Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 3, 2012

Kawa will be open to the public soon, according to the Office of the Mayor. Photo by Julia Neal

THE KA`U PUBLIC MEETING on the electric company’s planning for the future is this Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Hawaiian Electric Co.’s Aloha Advisory Committee member Henry Curtis, who is also executive director of Life of the Land, says he encourages the public to attend the meeting. Advisory Committee members were chosen by the Public Utilities Commission to receive input on how the electric company’s planning could affect culture, environment and communities across the islands. The meeting in Pahala was added in light of a major plan, the building of a refinery and changing large parcels of land from pasture to a biofuel farm.

Henry Curtis

      Curtis and Life of the Land have intervened in the `Aina Koa Pono case before the PUC. The case involves a proposal for the utility and `Aina Koa Pono to sign a 20-year, fixed-price contract to buy biofuel that would be manufactured at a refinery planned for land off Wood Valley Road. Some 13,000 acres between Pahala and Na`alehu would be converted into a biofuel crop farm and tree and shrub harvesting area. Supporters say `Aina Koa Pono and HECO would help get Hawai`i off fossil fuel while opponents claim it would likely drive the cost of electricity higher and deter other alternatives.
      Asks Curtis, “Do you care about electric rates? HECO/HELCO says electric rates will rise for several years and then become less volatile. Is that what you want? Do you prefer (a) high stable rates or (b) rates that are sometimes low and sometimes high or (c) lower rates?”
      “This is your one chance for input,” Curtis says. Thursday’s meeting at Pahala Community Center follows one at `Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo tomorrow and another at Waikoloa Elementary School on Wednesday. All meetings are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION received more public testimony prior to the Nov. 30 deadline for comments on the application for approval of the biodiesel supply contract between `Aina Koa Pono and HELCO.

Dwight Takamine

DWIGHT TAKAMINE, director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, supports the project. It “will have substantial long-term positive impacts on the state’s economy and labor conditions,” Takamine writes. “The present value of state tax revenues from General Excise Taxes and personal income taxes will be increased by a total of $197,000,000 if the project is developed. This compares to only $2,200,000 in tax revenues if the use of imported fossil fuels continues at Keahole.”
      Takamine says the facility will “create over 200 permanent management, professional, operations, maintenance, agricultural and administrative jobs, in addition to 400 construction jobs over a two-year period. We understand that AKP has a memorandum of understanding with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142, and intends to sign project labor agreements with applicable building trades unions to ensure that a local labor force is used for the construction and ongoing operation of the project. We applaud AKP's commitment to support Hawai`i's workforce.
      “Additionally, the project will require and provide many training opportunities for its employees. DLIR stands ready to work collaboratively with AKP in identifying training opportunities and programs to enable Hawai`i residents to take advantage of the quality jobs provided by the project.

Dr. Jim Kennedy

DR. JIM KENNEDY, OF HILO, opposes the project. “The true nature of this contract does not appear to be in public view,” Kennedy writes.
      “From what can be inferred from what some have pieced together, it seems to imply that it would establish a new oil-based pricing structure that ignores the real cost of fuel production and appears to re-establish yet another “Avoided Cost” pricing scheme, at a time when such structures promise to further destabilize the public’s access to fairly-priced energy.
      “Moreover, there are serious scientific questions about the true economic sustainability of biodiesel or any other biofuel, and finally, it is not apparent that the efficacy of this fuel source has been subjected to a side-by-side comparison to other local energy alternatives.
      Kennedy questions whether or not the project is an example of “true energy sustainability” and says “biofuels are not sustainable irrespective of price.”
      “May I ask that the PUC take a hard look at these issues, consider the nature and basis of the contemplated energy-generation pricing scheme, require HELCO to present a credible relative study of alternative local energy sources, explain the implications of the oil industry’s claim of independence from foreign sources within 20 years, and provide more transparency into the terms of the proposed energy acquisition and its impacts on the public, before rendering a final decision on the docket,” Kennedy says.

