Ka`u News Briefs May 7, 2012

Aia Ke Ola i Malama Wao Kele o Ka`u - Life is in Caring for the Wilderness of Ka`u - is the new Kathleen Kam mural
unveiled at the grand opening of the Ka`u Coffee Mill yesterday, which has set hours for its visitor center from 8 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Photo by Julia Neal

THE STATE’S HAWAI`I OCEAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN goes to public meetings this month in Hilo and Kona. The plan directs the state’s Coastal Zone Management Program, adopted in 1994 and updated in 1998 and 2006. The plan covers shoreline and ocean resource protection, management and economic development. It not only involves keeping water clean and protection of endangered species and cultural sites, but also recreational use of the shoreline as well as coastal development.

      The responsible entity is the state Office of Planning’s Coastal Zone Management Program, which is taking public input with a 5:30 p.m. open house and 6:30 p.m. presentation on Wednesday, May 16 at West Hawai`i Civic Center and Thursday, May 17 at Hilo High School cafeteria. While no meetings are planned in Ka`u, residents from this part of the island are invited to give their input in person or by mail and online. Ka`u has the longest uninhabited coastline in Hawai`i, and planners say they are looking for increased community and government agency collaboration. For more see www.state.hi.us/dbedt/czm/ormp/ormp.php. Email ORMP_Update@dbedt.hawaii.gov. Send hard copies to Office of Planning, Coastal Zone Management Program, PO Box 2359, Honolulu, HI 96804. For more information, call 808-587-2846.

Carl Okuyama, of Island Market and Wiki-Wiki Mart in
Na`alehu, judges Cookies, Candies and Crackers in the
Triple C Recipe Contest during the first weekend of the
Ka`u Coffee Festival. Photo by Rachael Sauerman

HISTORIC PRESERVATION efforts by the state of Hawai`i are underfunded and could lose another big chunk of money if the state Office of Historic Preservation fails to retain its federal certification, a story in the Honolulu Star Advertiser reports this morning. Hawai`i could become the first state to lose its certification, says University of Hawai`i-Hilo professor of archaeology Peter Mills, and that would lead to a pullback in federal funding. 

       The story by Rob Perez says the federal government put the agency on a high risk status, pointing to lack of state funding and sufficient staff to do the job, failure to produce an adequate, searchable data base on historic and cultural sites, and failure to update the statewide historic preservation plan.

       The agency has unfilled positions for lead archaeologist on this island, Maui and O`ahu; three deputy archaeologists; a specialist on geographic information systems; and three other workers. The shortages have led to backlogs in reviewing proposed development plans and lack of an overall state plan to protect resources into the future. 

      According to the Honolulu Star Advertiser report, state Department of Land and Natural Resources chair William Aila, whose agency oversees the State Historic Preservation Division, said the DLNR plans to fill the positions and work toward federal requirements by next February, when the federal government plans to review progress in preserving historic sites in Hawai`i.
      Ka`u, with its vast open landscape, larger than any of the other islands and lacking intensive agriculture or development on its coastal lands, is considered to have the most number of archaeological and cultural sites in the state, with most of them unprotected.

EXEMPTION FROM COUNTY oversight for State of Hawai`i construction and development projects failed to pass the 2012 Legislature, which came to an end last week. Touted as an economic stimulus to fast-track and provide jobs for the construction industry, the initiative was met with opposition by agencies and community groups with long-term environmental, health and historic preservation concerns. 

CREATING A STATE BANK OF HAWAI`I also failed to make it through this year’s Legislature. The idea, based on the state bank of North Dakota formed in 1919 by farmers to help them with agricultural and home financing, was considered a threat to private institutions. The state bank legislation was co-introduced by Ka`u’s state Rep. Bob Herkes. Herkes joined four other state House of Representatives members to introduce House Bill 2103 to establish the state bank. Herkes said that the mission is to work with other banks, not against them. Its profits in North Dakota help fund the state budget and guarantee student loans.

      Herkes supported the idea particularly to help people who are facing foreclosure. The state bank would offer lower interest rates and monthly payments than original mortgages. He proposed the state bank purchasing troubled loans from Bank of America and other mortgage holders, whom Herkes claims conducted unfair mortgage practices.

Ka`u music ambassadors Kona Bob Stouffer, Keoki Kahumoku and students Derek Valez, Alysha Gustaffson-Sciivella,
Jamal Buyuon, Trevor Taylor, Altthea Ramones, Gabriel Santos and Kun Mongkya.

