Ka`u News Briefs Jan. 20, 2011

Police Chief Harry Kubojiri encourages Pahala residents to ramp up Neighborhood Watch.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE HAWAI`I POLICE DEPARTMENT met with Ka`u residents yesterday at Pahala Community Center. Police Chief Harry Kubojiri told community members that he wants them to feel comfortable connecting with HPD representatives - from Andre Burian, the commander of the Ka`u district and James O Conner, commander of Internal Affairs and Criminal Intelligence, to Ka`u’s community Police Officer Dane Shibuya.
     The police chief said that community meetings and a recent online survey of community concerns “helps us all to improve our services to help you. We are not perfect as an organization. We always can have improvement. The best person to give us our report card is you, the community,” Kubojiri said.
     He described Pahala as a community like the old days where everyone knows each other and can take care of one another. When asked whether there is less crime in this kind of rural, laid-back community, he said the problem is that nowadays people travel from other parts of the island to commit crimes and even fly in from off-island to rip off houses and businesses.
     He and other officers encouraged Pahala residents to ramp up the Neighborhood Watch program and report problems in the community so police can talk to people in trouble to help them get back on the right track.
     Burian summarized the status of issues brought up at previous meetings. He said the camping at Kawa by the Abel Simiona Louie group is being worked on by the county prosecutor’s office. A supporter of Louie told the police that there was new proof that Louie is entitled to live there because of his ancestry. The police chief said that the dispute is not with their department but that police want to make sure everyone is safe.

Legal cattle like these were being displaced by "cattle trespassers"
putting their herds on other people's lands.

CATTLE TRESPASSING was one of the problems brought up. It is a crime to put cattle on pasture without the owner’s permission. Last year a group of people claimed that their ancestors having owned the land gave them the right to introduce and graze cattle even though the land is now owned or leased by other ranchers. The problem pit some paniolo against the trespassers, but “seems to have remedied itself,” said Burian. 

RACING CARS ON HWY 11 was another issue brought up to police. Marian Villanueva and Guy Enriques both talked about a stretch of Hwy 11 near Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, where there is signage to watch for Nene geese. They reported several incidents of cars side by side on both sides of the highway, using the stretch for racing. Gary Domondon said he was hunting and could hear them burning rubber. Others said there are skid marks from the race cars on the highway. Police said they would try to catch them.

JUNK CARS is another issue, and Burian encouraged the community to continue to call in reports. He said more than 40 abandoned vehicles were recently removed through police working with other county agencies and landowners.

TRAPPING WILD DOGS is also important where they are a nuisance and a danger to the public, police officers said. The Humane Society has traps for which there is no charge. They will pick up the dogs once they are caught.

TO MAKE COMPLAINTS about any policing matter, the police officers said it is most efficient to call Dispatch at 935-3311 since the calls are tracked and the reports can sometimes be linked to similar activity in other parts of the island.

`O KA`U KAKOU'S ANNUAL KEIKI Fishing Tournament at Punalu`u takes place this Saturday, January 22. The tournament is catch-and-release, using poles and barbless hooks. Registration is from 8 to 9 a.m. for fishing from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Many prizes will be awarded.

Ka`u News Briefs Jan. 19, 2011

Richard Ha (l) has long promoted food self-sufficiency, along with Chef Alan Wong,
and is now promoting energy self-sufficiency with geothermal.

RUSSELL KOKUBUN’S 10-member working group to study geothermal energy’s potential to help wean Hawai`i from petroleum is distributing it findings to the Legislature, which opens today in Honolulu. Kokubun established the working group when he was senator from this district. He is now head of the state Department of Agriculture.
     Farmer and businessman Richard Ha is a member who works on both food self-sufficiency and energy self-sufficiency. He said the report provides lawmakers with an evaluation of using hot water reservoirs, created by heat from the volcanoes, to provide local and renewable energy for electricity and transportation. Already, Puna Geothermal Venture, which has been online for nearly two decades, is helping to meet the Big Island’s electrical needs.
     Said Ha: “There is an urgency to developing new energy resources because Hawai`i, like most of the world, is overwhelmingly dependent upon depleting supplies of fossil fuels. The consensus among credible resource scientists and many economists is that petroleum prices will rise to unprecedented levels in a few years.”
     He noted that the Big Island alone pays a billion dollars a year for petroleum.
     Other members of the geothermal working group are: Nelson Ho, who is the legislative assistant to county council member Brittany Smart and president of the local chapter of the Sierra Club; OHA trustee Bob Lindsey, who is also a property owner in Ka`u; Hawai`i Electric Light Co. president Jay Ignacio, who recently gave a presentation on biofuels in Pahala; Wallace Ishibashi, Jr., of the Big Island Labor Alliance; energy expert Barry Mizuno; Public Utilities Commission chair Carlito Caliboso; former state energy administrator Ted Peck; Keaukaha Community Association president Patrick Kahawaiola`a; and community volunteer Jacqui Hoover, from West Hawai`i.

COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER Brittany Smart is on O`ahu today for the opening of the state Legislature and said she will be lobbying for the release of $1.5 million in funding to help plan a new emergency shelter and gym facility for Pahala. She recently met with former council member Guy Enriques, who initiated the project, and Ka`u High School principal Sharon Beck.

