Ka`u News Briefs April 24, 2011

Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya shares the spotlight with Young Miss Ka`u Coffee Dayse Meleani Andrade and
Miss Ka`u Peaberry Rebecca Lynn Kailiawa-Escobar.  Photos by Julia Neal

LAST NIGHT WAS A WINNING NIGHT for the youth of Ka`u with the band from Ka`u High School, One Journey, winning the statewide Brown Bags to Stardom and Brandy Shibuya, Dayse Meleani Andrade and Rebecca Lynn Kailiawa-Escobar taking the Ka`u Coffee Pageant titles. 

BRANDY SHIBUYA became Miss Ka`u Coffee last night after performing a hula to Poliahu. “It has always been a dream of mine to represent Hawai`i and make a difference in the world,” she said. She described her home of Ka`u as “over 922 square miles of rich sacred land, holding the most powerful Hawaiian history.” She said she is “intrigued by its cultural diversity and natural beauty.” 

First Miss Ka`u Coffee Princess Janeise Cuison, Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya
and Second Miss Ka`u Coffee Princess Brandy Eder

     First Ka`u Coffee Princess, Janeise Cuison, danced Tahitian. She said she has a “passion for volleyball, baking assorted desserts and spending time at the beach with family.” She plans to become a nurse and “help the needy and the sick in our community.”
     Second Princess is Brandy Eder, who performed her own piano composition. She said she would love to be a doctor. “What I love the most about Ka`u is the aloha spirit, the way everyone is like family.” She said she wants to help solve the problem of domestic abuse, especially identifying teens with physical and verbal abuse problems through counseling in the schools. 

Miss Ka`u Peaberry,
Rebecca Lynn Kailiawa Escobar

Young Miss Ka`u Coffee,
Dayse Meleani Andrade

     The new Young Miss Ka`u Coffee is Dayse Meleani Andrade. She said she likes to dance, sing and play sports and wants to become a pediatrician. She says she loves living in Ka`u because “all of my family and friends are here, and because the beaches are beautiful.” Her talent was dance. 

     The new Miss Ka`u Peaberry is Rebecca Lynn Kailiawa-Escobar. She likes to play soccer and volleyball and make beaded jewelry. She says she wants to be a scientist because she loves nature and could “warn everyone in the world before anything happened.” She said she loves living in Ka`u because we have “fishing, farming hunting, and ranching. Ka`u is the only district with untouched beauty,” she proclaimed. Her talent was hip hop.

One Journey star Eunice Longakit and her friends sang to raise money to go to Brown Bags to Stardom,
 where they won the statewide competition in Honolulu last night.  Photos by Julia Neal

ONE JOURNEY came from one of the smallest schools in the state. “It was like David conquering Goliath,” said Brown Bags to Stardom producer Johnny Kai this morning. With lead singer Eunice Longakit and her back up band of fellow Ka`u High School students, One Journey won it all at the statewide talent competition on O`ahu last night. Kai said he became emotional with all the teamwork and sense of ‘ohana he felt from the One Journey band. He joked during the competition that the One Journey performers had known each other since “small kid time” something unheard of in bands from the big city, who are always “breaking up” instead of coming together. He said he couldn’t believe the Ka`u support for the group, having raised the funding to send One Journey to O`ahu for the competition. 

Bands came from near and far, and CDs
sold out to help One Journey.

     In addition to winning first against the big city schools, One Journey’s music video of the original song Lovers Dream, written by Longakit and James Tyson, is in the top six in the competition on OC16, and those results will soon be announced. 

THE REDISTRICTING COMMISSION for Hawai`i County will meet in Hilo Monday, and over many months of study and negotiation, is expected to re-draw the political map of the island, particularly for the County Council elections. Puna, one of the fastest growing populations in the state, may end up with two council members, perhaps making Ka`u’s council person more exclusively about Ka`u and South Kona than Puna. The area between Kea`au and Mountain View is particularly fast growing. Ka`u itself only grew by 2,624 in the last decade, according to the census, so its boundaries are not likely to contract, except perhaps slightly on the Puna side. The new process for drawing the election maps also allows the public to weigh in with their own suggested maps and gives priority to keeping towns and neighborhoods together, without political districting lines running through a community, when possible.

THE NEW SCENIC BYWAYS designation for Hwy 11 through Ka`u will be the topic of the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce meeting tomorrow at Ocean View Community Center at 6:30 p.m. Such topics as how long and where to make the scenic byway, what to name it, and what elements of Ka`u to stress in the signage will be discussed.

LOCAL ARTS, CRAFTS AND MUSIC fill the new pavilion and tropical gardens surrounding Punalu`u Bake Shop next Saturday, April 30. Ka'u School of the Arts hosts the Spring Fling event that features over three dozen artists and a full day of entertainment beginning at 9 a.m.

