information, see ryhpottery.com/volcano_pottery_sale or call Ron Hanatani at 985-8530.

KA`U YOUTH ARE PARTICIPATING IN Hawai`i County’s 4-H Livestock Show & Sale tomorrow and Saturday. Grant and Gavin Galimba each are showing a steer, a lamb and a hog; Kealia Galimba, a steer and a hog; Kailee Aicken, a hog; and Ua Alencastre-Galimba, a steer, a heifer and a lamb. 

      Tomorrow’s schedule features the rabbit and poultry shows. Other shows are Saturday morning beginning at 8:30 a.m. at Mealani Research Station in Kamuela.

Photo from Boone Morrison's Dance of life series. Morrison discusses the beginnings of
Volcano Art Center's dance program Saturday.

“LIKE TOTALLY ’80s” IS THE THEME at Kilauea Military Camp’s Lava Lounge in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. Party-goers put on their best “Totally Awesome” costume and dance to the tunes of DJ Tiki. No cover charge. Open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply. 

      Call 967-8371 for more information.

KA`U FARMERS UNION UNITED meets Saturday at 5 p.m. at Ka`u Coffeehouse and Guesthouse next to the 76 gas station in Na`alehu. Malian Lahey will discuss the Economics of Value-Added Products.

DANCING AT THE SOURCE, DANCING ON THE EDGE: THE BIRTH on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village celebrates VAC’s 40th anniversary. At this talk-story event, architect, photographer and VAC founder Boone Morrison shares history of the center and beginnings of the dance program with Earnest Morgan. Members of the original dance company, Trina Nahm-Mijo and Richard Koob, as well as Morgan’s protégé, Kea Kapahua, share dance excerpts from Morgan’s choreography, which mixed modern dance and hula movement.

      Fees are $10 for VAC members and $12 for non-members.
      For more information, call 967-8222.

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

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2014.swf.
Click at bottom right to turn pages.

Ka`u News Briefs Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Hawai`i County's law banning open-air cultivation of GMOs is being challenged in federal court. Photo by Julia Neal

HAWAI`I COUNTY’S LAW RESTRICTING THE USE of genetically modified crops is the subject of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. According to Tom Callis, of West Hawai`i Today, plaintiffs include organizations representing Big Island nurseries, papaya and banana growers and cattle ranchers. They argue that the ban on most modified crops “puts the county in conflict with federal and state laws in addition to the science of biotechnology.”

State Ag Board member Richard Ha is one of several plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit
challenging Hawai`i County's ban on GMOs.

      The lawsuit says the county’s ban is “backed by no findings or evidence that (genetically engineered) crops are in any way harmful, or in any way endanger the local environment.”
      The plaintiffs, including Hawai`i Agriculture Board member and farmer Richard Ha, say the county’s Bill 113 prevents them from using modified crops approved by the federal government and disease-resistant crops now under development, according to Callis. 

      Regarding the county law’s use of the precautionary principle, in which “the burden of proof is on the promoter of the technology to prove that the technology is safe,” the lawsuit argues those burdens are already met through the federal regulatory process, including oversight by U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
      “In short, using the ‘precautionary principle’ as its purported predicate, Bill 113 puts the county in direct conflict with determinations made after careful consideration by expert federal agencies, and purports to outlaw agricultural activities that the federal government has specially authorized after performing a thorough scientific review,” the lawsuit says.
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Mayor Billy Kenoi says he will not accept a raise.

HAWAI`I COUNTY SALARY COMMISSION IS PLANNING to raise salaries of several county officials, including the mayor and County Council members. Although he has said he does not want a raise, Mayor Billy Kenoi’s salary would increase 20.9 percent. Kenoi told Nancy Cook Lauer, of West Hawai`i Today, that he “would work with the Finance Department and the Human Resources Department to ensure the money is donated to the United Way.” 

      Under the plan, County Council members’ salaries would increase by 8.3 percent raise, and the council chair would get an 11.5 percent raise.
      While the raises are not in the budget recently approved by County Council, Finance Director Nancy Crawford said an account for compensation adjustment could cover the increases, according to Cook Lauer.
      Hawai`i County Council has the lowest paid council members in the state, according to findings of a three-member Salary Commission subcommittee that reviewed the county budget and salaries in other counties.
      The county officials have not had salary adjustments in almost a decade, Cook Lauer reports, and the commission “would be derelict in its duties if it didn’t give them now,” commission members told her.
      The raises would go into effect July 1 after being approved by the Salary Commission at its meeting on July 8.
      See westhawaiitoday.com.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.  