THIS COMING SUNDAY will mark the Volcano Project’s 100th week hosting an information table at Volcano Farmers Market. Anne Lee and David Donald, co-founders of The Volcano Project, said they are expecting to learn soon whether they have won the contract for the concession at Volcano House for its hotel, restaurant and retail services. They say they would create 91 permanent jobs and education in the hospitality industry to more than 60 students each year. The lease would be for 14 years. Volcano House has been closed for National Park renovations and for selecting the new concessioner.

Karmen Scheffler, of the McGhee family in Na`alehu, recently introduced her family,
baby Sebastian and husband Heinz, to Michelle and Barack Obama
at Kaneohe Marine Base,where Scheffler is serving his country.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA recently met a Ka`u native during his vacation in Hawai`i. Karmen Scheffler grew up in Na`alehu, and her mother Ellenor McGhee said that Ka`u should be proud of this young woman who is now 22. After school in Na`alehu, she boarded at Lahainaluna High School on Maui, then had a full scholarship to the University of Hawai`i at Manoa where she received two degrees, one in Political Science and the other in Anthropology. She has an infant son Sebastian and is married to Heinz Scheffler, a marine at Kaneohe, where they met Michelle and Barack Obama. 

KA`U RESIDENTS ARE INVITED to meet with representatives of the Hawai`i Police Department at Pahala Community Center from noon to 2 p.m. today. Scheduled to be on hand is the police department’s command staff as well as Deputy Chief Paul Ferreira, Area II Assitant Chief Henry Tavares, Area II Maj. Randy Apela, Ka`u Capt. Andres Burian and Ka`u Community Police Officer Dane Shibuya. Residents are also invited to call 939-2520 or email Officer Burian at aburian@co.hi.us.

UNDER THE DIRECTION of Meleana Ulrich-Manuel, the dancers of Hula Halau Ke `Olu o Mauna Loa perform tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

Ka`u News Briefs Jan. 18, 2011

Pahala community leader Ana Cariaga spoke at Governor Neil Abercrombie's
confirmation ceremony at Pahala Plantation House in December.

WATER FOR KA`U FARMERS and ranchers is on the priority list for Rep. Bob Herkes. With the legislature opening tomorrow, he plans to work on the release of funding to help repair tunnels from the old plantation water system above the farmlands between Pahala and Na`alehu. Some of the tunnels are partially collapsed, and flumes and pipes are broken. An association of farmers and ranchers has been working on restoring small sections for several years to bring irrigation down the mountains. Herkes will attempt to put $1.5 million into the project. He said former governor Linda Lingle was unable to release money, but the new administration should be supportive.

AN 11,000-ACRE wilderness area from Manuka north toward Miloli`i is another legislative project that both Herkes and new Ka`u Senator Gil Kahele plan to work on together. Kahele and Herkes worked on establishing the South Kona Wilderness Area in the legislature in 2003, but it was never fully completed. They also worked together on the South Kona – Ka`u Coastal Conservation Task Force.

KAHELE was a founder of the Miloli`i community group called Pa`a Pono Miloli`i in 1980, in an attempt to conserve the shoreline and Hawaiian customs. Pa`a Pono means stand firm for what is right. He also organized Miloli`i families to gain permission to build self-help housing on land at Miloli`i. The next project was the wilderness area to protect the coastline. Pa`a Pono asked for preservation from the shore to 6,000 feet inland to protect coastal land for the local community and the entire state. Kahele also worked to establish a program to protect opelu for fishing.
     Pahala community organizer Ana Cariaga, who served with Kahele on the police commission and other groups, described Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s appointment of Kahele as a “balanced choice, a good choice.”

NEW FACILITIES for Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences is another project expected to be introduced by Herkes and supported by local legislators. The charter school, located on the Ka`u border in Volcano Village, is on an old state Department of Education campus and is comprised of temporary buildings.

HERKES also plans to establish a permanent interagency vog task force, which would accept testimony from residents continually. He appeared recently on PBS in Honolulu appealing for more study of vog’s effects on health and protection for Ka`u residents during vog events.
     Herkes retains his position in the House of Representatives as chair of its Consumer Protection and Commerce committee.

Community groups can raise up to $400 by replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs
through a program sponsored by The Kohala Center and Blue Planet Foundation.

LOOKING FOR A FUNDRAISER? The Kohala Center and the Blue Planet Foundation are looking for 20 school or community groups to help with exchanging incandescent light bulbs for compact, energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs. Blue Planet will pay the nonprofit 40 cents for each light bulb exchanged – up to 1,000 bulbs – allowing each community group to raise up to $400. Blue Planet and The Kohala Center will also make a presentation to the nonprofit to educate them about clean energy and climate change. There is no cost to residents to change their bulbs. Replacing eight 60-watt incandescent bulbs with 13-watt CFLs could save $140 a year. Replacing 1,000 60-watt bulbs can save 750 barrels of oil. To participate, email bulbexchange@kohalacenter.org for the application. 

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY geologist Tim Orr reviews highlights of Kilauea’s ongoing 28-year eruption and discusses the latest developments tonight at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

THE HAWAI`I POLICE DEPARTMENT will hold a meeting at Pahala Community Center from noon to 2 p.m. tomorrow. Scheduled to be on hand is the police department’s command staff as well as Deputy Chief Paul Ferreira, Area II Assitant Chief Henry Tavares, Area II Maj. Randy Apela, Ka`u Capt. Andres Burian and Ka`u Community Police Officer Dane Shibuya. The police department asks that participation be limited to Ka`u residents. Residents are also invited to call 939-2520 or email Officer Burian at aburian@co.hi.us.