Ka`u News Briefs Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015

West Hawai`i Coastal areas, including the Ka`u Coast and Ka`ohe Bay, north of Miloli`i, are seeing larger populations of fish harvested for the aquarium trade. Photo by Julia Neal

KA`U COFFEE BUYERS, who said they spent more than $940,000 with local farmers this season, told the Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative last night that they will need more coffee in the future as they expand their marketing. Arturo Romero, of Houston, TX, and Francisco Lobos, of 0cean View, said they want to work with the cooperative so that farmers receive top prices. Francisco said the hui has been paying the farmers $12 a pound for parchment and $1.75 a pound for cherry.

Francisco Lobos, at left, and Arturo Romero with Ka`u Coffee
Growers Cooperative President Gloria Camba.
Photo by Julia Neal

      “The name is out there how good Ka`u is,” said Romero. He encouraged Ka`u farmers to allow his marketing to use the cooperative’s name. “Doing business with cooperatives is received well by companies,” he said. He promised fair pricing and noted that it took years to establish fair pricing for farmers in El Salvador, his native country.
      Romero said he wants to help Ka`u farmers with fighting the coffee berry borer, a fertilizer program, providing labor for picking season and establishing a coffee receiving place. He said a decaffeinated Ka`u Coffee will be developed along with acquisition of various packaging machinery for K-cups, filter packs and aluminum packs.
      “By next harvest, we will be able to pay more for the coffee,” he said. He contended that there are moral principals behind his business practices. “If we do good, these benefits are not only for the corporation. They are for everyone to win. The key is to be win-win, to serve you good to make long lasting relationships,” Romero told Ka`u Coffee farmers.
      While pure Ka`u Coffee will be sold, he said the lead product will be a Ka`u Hawai`i blend to achieve the broadest market. He said the company name is Bio Eco Hawai`i, Inc., and it does import Latin American coffee to blend with Ka`u. He said his group is working on a blend that would be more than 10 percent Ka`u Coffee to bring a higher price. 

         Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative President Gloria Camba said the cooperative will consider the proposals from Romero and Lobos. She said the farmers have been selling to Lobos for years.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Yellow tang populations are increasing along Ka`u and other
West Hawai`i coastlines. Photo from wikipedia

WEST HAWAI`I REGIONAL FISHERY Management Area, which stretches from South Point to Upolo Point in Kohala, is experiencing higher populations of fish commonly harvested for aquarium trade. Fifteen years after creation of fish replenishment areas, the number of yellow tangs has increased 64.5 percent in the areas where aquarium collecting is not allowed and 58 percent in waters from 30 to 60 feet deep along West Hawai`i’s coast, according to Bret Yager, of Hawai`i Tribune-Herald. Hawai`i Division of Aquatic resources biologist Bill Walsh estimates 3.6 million tang now live along the coast.
      The population of kole tang, the second most popular aquarium fish, has also increased 49 percent since 1999, when conservation measures were put in place. The number is now estimated at 6.5 million.
      The data is based on 16 years of surveys and monitoring by West Hawai`i Aquarium Project and related efforts.
      “The FRAs work,” Susan Kellam, founder of the reef protection group Friends of Pebble Beach, told Yager. “Thirty-five percent of the coastline is now protected. I think the spillover effect from them is clear science as well. If you go to O`ahu or Maui to snorkel, those fish are gone.”
      The story says that, according to Walsh, total catch in West Hawai`i's aquarium fishery has grown 22 percent.
      Tina Owens, one of three chairpersons of West Hawai`i Fishery Council, told Yager the increases prove that regulatory efforts are working. “This shows we’re on the right track,” she said. “It validates everything we’ve been working on.” 

      See westhawaiitoday.com.
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Chris Kanazawa

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE is soliciting applications for Fiscal Year 2015 Community Connect Program grants. The grants provide funds to establish essential broadband services in rural communities where it is currently unavailable. “The Community Connect program serves rural communities where broadband service is least likely to be available, but where it can make a tremendous difference in the quality of life for citizens of the state of Hawai`i and the Territory of American Samoa,” USDA Rural Development state Director Chris Kanazawa said. “This grant can assist rural residents tap into the enormous potential of the Internet.” 

      Applicants eligible to apply include state, county, city or township, Native American tribal governments, nonprofits, for-profits and small businesses.
      The minimum amount of grants awarded will be $100,000; the maximum is $3,000,000. The deadline for applications to be submitted is Feb. 17, 2015. Last year, USDA announced new rules to better target Community Connect grants to areas where they are needed the most.
Grant funds can be used to construct, acquire or lease facilities to deploy broadband to community facilities such as schools and public safety locations, as well as residences and businesses in the community.
      “The Community Connect grant can be made available to bring the benefits of broadband, including new educational, business and public health and safety opportunities, to residents living in some of the remote parts of Hawai`i and American Samoa,” said Thao Khamoui, Area Director.
      More information on the Community Connect grant is available at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/utp_commconnect.html.

