Ka`u Calendar News Briefs Monday, April 11, 2016

The public is invited to Storybook Theater of Hawai`i's presentation today from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center in conjunction with Boys & Girls Club. See more below. Photo from Mark Jeffers

HUNDREDS GATHERED AT THE 442ND Veterans Club’s 73rd Anniversary Banquet, where U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard delivered remarks to honor veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team for their service and sacrifice on the battlefields of World War II. The team includes, from Ka`u, Iwao Yonemitsu and the late Tokuichi Nakano.

The 442nd team includes, from Ka`u, Iwao
Yonemitsu and the late Tokuichi Nakano.
Photo by Julia Neal

      “This is such an incredible celebration of our living treasures – our nation’s living treasures, and our local Hawai`i treasures,” said Gabbard, a twice-deployed Major with Hawai`i Army National Guard, about the gathering. “Every day that we get the chance to say thank you for your incredible bravery, for the example that you’ve set, and for the service and sacrifice that you and your family members have given to all of us – that is a very special day.”

      Gabbard spoke about the significance of the event’s theme, 442nd: The Legacy Begins. “Your legacy of service will continue on through your stories, through your lives, the things you’ve shared with us. It will continue on through your sons and daughters and this great organization, the 442nd Veterans Club, that makes sure that you are always remembered, and it lives on through the soldiers that continue to serve proudly in the 100th/442, who proudly wear that ‘Go for Broke’ patch on their uniforms, knowing that it not only represents this country, but it represents the great heroes who have come before us.”
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

MORE THAN 200 MEMBERS of the Hawai`i Air National Guard and the active duty Air Force returned with their F-22 Raptors to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam following a six-month-long deployment to the Central Command Area of Responsibility.

A pilot reunites with his son after landing.
Images from U.S. Department of Defense

      The F-22 fighter aircraft and most of the Airmen departed from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in late September 2015. The Airmen and F-22 aircraft returned home in several groups over the past several days.
      The Hawaiian Raptors are flown by pilots from HIANG’s 199th Fighter Squadron and the active duty’s 19th Fighter Squadron. Maintenance and support personnel are from HIANG’s 154th Wing and the active duty’s 15th Wing. This was the first operational deployment for the Hawaiian Raptors.

      While in the CENTCOM AOR, the F-22 Raptors successfully struck a number of high-value ISIS (also known as Daesh or ISIL) targets. The Hawaiian Raptors were an integral part of Operation Inherent Resolve – an 18-nation air coalition that is driving Daesh back considerably in Iraq and Syria. Daesh has lost more than 40 percent of the populated areas it once controlled in northern Iraq and recently retreated from several key populations centers in Syria.

      “Our people performed extremely well, and they did it with the Aloha spirit,” said one of HIANG’s pilots. “Maintenance did an outstanding job and made all their taskings. We integrated well with the other coalition forces and conducted our operations flawlessly.”

An airman embraces his family upon returning from his
six-month deployment.

      Because of security considerations and host nation sensitivities, HIANG will not release names of its personnel who deployed and the country or base where the Raptors operated. HIANG will also not release the number of F-22 fighters that deployed. The CENTCOM AOR encompasses the area of Southwest Asia and most of the Middle East.

      In 2010, the 199th Fighter Squadron converted to the F-22 from the F-15 Eagle and began flying the Raptors in partnership with the 19th Fighter Squadron.
      All of the HIANG Airmen who deployed are part of the 154th Wing, the largest Air National Guard wing in the nation. Hawai`i Air National Guard is comprised of nearly 2,500 Airmen whose federal mission is to be trained and available for active duty operational missions.
      A video of the Hawaiian Raptors team return can be accessed at http://dvidshub.net/r/yas7te.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Four of 27 new correctional officers are assigned to Hawai`i Island.
Photo from Hawai`i Department of Public Safety

HAWAI`I COUNTY WILL HAVE FOUR NEW correctional officers following a graduation ceremony on O`ahu. Twenty-seven recruits from Basic Corrections Recruit Class 16-01 graduated from training and will begin their careers as correctional officers in facilities across the state. Three are assigned to Hawai`i Community Correctional Center, and one to Kulani Correctional Facility.

