Ka`u News Briefs April 8, 2012

Volcanologist Don Swanson presents his Big Island research Tuesday at After Dark in the Park. Photo from Geo M I

ON-THE-JOB TRAINING could be the way to fill vacant teaching jobs and build a teacher corps for Hawai`i schools, particularly in such remote places as Ka`u. Both University of Hawai`i and Teach America are planning to provide more teachers throughout the statewide school system this fall. The program, funded by more than $2 million from the federal Race to the Top Initiative, allows educators to earn their Hawai`i teaching credentials through working in the schools.
      Another incentive under consideration would waive course requirements for longtime private school teachers who want to move into the public school system. According to a story in this morning’s Honolulu Star Advertiser, this plan could be approved by the state school board this fall. Reporter Mary Vorsino wrote that Teach for America will provide Hawai`i schools with about 100 unlicensed teachers this fall, and University of Hawai`i will provide about 80. Many are recent college graduates, but some are mid-career professionals seeking to move into teaching, the story says.

Donald Ikeda Photo from
Big Island Video News

Gil Kahele Photo
by Julia Neal

DONALD IKEDA CHALLENGES GIL KAHELE in the race for the newly created District 1 seat in the state Senate. Ikeda, a four-time County Council member, is restricted from running for Council again under term limitations. He was first elected to public office in 2004 and has served as the South Hilo councilman for four consecutive terms. He also served as county clerk and as an administrative assistant with the County Council. The Kaumana resident grew up in Hilo, earned a degree in accounting from University of California and returned to start a business in Hilo. Ikeda is considered a member of the minority in the Council, which includes J Yoshimoto and Dennis “Fresh” Onishi.
       Kahele currently serves Ka`u as state senator, but the recent reapportionment puts his Hilo residence in the District 1. Ka`u will be divided. District 2 which runs from Punalu`u into Puna, is sought by Rep. Bob Herkes, Wendell Ka`ehu`ae`a, Russell Ruderman, Gary Safarik and Steve Hirakami. Herke’s House seat is sought by current Ka`u Council member Brittany Smart, Marlene Hapai and Fred Fogel.
      Ka`u’s District 3, running from Honu`apo to Kona airport, is sought by incumbent senator Josh Green, a physician who worked at Ka`u Hospital and lived at Punalu`u during his early years on the island. Others running for the seat are Michael Last and John Totten.

Volcano Farmers Market promotes a farm-to-table
lifestyle. Photo by Julia Neal

FARMERS MARKETS can apply for new grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The 2012 Farmers Market Promotion Program is offering a total of $10 million nationwide to popularize community-supported agriculture, roadside stands, farmers markets and similar operations. The grants aim to increase the availability of local agricultural products in communities throughout the country and with farmer-to-consumer marketing efforts.
      “These grants will put resources into rural and urban economies and help strengthen efforts to provide access to nutritious and affordable foods,” said Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan. “This program not only supports the health and well-being of local communities but also the economic health of their farms and businesses.”
      Projects that expand healthy food choices in what are called “food deserts” or low-income areas (where the percentage of the population living in poverty is 20 percent or above) will receive additional consideration.
      See the application and rules to apply at www.ams.usda.gov/FMPP. Applications are due May 21.

Brad Hirata has been a judge at Ka`u Coffee Festival Recipe
Contest each year since it began. Photo by Julia Neal 

CHEF BRAD HIRATA will be a judge at the Ka`u Coffee Festival’s recipe contest. Hirata, once a chef at the Mauna Lani Hotel on the Kohala Coast, now runs the food service for Ka`u Hospital and lives in Volcano. He has been a judge for the Ka`u Coffee Recipe Contest since its inception. This year the recipe contest is sponsored by and will be held at Ka`u Coffee Mill Sunday afternoon, May 6. It is called the Triple C Recipe Contest for Cookies, Candies and Crackers. For an entry form see kaucoffeefest.com or kaucoffeemill.com. The event, which is free to enter and free to attend, also features coffee tasting, music and tours of the mill and farms at its grand opening.