Randy Iwase

HEARING ALL POINTS OF VIEW IS A PRIORITY for Randy Iwase, who Gov. David Ige recently nominated as chair of Hawai`i’s Public Utilities Commission. “We will be quite open to allowing a variety of people and points of views to come in and intervene, whatever that may be,” Iwase told Duane Shimogawa, of Pacific Business News. He also said that the PUC will make decisions after public comments are received and all the questions are answered.
      Iwase said NextEra’s $4.3 billion acquisition of HECO has to be in the best interest of “not just the parties and the people of the state, but also by the policy set by the Legislature.
      “We are going to do our best to get there,” Iwase said. “I’m sure there will be a few who will disagree, but we will do our best.”
      Iwase said the PUC’s strategy in the NextEra-HECO case is to give parties “opportunities to intervene and present different perspectives, as well as raise questions about the case.”
      In addition to NextEra Energy’s the NextEra-HECO case Iwase said other top cases for the PUC are liquefied natural gas and organizing the state agency, which currently has a staff of 40 people, with 10 vacancies and another 15 funded positions. “The staff I've met are very dedicated, very smart and very committed,” Iwase told Shimogawa. “Not just to the state, but to the energy goals.”
      See bizjournals.com/pacific. 

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KA`U HIGH BOYS BASKETBALL TEAMS fell to Kona yesterday on their home court. Junior varsity score was 32 – 63, with Jacob Flores scoring the most points, 12. 

      Varsity players Damon Hertz scored 11 points, and Brian Gascon scored 10 of Ka`u’s 43 points. Kona came up with 77 points.
      The teams play again tomorrow, hosting Kea`au.
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AN AFTERSCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAM at Ka`u Middle School is the goal of Volcano Art Center and Volcano Choy. The school has a band room full of instruments that have not been used for years due to budget cuts. Through a grant to VAC from Hawai`i State Foundation on Culture & the Arts, Volcano Choy will begin teaching afterschool music classes this winter and spring. A jazz concert will be held on Saturday at Pahala Plantation House to help raise funds for restoration of the brass and woodwind instruments, to buy sheet music and cover other costs of this music program. The outdoor concert will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., with food and drinks available for purchase. Suggested donation is $15. Attendees are asked to bring their own lawn chairs.
      Donations to support this music program may also be made directly to VAC. Call 967-8222.

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

Ka`u News Briefs Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015

In his first State of the State address yesterday, Gov. David Ige acknowledged the important role public hospitals,
 like Ka`u Hospital, play in an island state. Photo by Julia Neal

CHALLENGES FACED BY KA`U and other rural communities of Hawai`i were part of Gov. David Ige’s State of the State address yesterday.
      Building a strong support network for agriculture is one of Gov. David Ige’s priorities, he said. “We need to support agriculture and help our local farmers dramatically increase the amount of food we grow locally,” he said. “Hawai`i grows about 10 to 15 percent of the total foods residents consume. If we are to become a sustainable society, we must increase those numbers.”
      Ige cited the cost of importing foods as more than $3 billion leaving the state annually. “If we replace just 10 percent of imports with locally grown food, it would generate $188 million in total sales, $94 million for farmers, $47 million in wages, $6 million in new taxes and 2,300 jobs,” he said.

Gov. David Ige during his first
State of the State address.
Image from Olelo

      To promote ag, Ige wants to preserve farm lands, develop agricultural parks, combat invasive species and “reassess areas that determine whether a local farmer can survive.
      “We will be meeting with farmers from each island to hear what they need to make Hawai`i more self-sufficient.” He said Department of Agriculture Director Scott Enright will spearhead that effort.
      Ige said that as a start to promoting more ag, the state is adding $5 million to the agriculture loan program and expanding use of the fund to include biosecurity and food safety needs.
      Ige acknowledged the important role public hospitals like Ka`u Hospital play in an island state. “Unlike other states, good healthcare is not easily distributed throughout the islands,” he said. “Our families and doctors cannot simply drive to another hospital if one is busy or does not have the services they need. … That’s especially true on our neighbor islands where they’re often the only provider of acute care.”
      Ige sees potential in public-private partnerships for hospitals which are faced with financial deficits, “but only if they are shaped in the right way. But no matter our direction, changing how we operate our hospitals to meet changing needs will be key to any long-term solution.”
      Energy self-sufficiency is another of Ige’s priorities. “Importing fossil fuel remains one of our greatest weaknesses, and we simply must move to reduce our dependence on it,” he said. “We have the locally generated resources that can allow us to be self-sufficient.
      “In addition, we will be restructuring and staffing the Public Utilities Commission to give it the expertise and resources needed to deal with its due diligence. I will also be assigning a special counsel to protect the public’s interest for the short and long term.”
      Ige said he plans to empower schools by giving those closest to children authority and resources to take action. “As Governor, I will appoint members to the Board of Education who embrace school empowerment of our principals and teachers as the key to ensure student success,” he said. “I challenge the leaders of public education to stop issuing mandates from the state office and to focus on empowering schools and delivering resources to the school level."
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Mayor Billy Kenoi addressed legislators
at the state Capitol yesterday.
Image from Olelo