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE, ATTORNEY GENERAL DAVID LOUIE and Finance Director Kalbert Young have announced a plan to address an inconsistency in the amount of approximately $444 million between the budget bill and the bond authorization bill passed by the Legislature that is preventing each bill from being signed into law.

Hawai`i Attorney General David Louie

      The Department of the Attorney General and the Department of Budget and Finance advised the governor that the projects authorized in the Budget Bill exceed the amount certified in the Bond Declaration Bill.
      “Due to legal issues, I have advised the governor that he would not be able to sign the executive supplemental budget bill for fiscal year 2015 in its current form,” Louie said. “In addition, once the budget bill is reconciled, the Bond Declaration Bill could be signed no earlier than July 1, 2014.”
      The Department of Budget and Finance reviewed the appropriations and declaration bills and identified discrepancies in the areas of state educational facilities improvement authorizations, the Judiciary budget, stand-alone appropriation bills and lapsed projects.
      Abercrombie’s proposed solution would temporarily reduce the general obligation bond appropriation of SEFI projects through a line-item reduction in the budget bill. This would be predicated on the need that the Legislature make whole the amount reduced from the SEFI authorization when it reconvenes in regular session in January 2015.

      The DOE confirmed that it will plan to minimize impacts on projects already in the queue. 

      “The proposed solution is the most efficient path to resolving this situation without the need for any additional costs to the taxpayer,” Abercrombie said. “I have consulted with the Speaker of the House, Senate President and the Department of Education. Working together, we believe we can enter the new fiscal year with a functional budget.”

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

HAWAI`I DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM has filed applications with the state Public Utilities Commission seeking approval to move forward with the Abercrombie Administration’s Green Energy Market Securitization program, which will make solar panels and other clean energy improvements more accessible and affordable to Hawai`i consumers.

The state wants to make solar panels more accessible and affordable
to Hawai`i consumers. Photo from Revolusun

      GEMS is designed to help meet the state’s renewable energy and energy efficiency goals by using public dollars to mobilize private-sector capital in a way that stimulates the growth of Hawai`i’s clean energy economy. It represents a market-based approach to bringing clean energy into reach for more utility ratepayers, with focus on underserved markets such as low- and moderate-income homeowners, renters and nonprofits.
      “While solar PV has grown exponentially, there is a market gap of consumers who cannot afford the high upfront costs or cannot qualify for loans. The GEMS program will open up access to solar PV for these market segments,” DBEDT Director Richard Lim said. “This innovative financing approach leverages public dollars to achieve a long-term, sustainable financing solution to support clean energy project development.”
      Mark Glick, administrator of the state Energy Office, said the GEMS program is a powerful tool in the state’s push to meet its clean energy goals. “GEMS is an example of the state Energy Office focus on high-impact, creative solutions in affordable financing that have the flexibility for broad application in Hawai`i’s growing clean energy sector,” Glick said.
      The first filing is for a financing order to issue up to $150 million in Green Infrastructure Bonds and to authorize a Green Infrastructure Fee to secure the bonds. The second filing is for an order to create a Green Infrastructure Loan Program that would use the bond proceeds to provide alternative low-cost financing for solar photovoltaic systems and other eligible clean energy technologies. GEMS will be administered at little or no cost to ratepayers.

Pottery by Chiu Leong is included in
this year's Volcano Pottery Sale.
Image from teahawaii.com

      Proceeds from the bond issuance will be placed in a Green Infrastructure Special Fund that can be used alone or in combination with private capital to provide financing to consumers through “deployment partners,” such as local financial institutions, solar financiers and energy lenders. Consumers will be able to repay the loans over time with the savings on their electric bills. The fund initially will be used to support the installation of solar PV systems and will later be expanded to cover a variety of eligible clean energy technologies, energy storage, smart modules, monitoring devices and other technology to support the interconnection of PV systems to the grid.
      The GEMS bonds will be secured by a Green Infrastructure Fee. The fee will be assessed on all electric utility ratepayer bills to ensure the bonds achieve the highest possible credit ratings, and thus lowering the amount of the fee, which is expected to be less than $2 a month for residential customers. As proposed in the financing order application, the Public Benefits Fee that is currently on electric utility customer bills will be reduced to offset the cost of the Green Infrastructure Fee, resulting in little or no impact to ratepayers.
      The PUC’s issuance of financing and program orders will allow the program to finalize guidelines relating to targeted customers, qualifying technologies, qualifying deployment partners and other program details. Financing products are expected to be available to customers by this November.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.  