WAIKOLOA BOWL was the stage for Ka`u students on Saturday who performed for a huge audience during the annual hula and cultural celebration that attracts halau and Hawaiian musicians from around the world. They were led by Keoki Kahumoku with the help of Kona Bob Stouffer. The Ka`u students performing were Derek Valez, Alysha Gustaffson-Sciivella, Jamal Buyuon, Trevor Taylor, Altthea Ramones, Gabriel Santos and Kun Mongkya.

Ed Olson congratulates Triple C Recipe Contest Grand
Prize winner Chelsea Lynn Kauionalani Rosario with
a $500 check. Photo by Julia Neal

THIS IS KA`U COFFEE FESTIVAL WEEK, and it began yesterday with the Triple C Recipe Contest for Cookies, Candies & Crackers during the Grand Opening of the Ka`u Coffee Mill on Wood Valley Road. Grand Prize winner, taking home $500, was Chelsea Lynn Kauionalani Rosario, of Ocean View, with her Biscotti, which took first in the Amateur Cracker category. Ka`u Coffee farmer Trinidad Marques, of Pahala, took first in the Professional Cookie competition, using her coffee that ranked in the top ten in the world during the recent Specialty Coffee Association of America competition. The name of her entry? Ka`u Kope Mocha Cookies. First in the Amateur Cookie category with her Ka`u John Bull Cookies was Ka`u Coffee farmer Lisa Dacalio, of Pahala. First in Amateur Candy was Gwen Edwards, of Kona, with her Ka`u Coffee Brigadeiros. 

      Malie Ibarra, of Pahala, won first in the student division with her Ka`u Coffee Toffee. All first place winners took home $150. Second place winners took home $100, and third place winners earned $50.
      Local chef Brad Hirata, of Ka`u Hospital; foodie Carl Okuyama, owner of Wiki-Wiki Mart and Island Market in Na`alehu; and Ka`u Coffee Mill founder Ed Olson served as judges. For more about the Ka`u Coffee Festival, see kaucoffeefest.com.

Ka`u Coffee farmer Trini Marques took first in the
Professional Cookie Competition, flanked by judge
Brat Hirata and Ka`u Coffee Mill manager
John Cross. Photo by Julia Neal

      The grand opening included entertainment with slack key and vocals by Moses and Keoki Kahumoku, cello and guitar by Andy Rising and Stephen Cline, the Ka`u `Ukulele Kids, and Ka`u School of the Arts’ Ka`u `Ohana Band and Ka`u Community Chorus. During the opening, Kathleen Kam’s new mural at Ka`u Coffee Mill was unveiled and named Aia Ke Ola I Malama Wao Kele o Ka`u, which translates to “Life is in Caring for the Wilderness of Ka`u.” The Ka`u Coffee Mill Visitor Center is now open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. View the milling, drying and roasting operations and visit the retail store. See kaucoffeemill.com.

AFTER DARK IN THE PARK tomorrow features UH-Hilo’s vocal ensemble, Kapili Choir, performing an eclectic blend of gospel, early American and contemporary Hawaiian choral arrangements. The concert begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Two-dollar donations support park programs. Park entrance fees apply.

ORAL ABIHAI shares his passion for creating `ukulele from discarded or naturally fallen pieces of wood Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Kilauea Visitor Center’s lanai in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The event is free, and park entrance fees apply.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs May 6, 2012

Kilohana Domingo hosting the Ka`u Coffee Festival dinner last night. Photo by Julia Neal

DEMOCRATS met yesterday to set the Big Island’s party platform. They passed a resolution for the state Democratic Party Convention that asks for the break up of Hawaiian Electric Light Company, noting that electric rates are four times the rates of many places on the mainland. Delegates traveled from Ka`u and all around the island to Honoka`a. Among them were candidate Russell Ruderman, who is running against Rep. Bob Herkes, Steven Hirakama, Gary Safarik and Wendell Ka`ehu`ae`a for state Senate District 2 that includes most of Puna and all of Volcano and Ka`u to Honu`apo.

Senate candidate Russell
 Ruderman

      According to a story in this morning’s Hawai`i Tribune Herald, Ruderman said solar is the best, safest option for alternative energy for this island. “Solar can be put on every school and business with no downside,” Ruderman contended.
      He took issue with recent support for geothermal. The Hawai`i Tribune Herald reported Ruderman saying that “nobody who lives near (Puna Geothermal Venture’s plant) is in favor of” expanding geothermal. Ruderman described residents near the geothermal plant as having “a horrible, horrible experience,” according to the story by John Burnett, who also reported Ruderman claiming that people promoting geothermal are not from Puna, where geothermal was first established.
      The story reports David Gomes describing geothermal as “a one-legged stool,” with expansion possibilities on Mauna Loa and Hualalai, as well as Haleakala on Maui. Brenda Ford, the incumbent County Council woman who is running for the new district that covers South Kona and Ka`u, pointed to solar, wind and wave. “For those who support geothermal, there is geothermal,” the story reports her saying. The delegates voted for a resolution to support geothermal expansion.