MAYOR BILLY KENOI THANKED STATE LEGISLATORS yesterday for their support and contributions to Hawai`i County. “If we make it a good place to live, then it will continue to be a wonderful place to visit,” Kenoi said. Kenoi acknowledged the state’s support of University of Hawai`i – Hilo, the county’s largest employer. Funding of almost $100 million for construction of several buildings, including the College of Pharmacy, came through the Legislature. 

      He also thanked the state for help with recent natural disasters, including hurricanes and tsunami threats, and the current, ongoing lava flow near Pahoa in Puna.
      Requests Kenoi made focused on Puna. He asked legislators to pass legislation requiring insurance companies to renew homeowners policies. “It doesn’t seem right that somebody who pays their policy for a long period of time is all of a sudden told, ‘Oh, sorry, we’re not renewing your policy anymore.’”
      Kenoi also asked for continued support of improvements of state Hwy 130 in Puna and increases in reliability of Civil Defense sirens.
      Kenoi also asked that legislators support Kona Airport’s redesignation as an international entry point to boost economic development for the entire island.

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U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

U.S. REP. TULSI GABBARD IS JOINING other congressional leaders and members of the startup community in convening the new Diversifying Technology Caucus. This bipartisan, bicameral caucus will work to increase representation of women, minorities and veterans in the tech sector, and the ability of these groups to access good jobs that this industry creates.
      Right now only one in 14 technical employees in Silicon Valley is African-American or Hispanic. Women currently represent fewer than 13 percent of employed engineers and hold fewer than 25 percent of STEM jobs. And just three percent of all startups are founded by women.
      Congress will call attention to these challenges, highlighting existing best practices, driving a public conversation and designing initiatives that support and promote diversity. The Diversifying Tech Caucus will be a partnership between policy makers, industry and academia to organize, advocate and create awareness about underrepresented groups and develop strategies for improving access and engagement. Industry and academic leaders will also work together to undertake research that legislators can use to elevate the issue and help develop solutions.
      “So many of our returning veterans have skills that would make them a real asset to tech companies, and others who have the entrepreneurial spirit to launch ventures of their own,” Gabbard said. “But so far veterans remain underrepresented in the tech community, along with women and minorities. Working with Engine, I'm proud to serve as co-chair of this caucus as we bring people together to find innovative solutions to the many challenges we face.”

Ka`u High boys soccer team's final home game
of the season and Senior Night is Friday, Jan. 30.
Photo by Taylor's Treasures Photography

      The Diversifying Tech Caucus will hold initial meetings to set a formal agenda, which will include goals such as proposing creative solutions to address obstacles to diversity in the tech industry; bringing together researchers and academics to conduct in-depth research on diversity issues; forming targeted working groups on specific Diversifying Tech issues such as #WomenStartups, #ClosingtheGap, #DiversityinTech, and #STEMEducation; holding briefings, roundtables, media events and training and networking sessions around the country to bring together policymakers and tech community representatives; and forming a Hill Staff Advisory Council of tech-friendly staffers representing a broad spectrum of Congressional offices.
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SENIOR NIGHT FOR KA`U HIGH BOYS SOCCER team is Friday, Jan. 30 at 3 p.m., hosting Parker. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 31.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS EAST HAWAI`I is sending Ka`u to competitions around the island and the state. Special Olympic athletes are selling $9 tickets for teri beef plates through Feb. 14. Call athlete Cindy Hickman at 670-6879 or organizer Lori Nakashima at 938-5144. 

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I – HILO GEOLOGISTS Ken Hon and Cheryl Gansecki discuss Pahoehoe Lava: the Ebb and Flow of Molten Rock at After Dark in the Park today at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.
      The two have spent decades studying and filming behavior of pahoehoe lava and will use time-lapse and recent videos to explain how and why these flows advance, stall and inflate.
      This free program is part of Volcano Awareness Month.
      Park entrance fees apply.