      The state Department of Public Safety described BCRC as a nine-week training that includes 360 hours of classroom time and physical training. Recruits learn standard of conduct, professionalism and ethics, report writing, interpersonal communications, maintaining security, crisis intervention, security threat groups (gangs), firearms, self-defense tactics and physical exercise.
      “These individuals chose a unique and challenging career path,” said Sergeant Dzuong Le, BCRC Sergeant-in-Charge. “The job of a corrections officer in a prison or jail is one of the toughest jobs anyone can do, but it can also be rewarding, too. As corrections officers, we are held to a higher standard. I know these men and women have what it takes to hold up that standard with professionalism, integrity and fairness.”
      All incoming classes receive recruit field training along with basic corrections training. During the final weeks of training, they go into the facility and begin their job with guidance from their training sergeants.

      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Lauren Holiday and Doug Chin encourage parents and youth
to say yes to healthy lifestyles and no to underage drinking.
Image from Office of the Attorney General

APRIL IS ALCOHOL RESPONSIBILITY MONTH. Hawai`i Attorney General Doug Chin and Olympic Medalist and U.S. Women’s World Cup Soccer Team member Lauren Holiday encouraged parents and youth in Ka`u and throughout the state to say yes to a healthy lifestyle and no to underage drinking. In a message from the Attorney General's office, they suggested that parents and caregivers start a conversation about the dangers of underage drinking. “Conversations about positive, healthy choices need to start at an early age and continue through their teen years,” Holiday said. Chin urged parents to help their children learn why underage drinking is “unhealthy, dangerous and illegal.”

      Chin and Holiday suggested that parents see responsibility.org for information about the topic.
      “There is no better time than Alcohol Responsibility Month to talk to your kids and teens about making smart choices, especially the choice to say ‘no’ to underage drinking,” said Lisa Graham Keegan, chair of Responsibility.org’s national advisory board. “The Responsibility Starts with Me message is extremely applicable to parents and teachers, as they are role models to their kids and students, and parents are the leading influence over their teens’ decision to drink — or not to drink — alcohol. We hope the campaign’s message of personal responsibility will empower parents and teachers to continue having conversations with their kids and students about responsibility, in all aspects of life, throughout the year and for years to come.”
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

STORYBOOK THEATER OF HAWAI`I and its founder Mark Jeffers present a program about endangered species at Pahala Community Center during Boys & Girls Club today from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. The public is invited. Other community groups wishing to participate may call Jeffers at 808-335-0712.
      For more information about the theater, see storybook.org.

DURING INVERTEBRATE INVESTIGATIONS with Robert Peck, of USGS, participants get in-depth information about Hawai`i’s endemic invertebrates. Tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Volcano Art Center in Volcano Village, Peck presents his photographs of various species and possibly specimen samples to inspire imaginations and present accurate representation in art pieces. Time will be allowed for sketching if desired. If registrants are interested in a certain species such as the Blackburn’s blue or any others, please let VAC know. If a specimen is available, Peck will be sure to bring it along.

      Register for the free program by calling 967-8222. Donations are gladly accepted.

JEFF PETERSON celebrates National Library Week tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at Pahala Public & School Library. The 45-minute program is suitable for all ages. Young children must be accompanied by a parent or adult caregiver.

      For more information, call 928-2015.

LEA KA`AHA`AINA, OF KEAUHOU Bird Conservation Center, and USGS Research Wildlife Biologist Paul Banko discuss the recovery and release of `alala, the Hawaiian crow, tomorrow at After Dark in the Park. The program begins a 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs; park entrance fees apply.

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

See kaucalendar.com/TheDirectory2016.html.

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_April_2016.pdf.

Ka`u Calendar News Briefs Sunday, April 10, 2016

The Return of the `Alala is the topic at After Dark in the Park Tuesday evening. See more below. Photo from NPS

KA`U SCHOOLS HAVE AIR QUALITY challenges from volcanic emissions as well as heat challenges from high temperatures in classrooms. However, air-conditioning is apparently available in Ka`u schools at only the same low level as in other public schools that have lesser vog challenges. According to a story in this morning’s Hawai`i Tribune-Herald, Ka`u High and Pahala Elementary School, with 48 classrooms, has five with air conditioning – 10 percent. Na`alehu School has 30 classrooms, and two of them are air-conditioned – seven percent.

Five classrooms at Ka`u High & Pahala Elementary School
are air-conditioned. Photo by Julia Neal

      In her Tribune-Herald story, Kirsten Johnson presents Chiefess Kapiolani Elementary School in Hilo as an example of the need for AC in public schools. She quotes longtime teacher Jacqueline Kubo Luna saying, “Definitely the windows have to always be open. If they’re not, it’s just scorching in here.” The story says that second-grade instructor Luna “is well-prepared. She’s got a roll of paper towels on hand to stop frequent, heat-triggered nosebleeds. She’s contrived tricks to grab students’ attention — such as clapping loudly or chiming, ‘Wake up and smell the cocoa!’ when they slump over in a mid-afternoon humidity daze. And when inside temperatures climb into the 90s or even triple digits, she’ll lead her 19 students outside. ‘We’ll just go sit out in the shade, where there’s a pocket of breeze,’ she said. ‘Just to get out of the classroom. Because it’s just too hot.’ Luna’s Kapiolani classroom is among thousands in Hawai`i that lack schoolwide air-conditioning.”