THE SIXTH ANNUAL VOLCANO POTTERY SALE takes place this Friday and Saturday. Fifteen Hawai`i Island potters participate on Friday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village.
      For more information, see ryhpottery.com/volcano_pottery_sale or call Ron Hanatani at 985-8530.

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP’S LAVA LOUNGE in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park hosts a “Like Totally 80s Party” Friday at 7 p.m. Participants put on their best “Totally Awesome” costume and dance to the tunes of DJ Tiki. No cover charge. Open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply.
      Call 967-8371 for more information.

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

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2014.
Click at bottom right to turn pages.

Ka`u News Briefs Tuesday, June 10, 2014

A state climate adaptation committee will develop a sea-level rise vulnerability and adaptation report.
Sunset at South Point photo by Peter Anderson

HAWAI`I COUNTY IS ENFORCING AGRICULTURAL TAX EXEMPTIONS, sending letters to property owners getting tax breaks with no evidence of farming taking place, reports Nancy Cook Lauer in West Hawai`i Today. She attended yesterday’s meeting of the Real Property Tax Stakeholders Task Force, which is also making changes to how ag exemptions are implemented.

      Property owners have until Dec. 31 to submit a new application for an ag exemption or lose the tax break for the tax year starting July 1, 2015.
      Ag property owners must reapply for exemptions every three years and commit to the three-year period in order to receive tax breaks. Previously, the exemptions renewed automatically. Property owners must also present proof that the land is in agriculture.
      According to Cook Lauer, the process has a long way to go before it is implemented. Real Property Tax Administrator Stan Sitko said at the meeting, “Switching the automatic process to an entire new certification would probably take the tax office three years to implement.”
      Cook Lauer said the task force is “trying to strike a balance between ensuring the county has enough revenues and making it fair for all property owners, without unduly discouraging people who want to make a living farming.”
      Jeff Melrose, of the county Department of Research and Development, said, “It’s important that the land is used to keep it from being overgrown with invasive plants. … The farms go a long way toward helping the county become more self-sufficient and sustainable.”
     Task force member Stewart Hussey said, “We need to have a tax policy that ensures revenue generation for the county is productive. ... We need to support economic and beneficial use of the land. There’s got to be a balance between those opposing forces.”
      According to Task Force Co-Chair Margaret Wille, the exemptions account for $28 million in lost property tax revenues.
      See westhawaiitoday.com.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Richard Abbett, of Ocean View, is a candidate for
County Council District Six.

A BILL CALLING FOR A CHANGE IN THE LENGTH of Hawai`i County Clerk’s term has passed its first of three required readings at County Council. Bill 253 initiates an amendment to Hawai`i County Charter to change the term from two to six years. Ka`u’s Council member Brenda Ford was one of three voting against the measure.
      Candidate for County Council District Six Richard Abbett, of Ocean View, offered testimony on the measure. While the County Clerk is an appointed by the County Council, Abbett’s testimony calls for it to become an elected position.
      “It has been widely acknowledged that the County of Hawai`i needed stability and experience to improve the workings of the Clerk’s office that could extend to an efficiently run election,” Abbett said. “However, as indicated by the studies of the prestigious Wisconsin Government Accountability Board and the Pew Charitable Trusts, ‘elected officials are more in favor of policies that are thought to promote turnout.’ Municipalities that have appointed officials have lower voter turnout and have lower purge rates. This phenomenon is seen nationwide, but here in Hawai`i we have now sunk to the very bottom nationally of voter turnout. …
      “Citizen concern and involvement of an informed electorate is the keystone of a fair and functioning democracy. This legislative body assures the county provides the opportunity to witness and participate yet has to scrap to find funds for video feeds of meetings as if it is an afterthought or leftover from the budget process. Even what is provided is nearly every meeting interrupted by loss of signal or audio, and turned off if there is no direct testimony. Citizens have to drive many miles, taking time out of their busy schedules to view the public’s business.
      “This bill offers an opportunity to reverse direction and begin the climb back to respectability and public trust if it is amended to make the position elected and eliminate the appointment. I thereby implore this body to improve this proposal by making that change. Send to the public for vote the opportunity for a change in our County Charter to restore faith in our democratic process.”
      If the measure passed County Council, it will be on the November’s general election ballot.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie signt a measure establishing an interagency climate
adaptation committee. Photo from Office of the Governor

