Ka`u News Briefs April 20, 2012

Miss Aloha Hawai`i Brandy Shibuya, shown here accompanied by Keoki Kahumoku at Ka`u Coffee Mill blessing, performs at the Specialty Coffee Association of America convention in Portland, Oregon today.
Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

HAWAI`I’S SOLAR TAX CREDIT has been extremely effective at making Hawai`i a leader in both solar water heating and photovoltaic systems, according to a report from Blue Planet Foundation. It claims that the credit creates local jobs, brings about business growth and provides revenue to the state. “These renewable energy projects help plug the leak of billions of dollars that leave the state every year to import oil,” the report says. 

      It says that every dollar the state provides in a photovoltaic tax credit turns into $44 that circulates into Hawai`i’s economy, and that the returns continue to pay off for 30 years.

Graph from Blue Planet Foundation

      “Positive impact starts with the benefit of generating energy locally, rather than sending money out of the state to pay for imported oil,” the report says.
      Changes to Hawai`i’s solar tax credit are being considered at the state Legislature. The lastest version of HB2417 calls for an annual reduction of the tax credit from 35 percent to 20 percent by 2015. For more, see capitol.hawaii.gov.

MISS ALOHA HAWAI`I Brandy Shibuya landed in Portland, Oregon and is supporting a host of Big Island coffee farmers who have come here to promote some of the top-rated coffees in the world. Shibuya was named Miss Ka`u Coffee last year and is Miss Aloha Hawai`i this year. She said she is here to promote the Hawaiian culture and the hardworking farmers that have brought their coffee to the international stage. Shibuya planned to dance hula at the convention today, and tweets went out from the Specialty Coffee Association of America notifying many of the 10,000 conferees at the convention about her performance. Also attending from the Big Island are Kona Coffee farmers and Ka`u Coffee farmers whose coffee placed in the top ten in the world in the annual Roasters Choice.
      Willie Tabios, whose coffee has placed for the third time in the top ten in the world, said that he is proud to be a farmer in Ka`u. “I take pride in my work and in bringing Ka`u up to the quality that is making it famous,” he said, stressing that his win - as the highest rated in Ka`u - is a win for all of Ka`u and all of the farmers.

Next month's Big Island Film Festival includes a film
featuring Ocean View resident Dick Hershberger.
Photo from Big Island Film Festival

BIG ISLAND FILM FESTIVAL will feature Dick Hershberger, of Ocean View, in a short film entitled Dancing Freak. The organization said Hershberger, his wife Arlen and daughter Eden have “been a part of the family since day one.” 

     The seventh annual film festival is set for May 24 to 28, with free family films at The Shops at Mauna Lani, daytime movies and nightly double features at The Fairmont Orchid and more. Fifty-seven films from around the world will be showcased, including nine from Hawai`i, four of which are from the Big Island. Along with feature-length narrative and short films, the festival will spotlight two documentary films for the first time: Aunty Nona Beamer – Malama Ko Aloha (Keep Your Love) and Family of the Wa`a.
      For more, visit bigislandfilmfestival.com.

ALL OF THE CANDIDATES for County Council District 6 and Prosecuting Attorney are scheduled to meet the public today from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center. Candidates for the Council seat are Marie Burns, Maile David, Brenda Ford, Lee McIntosh and Bradley Westervelt. Candidates for Prosecuting Attorney are Lincoln Ashida, Paul Dolan and Mitch Roth. For more information, call 929-7236 or email marge@hawaii.rr.com.

Ron Serrao cooking at last October's
Mongolian BBQ. Photo by Julia Neal

OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION holds the first of regular barbecues on the third Saturday of each month tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The barbecues replace previously held monthly pancake breakfasts. This fundraising Grand Re-opening and BBQ Open House celebrates recent improvements to the building. Call 939-7033 for more information.

FOURTEEN WOK MASTERS cook up patrons’ choices of veggies, beef, pork, tofu, and fresh fish at Cooper Center’s Mongolian BBQ tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The cost is 75 cents per ounce, with funds raised going to Cooper Center. 

TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL PARK WEEK, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park waives entrance fees beginning tomorrow and continuing through Sunday, April 29. This year’s theme, Picture Yourself in a National Park, encourages visitors to share photos or videos of themselves, their families and friends exploring and enjoying the park during National Park Week on the park’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hawaiivolcanoes.com.

KUMU HULA MICHAEL PANG’S Halau Hula Ka No`eau performs at the hula platform near Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park tomorrow from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Hands-on cultural demonstrations take place from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at on the gallery’s porch. Donations are welcome.

Ab Valencia directing members of his halau. Photo by Dave Boyle

KUMU HULA Ab Kawainohoikala`i Valencia and botanist Tim Tunison team up for a cultural and scientific exploration of Plants Of Hula, or Na Mea Kanu O Ke Hula, on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants learn about kino lau, manifestations of Hawaiian deities in plant form, the significance of plants used for the hula altar and adornments, and cultural protocols used when picking plants and walking among native species in their natural environment. The day ends with a hands-on lesson in native plant propagation and plant seedlings to take home. The fee is $60 for members of Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and $85 for non-members. Students in grades K-12 and college, with valid student ID, are half-price. Non-members are welcome to join Friends to get the member discount. Contact 985-7373 or www.fhvnp.org. 