      According to the Tribune-Herald story, “Estimates show installing AC in every school in the state would run up a $1.7 billion price tag. The cost per classroom can run as high as $30,000. Meanwhile, the department’s yearly electric bill runs around $48 million, which increases each time new systems are added.” In addition to costs of air-conditioning itself, rewiring becomes another expense for some of the older schools, like those in Ka`u.

      See more on the quest to air-condition public schools at hawaiitribune-herald.com.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

A DRY OPELU PROJECT CONDUCTED by Pahala-based Uhane Pohaku Na Moku O Hawai`i is one for which the nonprofit is seeking county funding. The hui began the project last year and has applied for county funding to continue it. “We are focusing on identifying fishermen in the South Kona district that are wanting to pass the tradition on,” the grant application states. “We will continue the dry opelu process, but will now teach the youth how to catch the fish with the use of the upena (net) to catch opelu and eventually boat fishing. The youth will learn the food bait process (palu). They will cultivate the taro and pumpkin that is used for fish food.”

      According to county records, Uhane requested $35,900 for the project, and County Council’s Human Services & Social Services Committee recommended $8,250. Last year, the project received a county grant of $5,000.
      Another grant application from Uhane requested $56,349 for its Palehua Farm Project, which will work with at-risk youth on a farm in Pahala, according to the application. The project “is a pu`uhonua compass, with our kupuna as the foundation, that enlightens our youth service projects with a working farm in progress,” the application states. The grant would be used to expand traditional Hawaiian food production at the farm. “Cultural food sustainability is what we want to teach each of our youth and their families,” Uhane says.
      The county committee recommended $9,500 in grant funding for this project. Last year, it also received $5,000.
      These and other grant applications will be considered at the committee’s meeting on Tuesday, April 19.
      See future Ka`u Calendar News Briefs for more on grant applications from other Ka`u nonprofits.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

KA`U HOMEOWNERS CAN APPLY for USDA Rural Development funding to preserve rural homes in need of repair. Housing Preservation Grant zero-percent interest loans through Hale Aloha `O Hilo Habitat for Humanity are available to repair homes in need of health and safety repairs or accessibility improvements.

      Those applying must have clear title to the property in fee simple, have income and assets not exceeding HPG Program guidelines, have owned and occupied the home for at least a year before applying, have sufficient equity to cover needed repairs and be able to repay the no-interest loan over 20 years.

      The dwelling must be a legal structure located in a rural area (anywhere on island except Hilo) and have defects that pose health and safety hazards to occupants or be in need of improvements to make the dwelling accessible for a handicapped occupant.

      Repairs are performed by a licensed general contractor hired by the homeowner.
      Loan is secured by a mortgage and promissory note with 20 years to repay.
      Program is funded by federal USDA Rural Development and HAO Hilo Habitat and is being carried out by Habitat as part of its affordable housing mission.
      HPG is an equal opportunity program. Discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry/national origin, sex, physical or mental disability, marital status, age or HIV infection is prohibited by federal law and Habitat for Humanity policy.
      Funding is limited and must be spent as soon as possible.
      Call Mary Finley at 967-7230 to apply or for further information.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

OCEAN VIEW RESIDENT Jose Guadalupe-Rodriguez has been arrested and charged with negligent homicide in the first degree, manslaughter, leaving the scene of a fatal accident and tampering with physical evidence, John Burnett reported in Hawai`i Tribune-Herald.

      Responding to a 7:15 p.m. call on Jan. 19, police determined that an unknown sedan-type vehicle had been traveling north on Paradise Parkway when it failed to yield the right of way at the intersection with Kona Drive and collided with Ling Oniel, who had been traveling west on Kona Drive on a black moped. Following the collision, the sedan and its operator fled from the scene prior to police arrival. Through investigation, police were able to determine that the vehicle may have been a white 1992-1995 Honda Civic.
      Oniel was taken to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:30 p.m.
      Burnett reported that Guadalupe-Rodriguez was already in custody on separate charges when arrested. He remains at Hawai`I Community Correctional Center, with bail set at $75,000.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Jeff Peterson returns to Ka`u on Tuesday.

