Ka`u News Briefs May 5, 2011

`O Ka`u Kakou joins with other community organizations to clean up Punalu`u Pond.  Photo by Nalani Parlin

PENSION REFORM is expected to pass the state House of Representatives today, meaning new-hires in state government would have lower retirement income. They would also have to reach an older age to qualify for maximum retirement benefits. The state is faced with a $7.1 liability and is trying to figure out a way to pay for it. The legislation is expected to save more than $440 million in the first five years and more as new-hires fill state jobs. If the House passes the measure, it goes to Gov. Neil Abercrombie for his signature. The Hawai`i Government Employees Association has tentatively agreed to the idea, but some other unions are worried that it will hurt government’s ability to attract good employees.

Examining a coffee berry picked from a tree, showing
borer damage.  Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

KA`U COFFEE FARMERS are going into the fields this weekend to attack coffee borer beetles. The Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative members are joining together to search and clean any affected coffee trees and to set up traps. Just one field has been found with the borer at the Cloud Rest area where Ka`u’s award-winning coffee is produced. The Department of Agriculture is sending out staff to help the farmers and is encouraging everyone to make sure coffee pickers who come here from Kona have clean boots, clothes and vehicles so they don’t carry more coffee cherry borers to the region. 

SEN. GIL KAHELE is one of the Native Hawaiian senators who supports state recognition of Native Hawaiian people. The bill is designed to be compatible with the Akaka Bill that would recognize Hawaiians on a federal level. Said Kahele, “I was one of several Hawaiian senators who spoke in support of SB1520. The essence of asking my colleagues in the Senate to support SB1520 was the importance of recognizing native Hawaiians as an indigenous people. It was time to make ‘pono’ what was long overdue to the host culture and the meaning of ‘aloha’ as it meant to me as I grew up in the village of Miloli`i. In this legislative session, it was very important that we take this step of assisting Senator Akaka in his efforts of having native Hawaiians recognized at the federal level.”

Boys & Girls Clubs in Ka`u received approval for
county funding yesterday.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE COUNTY COUNCIL HAS GRANTED $1.5 million in funding for the next fiscal year to more than 92 nonprofit programs. The Ocean View Boys and Girls Club is receiving $25,000, while $20,000 goes to the Pahala Club’s Positive Youth Development Programs. `O Ka`u Kakou is receiving $15,000. The Ka`u Family Center is receiving $55,000 through Family Support Hawai`i. Other organizations that serve in the vicinity of Ka`u are the Hawai`i County Economic Opportunity Council, which is receiving $58,000 for its Youth Mentoring Language and Arts Multicultural Program, and Hui Malama Ola Na `Oiwi, with $5,000 for its diabetes management program and $15,000 for its cancer program. 

AT ITS MEETING YESTERDAY, the County Council approved the installation of another set of water spigots at Wai`ohinu Park. This would double the number of spigots available for public use.

THE COUNCIL ALSO POSTPONED acting on a bill that imposes impact fees on new construction. Council member Pete Hoffmann, who first introduced the bill last September, asked for the delay so that he could make revisions.

Tyler Navarro-Villa lead Ka`u to victory over
Hualalai Academy last night.

KA`U BOYS VARSITY VOLLEYBALL defeated Hualalai Academy last night at the Ka`u High gym to move on in the BIIF playoffs hoping to earn a berth to states. The boys went into the playoffs as the number one seed on the East side. Although Hualalai beat out two teams to play the Trojans, Ka`u took them down in three swift sets that lasted less than an hour. The set scores were 25-15, 25-15 and 25-11. Lead scorers were Tyler Navarro-Villa with 10 kills and Dillin Ballo with six. 

Riley Louis celebrates Ka`u's victory.
Photos by Nalani Parlin

     Ka`u moves on to play in the semi-finals tomorrow at Waiakea at 4 p.m. If they win tomorrow night, they will most likely attend states again for the first time in six years. 

THE DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES for the Ka`u Coffee Recipe Contest is this Saturday. Applications are available at R&G Store in Pahala and online at www.kaucoffeefest.com. Contact Michelle Galimba at 430-4927 or mgalimba@kuahiwiranch.com for more information.

Ka`u News Briefs May 4, 2011

The coffee berry borer destroys Ka`u Coffee beans by living inside the cherry.  Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

THE COFFEE BERRY BORER has found its way to the Cloud Rest coffee-growing area above Pahala. During the monthly meeting of the Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative, Chris Manfredi, who represents the owners of the coffee lands, announced that only one farm is know to have been affected. 