Brenda Ford Photo by
Chuck Greene

      Resolutions supporting loosening restrictions on marijuana also passed, including one to repeal prohibition, allowing more medical marijuana plants to be grown at home and pardoning inmates jailed for marijuana.
      Ka`ehu`ae`a, who was also a delegate at the convention, said his media experience in radio and television should help him understand most of the issues in the Senate district, including agriculture in Ka`u and geothermal in Puna.

THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT for the Ka`u shelter and gym has been released, according to a story by Chelsea Jensen in West Hawai`i Today. The approximately 42,000-plus-square-foot facility includes athletic courts, recreation and multipurpose rooms, restrooms, lobby, concession area, storage rooms, a locker and shower room and an athletic training room. Some 26,145 square feet is dedicated NCAA and Hawai`i High School Athletic Association regulation size courts, a recreation room and a multipurpose room, according to the assessment.
      Many areas of the facility, totaling nearly 29,000 square feet, will serve as an emergency and congregate shelter capable of serving a maximum of 1,928 people. According to the story, it will be built to withstand a Category Three hurricane, which has sustained winds between 111 and 130 mph.

Site of the future Ka`u District Gym & Shelter. Photo by Julia Neal

      The story says that, in addition to shelter, some 4,474 square feet, comprising two rooms, will be dedicated as “vog shelter.” A maximum of 317 people would be able to use the rooms, which will have an air filtration system. Only one, capable of holding 192 people, will be air conditioned.
      “This area is intended for the most vulnerable persons sensitive to vog that include: asthmatic persons, respiratory and cardiac compromised individuals (including smokers), children and adolescents, and healthy, but sensitive, individuals,” the assessment says.
      Construction of the $16.9 million project is expected to begin this summer and be complete in 2014.
      The EA may be downloaded beginning Tuesday at the Office of Environmental Quality Control’s website at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html.

THE KA`U COFFEE FESTIVAL kicked off last night with piano and singing by Robert Cazimero at an opening dinner at Kalaekilohana Bed & Breakfast on South Point Road. The many-coursed meal employed fresh local farm produce and featured Ka`u Coffee. Supporters of the success of Ka`u Coffee and press attended after visiting coffee farms at Pear Tree and Moa`ula.

GRAND OPENING OF THE KA`U COFFEE MILL is today at 1 p.m. with the public invited. It features the Triple C Recipe Contest, an official event of the Ka`u Coffee Festival, as well as music from the Ka`u Ohana Band, Ka`u Community Chorus and Moses and Keoki Kahumoku. Mill and farm tours will be offered as the visitor center is officially opened for regular hours. The annual Ka`u Coffee Festival Ho`olaule`a is next Saturday, May 12 at Pahala Community Center, with a long lineup of entertainment, the new Ka`u Coffee Experience, food and coffee tasting and buying.

Kapili Choir performs at After Dark in the Park Tuesday.

KAPILI CHOIR presents a Concert on Kilauea Tuesday at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. UH-Hilo’s vocal ensemble performs an eclectic blend of gospel, early American and contemporary Hawaiian choral arrangements beginning at 7 p.m. Two-dollar donations support park programs. Park entrance fees apply. 

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

Ka`u News Briefs May 5, 2012

Ka`u High School celebrated May Day yesterday. Photo by Julia Neal

THE SUPERMOON rises over Ka`u at 6:46 p.m. tonight. It marks the Earth and the full moon in their closest orbit of the year. The Supermoon is expected to appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the full moon at its farthest distance. 

      The scientific name for Supermoon is the perigee moon, which refers to perigee, the point in the moon’s orbit closest to Earth. The forecast is for clear or partly cloudy skies.

Perigee is the moon closest to the Earth. Apogee is the
moon farthest from the Earth.

      Supermoon will be followed by the Eta Aquarid meteor shower from Halley’s Comet that is peaking tonight and tomorrow. These tiny pieces of comet create shooting stars that are better seen in the southern states, including Hawai`i. They can best be seen in the southern hemisphere. Best viewing time here is just before dawn.

      While the Supermoon looks larger, its appearance is an optical illusion that can be confirmed by holding up a ruler to the moon seen above the horizon, when it looks large. Measure again later when the moon is high up in the sky - when it looks smaller but is actually the same size.