KALAEKILOHANA Bed & Breakfast on South Point Road presents Ka`u Farmers’ Table: A Feast for the Senses on Saturday, May 5. The Ka`u Coffee Festival event features dinner by Chef Morgan Starr of Mi’s Italian Bistro and an evening of music with Robert Cazimero. Tickets are $100 and call be purchased by calling 939-8052.

KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN’S Steering Committee meets on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Planner Ron Whitmore will give a project update. Contact him at 961-8137 or rwhitmore@co.hawaii.hi.us.

DON SWANSON, A GEOLOGIST with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, is the speaker at After Dark in the Park this Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Swanson explains how Kilauea’s eruptive cycles were recently recognized, what they mean in terms of how the volcano works and hazards implied by long explosive periods. Two-dollar donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs April 7, 2012

The first internship program, shown here in 2010, has grown to accommodate 52 students this year at
Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Photo from NPS

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK’S SCHOOL INTERNSHIP program began with Ka`u High and is growing to serve 52 students this summer from late May into August. The training started three years ago after visiting professor Joan Rubin and The Ka`u Calendar’s editor Julia Neal got together with Ka`u High School principal Sharon Beck and Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park staff. They said the National Park and other natural resource conservation and wilderness activities organizations are a growing economic engine in Ka`u - a source of employment for youth and an inspiration for higher education in many fields, from geology and biology to ecotourism design and management, from trail building to accounting and customer service.

Students represent the park in their uniforms during
Na`alehu's Fourth of July parade. Photo by Julia Neal

      The committee successfully wrote a $60,000 grant, and Edmund Olson offered up classroom space in the Olson Trust Building in Pahala and a van to transport students. National Park staff led by ranger Kupono McDaniel provided training along with help from such organizations as The Nature Conservancy. A number of youth landed uniforms. Not only did they learn about the natural history and resources of their homeland, they learned to teach it to others and found that visitors really appreciate the knowledge coming from the locals.
      Ka`u High School graduate Moses Espaniola III took the training and landed a job in the park, which he continues as he attends college in Hilo. He said that after learning about the unique qualities of Ka`u that are famous worldwide, local students witness the visitors being amazed by the volcano, the forest, the wildlife and the ocean here. Espaniola said it makes the kids proud to be from Ka`u. Another Ka`u High School graduate, Jorge Zamudio, became an intern, landed a job in the park, and the hospitality training led him to a position with a resort.

Moses Espaniola III started as an intern
and landed a job at the National Park.

      The $60,000 grant has grown this year to $320,000, and the training will include students from communities on the other side of the National Park – from high schools in Puna and the community college in Hilo. Olson Trust is contributing transportation again, and professor Rubin said she is proud to see a program that started in Ka`u help so many other people. Ranger McDaniel said he thanks the Ka`u community for getting it started.

NEW STATE SENATE AND HOUSE of Representatives district boundary lines are subject to a suit filed yesterday in Honolulu. Plaintiffs want the reapportionment commission to include non-resident military, out-of-state college students and other non-residents in the population count which would give more representation to O`ahu. The state Supreme Court, earlier this year, ordered non-residents removed from the population count to give fair representation to those who live here, particularly on the Big Island, where population grew more than elsewhere in the state. The court decision gave Hawai`i County an additional seat in the state Senate. The new suit threatens the timeliness of campaigning for the Aug. 11 primary election, as candidates are off and running with the deadline to sign up on June 5.

Wendell Ka`ehu`ae`a

WENDELL KA`EHU`AE`A, founder of KAHU, the community radio station in Ka`u, announced yesterday he will run for state Senate in District 2. Ka`ehu`ae`a said he wants to protect public radio and TV, which are losing channels to commercial stations. He said that his own experience covering community affairs for Na Leo O Hawai`i Community Access Television on the Big Island and at KAHU radio in Ka`u has given him a unique understanding of community issues and needs. Ka`ehu`ae`a, a Navy veteran, said that after his radio program this morning, he would be off the air until after the election. Ka`ehu`ae`a takes on veteran legislator Bob Herkes, an incumbent state House of Representatives member, who announced he will run for the Senate seat. Other candidates are Hawai`i Natural Foods president Russell Ruderman, former County Councilman Gary Safarik and school administrator Steve Hirakami. 