Ka`u News Briefs April 23, 2011

Bull Kailiawa, who won top in Hawai`i and one of the top ten in the world at SCAA this year, checks his coffee.
Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

THE BULL KAILIAWA FAMILY, of Pahala, has won the top prize for the best coffee in all of Hawai`i and the only winner from the United States at the annual Specialty Coffee Association of America Cupping Competition. Hawai`i will be honored at the annual SCAA convention in Houston next weekend as one of the top ten coffee growing places in the world. Ka`u was rated the top region in

Bull Kailiawa  Photo by Teresa Tico

Hawai`i, and Bull Kailiawa was the top scoring coffee farmer. This is the fifth straight year that Ka`u coffee has ranked in the top dozen, and all the winning coffee is grown on coffee lands above Pahala.
     Last year’s winner was Willie Tabios, of Na`alehu.
     Kailiawa’s typica coffee ranked in the top ten worldwide alongside two coffees from Colombia, two from Honduras, two from El Salvador, two from Guatemala and one from Bolivia.

THE MISS KA`U COFFEE competition has drawn donors for scholarships to be saved for higher education of the winners. Scholarships were donated by the Edmund C. Olson Trust, `Aina Koa Pono, the Ka`u Federal Credit Union, Golden Pacific Farms, Sen. Gil Kahele, Rep. Bob Herkes, Punalu`u Bakeshop, KAHU RADIO 91.7 FM, Ka`u Coffee Mill, R&G Mini Mart, Ka`u Royal Coffee, the Ka`u Calendar newspaper and hundreds of $5 donations to Friends of Miss Ka`u Coffee Pageant.

Ulu Makuakane, 2010 Ka`u Coffee Queen, will  welcome
 the 2011 Miss Ka`u Coffee Queen tonight at the pageant.
Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

     The pageant is tonight at 5:30 p.m., with music and dance at Ka`u High School gym. Food will be offered for sale before the pageant and during intermission.

THE BOARD OF WATER SUPPLY agenda on Tuesday includes proposing new regulations to allow the testing of potable water for radiation. Groundwater from Waimea has already been sent to the mainland for testing by the state Department of Health’s Radiological Branch. If the Board of Water Supply approves such testing, the Department of Water would be able to include radiation in its testing protocol. The testing comes after the tsunami and ongoing release of radiation from broken power plants in Japan. The results from the health department should be back by May. The radiation would enter the groundwater as it drops from the sky in the rain.
     The water board is also planning a hearing for May 24 in Kona regarding hiking water bills to cover the increased cost of electricity. The power cost charged on each water bill could go from $1.89 per 1,000 gallons to as high as $2.25 per 1,000 gallons.

A CURRENT NATIONWIDE CAMPAIGN called Drunk Driving: Over the Limit, Under Arrest seeks to reduce the number of drunken drivers on the highways. On the Big Island, police will conduct DUI checkpoints and roving patrols through the Merrie Monarch festival. There have been eight traffic fatalities and more than 400 DUI arrests in the first four months of this year on the Big Island. No matter how far you are from Ka`u, the police urge you to take a taxi, hitch a ride with a friend, or stay where you are if you are over the limit.

Parishioners carried a cross through Pahala on Good Friday during
the Stations of the Cross ceremony.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS CEREMONY, when parishioners walk through Pahala carrying a cross, has been traditional for generations. Members of the Holy Rosary Church set up stations in front of their homes on Good Friday, and the walkers arrived to sing and pray. It is commonly held on Good Friday and dates back to Jerusalem in the 1300s and spread to Europe. It is a Catholic tradition but also practiced by some Lutherans. Its purpose is to make a pilgrimage honoring the last hours of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion, meditating on his sufferings, death and rebirth. Pope John Paul II called it the “unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified.”

THY WORD MINISTRIES’ annual Easter Family Fun Day happens today from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Na`alehu Hongwanji. There will be food, games, prizes, an Easter egg hunt, music and hula.

Hwy 11 in Ka`u may become a State Scenic Byway.
Photo by Julia Neal

THE NEW SCENIC BYWAYS designation for Hwy 11 through Ka`u will be the topic of the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce meeting on Monday, April 25 at Ocean View Community Center at 6:30 p.m. Such topics as how long and where to make the scenic byway, what to name it, and what elements of Ka`u to stress in the signage will be discussed.

AS PART OF NATIONAL PARK WEEK, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park is waiving entrances fees to the park through Sunday. Volcano Art Center Gallery hosts a program about the Art & Traditions of Hula at Kilauea today. Hula kahiko performances and talk story sessions take place from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

     Tomorrow, Kilauea Military Camp hosts an Easter egg hunt at 9 a.m., with registration starting at 7:30 a.m. KMC’s Crater Rim Café serves an Easter brunch from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Easter dinner from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Ka`u News Briefs April 22, 2011

The Public Utilities Commission wants to know how much Hawaiian Electric will pay for biofuel from crops that
would be grown between Pahala and Na`alehu.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, under its new director Mina Morita, is moving to make negotiated contracts between the Hawaiian Electric Industries and energy providers available to the public. HECO’s contracted prices for purchasing electricity from such proposed projects as the `Aina Koa Pono refinery and biofuel farm in Ka`u have been withheld to date, and `Aina Koa and HECO representatives said it would not be fair to reveal their contract prices in such a competitive market.
     However, the PUC has directed HECO to disclose details of its renewable energy contracts. According to a report in Pacific Business News, “the change has affected recent applications that HECO officials have filed with the commission, and highlights potential conflicts between pricing transparency and protecting the utility’s ability to privately negotiate optimal rates for customers.”
     `Aina Koa Pono representatives said they should have an update on their Ka`u project sometime in June. 