A MEASURE THAT ESTABLISHES AN INTERAGENCY climate adaptation committee under the Department of Land and Natural Resources received Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s approval yesterday. The committee is charged with developing a sea-level rise vulnerability and adaptation report addressing statewide impacts to 2050. 

      Act 83 also authorizes the Office of Planning to coordinate development of climate adaptation plans and policy recommendations and to use the committee’s report as framework for addressing other climate threats and climate change adaptation priorities.
      “This measure builds on Hawai`i’s leadership in addressing climate change,” Abercrombie said. “Being the only island state in the country, we are especially vulnerable to climate change and are on the frontlines of impacts like sea level rise. I applaud the Legislature for passing this bill and recognizing that Hawai`i is ideal as a learning laboratory to continue to contribute and shape our nation’s response to climate change adaptation.
      “We look forward to showcasing our leadership when Hawai`i hosts the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress.”
      Act 83, which takes effect immediately, states that coordination of the committee will be headed jointly by the DLNR chair and the OP director or their designees. It requires that the committee’s report be made public no later than Dec. 31, 2017.
      For more information on Hawai`i’s climate change initiative, see governor.hawaii.gov/blog/navigating-climate-change, 
planning.hawaii.gov/czm/ocean-resources-management-plan-orm and dlnr.hawaii.gov/rain/fact-sheet.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Tydlacka and Iacuzzo examine fossil vertebrae from a marine reptile
known as a plesiosuar. Photo from Joe Iacuzzo

IN EARLY MAY, JOE IACUZZO, FOUNDER of the Hawai`i Science Festival, and Kathryn Tydlacka, founder of Ka`u Learning Academy, traveled to Philadelphia on a grant that Iacuzzo won from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to advance science education in Hawai`i through the festival. Iacuzzo, who develops educational programs and museum exhibits featuring dinosaurs, took the opportunity to meet with colleagues at the Drexel Academy of Science in Philadelphia, a museum founded by Benjamin Franklin. He and Tydlacka got to go behind the scenes and visit parts of the museum’s collections not open to the public. This included Thomas Jefferson’s personal collection of fossils of prehistoric mammals, such as giant sloths and mammoths. Also included in his collection is the only fossil found during Lewis & Clark’s 1804 expedition to explore the American West.

        While there, Iacuzzo and Tydlacka attended educator workshops at Temple University and the Franklin Institute. The workshops focused on STEM education for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. “These workshops,” said Ka`u Learning Academy executive director Tydlacka, “will assist us in developing programs for our teachers and our students.”
      The Hawai`i Science Festival is planned for late 2014. Ka’u Learning Academy will open in August 2015.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE is available in Ocean View and Pahala today, Tuesday, June 10, Thursday, June 11 and Friday, June 13 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The sign-up location has been changed from Na`alehu to Ocean View Community Center and will continue at Old Pahala Clubhouse. 

      For more information for Pahala, call 936-8396. For Ocean View, call 936-9296. Na`alehu and other Ka`u residents can go to either location.

Kumu hula Mamo Brown NPS Photo by Jay Robinson

      Those wanting help with electric and gas bills must bring photo ID for all adults, Social Security cards for all house residents, citizenship verification, birth certificate or state ID or passport, HELCO or gas bill, income verification, pay stubs, affidavit, proof of physical residence, tax bill or other bill with street address.

KUMU HULA MAMO BROWN DEMONSTRATES three different lei styles: wili, hipu`u, and hilo, using backyard foliage tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Free; park entrance fees apply.

THE SIXTH ANNUAL VOLCANO POTTERY SALE takes place this Friday and Saturday. Fifteen Hawai`i Island potters participate on Friday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village.
      For more information, see ryhpottery.com/volcano_pottery_sale or call Ron Hanatani at 985-8530.

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