JEFF PETERSON celebrates National Library Week Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Pahala Public & School Library. The 45-minute program is suitable for all ages. Young children must be accompanied by a parent or adult caregiver.

      For more information, call 928-2015.

THE RETURN OF THE `ALALA is the topic Tuesday at After Dark in the Park. `Alala, the native Hawaiian crow, once lived across Hawai`i Island. Now, due to a variety of threats in the wild, these birds are found only in captivity. Successful captive breeding and conservation efforts have helped rescue this native Hawaiian species from the brink of extinction. This fall, `alala will be returned home to the wild, and these very intelligent birds will take their place once again in Hawaiian forests. Lea Ka`aha`aina, of Keauhou Bird Conservation Center, and special guest USGS Research Wildlife Biologist Paul Banko discuss the release and recovery of the `alala, a beloved and unique bird found nowhere else on earth.

      The program begins a 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs; park entrance fees apply.

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

See kaucalendar.com/TheDirectory2016.html.

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_April_2016.pdf.

Ka`u Calendar News Briefs Saturday, April 9, 2016

Japanese hula sisters of Halau Hula O Leionalani, under the direction of Kumu Debbie Ryder, planted trees at Makanau during Merrie Monarch Festival Week. See more below. Photo from Debbie Ryder

KILAUEA’S SUMMIT LAVA LAKE LEVEL yesterday rose slightly after a four-day deflationary period that dropped the level to about 190 feet below the floor of the caldera, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists reported. Summit tiltmeters recorded an inflationary trend starting at about 7 p.m.

An HVO geologist uses a laser rangefinder to measure depth of the lava
lake in the Overlook crater at Kilauea's summit. Photo from USGS/HVO

      During the deflation, seismic activity across the volcano did not change significantly, with fluctuations in summit tremor amplitudes related to spattering along edges of the lava lake as rocks broke loose and fell into the lake.

      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

MAKANAU AND PUNALU`U FISHPOND RESTORATION are among projects proposed by the Uhane Pohaku Na Moku O Hawai`i nonprofit led by Kawehi and Debbie Ryder. The group has applied for county grants “to help restore and preserve the Punalu`u ahupua`a,” makai and mauka.
      “Our project will work with at-risk youth, ages 10-21, islandwide,” Uhane’s grant application states. Makai, the project includes “clearing vegetation growing over Ninoole and Hilo`e fishponds” and replacing them with coastal plants, according to the application. Future plans include a boardwalk around the ponds and using them for aquaculture education and farming, says the proposal.

      Uhane’s mauka project is restoration of Makanau, which the group describes as being “rich in biological and cultural diversity.” The application states that the group wants to “teach the youth of its Hawaiian traditions so that the Hawaiian culture can continue to thrive in today’s youth, our next generation, so that they can continue to pass on the traditions of old.”

The heiau at Makanau is cared for by Demetrius Oliveira, of Pahala,
 under an agreement with Olson. Photo from Debbie Ryder

      Uhane requested $57,199 from the county for the projects, and County Council’s Human Services & Social Services Committee recommended $7,000. Other possible funding sources listed for the project are $346,994 for a state grant-in-aid and $75,000 from the state Office of Youth Services.

      Uhane’s projects will be managed by new Executive Director Kawehi Ryder, said Debbie Ryder. She explained that former Uhane director Steven Pavao and former project contact person Roxanne Costa are no longer with Uhane. They were working with a Safe House for girls that was established by Uhane on `Ohi`a Street in Pahala, but the program has ended, Debbie Ryder explained. Now called Hale `Ohi`a, the former safe house will be use for other community and youth programs, she said.
      She noted that Uhane recently hosted Family Court Judge Henry T. Nakamoto for a site visit to the farm that the organization is caring for in Wood Valley. She said that Uhane is applying to help youth through offering community service at the farm and other Uhane sites.
      Regarding Makanau, she said that Uhane sends a “big mahalo a nui loa to Mr. Ed Olson for the right of entry access to Makanau for the Ka`u Community doing restoration work up at the Mauna.” The organization recently hosted Japanese hula sisters with Halau Hula O Leionalani, under the direction of Kumu Debbie Ryder, at Makanau during the Merrie Monarch Festival. Uhane has also been helping Demetrius Oliveira, of Pahala, with caring for the heiau under an arrangement between Edmund C. Olson and Oliveira.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Stargazers atop Makanau enjoy Ka`u's dark skies.
Photo from Ka`u Coffee Festival 

VISITATION TO MAKANAU is allowed by appointment only. The Edmund C. Olson Trust allows community organizations to visit Makanau through requests, with consideration of the family ranching in the area and events and projects planned for the mountain. The schedule over the next two months includes a group from Kamehameha Schools and a stargazing event during the Ka`u Coffee Festival on Friday, May 20. Community groups wishing to schedule access to Makanau can call Olson Trust land manager John Cross at 987-4229.