GAS PRICES WERE DOWN to $3.85 for regular at Lex Brodie’s on Farrington Hwy in Honolulu. On the Big Island they remained high. At Ka`u Gas in Pahala, the price is $4.09. In Na`alehu at the 76 station, the price is also $4.09. In Ocean View at Kahala Gas, the price is $4.06. At Ocean View Market, it is $4.01 – if you pay cash on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. At Kahuku Country Market, regular gas is going for $4.01 a gallon every day of the week.
      For some perspective, regular gas topped $5 a gallon at the end of May this year, and the least expensive in Ka`u on May 23 was $4.66 per gallon.

THE TWO ENTRANCES TO KAWA BAY have new bright yellow metal gates, and Hawai`i Police Department officers remain at the east entrance 24/7 as archaeological studies continue. HPD removed people living there at the end of October and said they would be on site for about a month. Police took down the home of Abel Simeona Lui and other structures and moved them to a shipping container at Na`alehu police station for owners of the materials to retrieve them. According to the office of the mayor, the oversight continues through the completion of the studies, and Kawa will be open again to the public soon.
      The county recently purchased land around Kawa, adding onto land in public stewardship along Hwy 11 between Honu`apo and Pahala. The total acreage managed by the county, community groups and The Nature Conservative along this stretch of highway, which is the closest paved road along Ka`u’s coast, is more than 1,000 acres.

COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING participation from Ocean View Community Center where proceedings can be watched and testimony given went dark today. An alert from District 6 council member Brenda Ford said the teleconferencing would not be held "due to the transition from the past council to the new council and the current lack of trained personnel to operate the equipment." She said the situation would be rectified by the Dec. 18 and 19 meetings and in the future with trained staff to operate the equipment. She said she apologizes to the Ka`u viewing public. Ford was sworn in today as the new District 6 council member.

NON-STOP FLIGHTS TO TAIPEI are the next venture by Hawaiian Airlines into Asia following the recent U.S. visa waiver for Taiwanese to come here. Hawaiian made the announcement today that it will fly between Honolulu and Taipei beginning next July. Taiwanese will be able to stay in the U.S. for three days without a visa.
       Said Hawaiian CEO Mark Dunkerley, “We have long known that there is demand for a Hawai`i vacation in Taiwan, but visits have been impeded by the cost, complexity and time it has taken its citizens to apply for a U.S. visitor visa. Now that Taiwan is part of the U.S. visa-waiver program, we are delighted to be adding Taipei as the latest city in Hawaiian’s growing Asia network.”
      According to Hawai`i Tourism Authority, the number of visitors from South Korea grew by double digits after it joined the visa-waiver program, and HTA expects the same increase in travel to Hawai`i from Taiwan.

KMC's annual Holiday Challenge continues through the month.
Photo by Julia Neal

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP’S HOLIDAY CHALLENGE continues throughout December with festive displays on the from row of cabins in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Visitors are invited to vote for their favorite at the front desk. Call 967-8371 for more information.

INVITATIONAL WREATH EXHIBIT continues at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Gallery artists, working in a wide variety of media, materials, and techniques, present their concepts of “wreath,” from the whimsical to the traditional. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and park entrance fees apply.

VOLCANO SCHOOL OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES seventh- and eighth-graders present their annual gift to the community, A Night of Theatre, Thursday at 6 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply. 967-8371

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO VISIT KAUCALENDAR.COM AND  FACEBOOK.COM/KAUNEWSPAPER.

FIND MORE OF OUR DECEMBER 2012 EVENT PHOTOS ON OUR FLICKR ACCOUNT. 

Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 2, 2012

Community groups, businesses and others are invited to participate in Pahala Christmas Parade next Sunday,
Dec. 9 at 1 p.m. Call 928-0808 to sign up. Photo by Julia Neal

LOCAL RULE WILL BE A HOT TOPIC at the 2013 Hawai`i State Legislature when it opens in January. Ka`u legislators, Rep. Denny Coffman and Senators Josh Green and Russell Ruderman all said they will attempt to repeal legislation passed last year that gives projects the ability to skirt county zoning and oversight. One law passed last year allows the Public Land Development Corp. to work with private entities to develop state land. Both Green and Coffman said they are sorry the bill passed, and Coffman said he will seek to repeal it.