THE STATE LAND USE COMMISSION is looking for a new executive director. Dan Davidson retires May 1. The LUC is in charge of deciding land use classifications as Urban, Rural Agriculture or Conservation, and changes in these classifications must go before the LUC before local zoning changes can be made.

Map shows land use classifications in Ka`u.

      The LUC also has a new nomination for the commission itself. Ralph S. Inouye, a general contractor based on O`ahu, has been nominated by Gov. Neil Abercrombie. His website says his company was founded in 1962, and “for decades we have played an integral role in the growth and development of Hawai`i, having worked on a diverse range of commercial building, renovation and engineering projects for federal, state and city agencies, and many prestigious private entities.” The company can handle projects valued at more than $100 million. Among its completions are Shriners’ Hospital, shopping centers, apartment buildings and U.H. School of Architecture.

KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN’S Steering Committee meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Planner Ron Whitmore said the sole business item is a CDP project update and that the draft CDP is still in progress and not on the agenda for discussion. “Initial drafts of several parts of the Natural and Cultural Resources section of the CDP have been completed, but more work remains before that section is complete,” Whitmore said. For more information, call Whitmore at 961-8137.

NA`ALEHU ASSEMBLY OF GOD hosts an Easter Sunrise Service at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow. Call 929-7278 for more information. 

OCEAN VIEW EVANGELICAL COMMUNITY CHURCH presents The King is Coming, a free musical drama, tomorrow at 10 a.m. Call 939-9089 for more information.

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP celebrates Easter with brunch from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Starting at 9 a.m. KMC, in partnership with Rotary Club of Volcano, hosts an Easter Egg Hunt for keiki 10 years old and younger in KMC’s Ohia Room. To pre-register call 967-8352. Tomorrow evening, KMC offers an Easter dinner special from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Crater Rim Café. For more, call 967-8366.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs April 6, 2012

ML Macadamia's Pahala husking plant on Olson Trust lands. Photo by Julia Neal

ML MACADAMIA ORCHARDS, LP, with offices in Pahala and Kea`au, plans to change its name to Royal Hawaiian Orchards to expand its husking plant in Pahala and possibly build its own processing plant to make macadamia nut products here. ML, with its 5,000 acres of macadamia trees, currently operates the husking plant between Pahala and Hwy 11 on Olson Trust land. ML says it is the largest macadamia nut grower in the world. According a story in the Honolulu Star Advertiser, if it raises the money ML may invest $10 to $12 million in a processing plant, and $1.5 million to $2 million for drying and storage facilities as well as improve the husking plant. ML would invest in existing orchards to increase yield and seek mature orchards to add to its inventory. ML would spend $5 million to $7 to develop the Royal Hawaiian Orchards brand name, a variety of products and new packaging, wholesaling and retailing. 

ML Macadamia, with offices in Pahala and Kea`au, is
planning its own mac nut brand. Photo by Julia Neal

      “ML plans to rely on existing investors in the company to finance an ambitious plan,” says the story by Honolulu Star Advertiser reporter Andrew Gomes. He writes that ML has registered to sell partnership units to existing owners to generate up to $20 million to finance the expansion. The effort could double the market value of the company, the story predicts.

      If it raises the money to roll out its own brand, ML Macadamia would stop selling raw nuts to Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp., as its contracts expire, and use its own nuts to process and sell under its new name, Royal Hawaiian Orchards.
      The new executive vice president of sales and marketing is Scott Wallace, a former president and CEO of Mauna Loa. He also ran a fresh fruit company called Fruit Patch.

KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE meeting is open to the public on Tuesday, April 10 at 5:30 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Hawai`i County long -range planner Ron Whitmore says the purpose of the meeting is solely to give a project update. “The draft CDP is still in progress and is not on the agenda for discussion,” said Whitmore. He added that once the draft is complete there will be several publicized opportunities to discuss it.
      Whitmore gave an update on the following Ka`u planning matters not on the agenda for the CDP meeting:

Kawa is the subject of a county stewardship and not on the agenda for
the CDP meeting Tuesday. Photo by Julia Neal

      Kawa Stewardship Plan. The Mayor’s office is working with local families and community members to draft a stewardship plan for the land purchased for the public at Kawa.
      Kawa Drainage Environmental Assessment. The comment period has closed for the Draft Environmental Assessment for the proposed raising of Hwy 11 at Kawa by the state Department of Transportation to prevent road flooding. The Draft EA is available at http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov.
      Pahala Emergency Shelter & Gym is being planned by the county. The comment period for the Draft Environmental Assessment closed in March. The Draft EA is available at http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov.
      Ka`u Forest Reserve Environmental Assessment for the management plan for the state Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife is underway by Ron Terry of Geometrician Associates (969-7090, geometricianassociates.com). Terry invites public comment on the Ka`u Forest Reserve Management Plan that is under development.
      Kahuku Village/Nani Kahuku `Aina proposed private development. Comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement closed in November 2011. The Draft EIS is available at http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov.
      For more visit www.kaucdp.info or call Whitmore at 961-8137.

Tunnel work to restore water above Pahala for
irrigation. Photo courtesy of Olson Trust

THE KA`U AGRICULTURAL WATER COOPERATIVE DISTRICT committee will hold its next meeting Thursday, April 12 at Pahala Community Center at 4 p.m. Steering committee member Jeff McCall said that, after Mayor Billy Kenoi’s talk story meeting in Na`alehu, the group was asked to work with Dayday Hopkins of the Hawai`i County Research & Development agency to meet and discuss ag water in Ka’u. Representatives of the state Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Development Corp., Department of Land & Natural Resources, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, Kamehameha Schools, USDA Rural Development and county Department of Water Supply are invited. 

      Scott Enright, deputy director of Department of Agriculture, and Jimmy Nakatani, executive director of Agribusiness Development Corp., came to Ka`u recently to visit irrigation facilities and receive updates. Enright said $500,000 released by the governor to the state Department of Agriculture is for planning the revitalization of the old plantation water system in Ka`u. Each region is being asked to prioritize projects for their areas.

A HEALTH FAIR TOMORROW is open to everyone at Miloli`i Halau. It is sponsored by University of Hawai`i-Hilo pharmacy students who belong to Gamma Theta Chapter of Phi Delta Chi Professional Pharmacy Fraternity. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the public can receive cholesterol and diabetes screenings, blood pressure monitoring and health education while enjoying live entertainment, raffle prizes, children’s activities and free lunch.

EASTER SUNDAY brings several events to Ka`u.

IN NA`ALEHU, Assembly of God hosts an Easter Sunrise Service at 6:30 a.m. Call 929-7278 for more.

The King is Coming to Ocean View.

IN OCEAN VIEW, The King is Coming, a free musical drama, is offered at 10 a.m. by Ocean View Evangelical Community Church. Call 939-9089 for more.

IN VOLCANO, Kilauea Military Camp offers three events. From 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Crater Rim Café guests can feast on glazed ham, beef pot roast, omelets, breakfast meats, potatoes, fresh baked goods and desserts. The Easter Brunch is $17 for adults and $8.50 for keiki 6-11 years old. Starting at 9 a.m. KMC, in partnership with Rotary Club of Volcano, hosts an Easter Egg Hunt for keiki 10 years old and younger in KMC’s Ohia Room. To pre-register call 967-8352. That evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., KMC offers an Easter Dinner Special in the Crater Rim Café. For more, call 967-8366.

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES National Park offers a Sunday Walk in the Park from noon to 2 p.m. Nick Shema leads the two-part, two-mile roundtrip walk. It starts at Kilauea Visitor Center and explores Sulphur Banks Trail and Crater Rim Trail. The second part starts at Kipukapua`ulu (Bird Park) for a loop trail in a species-rich, ancient, mesic forest. Free to Friends members; non-members are welcome to join in order to attend. For more call 985-7373, email admin@fhvnp.org or visit fhvnp.org. Park entrance fees apply to all KMC and Friends activities mentioned.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.