Ka`u News Briefs August 14, 2011

A fossilized footprint from the 1790 eruption.  Photo from Kilaueaadventure.com

IT IS NOT RACE AND CULTURE but income disparity that statistically separates students who do well in math and reading from those who test poorly, according to a story by Derrick de Pledge in the Honolulu Star Advertiser this morning. "Student test scores have improved significantly over the past decade, but the achievement gap for low-income students remains about the same," de Pledge writes. "Last school year, 67 percent of all students were proficient in reading, according to preliminary results from the state Department of Education, while 57 percent of disadvantaged students were proficient. Fifty-five percent of all students were proficient in math, while 45 percent of disadvantaged students were proficient." In the 2001-2002 school year, the first under federal No Child Left Behind requirements, 40 percent of all students were proficient in reading, while 27 percent of disadvantaged students were proficient. Nineteen percent of all students were proficient in math, while 10 percent of disadvantaged students were proficient, the story reports. As a result, the state Department of Education "plans to zero in on reducing the achievement gap," the story says. "People really want to say, ‘Well, you know, it’s the teacher, or the principal, or the parent, or whatever.’ And it’s all of us,” said Ronn Nozoe, a deputy superintendent at the state Department of Education. Sharon Beck, principal of Ka`u High, Intermediate and Elementary Schools, recently pointed out numerous improvements in Ka`u students and pledges much more improvement in coming years. 

Late Mayor Herbert Matayoshi

HERBERT MATAYOSHI, mayor of Hawai`i County from 1974 to 1984, will be honored with flags flying at half-mast tomorrow. Gov. Neil Abercrombie gave a statewide order for flags to fly at half-staff for Matayoshi, who was this county’s second elected mayor.

     Matayoshi also served on the County Council and county Board of Supervisors. 

     Services are open to the public tomorrow from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Hilo at Church of the Holy Cross. A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m.

ALTERNATING LANE CLOSURES on Mamalahoa Highway 11 in both directions are planned near South Point Road this coming Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., for pavement resurfacing and guardrail installation.

A MOON-BASED research park is the subject of a meeting here on the Big Island by astronomers, other scientists and administrators of NASA and other space agencies. They will convene at the International Lunar Research Park Leaders Summit in November at Waikoloa.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY SCIENTISTS are reviewing carbon data showing long periods of lava flow from Kilauea Volcano and other periods of lava flow replaced by explosive activity. According to this week’s Volcano Watch, the periods of explosive lava eruptions were between 2,200 and 1,000 years ago and 900 to 200 years ago. These were periods when lava was deep inside the volcano and when mixed with water would sometimes send out huge eruptions of vapor and water like the Keoneleleli, “the falling of the sands” in 1790 when a party of Chief Keoua’s army was killed by volcanic ash and smoke when marching across the Ka`u Desert, leaving what is now known as the fossilized Footprints Trail within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

NEW AND IMPROVED WATER SPIGOTS AT WAI`OHINU will be the subject of an islandwide dedication ceremony tomorrow at 9 A.M. at the Wai`ohinu Solid Waste Transfer Station. Mayor Billy Kenoi will celebrate additional sources of water for those living remotely who need to haul water to their homes. There are six new or improved water spigot centers opened around the island, offering safe locations where residents can draw clean, potable water for household use, the mayor said.
     Thousands of rural residents in the County of Hawai`i are served by household water catchment systems but also rely on county-operated water spigots for safe drinking water. The new installation is by the county Department of Water Supply and the county Department of Public Works.

The old sugar mill in 1900, the last mill torn down in 1996.

KA`U PLANTATION DAYS is gearing up for next Saturday, Aug. 20 at Pahala Plantation House, and the annual Ka`u High School Reunion will be held on Sunday, Aug. 21 at Pahala Community Center. Plantation Days starts at 9 a.m. and will feature a cane truck driving through Pahala just like the old days. Representatives of the union and many cultural groups will present historic displays. One display features old photos of houses, and residents can come and find their home. Also planned are ethnic foods, music and dance from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Maile Street with Chong Store, a hotel and the field office at right.