Planning director Bobby Jean
Leithead Todd

      County planning director Bobby Jean Leithead Todd told West Hawai`i Today that she will draft legislation to restore county oversight that was taken away by 2012 Senate Bill 3003 that aimed at fast-tracking geothermal development. The story in this morning’s West Hawai`I Today says that “Hawai`i County is objecting to a bill passed last legislative session that it says removes its permitting authority over new geothermal projects. Adopted last April, Act 97 eliminated a requirement that geothermal projects occur in designated subzones, taking out what legislators saw as an unnecessary hurdle for developers.”
      Just before passing the 2012 Legislature, additional wording was added that weakened the jurisdiction of county planning commissions over approving geothermal resource permits. The bill passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie as Act 97.
       Leithead Todd told WHT reporter Tom Callis, “I had been monitoring it (the bill) and I had been reassured that county controls over permitting would be in the final draft.” Leithead Todd told West Hawai`i Today that restoring county oversight will allow for public hearings and “an opportunity for people to object.”

District 6 County Council member Brenda Ford

NEW COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBERS, the incumbent mayor Billy Kenoi and – if confirmed - new county clerk Steward Maeda will be sworn in tomorrow. Council and mayoral ceremonies will be held in Hilo at the Afook-Chinen Auditorium at 12 p.m. 

      New council members are Karen Eoff, Greggor Ilagan, Dru Kanuha, Zendo Kem, Valerie Poindexter and Margaret Wille. The three incumbents are Brenda Ford, Dennis Onishi and J Yoshimoto. Brenda Ford, serving her fourth and final consecutive term due to term limits, will serve Ka`u for the first time. Her home is within County Council District 6 borders which recently changed. District 6 now covers South Kona to Volcano.

FIFTY-NINE CORAL SPECIES in the Pacific are proposed for the federal endangered and threatened species list. The corals were nominated Friday by the National Marine Fisheries Administration. “Healthy coral reefs are among the most economically valuable and biologically diverse ecosystems on earth,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under-secretary for commerce for oceans and atmosphere and National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration administrator. “Corals provide habitat to support fisheries that feed millions of people; generate jobs and income to local economies through recreation, tourism, and fisheries; and protect coastlines from storms and erosion. Yet, scientific research indicates that climate change and other activities are putting these corals at risk. This is an important, sensible next step toward preserving the benefits provided by these species, both now and into the future.”

      NOAA reports that an independent study found that coral reefs provide approximately $483 million in annual net benefit to the U.S. economy from tourism and recreation activities and a combined annual net benefit from all goods and services of about $1.1 billion. NOAA also estimates the annual commercial value of U.S. fisheries from coral reefs to be more than $100 million; reef-based recreational fisheries generate an additional $100 million annually.

Bleaching of several coral species. Photo from NOAA

      The agency notes that listing species as endangered does not prohibit activities like fishing or diving, but prohibits the specific “take” of those species, including harming, wounding, killing, or collecting the species. It also prohibits imports, exports and commercial activities dealing in the species.
      “These protections are not automatic for species listed as threatened, but can be established for them as well. Furthermore, if species are eventually listed, NOAA will consult with other federal agencies that permit projects that may harm corals to help avoid further damage. The consultation process allows NOAA to work with federal agencies and project proponents to develop ways for projects to proceed, but in a way that protects the long-term health of these important species,” the NOAA statement says.
      NOAA has identified 19 threats to the survival of coral, including rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and coral disease. As carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, the oceans warm beyond what corals can withstand, leading to bleaching, and the frequency and severity of disease outbreaks increase, causing die-offs.
      The proposed Pacific corals for the endangered species list are Millepora foveolata, Pocillopora elegans, Acropora jacquelineae, Acropora lokani, Acropora rudis, Anacropora spinosa and Euphyllia paradivisa.
      The public has 90 days to provide additional comments, which NOAA says it will consider before it issues its final decision. To learn more and post comments, see at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2012/11/82corals.html.