      For the stargazing event, participants will meet at Ka`u Coffee Mill and travel together to Makanau, where they discover Ka`u’s dark skies. Cross and others will speak of the history of lands below and the significance of Makanau and the night skies. To sign up, call 928-0550.

      For more, see kaucoffeefest.com and kaucoffeemill.com.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

AS MAUNA LOA SHOWS SIGNS OF UNREST, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists discuss its spectacular 1950 eruption in the current issue of Volcano Watch.
      “In March 1950, Mauna Loa inflation was so significant that tilt was recorded at the summit of Kilauea. Two months later, continuing deformation was accompanied by a sharp increase in small earthquakes, signaling the increased probability of an eruption.
      “On May 29, an island-shaking magnitude-6.4 earthquake occurred beneath Mauna Loa's west flank. Sixty-four hours later, at 9:04 p.m., HST, on June 1, the eruption began, with fissures opening at the summit and uppermost Southwest Rift Zone of the volcano.
      “The fissure eruptions quickly spread down rift—from 3,845 to 3,350 meters (12,600 to 11,000 feet) elevation—sending floods of lava to the west and southeast. Volcanic gas emissions fed a mushroom-shaped cloud up to 3,050 m (10,000 ft) high above the volcano's summit.

      “By 10:30 p.m., the Southwest Rift Zone had ‘unzipped’ down to an elevation of 2,380 m (7800 ft), unleashing an 18-km- (11-mi-) long trail of spectacular lava fountains that fed several large-volume, fast-moving lava flows. These flows reached the south Kona coast in about three hours, endangering lives, destroying property and severing the main highway and telephone lines along the way.

During Mauna Loa's 1950 eruption, three large, fast-moving lava flows
flows advanced down its west flank and crossed Hwy 11 before reaching
the ocean. USGS/HVO from Air National Guard

      “The eruption lasted 23 days and produced 376 million cubic meters (491 million cubic yards) of lava, with over 90 percent of that volume issued during the first six days of the eruption. With an eruption rate 200 times greater than that of Kilauea's current eruption, the 1950 Mauna Loa eruption produced more lava in six days than Pu`u `O`o typically erupts in over four years! 

“Field observations and geologic sampling of lava from the entire extent of the 1950 fissures document changes in the lava chemistry and mineralogy over space and time during this phenomenal event. 

      “At elevations above 3,350 m (11,000 ft), the earliest 1950 fissures erupted comparatively low-temperature magma, cooled and partly crystallized within a shallow summit reservoir that presumably also fed earlier eruptions.

      “As the 1950 eruption progressed, lower elevation fissures erupted increasing volumes of hotter and more ‘primitive’ magma with an abundance of minerals formed at high pressures and temperatures. These minerals crystallized from their host magma within the mantle (around 18 km, or 11 mi, deep) or were incorporated as magma rose through deep roots of the massive volcano—a sign that magma ascended quickly from great depths. 

      “Chemical zonation patterns of individual mineral crystals in the 1950 lava provide clues about the earliest stages of magmatic activity beneath the volcano. Crystals erupted from lower elevations indicate that magma began to ascend within the upper mantle up to 8 months before the eruption, and that the rate and amount of magma transport was increasing in the weeks prior to the eruption.
“Laboratory experiments were performed to test how long minerals formed at high pressures in the mantle could survive low pressures at shallow depths within Mauna Loa's magma chamber. Results show that some crystals erupted below 3,350 m (11,000 ft) could not have survived longer than a day in the shallow edifice—further testament to the unusually rapid ascent of magma immediately before the eruption began.
      “During the 1950 Mauna Loa eruption, huge volumes of magma were transported rapidly from great depths with little warning of just how furious the eruption would be. Our findings suggest that key indicators of another such remarkable eruption might occur just hours before magma reaches the surface.”

Register for KRHCAI's membership meeting and conference by tomorrow.

      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov.volcanowatch.

      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

TOMORROW IS THE DEADLINE to register for Ka`u Rural Health Community Association’s 19th annual Membership Meeting & Conference. This year’s theme is Rural Health at Work in Our Communities. The event takes place Friday, April 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Pahala Community Center.
      Register at 928-0101.

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

See kaucalendar.com/TheDirectory2016.html.

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_April_2016.pdf.