Students are eager to work with Jr. Volcano Choy at a new music program
for Ka`u Middle School. Photo by Julia Neal

ALL THAT JAZZ IN PAHALA is the title of an article in Hawai`i Tribune-Herald about this Saturday’s jazz concert featuring Jr. Volcano Choy at Pahala Plantation House to support a new music program at Ka`u Middle School. 

      The event is sponsored by Volcano Art Center, which has received a grant from Hawai`i State Foundation on Culture & the Arts to bring back band music education to keiki of Ka`u. The afterschool program for beginning brass band will be instructed by Choy, the highly experienced performing artist and educator who lives in Volcano, following a professional performing and recording career on the mainland.
      A Hawai`i native, Choy noted that Ka`u High school’s music building is filled with all the instruments that are part of a full band program. Due to lack of a program, scores of instruments are rusting and non-functional. A statement from Volcano Art Center says, “These instruments need to come alive again. They are trumpets, trombones and more which all need TLC.”
   Those attending are urged to bring a garden chair and the $15 suggested donation.
     For more information and overnight accommodations, call Pahala Plantation Cottages at 928-9811.

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

Ka`u News Briefs Monday, Jan. 26, 2015

Ka`u High School girls varsity basketball team celebrated Senior Night Saturday, the final home game for those graduating this year, with a win over HPA. Photo from Kaweni Ibarra

HAWAI`I ISLAND’S COMMUNITIES are addressing a 41 percent shortage of doctors.
      University of Hawai`i John A. Burns School of Medicine’s Area Health Education Center Kelly Withey told reporter Colin Stewart, of Hawai`i Tribune Herald. Withey said Big Island communities “are coming together to make changes such as starting an interprofessional residency training program in Hilo, holding activities such as Teen Health Camps for students to learn about health careers, holding activities to support local physicians sponsored by Hawai`i Island Healthcare Alliance and the mayor, and doctors are working together to help other doctors set up practices. Things such as these, as well as loan repayment and showing aloha to all members of the health care team, are essential to making sure everyone on the Big Island gets the care they need.”
      According to the story, in 2014 the island needed 554 doctors but only had 327. Shortages included 30 primary care providers, along with orthopedic surgeons, neurologists and endocrinologists. Other specialty areas that had shortages were colorectal surgery, neonatal-perinatal, pediatric rheumatology, pediatric cardiology, pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric neurology, plastic surgery, neurological surgery, infectious disease, allergy and immunology.
      Dr. Richard Lee-Ching, President of East Hawai`i Independent Physicians Association, told Stewart what he thinks is causing the shortages. “There’s a couple things that stop them. It costs more to live here, and by and large, we get paid less over here… . The doctors who are coming here are coming out with a fair amount of debt, so when they do come out, they’re not setting up private practice because they would have to deal with more of the bureaucratic nonsense.”
      Other barriers include paperwork and documentation requirements for reimbursement by Medicare and Medicaid, along with other requirements.
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com.

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

Life of the Land is one of several organizations opposing Gov. Ige's
nomination of Carlton Ching as had of DLNR.

GOV. DAVID IGE’S NOMINATION of Carlton Ching to head the Department of Land & Natural Resources is receiving criticism from many sources. Ching is Vice President, Community and Government Relations, for Castle & Cooke Hawai`i, where he supports the organization’s real estate, agricultural and renewable energy initiatives. 

      Henry Curtis, Director of Life of the Land, said Ching is a developer on his blog at ililanimedia.blogspot.com. Curtis said Ching in 2005 asked legislators to reduce or abolish the Land Use Commission.
      Curtis also said that in 2008 Castle & Cooke wrote a bill pushed by Rep. Calvin Say that “would have killed all public participation, all utility reviews, all interagency approvals, all county reviews, and given one person, the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism director, power to approve renewable energy projects before the Final Environmental Impact Statement has been written.  

      “Ching currently serves as a Vice President of the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawai`i which describes itself as ‘the only Hawai`i-based organization devoted exclusively to promoting the interests of the development community.’” 

      Civil Beat reported that Ching is a registered lobbyist for Castle & Cooke.

Sierra Club of Hawai`i is one of several
organizations that oppose the nomination.

      A commenter on Civil Beat said LURF is “the main lobbying group for developers seeking to weaken Hawai`i’s zoning and planning laws. He is also on the board of the Building Industry Association. With Ching’s nomination, the developers have hit the trifecta! A longtime key advocate for their interests now put in charge of Hawai`i’s public natural resources.
      “Those of us who were concerned when (former Gov. Neil) Abercrombie’s Public Land Development Corporation looked like it was intended to turn state government into an enabler of development interest should appreciate Ching’s nomination removes a layer of complexity. Under Ching, the developers would be directly in charge.” 