David Uchiyama

JAPAN OVERTOOK THE EAST COAST of the U.S. in October to become Hawai`i’s second largest visitor market after the West Coast market, according to statistics released this week by Hawai`i Tourism Authority.

      Visitors from Japan totaled 125,000, a 15.2 percent increase from October 2011. Higher daily spending, up four percent to $329 per person, helped increase total Japanese visitor expenditures to $236.4 million, an 18.8 percent increase from last year.
      “We are one of the leading destinations in terms of gaining market share over other destinations,” said HTA Tourism Research director Daniel Nahoopii. “Due to the recovery of the Japanese market, we saw higher daily spending adding to the increase in visitor expenditures.”
      HTA vice president of Brand Management David Uchiyama said airlift from additional origination points and the continuation of charter air service will help the Japanese market continue to grow in 2013.
      Air arrivals from Hawai`i’s top visitor market, the U.S. West, increased 9.6 percent to 255,602 visitors, and their total expenditures increased 15.2 percent from October 2011 to $381.7 million.
      The U.S. East, now the state’s third largest visitor market, saw a decrease in arrivals of 1.4 percent to 118,799 visitors in October, the second consecutive month arrivals from that market decreased from 2011 levels. Visitor expenditures from the market, however, increased by two percent to $245.4 million, which HTA credits to a longer length of stay and stable daily spending of $205 per person.

Keauhou Bird Sanctuary breeds `Alala,
which are extinct in the wild. 

KEAUHOU BIRD SANCTUARY holds an open house, Saturday, with tours at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Participants meet some of Hawai`i’s rarest birds including `alala, puaiohi, kiwikiu and palila. Reservations are required, and space is limited. A $10 donation is suggested. Call 985-7218 or email kbccopenhouse@gmail.com.

PAHALA CHRISTMAS PARADE is a week from today on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 1 p.m. Community groups, businesses and others are invited to participate. Call 928-0808 to sign up.

 
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

FIND MORE OF OUR DECEMBER 2012 EVENT PHOTOS ON OUR FLICKR ACCOUNT. 

Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 1, 2012

Community members are removing invasive plants from Punalu`u Pond this morning. The event is sponsored by
`O Ka`u Kakou. Photo by Nalani Parlin

TESTIMONY ON `AINA KOA PONO making yesterday’s deadline for submission to the Public Utilities Commission includes a statement from biologist Rick Warshauer, who lives in Volcano. The former county planner and retired U.S. Geological Service staff member who grew up in Hawai`i, centers his reasons for “strong opposition” to the proposal around water, lands, invasive species and cost of electricity.

      “The amount of water to be used in the industrial processing plant (“Micro-Dee”) is water that is desperately needed for real agriculture in chronically dry Ka`u, and would be competing with legitimate agricultural use of the water. The water coming out of tunnels in the Ka`u Forest Reserve is both limited and very subject to fluctuating flows and much reduced output during droughts. Given that prolonged, recurrent droughts may be the new norm for Ka`u as global climate change progresses, industrial competition for tunnel or well water needs to be considered a threat to legitimate agriculture, particularly in the future. Who gets priority? Any pumping of basal well water to the elevation of the refinery would be expensive and adds to costs. If irrigation is needed for crops, it is even more expensive and wasteful.

      “Competition by the `Aina Koa Pono operations, for both fee and leased lands, with cattle ranching, is likely to lead to a reduction in cattle ranching, given the well-funded potential of a HELCO-`Aina Koa Pono alliance. Granting this proposal would only drive the coffin nail deeper for ranching and result in loss of livelihoods for Ka`u ranchers, already hard-pressed by the protracted droughts. I doubt that few of these individuals would welcome alternative jobs in the refinery or growing operations. Will they be abandoned like the former Ka`u sugar workers? 

      “The Big Island is already plagued with growing numbers of invasive species appearing in more and more areas of vacant, agricultural, and natural resource lands, and the costs for control are high. To add more species and more areas of fast-growing fuel plants just adds considerably to the problem. If the crop plants are genetically modified and patented, does it add legal restraints of controlling errant crop plants for neighboring agriculture?