     Dr. Elsie Burbano, a researcher at UH-Manoa, urged everyone to work together to control what she called the most economically harmful pest in Hawai`i. She discussed methods of monitoring, trapping and controlling the CBB. 

University of Hawai`i volunteers and coffee farmer Bull Kailiawa
use GPS to locate wild coffee and look for coffee berry borers.
Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

     Integrated pest management is the best control, she said. This involves using multiple methods to keep the pest population at a lower level. 

     She said that a difficult but important part of controlling the pest is sanitation. Farmers should remove berries from the ground and raisins from the branches because the CBB can live in them for months and then move to other berries. After they’re collected, they should either be buried or burned.
     Burbano discussed the use of a fungus that can be sprayed to control the pest. She emphasized that the spray must contact the CBB and that results take about two weeks to show up, so patience is important.
     Manfredi said, “We’re going to fight this bug, not each other.” He pledged to make pesticides, tools and manual labor available to any farmers who need help. He urged all farmers to cooperate with the Department of Agriculture to help keep the problem under control. 

NATIVE HAWAIIAN SENATORS testified for a bill at the Legislature that would give formal recognition for Hawaiians. It calls for a commission of five, overseen by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, to define and create a list of Native Hawaiians. Those on the list would have standing as native Hawaiians to negotiate with the state on land use and cultural issues. This state recognition is patterned after the Akaka Bill, long supported by Sen. Dan Akaka, which would give Hawaiians similar rights as those enjoyed by American Indians.
     Sen. Malama Solomon said the bill could help with reconciliation for the overthrow of the kingdom of Hawai`i. Before the Senate, Solomon read from Queen Lili`uokalani’s Prayer “Protect us beneath your wings. And let peace be our portion. Now and forevermore.”

ROYALTIES AND LEASING of state resources for alternative energy will be studied, using geothermal as an example, now that a resolution supported by Sen. Gil Kahele has passed the state Senate yesterday. The resolution calls for a state audit of the state leasing out resources for geothermal and royalties paid. The state Board of Land & Natural Resources is required under law to “fix the payment of royalties to the state for geothermal resources at a rate which will encourage the initial and continued production of such resources.” 

Keiki perform at yesterday's May Day
celebration in Pahala.
Photos by Tanya Ibarra

May Day royalty presided over the
celebration at Pahala Elementary
& Intermediate Schools yesterday.

LONGER SCHOOL DAYS are in store for public students across the state if Gov. Neil Abercrombie signs the bill, Act 167, which passed the Legislature. All high schools and middle schools would have to provide 5.5 hours of daily instruction by 2014, and all elementary schools would offer 5.5 hours a day by the 2012 – 2013 school year. By 2016 ten more school days would be added. The state has to negotiate with the teachers union for more instruction time. Public Charter Schools would be exempt from the law. 

Another group of students performs for
 their families and guests at May Day.

Contemporary dance was part of the
May Day celebration.

MAY DAY CELEBRATIONS are happening throughout this month. Ka`u High School’s celebration was Monday, and Pahala Elementary and Intermediate School’s was yesterday. Na`alehu Elementary’s celebration is scheduled for Friday, May 20 at 12:30 p.m. in the gym. Ka`u Hospital has one on Friday, May 27. 

THE DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES for the Ka‘ū Coffee Recipe Contest has been extended to this Saturday, May 7. Categories include smoke meat, pupus/appetizers, savory snacks, entrees and desserts.
     Applications are available at R&G Store in Pāhala and online at www.kaucoffeefest.com. Contact Michelle Galimba at 430-4927 or mgalimba@kuahiwiranch.com for more information.

`O KA`U KAKOU MEETS at the Aspen Center on tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. The group is looking for help with the Ka`u Family Fun Fest in June that includes a half marathon, 10K and 5K races and basketball, archery, Portuguese horseshoe and Jen Ken Po tournaments. All proceeds go to the Bay Clinic building fund. Call Nadine at 928-0027 or Wayne at 937-4773 for more information.

Ka`u News Briefs May 3, 2011

The company that owns the wind farm near South Point is concerned that other proposals for alternative energy could seriously damage its business.  Photo by Peter Anderson

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES is not just interested in biofuels being grown and manufactured in a refinery near Pahala to send up the coast to its power plant near the airport in Kona. It wants biofuel to blend with fossil fuel to make electricity on O`ahu. The fossil fuel blended with the biofuel would be low in sulfur. The request for proposals is open to Hawaiian and offshore biofuel producers and calls for as much as 42 million gallons a year. The deadline for bids is July 29, and Hawaiian Electric wants to start using the biofuel mix in mid-2014. A number of contracts could be awarded. 