BONDS FOR KA`U HOSPITAL are earmarked by the state budget passed this week by the 2012 Legislature. Hospital renovations will receive $201,000 in funding. Plumbing upgrades will cost $199,000, and an energy audit will cost $75,000. Ka`u Hospital & Rural Health Clinic runs on federal and state money, as well as health insurance payments and a lot of fundraising and volunteerism in the community.

Parking and building height variances for the construction of Ka`u Shelter & Gym have been requested.
Illustration from Mitsunaga & Associates

PARKING AND BUILDING HEIGHT VARIANCES have been requested by the county Department of Parks & Recreation for the construction of the new disaster shelter and gym on property adjacent to Ka`u High & Pahala Elementary School. The parking variance proposal is to allow an undetermined amount of grassy area to remain unpaved for parking around the gym. The height variation allows for a more plantation style roof while providing the height inside the gym for volleyball, basketball and other sports that need high ceilings. PBR Hawai`i, a consulting firm working for the county, recently sent out letters to area residents asking for comments on the proposed variances.

RACE TO THE TOP FUNDING, totaling $75 million for the statewide Department of Education, has been saved, for now, the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday. Spokesmen said however, that Hawai`i will retain a “high risk” status until it comes through with promised reforms in the educational system. Those reforms include a new system to tie teacher evaluations to student improvement and tie compensation to teacher performance. The state and teachers have yet to settle on performance standards acceptable to the federal government. Gov. Neil Abercrombie said the state is ready to go back to the negotiating table with the Hawai`i State Teachers Association. The head of that union said he would like the teachers to take a second vote on an agreement with the state that the teachers voted down. 

      In a letter to the governor, deputy U.S. education secretary Ann Whalen noted preliminary actions heading in the right direction in Hawai`i’s school system. She said the state’s application for the $75 million “set a high bar for success, and their work still falls short of the accomplishments that the state set out to achieve at this stage of the grant.” She also described the stakeholders here as “very passionate” and said they “have demonstrated a strong commitment to this work despite the challenges.” Representatives of the federal DOE visited Hawai`i, including the Ka`u district, in March and plan another assessment within six months.

May Day Queen Courtney Louis performs a solo hula with May Day King
Shai Lopez Castaneda and the court looking on. Photo by Julia Neal

KA`U JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS are headed to Waikoloa Resort this afternoon to perform with Keoki Kahumoku at the celebration of hula and Hawaiian Culture. The event features an `ukulele jam. Halau from Japan, Switzerland and Hawai`i will perform, along with Aunty Diana Aki, Waipuna, Ladies of Waiku`i, Lula and more.

KA`U HIGH SCHOOL celebrated May Day yesterday. Queen Courtney Louis and King Shai Lopez Castaneda presided over the festivities. Representing the islands were: Casey Koi and Riley Del Rosario - Kaua`i; Aysha Kaupu and Shayden Cayaban - Moloka`i; Jennifer Tabios and Tyren Fukunaga Camba - Kaho`olawe; Meghann Chow and Dimitri Castaneda - Hawai`i; Janessa Jara and Kimo Tyson - Mau`i; Cierra Kaopua and Alika Kaopua - Lana`i; Julia Espaniola and Hercules Soder - O`ahu; Mariah Chingee and Wayne Tayamen - Ni`ihau. Spearsmen were Mark Cuison and Anthony Emmsley; Kahili Bearers were Derrick Velez and Shylo Saragosa; Ladies in Waiting were Samantha Madsen and Kehau Ke; and Conch Shell Blowers were Kelii Ka-Ne and Keoki Pavao.

Honu & Triggerfish by Monty Carew is on display at
Spring Fling today. Photo by Bradley Groh

SPRING FLING Arts & Crafts Fair happens today to 4 p.m. at Punalu`u Bake Shop Pavilion & Gardens. The event features local art and entertainment. See kauarts.org.

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park celebrates Cinco de Mayo today, with a soft taco and chicken fajita buffet from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Lava Lounge and Chef’s Special house nachos along with the regular ala carte menu starting at 5 p.m. at Crater Rim Café. KMC is open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply. For more, call 967-8371.

KA`U COFFEE MILL VISITOR CENTER opens to the public tomorrow. Gates open at 1 p.m. The event features the Triple C Recipe Contest along with entertainment by Ka`u `Ohana Band, Ka`u Community Chorus and Keoki and Moses Kahumoku. The recipe contest is an official event of the annual Ka`u Coffee Festival, which begins this weekend and continues with the ho`olaule`a next Saturday at Pahala Community Center.

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