Climate change should be taken into consideration when planning for Ka`u lands, testifies biologist
Rick Warshauer. Drought, dust storms and fires plagued Ka`u this summer. Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

      “The electrical needs of the proposed refinery are an enormous elephant in the room, especially given the intent of the oil to be produced is to be used in distant facilities to produce electricity. Add this to the fuel needed to grow, harvest and transport the crops to the refinery, not to mention the energy cost to haul it to the point where the fuel will be combusted, and the cost efficiency of the operation really comes into question. Where is a credible analysis of the cost and benefits of the proposal? Has the PUC seen one, a real one?
      “One really needs to ask the question: Does it take more energy to produce the oil than can be derived from it? Keep in mind that the costs to do any operation in Hawai`i exceed those of similar operations from almost anywhere else, and this situation is amplified by the remote nature of Ka`u district. Again, has the PUC been provided with an outside objective assessment of the question? It seems to me that the only way this operation can be viable is to float it on the backs of the ratepayers. Then the PUC needs to ask who are the real beneficiaries of this proposal? It certainly is not us ratepayers. Should the unproven operation fail after any PUC approval, are not we ratepayers still stuck paying for it for decades?

      “What if this operation is approved but then in the face of real expenses and constraints flops? Are we the ratepayers stuck bailing them out? We are already too burdened forking out taxpayer money to bail out the banks from their poor business-sweet bailout a few years ago. Is this to be more of the same? What happens to the land and facilities?
      “Growing crops to refine oil to burn in the same HELCO generation facilities is not an alternative energy operation. It is still combustion of a fuel that adds more CO2 to the atmosphere. We need real alternatives, not alternative parasites.

Diesel manufactured near Pahala would be trucked to HELCO's power
plant in Kona. Photo from Power Plants Around the World

      “There needs to be a realistic comparison of this operation with truly renewable energy operations. One such would be a photovoltaic facility paired with a pumped-water generation component to provide at least part of its output to be firm power. One might consider doing a similar PV pairing with fuel cells or hydrogen-burning turbine for the firm power aspect. Either way, the facility could be geographically positioned where it could add power to the grid strategically to reduce the considerable line loss of power endemic in the HELCO grid. The current array of power production facilities relative to loads just wastes much of the produced power as line loss (ratepayers pay for it). HELCO’s proposed 20-year biodiesel supply contract with `Aina Koa Pono just continues this imbalance of load and production, and in turn perpetuates the wasteful line loss. Either way, the HEI investors have their “what-me-worry” guaranteed minimum profit, and the line loss continues to be ratepayer loss.
      “It seems to me that the PUC is in the position to request an Environmental Impact Statement and a third party economic analysis before you rule on the proposal? The latter would address the real costs and benefits of the operations and their impacts on the ratepayers, and the former would make an assessment on the other costs and impacts to affected parties and environment. Please do so. We all deserve the answers now. As we have seen before, HELCO and its sister affiliates on other islands will continue to propose ineffective and expensive scams to extract more money from their captive ratepayer pool of fools. We have no say—It is up to the PUC to do the right things for us. Please do so.
      “In the process, you might seek to assess if Hawai`i County might be better off if we had a cooperative running the utility, or even a county affiliate, rather than the blood-sucking HELCO operation. At least the operation would be with a nonprofit motivation rather than the sure-profit deal that the HEI affiliates have for their shareholders. The way it is run now, especially with the parasitic avoided cost provisions, only the HEI investors win with guaranteed minimum returns. This is just a government-sanctioned shakedown of the ratepayers. If it works for the folks on Kaua`i then it could work for us. PUC members and Mayor Kenoi, are you listening?” Warshauer asks.

Paul Makuakane, at left, has sent testimony to the PUC objecting to the
`Aina Koa Pono project as "unsafe and unhealthy."