RADIATION IN THE AIR from the broken nuclear plants in Fukushima, Japan are no longer detectable, and radiation in milk produced on the Big Island has dropped to half, remaining miniscule and of no danger to the public. This is according to an announcement from the Environmental Protection agency. The state Environmental Health Services Director Lynn Nakasone concurred, explaining that less radiation in the air means that radiation is not falling on the grasses being consumed by cows and making its way into milk. There was no iodine-131 found in the milk, as radioactive iodine only lasts about eight days. There are, however, miniscule amounts of cesium-137, which has a half-life of up to 30 years. While the amount of cesium in Hawai`i milk is higher than on the mainland, it is one fifteen-hundredth of the amount that would cause milk to be pulled off the shelves. 

A drought that decreased ag production is one factor in a
cutback of imported labor in recent years.  Photo by Julia Neal

MAC FARMS OF HAWAI`I, one of Ka`u’s largest employers, has been unavailable to answer questions regarding a federal suit that is attempting to blame farms and farmers for poor housing conditions and labor practices of Global Horizons, a workforce contractor who brought Thai laborers here. 

     Farms across the state have been named in the federal suit by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, which claims the farm operators should have known of illegal labor practices by Global Horizons.
     Representatives of some of the farms sued by the government said they had no knowledge of any mistreatment of the Thai workers who had a reputation of being a good workforce who appreciated the wages they took back home to their families. They claim that the housing, recruitment and transportation were arranged by Global Horizons and not the farms themselves.
     The government, however, claims that Global Horizons charged the laborers outrageous recruitment, housing and transportation fees and placed them in illegal housing conditions, and the farms should have known about it.
     The workers picked macadamia nuts, coffee, pineapple and other food crops across the state. The six companies sued along with Global Horizons are: Mac Farms, Captain Cook Coffee Co., Kaua`i Coffee, Del Monte Fresh Produce, Kelena Farms and Maui Pineapple Co.
     With the high cost of housing and airline tickets to bring in foreign workers, a need for local people to find jobs in Ka`u, and a drought that decreased agricultural production, farm managers have cut back altogether on hiring imported labor in recent years.

The Big Island is in the middle of the pack when
 it comes to change in personal income.

THE U.S. BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS released a report yesterday showing that the Big Island suffered less of a loss of income during the recession in 2009 than Maui and Kaua`i counties, and that income stood up better here than on the mainland. Across the country income decreased 2.6 percent, while Hawai`i County showed a decrease of 1.5 percent, Maui 3.3 percent and Kaua`i 1.9 percent. Personal income had been rising higher in Hawai`i than across the nation before the recession hit and is expected to rise again next year. 

LAST NIGHT THE KA`U HIGH TROJANS took down St. Joseph’s in three quick sets at the Ka`u High gym. The scores were 25-11, 25-10 and 25-16. Donald Garo, Jr. and Tyler Villa-Navarro made eight kills.

Keakealani Schoolhouse

THE FRIENDS OF THE VOLCANO SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES are beginning their $97,000 Phase One fundraising campaign to refurbish and modernize Volcano’s historic Keakealani Volcano School House. At a recent event sponsored by Kamaaina Nissan, VSAS staff and students won the first prize of $500 for their imaginative scheme to fit 24 people into a Nissan ‘Cube’ car. The community public charter school holds a Keakealani Walkfest on April 28 to earn sponsorship for the fund.

     Gifts are welcomed through the Friends of VSAS donor program and will be recognized with commemorative tiles on the new campus and/or in community publications. Call 985-9800.

THY WORD MINISTRIES’ annual Easter Family Fun Day happens tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Na`alehu Hongwanji. There will be food, games, prizes, an Easter egg hunt, music and hula.

Kahula `O Nawahine Noho Pu`ukapu, under the direction of kumu hula
Ana Nawahine-Kahoopii, perform and talk story tomorrow at
Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

AS PART OF NATIONAL PARK WEEK, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is waiving entrances fees to the park through Sunday. Tomorrow, the park features a program about the Art & Traditions of Hula at Kilauea. Hula kahiko performances and talk story sessions take place from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
     On Sunday, Kilauea Military Camp hosts an Easter egg hunt at 9 a.m., with registration starting at 7:30 a.m. KMC’s Crater Rim Café serves an Easter brunch from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Easter dinner from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.