Ka`u News Briefs August 13, 2011

Only a few solar projects have sold energy to the electric company due to the high cost of interconnectivity studies.

MAYOR BILLY KENOI will come to Wai`ohinu Monday to celebrate the completion of additional sources of water for those living remotely who have to haul water to their homes. Six new or improved water spigot facilities have been opened across the County of Hawai`i. These facilities offer residents safe and efficient locations where they can draw clean, potable water for household use, the mayor said. The dedication ceremony will be held at the Wai`ohinu Solid Waste Transfer Station on Monday, Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. 

Wai`ohinu, where Mayor Billy Kenoi will dedicate new
water spigots. Photo from Big Island Video News

     Thousands of rural residents in the County of Hawai`i are served by household water catchment systems, and many rely on county-operated water spigots to obtain safe drinking water. The installation or improvement of the county water spigot facilities is a project by the county Department of Water Supply and the county Department of Public Works.

SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ADVOCATES say that the new program that allows energy produced from solar to be sold to the electric company isn’t working well, since the electric company requests interconnectivity studies that cost tens of thousands of dollar. Only a few of the larger solar projects have gone online with the utility since the program began last year. The Public Utilities Commission is looking for solutions to capture more solar power for the grid. The feed-in tariff already sets rates for the electric company to pay for solar. Proposals on revamping the tariff system for up to five megawatts of power that could be sold to the electric company are being taken by the PUC through Sept. 5.

HERE IS MORE OF THE TESTIMONY being sent to the state Public Utilities Commission regarding the proposed refinery between Pahala and Wood Valley and the proposed biofuel farm between Pahala and Na`alehu.

DR. PHILIP I. MCNAMEE supports the biodiesel contract and the biofuel surcharge. Practice director of the Pacific In Vitro Fertilization Institute in Honolulu, McNamee wrote that Hawai`i’s dependence on foreign oil for creation of electricity “is very expensive and environmentally objectionable.” He claimed the project will add jobs and reduce air pollution.

Kala Kaluna

KALA KALUNA, of Pahala, said she doesn’t want her children growing up in a refinery town. She opposed the project. 

PRESIDENT AND CEO of the Hawai`i Chamber of Commerce Jim Tollefson wrote testimony recommending investments in renewable and alternative energy. Without referring to `Aina Koa Pono’s biofuel plans in Ka`u, HELCO and HECO’s proposed biodiesel supply contract, or HELCO’s proposed surcharge, Tollefson said “support for alternate forms of energy will create hundreds of new jobs as local businesses respond to the locally driven demand to migrate to innovative new ways of generating and distributing power.” He also added that renewable energy would expand businesses, thus increasing tax bases, revenues, and the economy. Anyone with questions or comments for Tollefson may call 545-4300.

SOPHIA HANOA testified at the Hilo hearing on the biofuel project that she objected to `Aina Koa Pono using a Hawaiian name that means “Good for the Land.” She said the company owners must have thought it would be an “easy sell” to take a Hawaiian name, but that these words have deep meaning to the native Hawaiian community and she refuses to use the name Good for the Land – `Aina Koa Pono. She said she opposed the proposal to take up pasture and other ag land with biofuel crops and building a refinery near Pahala. 

The transition from sugar fields to coffee plantations will
be celebrated at Ka`u Plantation Days next Saturday.

KA`U PLANTATION DAYS is gearing up for next Saturday, Aug. 20 at Pahala Plantation House, and the annual Ka`u High School Reunion will be held on Sunday, Aug. 21 at Pahala Community Center. Plantation Days starts at 9 a.m. and will feature a cane truck driving through Pahala just like the old days. Representatives of the union and many cultural groups will present historic displays. One display features old photos of houses, and residents can come and find their home. Also planned are ethnic foods, music and dance from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

A SIGN WAVING EVENT to raise awareness of suicide prevention is being planned for Ka`u in early September. Charmaine Alameda, of the Hawai`i Family Guidance Center, is asking interested residents to call her at 933-0607.