PAUL MAKUAKANE, OF MARK TWAIN, writes: “I am a lifetime resident of Ka`u and of the aboriginal descendants of this island. I feel this `Aina Koa Pono project is unsafe and unhealthy for the residents of Ka`u, the `aina as well as for the ports, if an accident should happen there. I think the PUC should not approve of this project due to health and safety issues for the future. We have no foresight of where the area might be contaminated, and everyone would have to leave the area. The cost of the biofuel for a 20-year contract sounds unreasonable as the cost will be shared among all users and myself. I oppose the `Aina Koa Pono Project.” 

      Makuakane signs his letter with, “Aloha `aina kulaiwi, Malama `Aina, Maka`ainana, Kama`aina and Ua mau ke ea o ka `aina ika pono.

TED STETHEM, OF PAHOA, writes that “the `Aina Koa Pono contract needs to be disapproved. Biodiesel has not proven to be cost competitive, (and the) result has been the cost of biodiesel per gallon is always more than diesel at the pump, sometimes several times.” He contended that project is being endorsed by HELCO because it would mean HELCO would not have to alter their exiting power plants. He points out that an alternative energy act of 2008 mandated HELCO to retire their diesel-electric plants as other alternatives became available to produce equivalent power or more.

Sen. Daniel Akaka is retiring.

“IT IS WITH MUCH ALOHA that I say to you now, a hui hou, see you again,” said Sen. Daniel Akaka, who chaired the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee for the last time this week. Akaka, 88, retires on Jan. 2 after 22 years in the Senate. He served in the U.S. House from 1976 to 1990, when he was appointed to the Senate following the death of U.S. Sen. Spark Matsunaga. He won a special election to the Senate in 1990 and was re-elected in 1994, 2000 and 2006.
      Akaka sponsored the Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill, also known as the Akaka Bill, to create a process for Native Hawaiians to gain federal recognition as an indigenous people. Supporters have been unable to gain passage of the bill in Congress.
      “As I begin the difficult task of closing my offices, I want to take this time to thank you for allowing me the honor and privilege to serve you for 36 years,” Akaka says on his website. “I am proud of my accomplishments on behalf of our federal workers, consumers, veterans and all the people of Hawai`i. You have always been my first and foremost priority.”

      See more testimony and other documents at puc.hawaii.gov/dockets. Docket number is 2012-0185.

Japan has pledged $5 million to clean up tsunami debris landing
on U.S. coastlines. Image from NOAA

FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for tsunami debris cleanup is pledged by Japan, which announced the gift to the U.S. government yesterday. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda promised the gift to Defense Secretary Hillary Clinton, according to a report in this morning’s Washington Post. The announcement was made yesterday by Japan’s Foreign Ministry. The money will be split between Hawai`i, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California and will be managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hawai`i already received a $50,000 pledge from NOAA. The tsunami followed a 9.0 earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011. A big yellow thing made of metal is largest item that has washed up on the Ka`u coast since the tsunami, but is unconfirmed as tsunami debris. However, numerous items with Japanese writing were reported by an NBC story featuring Kamilo Beach in Ka`u earlier this week. 

TONIGHT IS DIGITAL MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL at 6 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The public can still view 11 films by students from Ka`u and Puna at youtube.com/user/digitalmountain2012 and vote for their favorite by sending an email to kupono_mcdaniel@nps.gov. The winner receives a MacBook Air, and additional prizes are awarded to the top film, chosen by judges, in categories 7th - 9th grade and 10th - 12th grade.

VOLCANO ART CENTERS NI`AULANI CAMPUS in Volcano Village hosts the holiday concert Anela Strings, Music of a Higher Place tonight at 7 p.m. with harpist/percussionist Kristin Aria Shaw and harpist/keyboardist Irminsul. Admission is $16 for the general public and $14 for VAC members. Call 967-8222 for more information.

HELCO MEETINGS TO GATHER public comments on electric utility planning take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday in Hilo, Wednesday in Kona and Thursday in Pahala. See notice at right for more information.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUNEWSPAPER.

FIND MORE OF OUR DECEMBER 2012 EVENT PHOTOS ON OUR FLICKR ACCOUNT.