      Former state Senate Majority Leader and former Kaua`i County Council member Gary Hooser wrote, “I supported and voted for Gov. Ige. This appointment leaves me both flabbergasted and extremely disappointed. My only hope is he will reconsider and withdraw the appointment very quickly.”
      Over twenty environmental groups are asking the governor to withdraw the nomination. 

In a joint statement, the groups said Ching “has no demonstrated expertise in managing the cultural and natural resources that fall under the department’s purview, including but not limited to endangered species, iwi, ceded land, water resources, forests, beaches, coral reefs, fishing and hunting resources, historic sites and state parks. 

It is still early in Gov. Ige’s term, and we urge him to make the proper course corrections for the benefit of our natural environment and the people of Hawai`i nei. We look forward to working with him and his administration to make Hawai`i a better place for all the people of these islands, our children, and generations to come.


      Among the groups are Conservation Council for Hawai`i, Defend O`ahu Coalition, Earthjustice, Friends of Lana`i, Hawai`i Alliance for Progressive Action, Hawai`i Wildlife Fund, Hawai`i’s Thousand Friends, Hui Ho`omalu I Ka `Aina, `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Kanehili Hui, Kupa`a No Lana`i, Life of the Land, LOST FISH Coalition, MANA (Movement for Aloha No Ka `Aina), Maui Tomorrow, O`ahu Chapter of Aha Moku Council, Progressive Democrats of Hawai`i, Puna Pono Alliance, Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, The Outdoor Circle, Wailua-Kapa`a Neighborhood Association and West Maui Preservation Association.


      Department of Land & Natural Resources Director serves as chair of the Board of Land & Natural Resources, chair of the Commission on Water Resource Management and as the state’s Historic Preservation Officer, in addition to overseeing many programs.

      

Marti Townsend, Executive Director of The Outdoor Circle, urged the governor to withdraw Ching’s nomination to head up DLNR citing Ching’s “lack of experience in protecting natural resources, which is the agency’s primary responsibility.”

      Anthony Aalto, Sierra Club spokesperson, pointed out that Ching “lobbied for developer Castle and Cooke, served as a director on the Building Industry Association of Hawai`i and as vice-president of the Land Use Research Foundation, which according to its website “is devoted exclusively to promoting the interests of the development community.”

      According to the joint statement, both organizations “have consistently lobbied to weaken laws that protect the state’s cultural and natural resources.”

      See civilbeat.com.

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Senior Night honored members of Ka`u High girls basketball who graduate this year.
Photo from Kaweni Ibarra

KA`U HIGH’S VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM celebrated Senior Night Saturday. For seniors on the team, this was the last chance to play a game on Ka`u’s home court. 

      Ka`u played against HPA and made the best out of their last home game. Within the first minute, scores were tied, but Ka`u quickly changed that. The Trojans kept the lead for the entire game and held their ground for a final score of 56-31.
      Seniors Kerrilynn Domondon, Denisha Navarro and Bridget Pasion showcased the power of the team on both offense and defense.
      The team’s next game is Saturday at Kamehameha-Hawai`i.

      The Ka`u Calendar journalism intern Kaweni Ibarra contributed to this Ka`u sports update.

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FLIGHT OPERATIONS OCCUR AT KAHUKU UNIT of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park today, tomorrow and Friday between 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. to transport fencing material, camp supplies and crew near the Kahuku Unit/Ka`u Forest Reserve Boundary.

      Management of the park requires the use of aircraft to monitor and research volcanic activity, conduct search-and-rescue missions and law enforcement operations, support management of natural and cultural resources and to maintain backcountry facilities.

      Dates and times are subject to change based on aircraft availability and weather.
      The park issued a statement that it regrets any noise impact to residents and park visitors.

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PAHOEHOE LAVA: THE EBB AND FLOW OF MOLTEN ROCK is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Lava erupted from the Pu`u `O`o vent on Kilauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone has been advancing in fits and starts toward the community of Pahoa since June 2014. After the flow stalled just 170 yards from Pahoa Village Road in early November, a new breakout of lava began moving toward Pahoa Marketplace. University of Hawai`i at Hilo geologists Ken Hon and Cheryl Gansecki have spent decades studying and filming the behavior of pahoehoe lava and will use time-lapse and recent videos to explain how and why these flows advance, stall and inflate.

      This free program is part of Volcano Awareness Month.
      Park entrance fees apply.

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