Ka`u News Briefs August 12, 2011

Lands between Pahala and Na`alehu would be cleared and plowed to make a biofuel farm with large combine machines harvesting the grasses.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE HAWAI`I COUNTY ADMINISTRATION is monitoring the country’s economic situation, given the turmoil in financial markets, said County deputy finance director Deanna Sako. In a Stephens Media article by Nancy Cook Lauer, Sako said that changes in interest rates will not affect the county as its $360 million bond debt is at a fixed interest rate. 

     Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has announced that the Fed will keep rates at “exceptionally low levels” for at least two years, further assuaging fears of a rate hike. Bernanke’s announcement came after the country’s credit rating was lowered from AAA to AA+, contributing to a week of market downturns.
     Chairwoman of the County Council Finance Committee, Brenda Ford, however, said the county should have been more conservative in its budget, and should have refrained from deferring $21.1 million in prepaid health cost payments. Ford also said that the county may have to lay off employees to cut expenses next year if the economy does not improve. Mayor Billy Kenoi did retain furloughs this fiscal year, but only once a month for Hawai`i Government Employees Association workers to save the county over $2 million each year in the next two years. This money will help pay for employee insurance, emergencies and deficit reduction next year. 

SPACENET, a Virginia-based Internet service provider, won a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service to provide low-cost, high speed Internet in rural parts of Alaska and Hawai`i, including Ka`u. According to the company’s website, the program, StarBand Open Skies, received $7.5 million from a grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “Since its inception in 2000,” says CEO Andreas Georghiou, “the StarBand product line has focused on providing high-speed Internet service to the most rural areas without access to alternative options.... I can speak for the entire organization when I say we are immensely proud to be part of this endeavor.” 

HERE IS MORE ON THE `AINA KOA PONO and Hawaiian Electric proposal for a refinery near Pahala and an electric rate hike to pay for it.

JEFFREY T. ONO, Executive Director of the Hawai`i State Division of Consumer Advocacy, reiterated his call at the recent Honolulu hearing, asking for people to send the Consumer Advocate their questions, comments, and suggestions regarding HECO and HELCO’s request for the approval of the biodiesel supply contract with `Aina Koa Pono and a surcharge for Big Island and O`ahu customers of HELCO. “The Consumer Advocate’s role,” he says, “is to represent the interests of all Hawai`i consumers of public utility services by advocating for reliable utility services at reasonable customer costs.” Ono said that the Consumer Advocate will make its own analysis on the proposed contract and surcharge and their effects on customers’ bills.

JOHN FELDMAN, president and CEO of Tori Richard, Ltd., testified to the Public Utilities Commission in support of the HELCO/AKP biodiesel supply contract and the biofuel surcharge provision. Feldman’s company employs 140 people. By the end of this year, it will have invested $2 million of its own money in photovoltaic net metering, feed-in tariffs and demand mitigation. He testified that the `Aina Koa Pono contract “is an essential step toward energy independence.... As both commercial and private ratepayers, we support the Biofuel Surcharge Provision as it helps further diversify Hawai`i’s energy sources away from imported oil.” 

UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS fell over nine percent for the first week of August, said the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Maui saw the largest drop, 29 percent, with O`ahu and Kauai both down five percent. The Big Island saw the smallest decrease at three percent.

MEMBERS OF THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN steering committee will host an informational table at the Ocean View swap meet tomorrow. The swap meet is held at Pohue Plaza from 7 a.m. to noon.

THE LAVA LOUNGE AT KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park is the site of a Portuguese Soup Contest tomorrow. Judging is at 3 p.m. For more information, call Peter Walburn at 960-5155.