     Hawaiian Electric recently tested imported palm oil in one of its generators from a Malaysian producer, Sime Darby. Hawaiian Electric also plans to use biofuel at its power plant at Campbell Industrial Park.

THE COMPANY THAT OWNS the wind farm near South Point is concerned that other proposals for alternative energy could seriously damage its business, as Hawaiian Electric Light Company would be less likely to buy more wind energy. In filings with the Public Utilities Commission, the windmill company said the biofuels farm planned for Pahala and the eight-megawatt expansion of geothermal in Puna could limit the wind energy purchased by the electric company. Sustainable Business Oregon reported the concern about competing alternative energies becoming a problem, quoting the owner of the windmills saying the geothermal expansion could cause “severe economic damage to the company.” The windmill company, through a sustainable energy organization, also attempted to intervene in the PUC’s rate case concerning the local biofuels farm with the same plea, but was rejected.

Pete Licata holds his award for U.S.
Barista Champion that he won using
Rusty's Hawaiian 100% Ka`u Coffee.

Bull Kailiawa holds his award for
Best of Origin USA/Hawai`i.
Photos by Julia Neal

RUSTY’S HAWAIIAN 100 percent Ka`u Coffee carried Pete Licata, of Honolulu Coffee Company, to win the U.S. Barista championship in Houston on Sunday. He will attend the Ka`u Coffee Festival on May 14 and head for Bogota, Colombia with Rusty’s in June for the World Barista Championship. 

     Bull Kailiawa received his award as one of the top ten coffees in the world and first in Hawai`i and the U.S.A. on Sunday from the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the Roasters Guild. 

THE JOBLESS RATE in Hawai`i County was down by 0.5 percent in March as compared to the same month last year. Maui recorded the greatest decrease in unemployment, an entire one percent. The unemployment rate across the state was 5.1 percent on O`ahu, 7.8 percent in Maui county, 8.5 percent on Kaua`i, and 9.5 percent on the Big Island. The statewide average was 6.1 percent.

THREE COMPOSERS AND MUSICIANS with close ties to Ka`u are nominated for Na Hoku Hanohano awards for 2011. Ledward Kaapana, with his album The Legend and John Keawe, with his album Play with Me Papa are both nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year. Both come to Pahala each year for music workshops where local students receive scholarships and other fans and students come from around the world for classes at Pahala Plantation House. Nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year is Sistah Robi, whose mother lives in Ocean View. 

A BILL THAT ESTABLISHES an interagency task force on vog to discuss the impact of vog on the people of Hawai`i and find ways to address these issues goes for a final vote today at the state Legislature. HB 318 was introduced and championed by Ka`u’s Rep. Bob Herkes. 

THE BILL IMPOSING IMPACT FEES on new developments and construction in Hawai‘i County comes up at the County Council Planning Committee meeting today. The committee meets at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center at 3:15 p.m. The fees would be used to provide infrastructure for roads, parks, fire/EMS, police solid waste and wastewater. The impact fee on a new house is $6,387. Other fees on construction are calculated per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area. Public testimony is welcomed at the beginning of the meeting.

THE BAY CLINIC’S Mobile Dental Van is in Na`alehu today through Friday. Call 965-3073 for hours and to make an appointment.

AN UPDATE ON THE COFFEE BERRY BORER happens today at 5 p.m. at the Pahala Community Center. Dr. Elsie Burbano, a researcher at UH-Manoa, CTAHR, discusses monitoring, trapping and controlling the CBB. For more information, call 938-1719.

`O KA`U KAKOU MEETS at the Aspen Center on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The group is looking for help with the Ka`u Family Fun Fest in June that includes a half marathon, 10K and 5K races and basketball, archery, Portuguese horseshoe and Jen Ken Po tournaments. All proceeds go to the Bay Clinic building fund. Call Nadine at 928-0027 or Wayne at 937-4773 for more information.

THE DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES for the Ka`u Coffee Recipe Contest has been extended to this Saturday, May 7. Categories include smoke meat, pupus/appetizers, savory snacks, entrees and desserts.
     Applications are available at R&G Store in Pahala and online at www.kaucoffeefest.com. Contact Michelle Galimba at 430-4927 or mgalimba@kuahiwiranch.com for more information.