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

Ka`u News Briefs April 19, 2012

Mayor Kenoi talked story in Na`alehu last month about the county budget, which is currently being scrutinized by Hawai`i County Council. Photo by Julia Neal

MAYOR BILLY KENOI’S $365.3 million county budget is being scrutinized by Hawai`i County Council. The budget is based on a projected decrease in property taxes of $8.8 million and keeps property tax rates the same. Issues of contention include deferral of advance payments on retiree health care and the number of employee positions that need to be cut. Finance Committee reviews continue today and Friday. Updated tax revenue information is due this week, with an amended budget to follow next month before going into effect July 1. 

Sen. Gil Kahele
Photo by Julia Neal

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE is releasing Capital Improvement Project funding for Ka`u. Funding includes $500,000 for plans and design for improvements to Ka`u Irrigation System, including renovation of the existing water tunnel system. Ka`u Hospital receives $284,000 for installation of solar-powered parking lot lights, replacement of hospital doors, renovation of entrance ramps and installation of a wireless repeater for advanced communications.

      Projects in the Waimea area are also receiving funding. “There are people who are under-employed and unemployed in the trades industry on Hawai`i Island, and these capital improvement projects will provide jobs that they so urgently need,” said Sen. Gil Kahele.

APRILLE ROSE CARIAGA, of Ka`u High School, has received a Citizenship Award in recognition of her service to school and community. The Citizenship Award, which marked its eighth year, is a collaboration between the Hawai`i Lodging & Tourism Association, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and Department of Education.

Aprille Rose Cariaga (center) of Ka`u High has received
a Citizenship Award. Photo from Hawai`i
Lodging & Tourism Association

      Forty-two seniors, one from every public high school in Hawai`i, received Citizenship Awards at a luncheon on April 15 at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. Cariaga’s award was sponsored by the University of Hawai`i’s School of Travel Industry Management.
      A $1,000 scholarship was awarded to each senior. The awards honor young people “who have contributed to making Hawai`i a better place and who best exemplify the Department of Education’s vision of a model public high school graduate who, among other things, exercises the rights and responsibilities of citizenship,” according to a statement from Hawai`i Lodging & Tourism Association president Mufi Hannemann.

Lee Segawa

REPRESENTATIVES OF KA`U COFFEE have arrived in Portland, Oregon for the Specialty Coffee Association of America convention. Three Coffee of the Year awards went to Ka`u Coffees. Miller and chief roaster Lee Segawa has been at Ka`u Coffee Mill since its inception. He began with the planting and has seen the farm grow to become a lush orchard of coffee interspersed with taro, tea, bananas and other edible crops, surrounded by macadamia orchards. 

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED to meet County Council District 6 and Prosecuting Attorney candidates tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center. Candidates for the Council seat are Marie Burns, Maile David, Brenda Ford, Lee McIntosh and Bradley Westervelt. Candidates for Prosecuting Attorney are Lincoln Ashida, Paul Dolan and Mitch Roth. For more information, call 929-7236 or email marge@hawaii.rr.com.

OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION holds the first of regular barbecues on the third Saturday of each month this Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The barbecues replace previously held monthly pancake breakfasts. This fundraising Grand Re-opening BBQ and Open House celebrates recent improvements to the building. Call 939-7033 for more information.

THE MONGOLIAN BBQ at Cooper Center on Saturday evening promises great food, entertainment and fun. Along with veggies, beef, pork and tofu, this time the menu includes fresh fish. The cost is 75 cents per ounce, with funds raised going to Cooper Center. Visit thecoopercenter.org.

Halema`uma`u Photo by Jay Robinson, HVNP

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK waives entrance fees beginning Saturday and continuing through Sunday, April 29 in celebration of National Park Week. This year’s theme, Picture Yourself in a National Park, encourages visitors to share photos or videos of themselves, their families and friends exploring and enjoying the park during National Park Week on the park’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hawaiivolcanoes.com.

HALAU HULA KA NOEAU, with kumu hula Michael Pang, performs at the hula platform near Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Hands-on cultural demonstrations take place from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the gallery’s porch. Donations are welcome.

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

Ka`u News Briefs April 18, 2012

Mayor Billy Kenoi visited Kawa Bay yesterday. Photo by Julia Neal

KA`U COFFEE IS BEING SOLD AS KONA, according to a rumor reported in the Hawai`i Tribune Herald this morning. The issue has come up as legislators debate whether to allow self-regulation of coffee quality and origin. House Bill 280, supported in concept by the state Department of Agriculture, is opposed by the 300-member Kona Coffee Council, which is claiming that Ka`u farmers are selling to Kona and allowing their beans to be sold as Kona coffee.

Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative president Gloria Camba.
at right, urges Ka`u farmers to sell under the Ka`u brand
rather than Kona. Photo by Julia Neal

      The farmers group also testified that the quality of coffee, which keeps its price high enough to make a living on the Big Island, will diminish. They claim that the large coffee farms with mechanical harvesting and lower quality support “self-inspection.” A Senate-House conference committee is expected to discuss the issue soon. Testimony can be submitted at www.hawaii.capitol.gov.
       Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative president Gloria Camba urges Ka`u farmers to stick by their brand. Sales have soared and supply is short. “There is no reason to be selling under the Kona brand,” she said.

KAWA BAY was the destination of Mayor Billy Kenoi and staff yesterday when they met with Abel Simeona Lui and supporters. According to a story by Chelsea Jensen in this morning’s Hawai`i Tribune Herald, the mayor said, “We talked story, listened and shared about what is going on at Kawa. This is part of the process toward management and stewardship for the area.” According to the story, the mayor spent about an hour walking with Lui through the property. The story said that Kenoi had never visited Kawa until yesterday.

Lui and Kenoi talked story at Kawa yesterday.
Photo from Big Island Video News

      During his recent talk story meeting in Ka`u, the mayor promised to also consider pleas of other community members who said they are afraid to go to Kawa with Lui and colleagues living there. They mayor said he will look at all sides of the issue and told the talk story group that the county is creating a stewardship plan to include families with ties to the land there.
      The county took title to the property after it was purchased through federal, state and county funding and a discount on the price of the land by the Edmund C. Olson Trust. It is a surfing beach, wildlife habitat with estuaries and a popular fishing and recreational area for Ka`u residents.

Western Pacific bigeye tuna populations, ahi, are declining,
according to ICUN. Photo by Kydd Pollock

AHI SHORTAGES ARE CAUSING HIGHER PRICES, according to an article in Honolulu Star Advertiser this morning. Possible factors the story lists include rough seas, a shift in winds or short-term issues with landings. “It’s too soon to determine whether the shortage is due to a supply or market issue,” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regional administrator Michael Tosatto.
      Another possible supply cause is over-fishing. In November 2009, Honolulu Star Advertiser reported on a possible shortage of ahi for New Year’s. The story quoted environmentalists saying that fishermen were catching so much ahi in the Western Pacific that the population was close to a point where they wouldn’t be able to reproduce fast enough. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List identifies yellowfin and bigeye, the two tuna species known as ahi, as near threatened and vulnerable with decreasing populations, particularly within the Western and Central Pacific. It suggests that as of 2010 bigeye tuna was approaching an overfished state.

Willie Tabios won top in Hawai`i at the 2012 SCAA
Coffees of the Year competition. Photo by Julia Neal

KA`U COFFEE FARMERS AND REPRESENTATIVES left for the Specialty Coffee Association of America this week to celebrate three Coffee of the Year awards won for Ka`u. Willie Tabios ranked highest among the winning U.S. coffees with Rising Sun Coffee, along with Lorie Obra and Rusty’s 100 Percent Hawaiian Ka`u Coffee and Trindad and Francis Marques with Ali`i Hawaiian Hula Hands Coffee. Each of these Ka`u Coffee farmers will be attending the convention this week, joined by last year’s U.S. winner Bull Kailiawa, representatives of Ka`u Coffee Mill, Ka`u Specialty Inc., and Chris Manfredi of Ka`u Farm & Ranch Co., who represents the owners of the land where the coffee is grown and brokered the deal to sell Ka`u Coffee to Starbucks.

MUSICIANS WHO FREQUENT KA`U with performances, classes and music workshops have been nominated for Na Hoku Hanohano awards. Dennis Kamakahi, along with collaborator Stephen Inglis, are up for Group of the Year with their recording, Waimaka Helelei, dedicated to Bernard Punikai`a and the people of Kalaupapa. Kamakahi recently announced that he plans to move to Ka`u, where his wife grew up. He said he longs for the peaceful lifestyle of Ka`u and plans to teach and set up a recording studio here.

      George Kahumoku, Jr. is nominated for Slack Key Album of the Year with Wao Akua: The Forest of the Gods. The album was also nominated for a Grammy Award in the Regional Roots category. It is aimed at instilling “a sense of peace, harmony, and lokahi (unity), found within the Wao Akua, the Forest of the Gods,” he said.
      Winners will be announced Sunday, May 27.

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK seek volunteers to plant native seedlings at Mauna Loa strip to help regenerate the forest. Their forest restoration project takes place Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. To register, call 985-7373 or email forest@fhvnp.org.

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED to meet County Council District 6 and Prosecuting Attorney candidates on Friday, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Ocean View Community Center. Candidates for the Council seat are Marie Burns, Maile David, Brenda Ford, Lee McIntosh and Bradley Westervelt. Candidates for Prosecuting Attorney are Lincoln Ashida, Paul Dolan and Mitch Roth. For more information, call 929-7236 or email marge@hawaii.rr.com.

THE FIRST OF REGULAR BARBEQUES on the third Saturday of each month is scheduled at Ocean View Community Association Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. This fundraising Grand Re-opening BBQ and Open House replaces previously held monthly pancake breakfasts. Call 939-7033 for more information.

Visit our sponsors at www.pahalaplantationcottages.com and www.kaucoffeemill.com.